Hi guys I stumbled across this information and I thought I would post it for everyone.

Quick Estimate of Calorie Needs
Here is a very rough and ready guide to calculating your calorie needs. Just be careful to maintain your daily calorie intake above 1000 calories, minimum.

Women
To Maintain Weight - Multiply your weight (in pounds) by 12
This is a rough estimate of daily calories needed to maintain weight.

To Lose Weight - Deduct 500 calories from this figure
This gives you a rough estimate of the daily calories needed for you to lose about 1 pound per week.

Men
To Maintain Weight - Multiply your weight (in pounds) by 14
This is a rough estimate of daily calories needed to maintain weight.

To Lose Weight - Deduct 500 calories from this figure
This gives you a rough estimate of the daily calories you need to lose about 1 pound per week.

Where did you find this? I think the numbers are too high.

I agree- For what I have been told to sustain my current weight as a female- it is 10 times my weight. I'm not sure if that is coincidence or if that is consistent at all weights.

It's my guess that this would be a bit high if you were completely inactive. But For me 195lbs x 12 = 2340 calories. Then figure how many calories you burn doing everyday things. For example just standing doing light work (like filing at the office) you can burn around 120 calories an hour. So say you do that for 4 hours of your day bye bye 480 calories.
2340 - 480 = 1860 probably a reasonable # to maintain my weight. Subtract 500 more = 1360 at that I'd easily lose 1 lbs a week.

That's enough blah blah blah from me

I "ran the numbers" and found that they may indeed be right, given the amount I am eating and the weight I am losing. Previously I couldn't account for my weight loss given the size of my calorie deficit but it may be that I was starting with the wrong numbers.

those numbers are correct -- don't forget your body is burning calories simply by doing what your body is supposed to be doing... breathing, circulating blood, etc... the numbers would be higher if you lead an active lifestyle but those are the numbers for a pretty average lifestyle...

I think these numbers are almost too low, unless they are based on a very inactive lifestyle, and you add calories on depending on how active you are. I saw another thread where someone was working out 5 times a week at least and doing weights, eating 1200 cals a day and had hit plateau. They were considering going to 1050 cals a day (To the person I am writing about, i am sorry to use you as an example, I hope you don't mind ). In my opinion this seemed very low for such an active person, and I think that may be why they hit the plateau. If you start at a higher figure, like these numbers suggest, it gives you somewhere to go as you lose the weight.

I quite like the Weightwatchers system where the heavier you are, the more points you are allowed, and as your weight goes down, so does your number of points. Cool!

Mrs. Bear,

First, you're not my wife posting here, are you?

This system takes weight into account as well. The lower your weight, the lower the number of calories needed to maintain or lose.

I just ran the numbers for me as well, and they jive with what I've been eating calorie wise and my weight loss.

Jenn, thanks for posting this

Yes, thank you. My calculations make a lot more sense now.

No, my husband is Mr Bear !!

Maybe he's your cousin