The calorie equation on this site shows how many calories your body needs to intake a day to maintain your weight.

the multipliers are

1.2 bed ridden
1.3 sedentary
1.4 active
1.5 very active

I am wondering where I should rank myself. I get up and go to school every morning with a tiny bit of walking inbetween classes, then I come home and pretty much just sit in one spot for the rest of the day except I do 150 pushups and situps approximately and about 500 jumping jacks every day, also on tuesdays and thursdays I go to the gym and lift and run for 1 hour total. What multiplier would you use for each day? Obviously the days without the gym in them would be smaller multiplier...

Someone help?

Why? ...

Anyway... I would probably go with 1.4 as the number if you are trying to bulk.

dude I don't know much about this stuff. What's wrong with doing situps and pushups? And i'm not trying to bulk, I want to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time (but apparently that is impossible, if it is, I just want to lose fat).

Edit: What do you think the multiplier truly is for the activity I do during the day?

There's nothing wrong with doing push ups and sit ups, but instead of doing so many per day it would be better to exercise different parts of the body at the gym.

If you're just trying to lose fat then you should do more cardio and at a 500 calorie deficit from your maintenance level.

Look around the site for some recommendations on work out plans for cutting periods or fat loss. I'm not sure what your activity multiplier would be because you need to change up your routine, but I'm guessing it would be around 1.3 - 1.4

thanks for the response. Yeah i've been using around 1.3 for the multiplier usually. But is it possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time? Or do I have to do one or the other?

can anyone answer that question ?

You need to learn the basic concepts of training and diet. Read the stickies at the top of the forum of weight training and nutrition and go from there.

i've read the weight training and the nutrition sticky. They make it seem like you can't build muscle and lose fat at the same time. It seems just too far fetched, is it really impossible?

It does? As I read through everything it seems there is a formula for diet and exercise that allows for this. Maybe I misunderstood?

explain it please, the formula for diet and exercise that allows for it.

You can lose fat and gain muscle. What you can't do is train effectively for strength and endurance at the same time(unless your endurance training is extreme in duration and intensity, like a Lance Armstrong for example).

First of all you have to make sure the weight you lose is fat and not muscle. Your diet needs to be low calorie, but nutrient rich. You have to eat lots of fruits, vegetables, and lean protein.

To gain muscle you should lift relatively heavy(2 or 3 sets with failure occurring at 10 to 12 reps). I suggest doing a total body strength training workout 3 times a week that takes around 45 minutes. Limit your cardio to three 10 to 15 minute sessions per week doing high intensity intervals. Do the cardio after strength training. Do not workout on consecutive days.

As far as your current training regimen goes. You're not really training to gain muscle, you're training to do push ups and jumping jacks.

well I do a full body workout on tuesdays and thursdays also, but thanks for the info man, I really appreciate it.

gain muscle and loose fat. its practically impossible unless you're a beginner. diet must be 100% and training must be 100% suppliments must be 100% (doesnt mean you have to take everything, but you have to know what to take and when) its extremly hard. so its not somthing you actually do.

I am 5 8 1/2 feet fall, and weigh 146 pounds, my body fat is 13.5 percent. What route would you suggest I take? I want to build up my muscle and get down to about 8 percent body fat. How would you go about doing it if you were me?

personally i would bulk first to gain muscle, (gaining about 1-2 pounds a week steady) then i would cut after a while (loosing about 1-2 pounds a week steady)