Hours for maintenance

[itzgambino]

I do not think I've ever encountered this on here before, so thought I would ask. I have always wondered what they assumed hours awake are when you calculate your maintenance calories. Like when I was interning, I was only sleeping about 4 hrs a day. Now that this ended, I have days where I'll wake up at 12pm, and asleep by 1 am. I would just think that being only awake for 12 hrs a day, you would need less calories especially when cutting, then if you are awake for 20 hrs. Any thoughts?

 

[Nitrox]

Basically you are correct.

Sleeping is about the least active thing you can do so theoretically the more you do the less calories you need for maintenance. However, it is possible for someone who sleeps 12hrs but has a high activity level to burn more total calories than someone who only sleeps 4hrs but has a lower activity level.

 

[Rosie Chee]

I do not think I've ever encountered this on here before, so thought I would ask. I have always wondered what they assumed hours awake are when you calculate your maintenance calories. Like when I was interning, I was only sleeping about 4 hrs a day. Now that this ended, I have days where I'll wake up at 12pm, and asleep by 1 am. I would just think that being only awake for 12 hrs a day, you would need less calories especially when cutting, then if you are awake for 20 hrs. Any thoughts?

Maintenance is based on several factors:
* Age
* Sex
* Height
* Body Mass
* Activity Level

How long you sleep does not come into it. It's more about your caloric expenditure than anything else - hence why your activity level is so important with such equations.


~Team APPNUT