---
title: 'How Many Calories Should You Eat?'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=yb5xgU9zAFY'
video_id: 'yb5xgU9zAFY'
date: 2026-06-30
duration_sec: 480
---

# How Many Calories Should You Eat?

> Source: [How Many Calories Should You Eat?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=yb5xgU9zAFY)

## Summary

Dr. Mike from Renaissance Periodization explains a simple, evidence-based method to determine your maintenance calories—the number needed to keep your current weight. He provides a starting formula, a 3-week adjustment process to refine it, and advice on how to keep maintenance accurate as your activity changes.

### Key Points

- **Basic formula for maintenance calories** [00:49] — Multiply your body weight in pounds by 15 to get a starting estimate for daily maintenance calories.
- **3-week adjustment method** [02:02] — Use a 3-week period: first 1.5 weeks, split into three 3- to 4-day blocks. At the end of each block, check weight trend. If trending up, cut calories by 250–500 (or 150–200 for smaller people). If trending down, add the same amount. If stable, no change.
- **Confirming maintenance target** [03:39] — After the first 1.5 weeks of adjustments, the remaining 1.5 weeks should show stable weight—this average confirms your maintenance calories.
- **Dynamic maintenance adjustments** [06:56] — If your weight trends down over about 2 weeks (e.g., due to increased activity), increase calories by 250–500; if trending up, decrease them. Reassess every 2 weeks to keep maintenance accurate.

## Transcript

hey folks Dr Mike here for Renaissance
periodization quick question for you how
many calories should you be eating who
knows I sure don't end video JK we
actually have a super super simple
formula it's barely a formula to tell
you how many calories you should be
eating because if you've ever scrolled
through the internet comments about
Fitness stuff there's always about five
trillion people that are like bro how
many calories should I be
eating um I I do a kind of like a
Russian middle eastern accent for those
people I don't know why that's who I
grew up with and that's who asked me
real life questions about how many
calories to eat good news from
maintenance just for maintenance just to
train and look cool and just be alive
and be yourself but get the best
performance how many calories should you
have if you absolutely have no idea
here's how to figure it out so you take
your body weight in
pounds and then you multiply it by 15
and that's how many calories you should
be eating in maintenance crazy right so
if you at 200 lound you multiply x 15
3,000 calories a day that's it end video
JK video is not over that it could be
over you could just log off right now
log off your internet machine because
that's really simple as it has to be at
first as a pretty good guess but hold on
you certainly have problems with it but
Dr Mike you say right now you just said
it I heard you I'm Advanced I have way
more activity than the average person a
day or way less I sleep XYZ hours and I
want that to to integrate I take X XYZ
amount of subs or uh any other
differences and I want to know my
maintenance well the cool thing is is
that a bunch of those things are
actually handled by the Renaissance diet
RP diet coach app weird we have an app
for that but if you don't use our app
how dare you not use our app you should
be
embarrassed no big deal if you don't use
the app if you want to start at that
guess of a maintenance level how do you
make sure you're actually at the
maintenance that you need and again the
answer is super easy you just have to
adjust it in the following Way 3 week
time span is what you give yourself at
least at maintenance to determine your
maintenance calories right you're going
to be maintenance for a while anyway so
three weeks should be a part of that you
take three weeks and for the first three
days you average your first three days
on that 3,000 calories whatever your
maintenance is body weight multiplied by
15 and you find out if it's trending up
or it's trending down or it's basically
like the same if your body weight is
trending up then you're going to cut
your calories by somewhere between oh
250 to 500 because it's a little too
many calories you cut them it goes back
down if you are losing weight you need
to increase calories by something like
250 to 500 now if you're much smaller
than the average sort of uh listener of
this stuff uh viewer I guess this is all
video as well um maybe a few uh a little
bit less so if you weigh like 150 PBS to
100 pound or less then maybe just
increase or decrease by like 150 to 200
calories per day okay you're going to do
that every three days for basically
three or four days for the first week
and a half so the first week and a half
you take half a week check go up or down
next half week check go up or down now
you don't have to go up or down you can
just maintain because if for 3 days you
basically like your weight is almost
exactly maintaining like plus or minus
02 pounds or something just leave it
alone and then the
last of that half week the last half
week you have 1.5 weeks the last third
you do that again once you have done
that hopefully the last week and a half
of that 3-we period Should Be
steady you take that last week and a
half of that threee period the first
week and a half was to fiddle the stuff
just did that got a pretty good estimate
at close to maintenance and now assuming
that your body weight is roughly the
same if it's still going up or down in
that week and a half on net balance you
can do this again but most of the time
that last week and a half is going to be
pretty steady it's going to fluctuate
it's okay but the average is going to be
more like where you want it to be where
you started at first and once you get to
that average that average number of
calories in that last week and a half of
this three we period is going to be
probably your maintenance or at least a
very very good guess at it and not just
a guess but kind of an empirically
backed guess because you actually tested
it so again just to keep this super
simple 3-e period chop it in half first
week and a half chop that into thirds
after every 3 or 4 day period you
analyze to see if you're you're at the
calories that you predicted you analyze
to see if your weight is trending
clearly up or clearly down if it's not
clearly up or down don't do anything
just keep the same calories if it's
trending up cut calories a bit if it's
trending down add some calories repeat
that three times week first week and a
half is over next week and a half begins
whatever you ended with the last week
and a half stay with that if it's nice
and uh the average is really close then
that week and a half is going to be what
your maintenance calories are for the
foreseeable future assuming you stay the
same size it's that
simple
now once you get into maintenance there
is no distinct guarantee that your
weight even though it looked or was
relatively flat on average over the last
week and a half of testing if you're
doing like let's say three months at
maintenance or the rest of your
foreseeable life at maintenance
something like that you just want to
know how many calories to eat so you can
just have a Bas line and build a good
diet or even if you do that for a few
months and then you know start cutting
calories to go hypocaloric and lose some
fat or uh increase calories to gain some
muscle there's no guarantee that
maintenance stays your maintenance now
there's a very good chance it's going to
stay very close but sometimes are
physical activity changes let me give
you an example you estimated your
maintenance in the winter time and like
you weren't Super Active cuz fuck that
it's cold outside you weren't s super
aware of it who knows right you still
work out the same still go to work still
go to school your family still respects
you you go to church good and you had a
certain level of activity and you say
3,000 calories was great for you during
the winter you change nothing you're
still on maintenance summer months show
up now you're in the summer and you're
more active but you're not tracking it
or writing it down cuz who the fuck does
that right you're going to the beach
you're throwing the Frisbee to the you
guys want I throw throw the frisbee like
this you take the Frisbee like a flat
plate surface like this and you throw it
this way that's how you actually
supposed to throw frisbee it's not
supposed to be an easy sport this shit
right here this whatever fancy shit
that's cheating in any case you're throw
in frisbee is to dogs possibly to people
and you are just burning more calories
and you're sort of don't know so what
you thought was your maintenance is now
trending your weight like this you go
shit shit here's the wrong thing to do
and and think oh something's wrong this
is my maintenance and I'm losing weight
no joke people
legitimately comment that shit on social
media like hey uh anyone wants to answer
this question I'm eating at maintenance
and I'm still losing weight bullshit
that is not happening not over the
course of weeks there some body water
shit can happen here and there but if
you're losing weight you're not at
maintenance and your maintenance needs
to go up so at all times during what you
plan as your maintenance if over oh
about two weeks on average you're losing
weight increasing calories by a bit
maybe by like same amount 250 to 500
calories maybe a little
less if you are gaining weight you need
to cut your calories so maintenance
really is a dynamic process that every
two weeks at least you should be
checking into make sure you're on and
sort of graphing your body weight if
you're super meticulous about the shit
and then it'll require possibly one of
two things an update every two weeks to
your diet just by a little bit or no
update at all because everything's good
and that's right the rest takes care of
itself now you have a way to easily find
your maintenance easily sort of guess
and check kind of in an empirical
fashion figure out much closer to what
your maintenance really is and
continuously update your maintenance
calories so they stay your maintenance
calories even though you're it's winter
again but you're hanging out with polar
bears and G wiiz they they get physical
and they're play and if you want to stay
alive you need more calories I don't
fuck I ended the video like that anyway
see you guys later I got math