I'm not sure if this is the proper forum or not but ill ask my question anyway...

I'm a first year Dietetics Major and frequently offer my male friends insight and advice when it comes to their nutrition. Up until this point I have only helped males.

A couple of days ago, a female friend approached me about nutrition advice, she is an aspiring model and needs to drop some weight. I told her i would help her and am now in the midst of developing her diet, but an important question came up.

Does the general mathematical rule of thumb when it comes to computing maintenence calories carry over for women? (Body Weight x roughly 15 = daily maintenence) The average woman eats less than the average man, so this is why I am asking this question. I don't want to give this female too many calories.

Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

as the 350th person to view this, and the first to answer, I'll tell you the biggest secret ever.

most women eat less than men because they weigh less.

and, there's no one rule for determining how many calories a person needs to lose/gain weight. trial and error based on compliance and metabolism.

whats her lbm? how fat is she?
how much weight does she want to lose? if its ten lbs or less, tell her to take a big shit.
why is that particular number/bf% her goal? "that's what I weighed in high school! at the most awkward time of my life when my metabolism was fantastic and my self esteem was less in the shitter than it is now!
how quickly does she want this to happen? 2 weeks? two months?
what's her diet like already? yogurt and granola don't do anything pretty.

as a first year dietetics major (very big deal, I'm sure) you've already asked those questions, gotten the answers, and designed her diet accordingly.

not sure if this really answers your questions, but I can maintain on the BW x 15 easily (if I'm working out that is) I can easily lose roughly 2 lbs per week with a BW x 12 ratio.