If within a week after accurate calorie counting and strict adherence to physical activity and sleep patterns, you do not have positive dynamics in the form of visual body reconstruction and reflection in the mirror, then it is recommended to undergo an examination and seek advice.
Carb breakdown:
Breakfast (short starch) - bread without yeast, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pie, bread, pastries without sugar and yeast.
Lunch (long starches) - rice, lentils, beans, buckwheat, chickpeas, quinoa, oatmeal, cereals).
Evening (vegetables) + YOU MUST allow yourself your favorite product for 200-300 kcal (fruit, natural chocolate, pastries without yeast) within the caloric content and BZHU no later than 2 hours before bedtime.
If in your calorie calculations you have less than 100 grams of carbohydrates, then this indicates that you have an elevated body mass index. Physical and physical activity should be increased. Recommended values: at least 100 grams of carbohydrates for women and at least 150 grams of carbohydrates for men.
You MUST eat more fiber and alkaline foods: greens, celery, radishes, cucumber, spinach, cauliflower and white cabbage, beets, carrots, garlic, seaweed, broccoli, avocado, lemon.
ON TRAINING DAYS, add an additional 100g of carbohydrates 120 minutes before training from short starchy carbohydrates (yams, potatoes, unleavened bread, pita, bread, unsweetened pastries and yeast).
ADD IN CALORIES.
For example: you need to eat 150 grams of carbohydrates per day, respectively, consume 100 of them before training and distribute the rest throughout the day.
DURING TRAINING, drink EXCLUSIVELY plain water without various BCAAs and amino acids (due to insulin surges not needed during training).
Add 5-7 grams of salt per day (table or iodized)
REDUCE and ideally REMOVE the number of simulators: coffee, tea, tobacco, alcohol.
Buy a kitchen scale. Weigh grains, vegetables and other foods in their raw form. Meat, fish, poultry ready.
Give preference to polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats (omega 3, vegetable oils, nuts, avocados, seeds).
Carbohydrate ratio, 30% fructose (fruit, natural chocolate), 70% starch (rice, buckwheat, potatoes, gluten-free flour, sugar-free and yeast-free baked goods)
In the diet, it is recommended to give priority to foods that cause an alkaline reaction, remove or reduce to 1 meal a day foods that cause an oxidative reaction: poultry, red meat, gluten, sugar, seafood. Eggs and farm dairy products are allowed. Foods with an acidity of 6. 0 - 10. 0 PH. Detailed table in the link.
Livestock products either freshly killed or vacuum packed are allowed for consumption. Avoid frozen and deep-frozen animal products.
The presence of a product that gives you psychological pleasure IS MANDATORY, within the calorie and macro content (BZHU).
If it is impossible to reach your daily calorie intake with the "RIGHT" foods, we include the maximum calorie content in the macro (BZHU).
The number of meals is not important; eat strictly according to your appetite (divide your "food basket" into a number of meals that are convenient for you).
It is possible to change the components of the diet according to your own preferences within the macro (BZHU).
- B12-, iron deficiency anemia, weakness, increased fatigue, reduced hematopoiesis (pallor and yellowing of the skin and mucous membranes, rapid heartbeat, heart pain, exercise intolerance, dizziness and frequent fainting, enlarged spleen), damage to the digestive system (indigestion, loose stools, loss of appetite, weight loss, change in color and shape of the tongue, taste disturbance, frequent mouth infections, abdominal pain after eating), damage to the nervous system (decreased sensitivity, paresthesia, ataxia, reduced muscle strength, weakenedurination, mental disorder).
- Hypothyroidism. Reduced physical and mental performance, increased fatigue, skin changes (myxedema), increased sensitivity to cold, hoarseness, weight gain, swelling of the face and body, constipation, hypotension and bradycardia, drowsiness, reduced memory and intelligence), developmental delay in children and mentaldevelopment.
- Metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance). Increased body weight in the abdominal area, metabolic disorders, insulin resistance. Subjective sensations: bouts of bad mood in the state of hunger, increased fatigue, pickiness in food, bouts of rapid heartbeat, heart pain, headache, thirst and dry mouth, increased sweating
How many calories do you need per day to lose weight?
There is no single standard for how many calories you need per day to lose weight. It is calculated individually for each person, taking into account their physical characteristics and lifestyle.
Where do I start?
Before calculating how many calories you need to eat to lose weight, you must first determine your daily intake. Essentially, calories are energy. Most of it is spent every day to keep the body functioning: breathing, heartbeat, digesting food, etc. Scientists found that:
- Men burn more calories than women.
- The older a person is, the less energy he expends.
- During puberty, pregnancy and illness, you need a lot more calories.
- Physical activity increases the rate of calorie consumption.
In addition, there are individual characteristics of the body, determined by genetics, which determine the rate of calorie consumption. However, on average, you can very simply calculate how many calories you need to consume per day in order not only to not gain weight, but also to lose weight.
For example, you can use the formula of scientists Mifflin and San Geor. It was introduced in 2005 and has been shown to be more effective than the Harris-Benedict variant. To calculate you need:
- Weight multiplied by 10.
- Height multiplied by 6. 25.
- Age multiplied by 5.
Then all that's left is to add your weight and height and then subtract your age. Then men add 5 and women subtract 161. The result is multiplied by the activity coefficient:
- 1. 2 – you lie on the sofa for days or work in the office.
- 1. 375 – 3 times a week you remember to do sports.
- 1. 55 – an active athlete who trains 5 times a week.
- 1, 725 – you are actively training every day.
- 1, 9 is an avid sportsman and during breaks you work as a loader.
That is, for a 35-year-old female accountant who weighs 85 kg and is 180 cm tall, the calculation will look like this (because of work there is no time left for sports):
((85x10) + (180x6, 25) - (35x5) - 161) x 1, 2 = 1966, 8 calories.
This amount of energy will be enough for her to live and work calmly, without gaining weight. But to lose weight, you need to calculate how many calories you will consume.
How to lose weight by counting calories?
The golden rule of weight loss is to burn more calories than you consume. But you can't just suddenly reduce the amount of food you eat. The body does not like this. Instead, you need to get out the calculator again and figure out how many calories you need to eat to lose weight. To do this, you need to subtract 15-20% from the previous result. That is, our female accountant to prepare for the summer needs to absorb:
1966, 8-20%=1573, 44 cal.
If he has the idea to become better, then he should do the exact opposite. But it doesn't end there. There are many other conditions to consider:
- The number of calories consumed should not fall below 1200. Otherwise, the body will not have enough energy to live and chronic diseases of various kinds may develop.
- You can't calculate how many calories you need per day to lose weight, eat them in the morning and walk around hungry all day. Desire to divide meals into 5-6 times. Thus, the stomach and intestines will be constantly busy with work, the feeling of hunger will interfere less, and the diet as a whole will become much more pleasant.
- It is necessary to monitor not only calories, but also nutrients. Food should be varied so as not to cause vitamin deficiency and other health problems.
- We must not forget the water. Drinking large amounts of fluids accelerates metabolic processes in the body and removes toxins. This is a great help for quick weight loss.
Therefore, some nutritionists advise not to pay too much attention to the number of calories consumed. They believe that it is much more important to monitor the ratio of nutrients in the diet. And if a proper balance is maintained, a person will lose weight quickly regardless of the number of calories they consume.
By the way, there is another way to lose weight without reducing your diet. If we take our female accountant and give her a subscription to 5 classes at a gym, it turns out that she no longer needs 1966. 8 calories, but:
((85x10) + (180x6, 25) - (35x5) -161) x 1, 55 = 2540, 45 calories.
That is, it turns out that she should even improve her diet a little and start eating more high-calorie foods, recalculating. And at the same time, he will lose weight quite quickly.
Why can't you limit your diet too much?
If you start counting how many calories you need to consume to lose weight, it may seem that the problem can be solved if you immediately reduce the amount of energy several times or even to zero. But that's not how the human body works. A fast day once a week will create positive stress and can actually accelerate weight loss. With prolonged fasting, there are already fewer positive changes:
- hair falls out and the condition of the skin worsens.
- the person becomes irritable and easily depressed.
- the function of the digestive organs and kidneys is disturbed.
- concentration and the ability to think coherently are reduced.
At the same time, the body enters "energy saving mode". Metabolic processes slow down and weight loss occurs more slowly than it should. And after breaking the fast, weight gain occurs quickly.
It is better to keep track of how many calories you need to consume to lose weight and do not rush into anything. Experts in healthy eating advise not to try to suddenly lose 5-10-15 kilograms by cutting calories. Natural weight changes should be about 1-1. 5 kg per week. This is the most comfortable rate of weight loss for the average person, something we should strive for.
How to calculate your daily calorie intake
Any diet, regardless of the goal, begins with calculating the daily intake of calories, proteins, fats and carbohydrates. In this article we will talk about the most accurate methods for determining daily calorie intake for men and women.
Calorie content is calculated depending on the goal (weight loss, maintenance, weight gain), gender, age, physical activity and other factors.
What is basal metabolism?
Calculating your daily caloric intake begins with calculating your basal metabolic rate (BMR) - the amount of energy required by the body to support vital processes. The human body, even when at rest, is constantly expending calories for breathing, digestion, blood circulation and other physiological processes. Daily caloric intake must be greater than BMR, otherwise the body will not be able to function normally.
The level of basal metabolism can be determined by two methods: direct and indirect.
In the first case, a person is placed in a special chamber, where the amount of heat consumed is measured, and then the PBM is calculated. This research method is the most accurate, but at the same time inaccessible.
The indirect method involves calculating basal metabolism using a special formula. Today there are several main calculation methods. Let's list the main ones.
Harrison-Benedict type calorie calculation
The formula was developed by the American physiologist Francis Gano Benedict and the botanist James Arthur Harris at the beginning of the last century, but it still remains relevant. It has an error of about 5%.
The formula for calculating PBM is as follows:
- For women: 655. 1 + (9. 563 × weight in kg) + (1. 85 × height in cm) - (4. 676 × age in years).
- For men: 66. 5 + (13. 75 × weight in kg) + (5. 003 × height in cm) - (6. 775 × age in years).
The resulting result is the daily intake of calories that the body needs for its normal functioning. To calculate how many kcal you need to consume to maintain your weight, you need to multiply the resulting number by the physical activity coefficient:
- 1. 2 - minimal (sedentary work, lack of physical activity).
- 1. 375 – low (training for at least 20 minutes 1-3 times a week).
- 1. 55 - moderate (training sessions 30-60 minutes 3-4 times a week).
- 1, 7 – high (training 30-60 minutes 5-7 times a week, heavy physical work).
- 1, 9 – extreme (several intense workouts a day 6-7 times a week, very intense work).
Calculate calories using the Mifflin-San Geor formula
The method of calculating daily caloric intake was developed by nutritionists under the guidance of doctors Mifflin and San Geor. The formula was developed relatively recently, but today it is the most accurate. It helps to calculate the required amount of kcal for a person aged 13 to 80 years.
Simplified version (without taking physical activity into account)
- For women: (10 x weight in kg) + (6. 25 x height in cm) – (5 x age in g) – 161;
- For men: (10 x weight in kg) + (6. 25 x height in cm) – (5 x age in g) + 5.
Ketch-McArdle calorific formula
This calculation method is based on the amount of adipose tissue in the body (we wrote about how to measure it in a previous article). The formula does not include information about height, age, and gender, as these are assumed to be taken into account when calculating body fat percentage.
PBM calculation formula: 370 + 21. 6 x X (body weight without body fat)
The resulting result must be multiplied by the activity coefficient using the Harrison-Benedict method.
World Health Organization (WHO) formula.
The World Health Organization provides recommendations on how to calculate your daily caloric intake:
- For women from 18 to 30 years (0. 062 x weight in kg + 2. 036) x 240 x CFA;
- For women from 31 to 60 years (0. 034 x weight in kg + 3. 538) x 240 x CFA;
- For women over 60 (0. 038 x weight in kg + 2. 755) × 240 x CFA;
- For men aged 18 to 30 (0. 063 x body weight in kg + 2. 896) x 240 x CFA;
- For men from 31 to 60 years (0, 484 x body weight in kg + 3, 653) x 240 x CFA;
- For men over 60 (0. 491 x body weight in kg + 2. 459) x 240 x CFA.
Where CFA is the coefficient of physical activity: 1 - low, 1. 3 - average, 1. 5 - high.
Daily calorie calculator
You can also calculate your average daily calorie intake using an online calculator.
How to properly reduce daily calorie intake to lose weight?
For harmonious and safe weight loss, it is recommended to reduce the caloric content of the diet, taking into account physical activity, by 10-15% (by 20% for severe obesity). The daily calorie content should not be lower than the following index:
Weight in kg/0. 45 x 8
WHO recommends reducing food intake by 500 kcal per month from the actual diet until the calorie content is 300-500 kcal below the daily requirement.
Reducing daily intake by 500 kcal per day leads to a loss of approximately 500 grams of fat mass per week. After six months of such weight loss or when you reach your ideal weight, it is recommended to recalculate your daily calorie intake taking into account new indicators.
You should not reduce your calorie intake as much as possible to lose weight more effectively. Losing 250-500 grams per week is considered normal and safe for health. Exceeding these numbers means losing muscle and fluid.
Protein, fat and carbohydrates when counting calories
Effective weight loss is not only about maintaining your daily calorie intake, but also about the correct distribution of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. A balanced diet according to the BJU ratio will look like this:
- For weight loss: 30-35% proteins, 30-35% fats, 30-40% carbohydrates.
- For weight maintenance: 25-35% proteins, 25-35% fats, 40-50% carbohydrates.
- For weight gain: 35-40% protein, 15-25% fat, 40-60% carbohydrates.
With this distribution of BJU in the diet, the body receives sufficient amounts of nutrients and vitamins.
Do not forget that all formulas for calculating the daily calorie content may have errors. They do not take into account food absorption rate, health status, metabolic rate and other factors. Even a diet drawn up by an expert may not work in a particular case due to the individual characteristics of a person. In the process of creating a beautiful, strong body, you should listen to your feelings and, if necessary, change your diet and the ratio of KBJU.
Watch your diet, exercise and the results won't be long in coming!