If within a week after accurately counting calories and strictly observing physical activity and sleep patterns, you do not experience positive dynamics in the form of visual recomposition of the body and reflection in the mirror, then it is advisable to get tested and seek advice.
Carbohydrate distribution:
Morning (short flour) - yeast-free bread, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pita bread, flat bread, baked goods without sugar and yeast.
Lunch (long starchy ones) - rice, lentils, beans, buckwheat, chickpeas, quinoa, bulgur, cereal).
Evening (vegetables) + You MUST provide your favorite products of 200-300 kcal (fruits, natural chocolate, baked goods without yeast) in calorie content and BZHU no later than 2 hours before bedtime.
If in your calorie calculation you have less than 100 grams of carbohydrates, then this indicates that you have increased your body mass index. Physical and physical activity should be increased. Recommended values: minimum 100 grams of carbohydrates for women, and minimum 150 grams of carbohydrates for men.
You MUST eat more fiber and alkaline foods: green vegetables, celery, radish, cucumber, spinach, cauliflower and white cabbage, beets, carrots, garlic, seaweed, broccoli, avocado, lemon.
ON TRAINING DAY, add an additional 100 grams of carbohydrates 120 minutes before training from short starchy carbohydrates (sweet potatoes, potatoes, yeast-free bread, pita bread, flat bread, baked goods without sugar and yeast).
ADD IN CALORIES.
For example: you need to eat 150 grams of carbohydrates each per day, consume 100 grams before training, and distribute the rest throughout the day.
DURING TRAINING, drink water EXCLUSIVELY without various BCAAs and amino acids (due to unnecessary insulin spikes during exercise).
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 cereals, 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 nutrition, it is recommended to prioritize alkaline foods, eliminate or reduce to 1 time a day foods that provide oxidative reactions: poultry, red meat, gluten, sugar, seafood. Farm eggs and farm milk products are allowed. Foods with acidity 6. 0 - 10. 0 PH. More detailed table in the link.
Livestock products, both freshly slaughtered and in vacuum packaging, are permitted for consumption. Avoid refrigerated and frozen animal products.
The presence of products that provide psychological pleasure is MANDATORY, according to calorie and macro content (BZHU).
If it is impossible to achieve the daily calorie intake with the "TRUE" food, we include the maximum calorie content in macros (BZHU).
The amount of food is not important; eat according to your taste (divide your "food basket" into several foods you like).
It is possible to change food components depending on your own preferences in macros (BZHU).
- B12-, iron deficiency anemia, weakness, increased fatigue, impaired hematopoiesis (pale and yellow skin and mucous membranes, rapid heartbeat, heart pain, exercise intolerance, dizziness and frequent fainting, enlarged spleen), damage to the digestive system (indigestion, stoolunstable, loss of appetite, weight loss, change in color and shape of the tongue, taste disorders, frequent mouth infections, abdominal pain after eating), nervous system damage (sensitivity disorders, paresthesia, ataxia, decreased muscle strength, urination disorders, mental disorders).
- Hypothyroidism. Decreased 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, decreased memory and intelligence), growth retardationin children and intellectual development.
- Metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance). Increased weight in the abdominal area, metabolic disorders, insulin resistance. Subjective sensations: attacks of bad mood when hungry, increased fatigue, selectivity in food, attacks of rapid heartbeat, heart pain, headache, feeling of thirst and dry mouth, excessive 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 his physical characteristics and lifestyle.
Where to start?
Before you calculate how many calories to eat to lose weight, you must first determine your daily intake. Basically, calories are energy. Most of it is spent every day on maintaining body functions: breathing, heartbeat, food digestion, etc. Scientists have discovered that:
- Men burn more calories than women.
- The older a person is, the less energy he expends.
- During adolescence, pregnancy and illness, you need more calories.
- Physical activity increases the level of calorie consumption.
In addition, there are individual characteristics of the body, determined by genetics, that determine the level of calorie consumption. However, on average, you can simply calculate how many calories you should consume per day in order not only to gain weight, but also to lose weight.
For example, you can use the formula of scientists Mifflin and San Geor. This variant was introduced in 2005 and proved 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 up your weight and height, then subtract your age. Next, men add 5, and women subtract 161. The result is multiplied by the activity coefficient:
- 1. 2 – You lie on the couch for days or work in the office.
- 1. 375 – 3 times a week you remember that you need to exercise.
- 1. 55 – active athlete who works out 5 times a week.
- 1. 725 – You practice actively every day.
- 1. 9 is a fanatical athlete, and during your rest you work as a loader.
That is, for a 35-year-old female accountant with a body weight of 85 kg and a height of 180 cm, the calculation would be 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 him to live and work calmly, without gaining weight. However, to lose weight, you have to calculate how many calories you should consume.
How to lose weight by counting calories?
The golden rule of losing weight is to burn more calories than you consume. But you can't just reduce the amount of food you eat suddenly. The body doesn't like this. Instead, you need to get out the calculator again and calculate how many calories you need to eat to lose weight. To do this, subtract 15-20% from the previous result. That is, our female accountants, in order to prepare for the summer season, need to absorb:
1966, 8-20%=1573, 44 calories.
If he has ideas to get better, then he needs to do the opposite. But it doesn't end there. There are several other conditions to pay attention to:
- The number of calories consumed should not be less than 1200. Otherwise, the body will not have enough energy to live and various types of chronic diseases 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. The desire to divide meal times into 5-6 times. In this way, the stomach and intestines will always be busy with work, hunger will be reduced, and the overall eating pattern will become more enjoyable.
- It is important to monitor not only calories, but also nutrition. Food should be varied so as not to trigger vitamin deficiencies and other health problems.
- We must not forget about water. Drinking large amounts of fluid speeds up metabolic processes in the body and removes toxins. This is very helpful for losing weight quickly.
Therefore, some nutritionists recommend not paying too much attention to the number of calories consumed. They believe that monitoring the ratio of nutrients in food is much more important. And if balance is maintained, a person's weight will quickly decrease regardless of the number of calories consumed.
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 in a fitness club, 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 he even had to improve his diet a little and start eating more high-calorie foods, recalculating. And at the same time, he will still lose weight quite quickly.
Why can't you reduce your diet too much?
If you start calculating how many calories you need to consume to lose weight, it seems 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. Fasting once a week will cause positive stress and can actually speed up weight loss. With prolonged fasting, less positive changes already occur:
- hair loss and worsening skin condition;
- the person becomes irritable and easily depressed;
- the function of the digestive organs and kidneys is disturbed;
- Concentration and ability to think coherently decrease.
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 stopping fasting, weight gain occurs rapidly.
It's better to note how many calories you need to eat to lose weight, and don't rush into anything. Healthy nutrition experts advise not to try to suddenly lose 5-10-15 kg by reducing calories. Natural weight changes should be around 1-1. 5 kg per week. This is the level of weight loss that the average person is most comfortable with, and it is what we should strive for.
How to calculate daily calorie intake
Any diet, regardless of goal, begins with calculating the daily intake of calories, proteins, fats and carbohydrates. In this article we will discuss the most accurate methods for determining daily calorie intake for men and women.
The 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 daily calorie intake begins with calculating basal metabolic rate (BMR) – the amount of energy the body needs to support vital processes. The human body, even at rest, constantly expends calories for respiration, digestion, blood circulation and other physiological processes. Daily calorie intake must be higher than BMR, otherwise the body will not be able to function normally.
Basal metabolic rate can be determined in two ways: direct and indirect.
In the first case, a person is placed in a special chamber, where the amount of heat consumed is measured, after which 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. Currently there are several main calculation methods. Let's list the main ones.
Harrison-Benedict formula calorie calculation
This formula was developed by the American physiologist Francis Gano Benedict and botanist James Arthur Harris at the beginning of the last century, but still remains relevant. Has an error of about 5%.
The formula for calculating PBM is as follows:
- For women: 655. 1 + (9. 563 × body weight in kg) + (1. 85 × height in cm) - (4. 676 × age in years);
- For men: 66. 5 + (13. 75 × body weight in kg) + (5. 003 × height in cm) - (6. 775 × age in years).
The results obtained are the daily calorie intake that the body needs to function normally. To calculate how many kcal you need to consume to maintain weight, you need to multiply the resulting figure by the physical activity coefficient:
- 1. 2 – minimal (sedentary work, lack of physical activity);
- 1. 375 – low (exercise minimum 20 minutes 1-3 times a week);
- 1. 55 – moderate (30-60 minutes of exercise 3-4 times a week);
- 1. 7 – high (training 30-60 minutes 5-7 times a week; hard physical work);
- 1. 9 – extreme (several intense workouts a day 6-7 times a week; very labor intensive work).
Calorie calculations use the Mifflin-San Geor formula
The method for calculating daily calorie intake was developed by nutritionists under the guidance of doctors Mifflin and San Geor. This formula was developed relatively recently, but is currently the most accurate. It helps to calculate the number of kcal required for a person aged 13 to 80 years.
Simple version (without taking into account physical activity)
- For women: (10 x body weight in kg) + (6. 25 x height in cm) – (5 x age in g) – 161;
- For men: (10 x body weight in kg) + (6. 25 x height in cm) – (5 x age in g) + 5.
Ketch-McArdle calorie formula
This calculation method is based on the amount of fat tissue in the body (we wrote about how to measure it in the previous article). The formula does not include information about height, age, and gender, because it is assumed that this information is taken into account when calculating body fat percentage.
Formula for calculating PBM: 370 + 21. 6 x X (body weight does not include body fat)
The results obtained 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 calorie intake:
- For women aged 18 to 30 years (0. 062 x body weight in kg + 2. 036) x 240 x CFA;
- For women aged 31 to 60 years (0. 034 x body weight in kg + 3. 538) x 240 x CFA;
- For women over 60 years (0. 038 x body weight in kg + 2. 755) × 240 x CFA;
- For men aged 18 to 30 years (0. 063 x body weight in kg + 2. 896) x 240 x CFA;
- For men aged 31 to 60 years (0. 484 x body weight in kg + 3. 653) x 240 x CFA;
- For men over 60 years (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 - medium, 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 calorie content in food, taking into account physical activity, by 10-15% (by 20% in severe obesity). Daily calorie content should not be lower than the following indicators:
Weight in kg/0. 45x8
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 the daily intake by 500 kcal per day leads to a loss of approximately 500 grams of fat mass per week. After six months of weight loss or after reaching the ideal body weight, it is recommended to recalculate the daily calorie intake taking into account the 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 physiological and safe for health. Exceeding this number means muscle and fluid loss.
Proteins, fats and carbohydrates when calculating calories
Effective weight loss is not only about maintaining daily calorie intake, but also about proper distribution of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. A balanced diet according to the BJU ratio will look like this:
- For weight loss: 30-35% protein, 30-35% fat, 30-40% carbohydrates;
- To maintain body weight: 25-35% protein, 25-35% fat, 40-50% carbohydrates;
- To gain weight: 35-40% protein, 15-25% fat, 40-60% carbohydrates.
With the distribution of BJU in food, the body receives sufficient amounts of nutrients and vitamins.
Do not forget that all formulas for calculating daily calorie content may contain errors. They do not take into account the percentage of food absorption, health status, metabolic rate and other factors. Even a diet created by a specialist may not work in certain cases due to the individual characteristics of a person. In the process of building a beautiful and strong body, you should listen to your feelings, and if necessary, change your diet and KBJU ratio.
Watch your diet, exercise, and the results will not be long in coming!