If within a week of accurate counting of calories and strict monitoring of physical activity and sleep patterns, you do not find positive dynamics in the form of a visual structure of the body and a reflection in the mirror, then it is recommended to get tested and seek advice.
Distribution of carbohydrates:
Breakfast (short starchy) - yeast-free bread, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pita bread, flat bread, baked goods without sugar and yeast.
Lunch (long starchy) - rice, lentils, beans, buckwheat, chickpeas, quinoa, bulgur, grains.
Evening (vegetables) + You MUST allow yourself your favorite product for 200-300 kcal (fruit, natural chocolate, baked goods without yeast) within the calorie content and BZHU no later than 2 hours before bedtime.
If you have less than 100 grams of carbohydrates in your calorie calculations, it 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 cabbage, beets, carrots, garlic, seaweed, broccoli, avocado, lemon.
ON TRAINING DAYS, add an additional 100 grams of carbohydrates 120 minutes before training from short starchy carbohydrates (yams, potatoes, yeast-free bread, pita bread, flat bread, sugar-free baked goods and yeast).
ADD INSIDE CALORIES.
For example: you need to eat 150 grams of carbohydrates per day, respectively, consume 100 of them before training and spread the rest throughout the day.
DURING TRAINING, EXCLUSIVELY drink plain water without various BCAAs and amino acids (due to insulin hypertrophy not needed during training).
Add 5-7 grams of salt per day (table or iodized)
REDUCE, and preferably ELIMINATE, the number of simulants: coffee, tea, tobacco, alcohol.
Buy a kitchen scale. Weigh grains, vegetables and other raw foods. Prepared meat, fish, poultry.
Give a choice of 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 baking)
In nutrition, it is recommended to give priority to foods that give an alkaline reaction, remove or reduce to 1 meal a day foods that give an oxidation reaction: poultry, red meat, gluten, sugar, seafood. Farm eggs and dairy products from the farm are allowed. Food with an acidity of 6, 0 - 10, 0 PH. More detailed table on the link.
Livestock products either freshly killed or vacuum packed are allowed for consumption. Avoid chilled and frozen animal products.
The presence of a product that gives you psychological satisfaction IS MANDATORY, within the calorie and macro content (BZHU).
If it is impossible to meet your daily caloric intake with "RIGHT" foods, we take the maximum calorie content in the macro (BZHU).
The number of meals is not important; eat exactly according to your appetite (spread the "food basket" into several meals that suit you).
It is possible to change the components of the diet to your own preferences within the macro (BZHU).
- B12-, iron-deficiency anemia, weakness, increased fatigue, impaired hematopoiesis (pale and yellowish skin and mucous membranes, rapid heartbeat, heart pain, exercise intolerance, dizziness and frequent fainting, enlarged spleen), damage to the digestive system (indigestion, irregular stools, loss of appetite, weight loss), change in the color and shape of the tongue, taste disturbances, frequent infections in the mouth, abdominal pain after eating), damage to the nervous system (decreased sensitivity, tingling, paralysis, decreased muscle strength, decreased urination, mental disorder).
- Hypothyroidism. Decreased physical and mental performance, increased fatigue, skin changes (myoedema), increased sensitivity to cold, hoarseness, weight gain, swelling of the face and body, constipation, hypotension and bradycardia, drowsiness, impaired memory and intelligence), growth retardation in children and intellectual development.
- Metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance). Abdominal weight gain, metabolic disorders, insulin resistance. Subjective feelings: bouts of bad mood in the hungry state, increased fatigue, selective food, rapid heart rate, 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 for each person, taking into account their physical characteristics and lifestyle.
Where to start?
Before calculating how many calories to eat to lose weight, you must first determine your daily allowance. Essentially, calories are energy. Most of it is spent daily to maintain the body's functions: breathing, heartbeat, digestion of food, etc. etc. Scientists have found that:
- Men burn more calories than women.
- The older you get, the less energy you use.
- During adolescence, pregnancy and illness, you need many more calories.
- Physical activity increases the rate of calorie consumption.
In addition, there are unique characteristics of the body, set by genetics, which determine the rate of calorie consumption. However, on average, you can simply calculate how many calories you should consume per day to not only 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 proven 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 remains is to add the weight and height and then subtract the age. Next, men add 5 and women subtract 161. The result is multiplied by the activity factor:
- 1. 2 – you lie on the couch for days or work in the office.
- 1. 375 – 3 times a week you remember that you have to go to sports.
- 1. 55 – an active athlete who trains 5 times a week.
- 1. 725 – you exercise actively every day.
- 1. 9 is a fanatical athlete and during breaks you work as a loader.
That is, for a 35-year-old female accountant with a weight of 85 kg and a height of 180 cm, the calculation will look like this (due to 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 in order 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 suddenly reduce the amount of food you eat. The body does not like this. Instead, you need to get back to the calculator 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 calories.
If she has any idea of getting better, she needs to do the exact opposite. But it doesn't end there. There are some 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 various 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 starving all day. Want to divide meals into 5-6 times. In this way, the stomach and intestines will be constantly busy with work, the feeling of hunger will be less disturbing and the diet as a whole will be much more enjoyable.
- 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 water. Drinking large amounts of fluids speeds up metabolic processes in the body and removes toxins. This is a great help to lose weight fast.
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 food. And if the right balance is maintained, a person will quickly lose weight 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 hour classes at a gym, it turns out that she will no longer need 1966, 8 calories, but:
((85x10) + (180x6, 25) - (35x5) -161) x 1, 55 = 2540, 45 calories.
That is, it turns out that she even has to improve her diet a little and start eating more high-calorie foods, recalculate. And at the same time, she will still lose weight quite quickly.
Why can't you reduce 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 Friday once a week will create positive stress and can actually speed up weight loss. With prolonged fasting, less positive changes occur when:
- hair falls and skin condition worsens;
- the individual becomes irritable and easily depressed;
- the functioning of the digestive organs and kidneys is disturbed;
- concentration and ability to think holistically decreases.
At the same time, the body goes into "energy-saving mode". Metabolic processes slow down, and weight loss occurs more slowly than it should. And after stopping fasting, weight gain occurs quickly.
It's better to keep track of how many calories you need to eat to lose weight and not rush into anything. Healthy nutritionists advise not to try to suddenly lose 5-10-15 kg by cutting calories. Natural weight changes should be about 1-1. 5 kg per week. This is the most comfortable weight loss for the average person, which is what we should be aiming for.
How to calculate your daily calorie intake
Any diet, regardless of the goal, starts with calculating the daily intake of calories, protein, fat and carbohydrates. In this article, we will talk about the most accurate methods for determining the daily calorie intake of men and women.
Calorie content is calculated based on goal (weight loss, maintenance, weight gain), gender, age, physical activity and other factors.
What is basal metabolism?
Calculating your daily calorie intake begins with calculating your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) - the amount of energy your body needs to support vital processes. The human body constantly expends calories, even at rest, for respiration, digestion, circulation and other physiological processes. Daily caloric intake must be higher than BMR, otherwise the body will not be able to function properly.
Basal metabolic rate 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 they consume 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. Today there are several main calculation methods. Let's list the main ones.
Harrison-Benedict formula calorie calculation
The formula was developed by American physiologist Francis Gano Benedict and botanist James Arthur Harris at the beginning of the last century, but is still valid. 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 result obtained is 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 number by the physical activity index:
- 1. 2 - minimal (sedentary work, lack of physical activity);
- 1. 375 – low (exercise for at least 20 minutes 1-3 times a week);
- 1, 55 - moderate (exercises 30-60 minutes 3-4 times a week);
- 1, 7 – high (exercises 30-60 minutes 5-7 times a week; intense physical work);
- 1, 9 – extreme (several intense exercises a day 6-7 times a week; very labor intensive work).
Calorie calculation using 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. 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.
Simple version (without considering movement)
- 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 calorie 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 contain information about height, age and gender, as it is assumed that they have been taken into account when calculating the body fat percentage.
Formula for calculating PBM: 370 + 21. 6 x X (body weight without body fat)
The result obtained must be multiplied by the activity factor using the Harrison-Benedict method.
World Health Organization (WHO) formula.
The World Health Organization provides advice on how to calculate your daily calorie 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 years old (0. 038 x weight in kg + 2. 755) × 240 x CFA;
- For men from 18 to 30 years (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 years old (0, 491 x body weight in kg + 2, 459) x 240 x CFA.
Where CFA is the coefficient of movement: 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 continuous and safe weight loss, it is recommended to reduce the calorie content of the diet, taking into account physical activity, by 10-15% (about 20% for severe obesity). The daily calorie content should not be lower than the following scale:
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 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 such weight loss or when the ideal weight is reached, 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. A loss of 250-500 grams per week is considered physiological and safe for health. Exceeding these numbers means loss of muscle and fluid.
Protein, fat and carbohydrates when counting calories
Successful weight loss is not only about maintaining your daily calorie intake, but also about the 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 weight: 25-35% protein, 25-35% fat, 40-50% carbohydrates;
- For weight gain: 35-40% protein, 15-25% fat, 40-60% carbohydrates.
With this distribution of BJU in the food, the body receives a sufficient amount of nutrients and vitamins.
Do not forget that all formulas for calculating the daily calorie content may contain errors. They do not take into account the rate of food absorption, health status, metabolic rate and other factors. Even a diet put together by an expert may not work in a particular case due to the unique characteristics of a person. In the process of building 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 take long to come!