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 recommended to get tested and seek advice.
Carbohydrate distribution:
Morning (short starchy) - yeast-free bread, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pita bread, flatbread, baked goods without sugar and yeast.
Lunch (long starchy ones) - rice, lentils, beans, buckwheat, chickpeas, quinoa, bulgur, cereals).
Evening (vegetables) + You MUST allow yourself your favorite product for 200-300 kcal (fruits, natural chocolate, baked goods without yeast) within the caloric content and BZHU no later than 2 hours before bedtime.
If in calorie calculations you have less than 100 grams of carbohydrates, then this indicates that you have an increased 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 100 grams of carbohydrates 120 minutes before training from short starchy carbohydrates (yams, potatoes, yeast-free bread, pita bread, flatbread, baked goods without sugar and yeast).
ADD WITHIN 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 that are 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 kitchen scales. Weigh cereals, vegetables and other foods in their raw form. Meat, fish, poultry ready.
Give preference to polyunsaturated and monosaturated fats (omega 3, vegetable oils, nuts, avocados, seeds).
Carbohydrate ratio, 30% fructose (fruit, natural chocolate), 70% starchy (rice, buckwheat, potatoes, gluten-free flour, sugar-free and yeast-free baked goods)
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 oxidative reaction: poultry, red meat, gluten, sugar, seafood. Farm eggs and farm dairy products are allowed. Food with acidity 6. 0 - 10. 0 PH. More detailed table at the link.
Livestock products either freshly killed or in vacuum packaging are allowed for consumption. Avoid refrigerated and 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 "CORRECT" foods, we include the maximum calorie content within the macro (BZHU).
The number of meals is not important; eat strictly according to your appetite (distribute your "food basket" into a number of meals that is convenient for you).
It is possible to change the components of the diet depending on your own preferences within the macro (BZHU).
- B12-, iron-deficient anemia, weakness, increased fatigue, impaired hematopoiesis (pallor and yellowness of the skin and mucous membranes, rapid heartbeat, heart pain, exercise intolerance, dizziness and frequent fainting, enlarged spleen), damage to the digestive system (indigestion, unstable stool, loss of appetite, weight loss, change in color and shape of the tongue, taste disturbance, frequent oral infections, abdominal pain after eating), damage to the nervous system (impaired sensitivity, paresthesia, ataxia, decreased muscle strength, impaired urination, mental disorder).
- 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 retardation in childrenand intellectual development.
- Metabolic syndrome (Insulin resistance). Increased body weight in the abdominal area, metabolic disorders, insulin resistance. Subjective sensations: attacks of bad mood in a hungry state, increased fatigue, selectivity in food, attacks 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 his physical characteristics and lifestyle.
Where to begin?
Before you calculate how many calories to eat to lose weight, you must first determine your daily intake. Essentially, calories are energy. Most of it is spent daily to maintain the functioning of the body: breathing, heartbeat, digestion of food, etc. Scientists have found that:
- Men burn more calories than women.
- The older a person gets, the less energy he spends.
- During adolescence, pregnancy and illness, you need much more calories.
- Physical activity increases the rate of calorie consumption.
In addition, there are individual characteristics of the body, laid down by genetics, which determine the rate of calorie consumption. However, on average, you can quite simply calculate how many calories to consume per day in order not only not to 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 up your weight and height, and 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 go in for sports.
- 1. 55 – an active athlete who works out 5 times a week.
- 1. 725 – you train 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 weighing 85 kg and 180 cm tall, 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 will have to calculate how many calories to 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 doesn't like this. Instead, you need to take out the calculator again and calculate 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, in order to prepare for the summer, needs to absorb:
1966. 8-20%=1573. 44 calories.
If she has the idea of getting better, then she needs to do exactly the opposite. But it doesn't end there. There are several other conditions that must be taken into account:
- 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 starving all day. Desire to split meals into 5-6 times. This way, 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 enjoyable.
- It is necessary to monitor not only calories, but also nutrients. Food should be varied so as not to provoke vitamin deficiency 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 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 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-time classes at a fitness club, 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 will even have to improve her diet a little and start eating more high-calorie foods, recalculating. And at the same time, she will still lose weight quite quickly.
Why can't you cut down 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 fasting day once a week will create positive stress and can actually speed up weight loss. With prolonged fasting, less positive changes already occur:
- hair falls out and skin condition worsens;
- the person becomes irritable and easily becomes depressed;
- the functioning of the digestive organs and kidneys is disrupted;
- concentration and ability to think coherently decreases.
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 quickly.
It’s better to keep track of 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 cutting calories. Natural weight changes should be about 1-1. 5 kg per week. This is the most comfortable rate of weight loss for an average person, which is what we should strive for.
How to calculate 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?
Calculation of daily caloric intake begins with the calculation of the basal metabolic rate (BMR) - the amount of energy required by the body to support vital processes. The human body, even when at rest, constantly expends calories for breathing, digestion, blood circulation and other physiological processes. The daily caloric intake must be higher than the 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 he consumes 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 methods of calculation. Let's list the main ones.
Harrison-Benedict formula calorie calculation
The 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 the 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 required by the body for normal functioning. 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 (training for at least 20 minutes 1-3 times a week);
- 1. 55 – moderate (workouts 30-60 minutes 3-4 times a week);
- 1. 7 – high (workouts 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 labor-intensive work).
Calorie calculation using the Mifflin-San Geor formula
The method for 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 into account physical activity)
- 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 fatty 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 it is assumed that these were taken into account when calculating body fat percentage.
Formula for calculating PBM: 370 + 21. 6 x X (body weight excluding body fat)
The result 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 caloric intake:
- For women from 18 to 30 years old (0. 062 x weight in kg + 2. 036) x 240 x CFA;
- For women from 31 to 60 years old (0. 034 x weight in kg + 3. 538) x 240 x CFA;
- For women over 60 years of age (0. 038 x weight in kg + 2. 755) × 240 x CFA;
- For men from 18 to 30 years old (0. 063 x body weight in kg + 2. 896) x 240 x CFA;
- For men from 31 to 60 years old (0. 484 x body weight in kg + 3. 653) x 240 x CFA;
- For men over 60 years of age (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 indicator:
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 upon reaching your ideal weight, it is recommended to recalculate the daily calorie intake taking into account new indicators.
You shouldn’t cut 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.
Proteins, fats and carbohydrates when counting 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% proteins, 30-35% fats, 30-40% carbohydrates;
- To maintain weight: 25-35% proteins, 25-35% fats, 40-50% carbohydrates;
- For weight gain: 35-40% proteins, 15-25% fats, 40-60% carbohydrates.
With this distribution of BJU in the diet, the body receives sufficient quantities of nutrients and vitamins.
Do not forget that all formulas for calculating daily calorie content may have errors. They do not take into account the percentage of food absorption, health status, metabolic rate and other factors. Even a diet compiled by a specialist may not work in a particular case due to the individual 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 will not take long to arrive!