Who’s confused about Calories & Macros ?
me. me. me
ok, lets keep this simple and easy to follow for you guys so its easy to remember
firstly basic thermodynamics and nutrition
protein = 4 calories per gram
fat = 9 calories per gram
carbohydrates – 4 calories per gram
alcohol – 7 calories per gram ( unless its your birthday and they dont count… only joking )
CALORIES
So we start off with a daily energy intake for fat loss as a starting point,
bodyweight in pounds x 10 = fast weight loss
bodyweight in pounds x 12 = steady weight loss
note : these are a guide and vary form person to person based on the following
1. starting weight – someone whom has a bmi over 35 will start differently to someone with bmi of say 22 looking at losing weight
2. activity levels – someone with a high expenditure who may have a manual labour job will need a different calorie intake to someone who drives to work and site behind a desk all day.
3. exercise levels and intensity – someone dong strongman training, heavy compounds lifts 5 days per week may vary greatly to someone who does 20minute low intensity cycle twice a week.
What Next ?
Again lets keep this real simple to get you started shall we ?
> If you have over 2 stone to lose stick to 10x bodyweight per day as start point, weigh yourself weekly and see if the 1-2 pounds per week are coming off
> Less than 2 stone to lose, 11-12 x bodyweight in pounds to lose the required 1 pound a week.
These are assuming you are doing moderate to high intensity exercise 3-4 times per week including resistance training for 45 minutes per session
Macro Time ?
Start with protein as this preserves lean tissue and helps satiety ( feeling of fullness ) and basically required for every metabolic process in the body so its kinda important..
daily target is 2g per kg of bodyweight
then
times this amount x 4 ( number of calories per gram )
eg 90 kg male needs 180g per day x 4 = 720 calories
90 kg male needs 2376 calories based on 12 x bodyweight.
this leaves
1656 calories for carbohydrates and fats !!!
so what next ?
Hormones, eye health, brain function, cell health plus much more require essential fats each day so we need to hit a healthy level of fats daily these are
omega 3, 6, 9 ( fish, nuts, avocado ) and some saturated too (butter, ghee, coconut oil )
but as fats are high in calories we only need small amounts of them daily.
A good starting point is 15 – 20% of total daily calories from good fat sources.
therefore in this example 356 calories from fats daily at 15%
or
475 calories at 20%
leaving
1300 calories for carbs at 15% fat intake
or
1181 calories for carbs at 20% fat intake
What about food Quality ?
The ideal way to fill your daily quota is good quality meats, fishes, vegetables & fats obviously with a key eye on fibre intake form consuming enough veggies each day.
Your food plate should have a source of protein,lots of mixed veggies, small amount of fat and a source of carbs.
These are the ideal and we know that life is far from ideal so lets talk real world shall we
> AIM FOR HITTING YOUR GOALS 80% OF THE TIME <<
- 80% OF THE TIEM HIT THE RIGHT STUFF ON YOUR PLATE
- 80% OF THE TIME HIT YOUR CALORIE GOAL
- 80% FO THE TIME HIT YOU PROTEIN GOALS
PERFECTION AND HITTING YOUR CALORIE & MACRO GOALS 100% OF THE TIME IS UNACHIEVABLE AND WILL LEAD TO FRUSTRATION, AND DROPOUT AND THE CYCLE OF YO YO DIETING
What about weekends ?
Lets address the elephant in the room shall we ?
Most people can be pretty much on track over the working week then the weekend hits,,,,,,,,, BOOM calorie excess central
We all want to have a good time but most people sabotage their weight loss efforts over the weekend
Its easy to consume an extra 1000-1500 calories per day over a weekend with nice foods and those beverages you love !!
This means the calorie deficit you created all week is suddenly now a calorie excess and you actually GAIN WEIGHT……..
HOW TO MANAGE THIS ?
- EXERCISE ON A WEEKEND – WALKING, GYM SESSIONS ETC just get the metabolism up and burn 500 plus calories each day extra through exercise
- SWAP FOR LOWER CALORIE ALTERNATIVES – GIN & SLIMLINE TONIC RATHER THAN PINTS OF BEER. Eat lower fat and calories foods eg high protein pizzas from Musclefoods. Lots of supermarkets now do high protein low calorie curries for example.
How do we Keep Track of the Numbers ?
You can buy a macro and calorie bible book and track on paper if you want or a real easy way to do this is the myfitnesspal app on your phone and it does the maths for you !!
Remember to be honest though !!!!!
Lots of people remember the stuff they wan to and deny / forget the foods they dont want to enter………
Hope this helps and if you want to join our gym just CLICK HERE
Team 6Fit