We recommend that you not only strictly monitor your diet and exercise regime, but also calculate how many calories you need per day to maintain weight, since this figure will be your starting point for losing weight. This can be done in several ways – using mathematical calculations and empirically using a food diary.
The mathematical calculation is simple, but it does not give an accurate result, since energy requirements depend not only on weight, age and height, but also on the level of daily activity, type of training, the presence of stress factors and the state of the endocrine system. The results of the formula can only be used as a starting point for the subsequent correction of the diet (calorifier). The disadvantage of empirically calculating maintenance calories is that it will take you time, although it is considered more accurate.
Calculating calories for weight maintenance
To do this, you need to know your height (in centimeters), age (number of complete years), level of your physical activity.
So, we consider how many calories you need to consume in order not to gain weight and maintain weight.
- 1 action: Height (cm) x 1,8 = A
- 2 action: Weight (kg) x 9,6 = B
- 3 action: Age (number of full years) x 4,7 = C
- 4 action: 655 + A + B – C = IUM
IUM is your individual metabolic rate.
- 5 action: ICU x your activity coefficient = ICU
Activity rates:
- Low (sedentary lifestyle) – 1,20
- Small (light workouts 1-3 times a week) – 1,38
- Medium (moderate workouts 1-5 times a week) – 1,55
- High (5-7 times a week intensive training) – 1,73
KIUM is the calorie content of your daily diet, in which the weight remains unchanged.
EXAMPLE: Your height is 172 cm, weight is 84 kg, age is 34 years, a sedentary lifestyle.
655 + (172 x 1,8) + (84 x 9,6) – (34 x 4,7) x 1,20 = 655 + 309,6 + 806,4 – 159,8 = 1611,2 x 1,20, XNUMX = 1933
Thus, the calorie content of your diet should be 1933 kcal. Since the formula ignores many variables, use the resulting value as a starting point.
If you want to lose weight, then you need to increase energy consumption by going in for fitness and reduce the calorie content of food by 200-400 kcal or 15-20%. If your weight is still on the table, cut back 10% more calories and increase your activity.
Calculation of maintenance calories empirically
A more accurate, but also more time-consuming, way to find out your maintenance calories is to keep a food diary for a week without changing anything in your diet. That is, before you cut the portions, you spend seven days analyzing your current nutrition – you eat as usual, but you weigh everything carefully and enter the data into your Personal Account. The more honest you are with yourself, the more accurate the result. Don’t skip the days as you will have to count again.
At the end of the week, you add up the calories of all days and divide by seven to get the weekly average of the calories you need to maintain your weight (calorizator). In the Personal Account there is a tab “My reports”, where the average indicator is displayed. You can do without mathematics at all – the system has counted everything for you.
As in the previous case, if you want to lose weight, then you need to increase your calorie consumption – start exercising, move more and reduce the daily calorie intake by 200-400 kcal or 15-20%.