Calorie counting is nothing new to the world of health and fitness and before the days of the many ‘celebrity diets’ that are around today, anyone wanting to lose weight used a process of counting calories.

The only problem was that this method of weight loss never really took into consideration the requirements of the individual and everyone, regardless of lifestyle, size, weight, goals and age, had the same targets to aim for.

Fortunately, times have changed, however perceptions have not and in this image conscious world we all live in, serial dieters bounce randomly from current trend to current trend searching for that magic formulae that will allow them to still have that little treat at the weekend and end up with a size 6 figure by the end of the week.  Of course, it doesn’t happen as weight loss, just like everything else, requires understanding, will power, perseverance, time and goal setting and that’s where I come in…….

“Think of exercise like eating healthily – doing it just once a week won’t do a great deal”

As I’m sure you all know, every food has a calorific index associated with it. Most are clearly displayed on the packaging and some restaurants even have theirs on their websites (and the government are insisting these now appear on the menus).

All you need to do is determine your goal (e.g. do you want to lose weight or gain weight) your target weight and work out the following:

Step 1 – Calculate your Resting Metabolic Rate (e.g. how many calories would you burn off daily if you did nothing all day).  To do this, take your body weight in KG and times it by the figure in the following table:

Male

Age 10 – 18 years = 17.5 + 651

Age 18-30 years=15.3+679

Age 31-60 years=11.6+879

Female

Age 10-18 years=12.2 + 746

Age 18-30 years=14.7+ 496

Age 31 – 60 years = 8.7 + 829

E.g. 65kg x 15.3 = 994.5

994.5 + 679 = 1673.5 calories a day

Step 2 – Calculate your daily energy expenditure

To do this, multiply your RMR by the appropriate number as follows:

Inactive – RMR x 1.4

Moderately active – RMR x 1.7

Very active – RMR x 2.0

E.g. 1673.5 x 1.4 = 2342.9 calories

Step 3 – Estimate the number of calories expanded during exercise

This is the tricky bit as people exercise at different levels. Visit ‘https://www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist4.htm’ to help you with this one.  Kickboxing will come under boxing and as a rough guide 1 x 45 min session will burn an average of 360 calories.

It is best to estimate your calorie expenditure over a week and then divide it by seven to get a rough guide.

E.g. 2 x 360 calories = 720 calories Divided by 7 = 102 calories

Step 4 – Add together the figures from steps 2 & 3

E.g. 2342.9 + 102 = 2444.9 calories

Step 5 – Reduce your calorie intake by 15% (this is the optimum amount to reduce your calorie intake by when looking to lose weight to prevent muscle loss and metabolic slow down).

E.g. multiply your maintenance calories from step 4 by 0.85 (85%) to give you your new daily total.

2444.9 calories x 0.85 (85%) = 2078.165 calories. Round this down to 2078 calories.

Step 6 – Calculate your daily carbo- hydrate needs.

Multiply the figure from step 5 by 0.6 (60%) then divide by 4.

E.g. 2078 x 0.6 = 1246.8 divided by 4 = 311.7 grams of carbs per day

Step 7 – Calculate your daily protein needs based on the recommended requirement of 1.6g per kg of body weight.

E.g. 65kg x 1.6 = 104g of protein per day.

To GAIN lean body weight

Anyone interested in gaining weight in combination with a weight training programme should increase their maintenance calorie intake (step 4) by 20% as this is the most optimum figure to prevent most of the weight gain coming from fat storage.

E.g. 2444.9 x 1.2 = 2933.88 round down to 2933 calories a day

Estimate your increase in carbohydrate

Your carbohydrate intake would then increase to 439 grams per day following the same steps as before in step 6 to allow for the additional energy you will need to sustain a weight training programme for muscle building.

E.g. (2933 x 0.6 = 1759.80 divided by4 =439 grams a day)

Estimate your increase in protein

Increase your protein to between 1.8 – 2.0 grams per kg of body weight to allow for the additional protein required to repair the muscle after weight training.

E.g. 65 kg = 117g – 130g of protein each day

So, there you have it, how to safely and effective drop or gain weight using a simple process of calorie counting.

If this is a little too confusing or you really don’t have the time to work it all out (although it does only take a few minutes) then let me know and I’ll help you with it.

Once you have your figures it’s simply a case of making a daily note of what you eat so you constantly know how near or far away you are from your daily targets.

There are many great apps out there that will actually do it all for you so check a few out.

For any advice on nutrition, training programmes, diet plans, what to eat, when to eat it or anything else, speak to me as there’s a good chance I’ll be able to help.