BEFORE Tailor Your Nutrition Plan

Oh gosh! It sounds so tedious. Oh yes indeed it’s tedious if you are serious about fat loss (mind you, I am not talking about weight loss OK, still following?) or muscle gain. Actually this was the very first step I did when I started my own fat loss program last Oct. I believe everyone got to have a good start in everything they REALLY want to do. Understanding of in-out caloric values of our body is the utmost important step to fat loss or muscle gain (over here I will emphasise more on fat loss). Why? Why so important to have such understanding? You may ask. It’s simply because You Are What You Eat. No matter how much time you invested in cardio, weight training, yoga or whatsoever exercise you name it, if you still do not know your position in caloric needs, you are screwed! Isn’t that simple to get screwed?

Shall we start now? Good, I heard you, you are still following.... so let’s get serious and ehemm a bit tedious too (where is the Mathematics teacher) hehehe....

Well the first step to tailor a personal nutrition plan for yourself is to calculate how many calories you burn in a day, in short it’s called TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). TDEE is the total number of calories that your body burns up in 24 hours, including all activities. TDEE is also known as your "maintenance level". Knowing your maintenance level will give you a starting reference point from which to begin your nutrition program. Hope you are doing fine so far... Let’s move on then...

There are many different formulas you can use to determine your caloric maintenance level by taking into account the factors of age, sex, height, weight, lean body mass, and activity level. The formulas namely:-

1. The QUICK Method (based on bodyweight)
2. The Harris-Benedict (BMR based on total bodyweight)
3. The Katch-McArdle (BMR based on lean bodyweight)

Note* BMR: Basal Metabolism Rate = Your resting metabolism rate for functional of your body.
Any formula that takes into account your lean body mass (LBM) will usually give you the most accurate calculation of your energy expenditure, but even without LBM you can still get a reasonably close estimate.

I will touch on Quick Method and The Harris-Benedict formulas because I know most of you out there do not know your lean bodyweight or body fat percentage. Therefore, you won’t be able to use the more accurate Katch-McArdle formula.

Quick Method

The "Quick" Method (based on total bodyweight)

A fast and easy way to determine calorie needs is to use current body weight times a multiplier.

a. Fat loss = 12 - 13 calories per lb. of bodyweight
b. Maintenance (TDEE) = 15 - 16 calories per lb. of bodyweight
c. Weight gain = 18 - 19 calories per lb. of bodyweight

Go on take out a calculator, check yours! :)

The Harris-Benedict Method

The Harris-Benedict formula (BMR based on total body weight)

a. Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)
b. Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)

Note: 1 inch = 2.54 cm.
Note: 1 kilogram = 2.2 lbs.

Example:

You are female
You are 30 yrs old
You are 5' 6 " tall (167.6 cm)
You weigh 120 lbs. (54.5 kilos)
Your BMR = 655 + 523 + 302 - 141 = 1339 calories/day

Now that you know your BMR, you can calculate TDEE by multiplying your BMR by your activity multiplier from the chart below:

Activity Multiplier

1. Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
2. Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
3. Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
4. Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
5. Extremely active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or twice per day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)

Example:

Your BMR is 1339 calories per day
Your activity level is moderately active (work out 3-4 times per week)
Your activity factor is 1.55
Your TDEE = 1.55 X 1339 = 2075 calories/day

Adjust Your Caloric Intake According To Your Goal

Once you know your TDEE (maintenance level), the next step is to adjust your calories according to your primary goal. The mathematics of calorie balance are simple:

To keep your weight at its current level, you should remain at your daily caloric maintenance level.

To lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit by reducing your calories slightly below your maintenance level (or keeping your calories the same and increasing your activity above your current level).

To gain weight you need to increase your calories above your maintenance level. Macronutrient ratios may be manipulated, but the primary difference between weight gain programs and weight loss programs is the total number of calories required.

Adjust your caloric intake gradually

It's not a good idea to make any drastic changes to your eating plan (if you like to call it as “diet”, please go ahead) all at once. After calculating your own total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) and adjusting it according to your goal, if the amount is substantially higher or lower than your current intake, then you may need to adjust your calories gradually.

For example, if your determine that your optimal caloric intake is 1900 calories per day, but you have only been eating 900 calories per day, your metabolism may be sluggish and your appetite may be on the low side. An immediate jump to 1900 calories per day might actually cause a fat gain because your body has adapted to a lower caloric intake and the sudden jump up would create a surplus.

When your calories have been very low, the best approach is to gradually increase your calories over a period of a few weeks to allow your metabolism to speed up and acclimatize. Increase a little bit at a time each week, monitor the results, and then increase again if all is well until you reach your optimal calorie intake for healthy fat loss.

Measure your results and adjust calories accordingly

All of these calculations for finding your correct caloric intake are quite simplistic and are just estimates to give you a starting point. You will have to monitor your progress closely to make sure that the result you obtain is the proper level for you. You will know if you're at the correct level of calories by keeping track of your caloric intake, your bodyweight, and your body fat percentage. You need to observe your bodyweight and body fat percentage to see how you respond. If you don't see the results you expect, then you can adjust your caloric intake and exercise levels accordingly.

The bottom line is that it's not effective to slash your calories to very low levels in order to lose fat. In fact, the more calories you consume the better, as long as a sufficient deficit is created through diet and exercise. The best approach is to reduce calories only slightly and raise your daily calorie expenditure by increasing your frequency, duration and or intensity of exercise.

OK OK... now I realised that writing blog is like doing a cardio session for an hour LOL... If anyone of you still feeling LOST, not knowing what I tried to convey, please write to me.

Woah... sorry way too long for this one. Anyway, hope you guys have a GOOD START.

To Fitter and Leaner YOU,

Kayee Lai

Your So-called Personal Trainer