It’s frustrating to see some people that seem to be able to eat anything and not gain weight, while for others it seems like just looking at a pizza will add 5 pounds to their frame!
Here’s a secret. Everybody’s metabolism is different. We all don’t work with the same metabolic platform. The amount of weight you have, how much muscle mass you carry, your height, even your age – they all work together to determine how many calories you burn during the day. So – just counting calories isn’t going to work – because even if you take into account how many calories you ingest, you still need to determine how many of them you’ll actually burn. So, whether you’re looking to pack on lean mass, strip fat, or just maintain your current weight – here’s some tips that can help you achieve your fitness goals.
1. Calculate your current caloric intake: There are a multitude of tools out there that can help you do this, ranging from apps (like you’ll find with many fitness watches such as FitBit), to other apps like MyFitnessPal. Keep a journal for a week and log your typical food intake, and calculate how many calories that represents.
2. What has your weight been doing? Keep in mind that if you’re doing strength training, your scale isn’t telling the truth – your weight may not be changing, but you may be exchanging fat for new muscle. What is key here is, if your weight is stable, you can consider this your baseline weight. If you’re gaining weight, your above baseline, if you’re loosing weight, your below baseline.
3. What are your stats? The ADA (American Dietetic Association) recommends this formula to calculate how many calories you burn during the day:
- Men: 10 X weight (kg) + 6.25 X height (cm) -5 X age (years) + 5
- Women: 10 X weight (kg) + 6.25 X height (cm) -5 X age (years) -161
This gives you a basal metabolic rate (BMR) – or how many calories you burn with absolutely no activity. You’ll then need to adjust this based on your current activity level:
- Sedentary (little or no exercise): BMR x 1.2
- Lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week): BMR x 1.375
- Moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week): BMR x 1.55
- Very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week): BMR x 1.725
- Extra active (hard exercise/sports and physical job or 2x training): BMR x 1.9
4. No Crash Diets! This fools your body into thinking it’s going to starve to death – so you’ll automatically pack on fat as a response. Your body will slow your metabolism down to save itself. So – eat healthy – cut back on fat, add some protein, but decrease your calories to below your “burn rate” slowly so that your body doesn’t react by slowing things down!
4. Decrease calories / increase your workouts! It’s a simple rule. If you burn more calories than you take in, you’ll loose weight. Take in more calories than you burn, you’ll gain weight. So – try decreasing your overall calories by only 20%.
6. Keep your body guessing! Not only is it too difficult to eat perfect every day, it may be counter productive. Give yourself a cheat day once a week. If you’ve been decreasing your calories by 20%, on that one day a week, let yourself enjoy a little bit more, along the level you were at before your decrease. And, keep your workouts going! This can help fool your body into thinking that “it’s OK” – that you’re not about to starve to death! This can help keep your metabolism up and your fat burning on track!
