The Basics On Counting Calories
Dr. Kate Irwin • March 6, 2021
How to Ensure Your Calorie Counting Is Personalized to You
Have you ever thought about calorie counting but don’t know where to start? Perhaps you read a few blog posts about Macros, Calories and tracking your food but the information didn’t seem to make sense? I am going to take a few minutes to lay out the basics of macros, calorie counting, and what your body needs to survive on a daily basis.
BASAL METABOLIC RATE
The first number of any significance when looking at calories is your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is the total amount of energy (calories) that your body burns at rest, for example, if you were to lay in bed all day and not move. This accounts for breathing, keeping your heart beating, and keeping your organs running. This is the bare minimum calories you need each day to survive.
TOTAL DAILY ENERGY EXPENDITURE
The second number of significance is your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) which is a combination of your BMR and then all of the calories you burn through movement, eating, digestion, talking, fidgeting, working, exercise etc. The combination of your daily movement and your BMR equals your TDEE.
APPLYING IT TO YOUR GOALS
Wondering why these numbers are important? If you were to consume the exact amount of calories as your TDEE you would technically maintain your current weight. Because your TDEE is the number of calories that you burn each day, when you eat that many calories a day your body is in balance. If you were to eat over your TDEE you would theoretically gain weight and alternatively if you consume under your TDEE you would lose weight. This is a simplified explanation and there are other factors that come into play such as stress, hormones, history of dieting, sleep etc. Each of these factors can contribute to both weight loss and weight gain which can make calorie tracking a little bit more difficult.
When we are trying to increase muscle mass - you want to eat at or just above your TDEE with a high portion of protein. On the other hand when you want to decrease fat - you want to eat below your TDEE enough to lose weight. The goal is to eat as much food as possible while still losing weight to prevent plateaus and metabolic adaptation.
METABOLIC ADAPTATION
Metabolic adaptation is a process when your body becomes more efficient. If you feed your body less it will start to burn less calories to prevent you from withering away to nothing. You can never ruin your metabolism, it doesn’t break, but it does adapt to its current situation. So in a weight loss situation it’s important to eat as much as possible while still losing fat so that as your body adapts to the current input you will be able to decrease your calories even further. If you start on really low calories, when your body adapts, you won’t have anywhere to drop your calories down to. Then it leads to frustration and people giving up!
MACROS
When it comes to macronutrients, which are carbohydrates, fats and proteins, it’s important to know that carbohydrates are not inherently bad for you, they simply give you energy! It doesn’t matter if your goal is weight loss or weight gain, focusing on protein is a must. During muscle mass gains, having protein allows your body to incorporate that protein into your muscles after workouts and therefore increases muscle mass. On the other hand if you are attempting to lose weight, having excess protein helps your body burn fat instead of muscle and helps maintain your muscle mass. Maintaining muscle mass is the key to long term success, if you eat too little protein and lose muscle during weight loss then you are less likely to maintain that weight loss long term!
DETERMINE YOUR BMR TODAY
To learn about your personal calorie needs it all begins with knowing what your BMR is. Did you know that the InBody analysis machine at Nova Health Club is one of the most accurate ways to determine your BMR?
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