Counting calories can be a confusing and difficult endeavour while trying to change your body composition. Whether you need to be hyper-caloric (excess calories) or hypo-caloric (deficit of calories) there is no use guesstimating as more often than not it becomes very challenging to get it right.
For male trainees eating more isn’t always a problem. Females however have it ingrained that feeling hungry and going without is a one way ticket to a better body. Starving yourself while training intensely will only lead to a decrease in lean tissue, low energy levels and a weakened immune system.
For example yesterday I was reviewing a food diary from a female client who on paper was doing really well. She was getting lots of colour on the plate, her sources were all single ingredient non-processed foods and her frequency was on point. On further inspection when we input her meals into MyFitnessPal she was averaging around 1400 kcal a day! As her target was 1900 kcal this meant that over the course of seven days she was in a deficit of up to 4200 kcal! Ideally you should not be in a deficit of more than 8% of overall intake. As her training frequency was four days a week of high intensity resistance based workouts this was way under where she needed to be and the reason why she had stopped losing fat and her girth measurements had remained the same.
‘After optimal body weight has been determined, approximate energy needs can be calculated. This process requires an equation to predict energy expenditure.’ (Essentials of Sports Nutrition 2008) I use BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate, depending on activity levels and clients goals. Whether that’s for fat loss, an increase in lean muscle or increasing strength, we work out how many calories that client needs per day.
It’s not always an exact science and sometimes takes some tweaking. Although if you are consistently under your daily requirements then you will find it difficult to make any real progress and will jump from one diet to the next looking for the answer. I often speak about the power of a food diary – even if you don’t have a personal trainer you should keep one for a few weeks and try tracking your calories (even just on training days) to ensure you are hitting the mark. Don’t leave it up to guess work, 99% of the time new clients aren’t eating enough. If you would like more help or advice on the subject contact us here at Optimal and we’d be happy to help.
