There are a handful of formulas you can find on the internet. Choose one and go with it because they are all estimates and not all exact. A calorie is a unit of energy. Everything you consume is made up of calories. You need a certain amount of calories a day in order to function and perform properly. When you consume too much or too little calories your waist either begins to spill over or you feel like a walking zombie.
What does Maintenance Calories Mean?
Maintenance Calroies is the amount of calories it takes to keep the weight where you are at now. Simple. Eat more calories than your maintenance, you will gain weight and vice versa with eating less calories. Again, simple.
Now when it comes to calculating your maintenance calories, you can search around on the internet and come across quite a bit of different formulas and experts that throw out some super detailed reasonings which then leads you to become more confused when you come across another expert who says things differently and shows you different numbers.
Don’t worry, you are not alone. I still get confused. That’s why I choose one formula, go with it, and make changes along the way. There are no formulas out there that are exact. They all give you a starting point but it is up to you to make adjustments or have someone help you.
Enter Alan Aragon….
He’s a nutrition researcher who is all about educating others on the principles of nutrition and performance through practicality. Plus, I heard him speak at two conferences before and I respected the way he kept things simple and uncomplicated. Even when questions filled with fancy terms were thrown his way, he still simplified the question and kept his answer simple and straight forward as well. Respect.
So yes…he’s one of the guys I listen to.
Now what is BMR?
BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate. It is the energy you expend while at rest. So if you were just to lay on the couch all day and do nothing, absolutely nothing, how much energy would you use? That’s BMR.
According to one of Aragon’s Research Reviews, he came up with:
For Men and Women:
25.3 x lean body mass in kg
11.5 x lean body mass in pounds
Don’t ask me how he got those numbers – he’s much smarter than me in this area.
Total Energy Expenditure (TEE)
Once you got your BMR – you then have to find out what you Total Energy Expenditure (TEE) because you better not just be sitting laying on the couch doing nothing.
TEE takes into the account of your activity level. The standard breakdown is as follows:
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job).
BMR x 1.2
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 3-5 days/week).
BMR x 1.3-1.4
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week).
BMR x 1.5-1.6
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days per week).
BMR x 1.7-1.8
Extremely Active (very hard daily exercise/sports and physical job or 2/day training).
BMR x 1.9-2.0
For example.
Let’s take a guy who is 215 lbs with 15% bodyfat.
His Lean Body Mass (LBM) = 182.75lbs
BMR = 11.5 x 182.75 = 2100 Calories (keeping the numbers simple)
Let’s say he is Moderately active:
2100 x 1.5 = 3,150
This means that in order for this guy to maintain where he is at of 215lb and 15% bodyfat, he’d have to consume 3,150 calories.
Now if he wants to gain or lose weight he’d have to increase or decrease his calorie intake by 300-500 calories.
Again, these numbers will never be exact but it does give you a starting point. The next thing for you to do is to see how your body responds to the increase or decrease in calories and make adjustments from there. Give it 1-2 weeks because your body will take time to adapt before it responds.
I hope this gives you a little insight on how to calculate your calories. The next thing to think about is Macronutrients, which will have to wait for another time.
Questions?
