Strictly by calculation: how many calories should be in your diet?

Calories are, simply put, the energy that our body consumes and uses. In this case, knowing your daily allowance, which we get with food, is very important. Especially if you have a certain goal – weight loss, weight gain or weight fixation.

In order to understand how to correctly calculate the individual daily calorie allowance and what the diet should consist of, “Championship” talked to our experts: nutritionist Maria Ratnikova, therapist, TV presenter Alexei Bezymyanny and elite trainer of World Class network Vladimir Bardin.

How to correctly calculate energy expenditure based on a certain goal?

There are several formulas by which you can roughly estimate your daily energy expenditure. It is made up of several large parts. The most basic one is the level of basic metabolism, i.e. the amount of energy that a person spends to maintain the processes of vital activity: to keep the heart contracting, the lungs breathing, the body temperature constant, and so on. There are actually several formulas. They take into account, as a rule, height, sex, weight and age. There are also more precise ones, which take into account body composition (amount of muscle, fat mass, amount of water). If only sex, height, age and weight are known, it is also possible to calculate the daily calorie allowance, but it should be realized that such a calculation will definitely contain an error. An adult man who is 190 cm tall and weighs 120 kg may have a higher percentage of fat and a lower basal metabolic rate; or he may have a high percentage of muscle mass, which gives him a higher basal metabolic rate.

Then everything is multiplied by the physical activity coefficient, because in addition to existing, just living, a person also does something, expends energy, generates thoughts, emotions, moves the body in space, works, trains, and so on. The coefficients depend on the level of physical activity, but they are also, in general, approximate.

All this gives in the end a figure of average daily energy expenditure. And this figure should be used in the future, depending on the goal set for yourself.

The individual calorie allowance can be calculated using a so-called “calculator”.

Goal: Keeping fit

If a person wants to keep in shape without changing their weight and body composition, a nutritionist advises them to eat exactly as much as they spend.

Goal: Gain mass

If a person wants to gain mass, they should eat a little more than they spend. This is about plus 15-20% to the recommended figure.

Goal: weight loss

If the goal is to reduce your own weight, then you need to act in the opposite way: cut 15-20% of the recommended number of calories.

It is necessary to know that you need a smooth transition, nothing abrupt should be, because any event to change the composition of the body – it is a stress for the body. Naturally, the smoother will be the transition from one indicator of calorie intake to another, the easier a person will enter it, the more likely that he will continue to support this mode of eating and get some result, and will be able to keep it without serious disruptions and harm to health.

What to do in case of weight stagnation?

If nothing happens and we have adapted for some time to a certain caloric intake, then there are several techniques for promoting and getting out of this situation. For example, unloading and detox days, stress training options. Everything here is very, very individualized. It is better to do it under the guidance of a nutritionist and trainer, because if you make up some unloading diet for yourself, you can only do harm.

What should a healthy diet consist of?

The body should receive proteins, fats, carbohydrates and necessarily fiber. It is necessary in order to remove all toxins and harmful substances, decay products. Predominantly people who are engaged in sports should not have restrictions in nutrition. It should be balanced and distributed throughout the day. If we can afford to eat fast carbohydrates in the morning, then we must assume that there will be physical activity afterwards. In turn, it is worth remembering that the consumption of fats does not imply physical activity after the intake. And proteins should be included in the diet already after physical activity.

Interesting fact: before physical activity, include carbohydrates in your diet, and after – proteins. Consume fats in a measured manner throughout the day.

You can’t divide your snack into certain foods, such as proteins or fats separately. Because if you consume more proteins, then due to their breakdown to amono- and amino acids, there will be a violation of kidney function. In the future, this can lead to inflammatory kidney disease. Therefore, there should be a variety in the diet.

How to adjust your diet if you have a certain goal?

Goal: keep fit

In order to keep your weight, first of all it is recommended to normalize the water balance in the body, be sure to drink water. In addition, it is necessary to lead a mobile lifestyle and devote time to walking (at least 7-8 thousand steps a day). Finally, on the recommendation of the doctor, you should eat fractionally, do not overeat, especially in the evening, reduce the use of starchy foods, bakery products and fast sugars. It is better to eat five to six meals a day on a regular basis.

Goal: mass gain

If you want to gain muscle mass, then, according to the advice of our expert doctor Alexei Bezymyanny, you should add more protein to your diet, which is the building material that forms muscle mass. As for carbohydrates, you need to eat both slow and fast carbohydrates. Fast carbs are good after a workout, because during exercise we use up almost all of our energy and need to restore glycogen levels.

Goal: weight loss

If a person has a clear goal – to lose weight, then drying can help him. It involves reducing the amount of carbohydrates to a minimum (but not a complete rejection of them!), increasing the amount of protein in the first week, doing sports under control of heart rate in the range of 110-140 beats per minute.