Fitness Fact: Macro Calorie Counting

In this generation, there are a plethora of fad diets that may or may not work for each individual. As a person who has studied fitness and nutrition for a long time, I have tried a lot of different diet plans.

Some of the diets I have tried are Keto Diet, Atkins Diet, ItWorks, Weight Watchers, and even juicing. What I found for me and 99.9% of my clients is that macro calorie counting has been the most effective. Plus, it can help every individual, because it’s tailored specifically to each individual and the amount of calories that person’s body should consume each day based on height, weight, age and gender.

Here’s a breakdown on approximately how many calories men and women should be intaking daily:

• Men: calories/day = 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (y) + 5
• Women: calories/day = 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (y) – 161

After calculating your caloric intake, multiply your result by an activity factor — a number that represents different levels of activity (7):

• Sedentary: x 1.2 (limited exercise)
• Lightly active: x 1.375 (light exercise less than three days per week)
• Moderately active: x 1.55 (moderate exercise most days of the week)
• Very active: x 1.725 (hard exercise every day)
• Extra active: x 1.9 (strenuous exercise two or more times per day)

The end result gives you your tailored Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE).

Calories can either be added or subtracted from your total expenditure in order to reach different goals.

In other words, those trying to lose weight should consume fewer calories than they expend, while those looking to gain muscle mass should increase calories.

Decide Your Ideal Macronutrient Breakdown

After determining how many calories to consume each day, the next step is to decide what macronutrient ratio works best for you.

Typical macronutrient recommendations are as follows:

• Carbs: 45–65% of total calories
• Fats: 20–35% of total calories
• Proteins: 10–35% of total calories

Once you figure out the amount of calories you are able to eat in a day, and the amount of grams of fat, protein and carbs a day, it’s time to create a meal plan. One alternative is to go to a coach and have them put together a plan based on your macros to follow, too.

Using the MyFitnessPal app has been helpful for a lot of my clients, because you can get your macro calories and input them into the app, along with the nutritional information from foods you’ve eaten that day. It automatically calculates how much you should eat the rest of the day.

Another huge thing that can help with dieting using the Macro Calorie Counting Diet plan is Intermittent Fasting.

Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent Fasting means fasting for 16 hours a day and consuming calories only in 8 hours a day. My personal preference is breaking my fast at 12pm and eating until 8pm. Then, I don’t any other calories between the hours of 8pm and 12pm. This helps me with staying consistent with my diet.

Here are some benefits of intermittent fasting:

1. Changes the function of cells, genes and hormones
2. Helps with losing weight and belly fat
3. Can reduce insulin resistance, lowering your risk of Type 2 Diabetes
4. Reduce oxidative stress and inflammation in the body
5. Beneficial for heart health
6. Induces various cellular repair processes
7. May help prevent cancer
8. Good for your brain
9. May help prevent Alzheimer’s disease
10. May extend your lifespan

Please follow my Instagram @joelllllle to learn more. There is a link in my bio, I create personalized meal plans and workout plans for clients!