Basics of meal frequency - continued

What is the ideal number of meals? 4, 5, 6, 7… 
even more than 7?


I can easily state that 1-2 meals a day is a disaster. If you don't eat at least three times a day, you
are causing severe damage to your metabolism. If you want to get your metabolism back up and
revving, read the following posts very thoroughly and follow the instructions to the letter.

Eat 3 meals a day, properly built with the right nutritious foods, and work out hard and you'll get
somewhat good results. But, you will still only get about half the results that you'd get from six meals
a day. Plus it will take you twice the time to get there. If you have less than “elite” genetics or simply
a naturally slow metabolism, it may require you some serious effort on only three meals. And missing
even a single meal causes damage to your metabolic rate.


Let's say you're eating 4 meals a day, again making proper food choices and combining your foods in
the ideal ratios, that's when you start to see substantial results. But still, you will only get about  60-70%
of the results you'd be able to get by eating six meals a day. And again it will take you longer to get there,
if you do get there.

5 meals a day? Now we’re talking! Five meals/day will give you good and steady results on a weekly basis. If you’re a large, active male, you could still do better by adding the sixth meal.

6 small meals a day is the way to go!! Two simple facts of physiology will tel you why: 

(1) It takes about 3 hours to fully digest each meal 
(2) protein lasts about three hours in your bloodstream. 

If you sleep 8 hours per night (which is recommended), that leaves 16 awake hours in your day.
Six meals over 16 hours equals one meal every 2.7 hours. When going with 5 meals, then your target
is one meal every 3.2 hours. Round it up for simplicity, and that’s where the basic guideline of one
meal every three hours comes from. Five meals a day is recommended and optimal to women and
six meals is ideal for men. The difference comes from men requiring more calories/day than women
(about 600-900 cals).


So, if 5-6 meals a day is good, then you could figure that 7-8 or even 10 must be even better, right?
Well, not exactly. You can experiment with one extra meal and it might work for your results. However,
it takes a minimum 2-2,5 hours to digest a meal, so it doesn't make any sense to eat more than six or
seven times per day. If you did, you would only be piling food on top of undigested food.

The amount you eat isn’t as important as the amount you fully digest. Unless each of your meals was
tiny, there's also the danger that you might eat too many calories for the day. Extremists that they are,
some bodybuilders think that if 5-6 meals a day is good, then 7-8 is even better. Some of them even
set their alarms and get up in the middle of the night to eat!

As in most areas of life, when something is taken to the extreme, there’s always a point of diminishing
returns or even damage. If your goal is to gain muscle mass and you’re that die-hard (dare I say nuts?),
then help yourself out. A light protein meal in the night might prevent some of the muscle loss that occurs naturally at sleep. But there’s the other side to it: uninterrupted sleep is very important too.

But when your number one priority is fat loss, you’re better off not eating late in the evening at all, let
alone in the middle of the night. Get your precious sleep – you’re gonna need it with the training  program
I have in store for you!


Why you might oppose the 5 to 6 meals a day idea
– 
and why you need to GET OVER IT if you want to own 
a fit, fat-free body!


You may know at least one person who doesn't go by this meal frequency rule, might be a friend who
eats no breakfast and two gigantic meals like a pizza for lunch and a hamburger meal for dinner. Despite these two oversized and unhealthy feedings, they never seem to gain fat and they look like they’re in
excellent shape. After seeing such irritating displays of genetic advantage, you might think and say to
yourself that this meal frequency business is a bunch of nonsense.

However, I must warn you; if you don't accept the habit of eating small frequent meals, you may see somewhat good results, but you’ll never be able to reach your maximum genetic potential. If your
metabolism and genetic gifts are geared towards gaining fat easily, you can’t afford to mess around 
with only 3 meals a day. And you definitely can’t skip meals! Pay no attention to your friends 
and just do what it takes for you!


The reason most beginners have a hard time going by the five or six meals concept is because what it suggests, in many cases, is that some people actually eat MORE FOOD than they’ve ever eaten before!
The secret is that the food is simply spread out into smaller portions. This idea might sound bizarre to everything you’ve ever heard about fat loss. As you might remember, I even said so myself in our
previous talk about calories; you need to eat less than you burn in order to lose weight, right?

And that's still true, calories count. But the thing about eating frequently is that IT MAKES YOU BURN MORE CALORIES! 5-6 meals a day accelerates your body’s natural rate of calorie burning (metabolic rate).


Why skipping meals is one of the most crucial errors of fat burning nutrition 
-
and eating more food and lose more fat at the same time, 
how's it possible?


Skipping meals (or too much time between meals) is the cardinal sin of fat loss and muscle-building nutrition. Missing meals will slow down your metabolism. It also causes muscle loss and wakes up your body’s starvation response mechanisms.

Let's imagine you skip your breakfast and you haven’t eaten since 8:00 p.m. the previous evening. You
eat lunch at 12:00 pm. That's when you’ve gone 16 hours without any food. At this point, you are not only
in a highly catabolic (muscle breaking) state, you’re also sending an unmistakable starvation signal to your body.


If skipping meals is the biggest sin of fat burning and muscle building, then skipping breakfast 
is a capital crime suited for the death penalty! And yet “everybody” does it!

One of the most common errors people tend to do when aiming for fat loss is skipping breakfast.
Or eating it late, around 10:00 a.m. or even later. “I don’t have the time” is usually the excuse justifying
this fatal error. Let’s take a closer look at the impact that this lack of planning and discipline may have
on your fat loss efforts:

Suppose you’re in a hurry to get to work in the morning and you get there without eating breakfast.
Your first meal of the day is lunch at 12:00 noon. It’s moderate in size, let’s say 550 calories, consisting
of a tuna pasta salad. Sounds fairly healthy so far. By your dinnertime of 6:00 p.m., you are starving
hungry, and you finish off a large plate of pasta for a total of 850 calories.

Later that night you’re still hungry and find your sweet tooth craving. Some sugar cookies and low fat
milk satisfies your needs – about 300 calories. Then you go right to sleep. Although this is far from
perfect, this menu still doesn’t sound like a total disaster to the average, uniformed person…
But as you might see, IT IS! It’s a nightmare!


Adding up those calories, it totals only 1700 for the entire day. So in theory, at least according to the
calorie calculations we did previously, it seems you should be losing fat – quite rapidly if you’re a male.
So why aren’t you? Answer; It’s because you’re encouraging your body in every possible way to store
fat!
You are in a highly catabolic state by leaving 18 hours between dinner and the next day’s lunch. This
causes muscle loss and metabolic slowdown. Because you’ve only eaten one meal during the beginning
of the day, you’re famished and you overeat at dinner.

Even though you’re in a 24-hour calorie deficit, this causes fat storage anyway because you’ve eaten more than you can handle at one sitting. By starving and stuffing, you’ve also set yourself up for serious cravings
at evening; usually the wrong kinds of foods – like sweets or ice cream!

In the long run, this type of diet is a sure-fire way to slow down your metabolism, break down your
muscles and gain body fat. On the other hand, 2400 calories spread out into five or six small meals of
400 - 480 calories each (about 300-350 calories per meal for women), will increase energy, accelerate muscle growth, and speed up your metabolism without fat storage. Frequent eating can actually allow you to consume up to 50% more calories without storing an ounce of it as fat!

Secrets of meal frequency - get your metabolism running wild!

Today I'll start on a completely new subject; Meal frequency. It's probably the most important factor
when you want to make the best out of your genetic and athletic potential.

"Meal frequency and meal frequency alone has the capability of having some miraculous effects on
human physiology!"
- TC Luoma, Bodybuilding writer and editor of Testosterone Magazine

"If you haven't figured it out yet, let me spell it out for you: depending on your goal, it is either five or
six meals a day or forget about reaching your potential!"
- Keith Klein, nutritionist expert and the writer of “Get Lean.”


The secret to turbocharge your metabolism


A fast metabolism. Just hearing that phrase makes you think about a rock hard, fat-free body.
Having a “fast” metabolism means that you’re burning calories efficiently all day long, no matter
if you’re resting or exercising. When you have a slow metabolism, your diet doesn’t work so
effectively and even a well-designed workout program is much less effective. Having slow-
metabolism syndrome is very likely the reason of seeing little to no results, even when eating
very little calories and "cardioing their brains out".

Your goal is clear: Find ways to charge up your metabolism and get it spinning as fast
as possible. These upcoming posts will tell you how to do that.

Of all the nutrition strategies, the habit of eating small, frequent meals – one approximately every
three hours when awake - is by far the best way to speed up your metabolism. In fact it’s so 
effective, that when you start to see the results, you may wonder why you’ve ever had 
any difficulty losing body fat in the past!


After 3-4 months of strict pre-contest dieting on super-clean, high protein foods eaten 6-7 times a
day, competitive fitness models/bodybuilders often have their metabolism “spinning” so fast, that they
burn huge quantities of food, and yes, even junk food! (Still they're just getting fitter and fitter!). Their
bodies become like “human food incinerators,” producing massive amounts of heat and burning off
calories at an astounding rate.

When combining frequent eating and the right food choices, your body will turn into a "turbo-charged fat burning machine!" And further more, eating a healthily constructed meal every 3 hours is also the optimal
way to build and maintain muscle. The longer you practice the five to six meals per day habit, the more muscle you’ll develop. And the more muscle mass you gain, the faster your metabolism will become.
This a positive, self-reinforcing cycle!



Why you will never reach your maximum genetic potential if you're not eating five to six meals per day


Just how important is meal frequency? Let's put it this way: Comparing
three “squares” to six meals a day is like comparing a 450 horsepower V-10, 8.0 liter
Dodge Viper to a four cylinder Honda Civic. There’s nothing wrong with a Honda Civic -
it will get you where you want to go – in the end - but if you wanted to get somewhere fast, which engine would you choose? With a top speed of 192 mph, I’d at least take the Viper, wouldn’t you?


The odds are good that you are looking for the fastest way to get the results you want, and achieve the goals you've set. There are of course limits to how fast you can safely lose body fat, but high meal frequency will allow you to do it as quickly as possible. You can choose the right foods and exercise daily, but if your metabolism is running slow, it compares to swimming upstream; very slow and time consuming.

Don't take this as a claim that you can’t get any results on three meals a day – of course you can.
A traditional and nutritional breakfast, lunch and dinner, carefully selected using the guidelines in this blog and mixed with aerobic and weight training, will definitely get you noticeable results. Unluckily, it will take more time. If you have ambitious goals, such as bodybuilding or fitness competition (or if you just want to look like one), then five or six meals per day is an absolute requirement.

To be continued...stay tuned!

More about calorie counting - and the importance of it

Compare your estimated TDEE to how much you’ve been eating in the past


In order to know where you should begin on your new nutrition program, you need to know how
many calories you were consuming before. Majority of people don't have any idea about how many
calories they eat daily. If you are one of those, then it’s time to start the new positive habit of calorie counting!

Before you make any large changes to the quantity of food you’re currently eating, you need to figure
out exactly how many calories you’ve been eating on average over the past few months. Try to remember
a recent “typical” day of eating and write down everything you ate that day; from the time you got up in
the morning to the time you went to sleep at night. Don’t neglect the little things like sauces, the milk in
your coffee, the sports drink during your exercise, a relaxing beer or late snacks.

Then, go write them down and add everything up. (There are plenty of websites where you can search
a food and keep a good diary of your meals.). If your food intake varies daily and you don’t have a
"normal" day, then you should write down three days worth of recent meals, add them up and divide
by three to get a daily average. After you’ve summed it all up you may be surprised (often unpleasantly)
at the amount you've been eating.


Make it a discipline to learn the calorie values of all the foods you eat on a regularly and memorize them. There are probably only about 10-15 or so of those foods. For foods you eat more rarely, have your
calorie counter site handy to look them up.


Adjust your calories gradually when necessary


It’s not recommended to make dramatic changes to your caloric intake all at once. When you’ve done
all your calorie calculations and found out your optimal calorie level to reach your goals, compare that amount to what you’ve been eating on average over the past few months.

If your current caloric intake has been much higher or lower than your newly established target amount,
then you may need to adjust your calories gradually. For example, if your optimal caloric intake would
be 2600 calories per day, but you’ve only been eating two meals adding only 1500 calories per day for
the past year, your metabolisc rate may be very slow from the low meal frequency and a large calorie
deficit sustained for so long.  An immediate hop to 2600 calories per day might  cause a gain in body fat because your body has adapted to the low caloric intake. A sudden increase would create a temporary surplus.


The best way to go would be to increase your calories little by little, from 1500 to 2600 over a period of many weeks to allow your metabolic rate to gradually catch up and increase it's rate.  Simply said, you
only need to eat the same foods and the same number of meals, but gradually increase your portions to
let your body get accustomed to larger number of calories.

This also works in reverse; if you’re eating much more than your recommended amount, it may be better
to gradually reduce your calories than to drop them suddenly. Cutting too many calories too quickly usually causes diet relapses because the change is too drastic for some people to handle physically and psychologically.


Keeping a nutrition journal: Read the nutrition labels, count calories, and weigh or measure everything…at least once!


When starting your new nutrition program, I strongly suggest you to keep a "daily nutrition journal" in
which you keep track of your calories and foods and other important nutrition information. . Those
calorie counting sites have very good and simple journals to keep track of your calories.


If you’re not so familiar with calories, you may want to keep a detailed nutrition journal at least once for
a period of 1-3 months. After you’ve done this, you've gained a new perspective  on calories that will
stay with you for the rest of your life.

Get yourself a good kitchen scale and get a complete set of measuring cups. For any packaged foods
that you don’t know the caloric value of by memory, read the “Nutrition Facts” panel on the label.
For produce and natural foods that don't come with labels (vegetables, fruits, etc), use your calorie
website to look up the food values.


Is all this calorie counting really necessary or could you just count “portions”?


Some people say that calorie counting is not practical. Instead they insist that you should be counting
your “portions.” Controlling portion sizes instead of calories is a good start, but as nutrition expert
Ian King has once said, “Any discussion about optimal calorie intake is really a total waste of time -
unless you are actually counting the calories!”


In his book, “Everything You Need to Know About Fat Loss,” Chris Aceto, one of the top bodybuilding nutritionists in the world, said, “I feel that number crunching is a very important part of learning about nutrition. You will never be able to build an exact diet, one that really works, and one that is built
especially for you without knowing how to count calories, carbohydrates, protein and fat.”

Chris is right. Although genetically gifted bodybuilders and fitness competitors can just guess at
everything and get positive results. But almost every top-level physique athlete in the world 
religiously counts calories. They don't leave anything to chance and there's no reason why 
you should either. This is especially true during times when you’re working hard on achieving a
major goal, whether it’s a competition or losing 5% body fat for vacation.

If you don’t become familiar with the calorie content of your daily foods and keep a nutrition journal
at least once, then I can safely say you’re not just serious about your goals - you’re just taking guesses! Once you’ve completed your nutrition journal at least once, you’ll be able to at least make an educated estimate of your caloric intake from that point onward.


A simple way to make this process quick and easy is to write out your menu on an Excel spreadsheet
with all your calorie and macronutrient totals calculated, and then tape it to your refrigerator. If you have
the same basic menu every day, or close to it, then there’s no more calorie counting to be done – you
only need to do it just once to set up your initial menu.


Considering from a practical standpoint, eating the same meals every day takes the painstaking daily
calorie counting completely out of the picture. However, looking this from nutritional perspective, 
it’s a good idea to eat a wide variety of foods over the course of every week so you'll get
the complete set of vitamins, minerals, fiber and other important nutrients that are necessary
for optimal health and body composition.

With the "exchange system" you will learn about in my future posts (link will be added here later) , you
will discover that substituting food items are quite simple. Using the exchange system guidelines will allow
you to closely and easily monitor your calorie levels even when you differentiate from your regular meals.
If you really enjoy the variety, you can create a few days or even a whole week of menus and rotate them.

I’ve never heard of anyone who got bored or who failed to obtain a sufficient variety of foods by creating three or four days worth of menus. So as you see, calorie counting will require only a little bit of work and discipline in the beginning, but once your menus have been worked up on a spreadsheet, making exchanges is a simple task and there’s really nothing complicated about it!



Counting calories is a discipline that really pays itself!


Although it’s clearly not necessary to write down the calorie amounts of every little crumb that goes
in your mouth every day for the remaining of your life, it’s still important that you understand the law
of calorie balance and you always have at least an estimated figure of your current daily caloric intake.

When you’re only guessing and you don’t have the smallest clue about how much you’re eating, you
could actually be way off in your calories; eiher too much below or too muh above. If you find yourself making no progress, this lack of attention to detail might be the only factor holding you back. Do you
really want to take that chance?

In conclusion, if you decide to track your calories carefully, it should depend on your results. Results are
the ones that count. Counting portions and guessing is fine ONLY if you’re getting the results you want! If you’re losing body fat while maintaining muscle mass even without counting calories, then keep doing what you’re doing. However, most people who neglect to count calories are NOT getting the results they want because they are guessing, which simply suggests a lack of discipline.


You may not consider counting calories and playing with numbers fun or easy, and you might not feel
like doing it. However, calorie counting is a discipline just like anything else related to fat loss and fitness.
The best definition of discipline I’ve ever read was by achievement expert Brian Tracy, who said:


“Discipline is doing what is hard and necessary rather than what is fun and easy and doing it 
when it’s necessary, whether you feel like doing it or not.”


So when you are looking for the best results, then get to your preferred calorie counting website and
take out your measuring cups, scale, daily nutrition diary (or spreadsheet) and get counting!

In the future posts to come, get ready to learn about more disciplines you’ll want to adopt in order to cut your body fat levels to ridiculously low, revealing the amazing muscle definition you’ve always wanted!

Calories - how much to eat for optimum fat loss?

Calorie deficit thresholds - How little is too little?

It’s a physiological fact that cutting calories too severely slows down your metabolism and causes
the loss of lean body mass. So that leaves us with the question, “How low can you go without
negative effects?

The most common guideline for losing fat is to reduce your calories by at least 500, but not more
than 1000 below your maintenance level (TDEE). For some people, who are at low body weights
and low activity levels, 1000 calorie cut might be too large of a deficit. The ACSM’s guideline for recommended and safe calorie levels are 1200/day-minimum for women and 1800/day-minimum
for men.

Your lowest allowable calorie intake should be:

A) 1000 below maintenance or,
B) 1200 for women and 1800 for men
Choose the one that gives you higher calories/day.

A more individualized technique is to cut down your calories by a percentage relative to your
personal calorie needs (again referring to TDEE). Reduce your calories by 15-25% below your
maintenance for optimal, safe and permanent fat loss!


This method is much more precise way to determine your correct calorie deficit.  Cutting down
calories by 15-25% below maintenance level is a good place to start. A larger deficit (25-30%)
might be necessary for some of you, but the best approach would be to keep your calorie deficit
from diet small, while using exercise to increase your deficit, if needed. Keep in mind, the larger of
a deficit you create, the sooner your body will notice that you are dieting and the sooner it will start
slowing your metabolic rate, thus decreasing the amount of calories burned.


Using the "minus 500 method":

Your weight is 78 kgs.
Your TDEE is 2820 calories
Your calorie deficit to lose weight is 500 calories
Your optimal caloric intake for weight loss would be 2820 - 500 = 2320 calories

Using the "percentage method":

Your calorie deficit to lose weight is 20% (.20% X 2820 = 564 calories)
Your optimal caloric intake for weight loss = 2256 calories


Adjusting your caloric intake according to your weekly results



All caloric expenditure formulas are just estimations for giving you a starting point. The only way
to tell if your estimate is accurate is to get going and see your results! To see how your body
responds to your calorie calculations, measure and record your results in terms of weight, waist
lines etc. and body composition measurements.

Btw, here's a great and simple body fat measuring tool which gives you a good indicative of your body composition.

If you don’t get results you are expecting, you may need to adjust your caloric intake or exercise
levels according to these instructions here and here.


The “skinny” on gaining muscle while losing fat


Supplement advertising in bodybuilding and fitness magazines have brainwashed many people into
believing that gaining muscle mass and at the same time losing fat is an easy and very common
occurrence (with the right "magic" product, of course!).Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but
IT'S NOT!

However, it's common to see a large decrease in body fat while gaining a little muscle mass. It's
also common to see a large increase in lean body mass with a small decrease in body fat. But one
thing you hardly ever see is a large increase in lean body mass and a large decrease in body fat at
the same time (especially if you are steroid-free or not genetically blessed).


Because so many people can’t make up their minds and they go back and forth between trying to
gain muscle and trying to lose fat, and that usually leads in failure on both of those goals! Clear 
goals and a laser-like focus are critical when you want to make the most efficient use of 
your time, energy and effort. Make up your mind and determinedly follow it!


It’s physiologically not possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same moment in your body. You
won't gain muscle mass in a calorie deficit and you can't lose fat in a calorie surplus, it's that simple.

Let’s illustrate: 

The average man with a daily maintenance level of 2800 calories needs about 500 calories extra to
gain weight – a total of 3300 per day. To lose weight, he would need about a 500-calorie deficit –
a total of only 2300 calories per day. The difference between these two nutrition programs is 1000
calories! They are at completely opposite ends of the scale.

There are, however, several situations where gaining large amounts of muscle and losing large amounts
of fat can happen at the same time:


1) When steroids and/or fat burning drugs are used.
2) In beginners, whose bodies are extremely responsive to training.
3) In advanced athletes/active people,  after a long layoff. The muscle gain is due to "muscle memory”
      i.e., they are not gaining new muscle, they are just regaining that muscle mass they previously lost).
4) In genetic superiors.


The key to improving your body composition and get the body you've always wanted, is to put
110% focus on your single most important goal; losing that extra fat or gaining muscle mass – one
or the other.
If you have above average amount of body fat, then your number one goal should be to 
focus on losing fat first. Then, once the fat is off, you should re-write your goals and work 
on gaining muscle while maintaining your new, lower body fat level!

And at this point, I suggest you read my previous post about the zig-zag method , to really overcome
and "trick" your body's starvation mechanism by tampering calories.
That's all for today, more to come!

2 of the most accurate ways to calculate your daily caloric needs

As promised, here are more accurate ways to calculate your calorie requirements per day.
So let's continue!

Equations based on BMR.


A very accurate method for calculating Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is to determine
basal metabolic rate (BMR) first, then multiply the BMR by an activity factor to determine TDEE.
There are two formulas you can use to calculate your BMR. The Harris-Benedict formula is the
one you will use if you don’t know your LBM (you don’t need body composition information to
use this formula). If you know your LBM, you should use the Katch Mcardle formula for the most
accurate result.


The Harris-Benedict formula (BMR based on total body weight)


This formula uses the factors of height, weight, age, and sex to determine basal metabolic rate
(BMR). This makes it more accurate than determining calorie needs based only on total
bodyweight. The only factor it doesn’t take into account is lean body mass. This equation will be
very accurate in everyone else but the extremely muscular (underestimates caloric needs) and the
extremely overfat people (overestimates caloric needs).

Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)

Example:
You are male
You are 30 yrs old
Your height 173 cm
Your weight 78 kilos
Your BMR = 66 + 1068 + 865 - 204 = 1795 calories/day
Now once you know your BMR, you can calculate daily caloric needs by multiplying your BMR
by the following activity factor.

Activity factor

Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. Active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or
2 X day training, marathon, football camp, contest, etc.)

Continuing with the previous example:

Your BMR is 1795 calories per day
Your activity level is moderately active (work out 3-4 times per week)
Your activity factor is 1.55
Your TDEE = 1.55 X 1795 = 2782 calories/day


Katch-McArdle formula (BMR based on lean body weight)


The Harris-Benedict formula also has separate methods for calculating the needs of men and women because men usually have a higher lean body mass and a larger bodies. Since the Katch-McArdle
formula accounts for LBM, this single formula applies equally to both men and women and it is the
most accurate method of determining your daily calorie needs.

BMR (men and women) = 370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg)

Example:
You are male
Your weight 78 kilos
Your body fat percentage is 14% (10,9 kgs fat, 67,1 kgs lean)
Your lean mass is 67.1 kilos
Your BMR = 370 + (21.6 X 67.1) = 1819 calories

Again, to determine your daily calorie expenditure from BMR, you simply multiply BMR by the
activity factor:

Continuing with the previous example:
Your BMR is 1819
Your activity level is moderately active (you work out 3-4 times per week)
Your activity factor is 1.55
Your TDEE = 1.55 X 1819 = 2820 calories


As you can see, the difference in the TDEE as determined by both formulas is statistically
insignificant (2782 vs. 2820 calories) because the man we used as an example is average in
body size and body composition. The primary benefit of factoring LBM into the equation is
increased accuracy when your body composition leans to either end of the spectrum (very
muscular or very obese). This is yet another reason to monitor your body fat percentage and
not just your body weight.



Adjust your caloric intake according to your goal


Once you know your maintenance level, the next step is to adjust your calories according to your
primary goal. And as I established on my earlier post, the mathematics of weight control are simple:

1) To keep your weight at its current state, you should remain at your daily caloric maintenance level.

2) To lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit by reducing your calories slightly below your
    maintenance level (or keeping your calories the same and increasing your activity above your
    current level).

3) To gain lean body weight, you must increase your calories above your maintenance level (and
    engage in a program of progressive resistance training).



How to adjust your calories for fat loss


Now, let’s talk about how many calories you should consume to lose body fat. A calorie deficit
that’s too large or maintained for too long, will eventually wake up the starvation response and
slow down your metabolism. Still, you must be in a calorie deficit if you want to lose fat. The secret
is to use just a small calorie reduction and to avoid those "magic diets" that advertise for extremely
large calorie reductions.

Body fat is nothing more than stored energy in our body. To release that energy, you must enter a
calorie deficient state. Calories not only count, they are the most important variable in a fat loss
program. Simply enough, if you eat more calories than you burn, you will not lose fat, no matter
what you’re eating or how much of training you’re doing. Some foods may get stored as fat more
easily than others because of the way they affect your hormones and blood sugar, but always
remember that too much of anything will get stored as body fat. You can never override the laws
of energy balance


In a kilo of stored body fat, there are 7700 calories. So in theory, if you create a 3800-calorie
deficit per week through diet, exercise or a combination of both, you will lose about 0,5 kgs.
If you created a 7700 calorie deficit in a week you will lose a full kilo. The calorie deficit can
be accomplished through diet, exercise or better yet, with a combination of both. And as we
already factored in the exercise deficit by using an activity multiplier, the deficit we are concerned
with here is the nutrition deficit.

The strictly mathematical model of calories in versus calories out doesn’t always work because of
the body’s weight regulating mechanism – also known as the starvation response. Nevertheless,
the mathematical model gives you a very good starting point, and as long as you follow the
8 strategies you learned in my earlier post, for avoiding the starvation mode, you will continue a
steady, permanent fat loss by using a small, temporary calorie deficit in conjunction with aerobic
exercise and weight training.

6 major factors affecting your calorie requirements

Your calorie requirements per day depends on six factors. The formulas for calorie calculations
I'm about to tell you take into notice of all six of these factors to get the most accurate estimate
possible.


1) Your basal metabolic rate (BMR)


BMR is the total number of calories your body burns for normal bodily functions, including
circulation, respiration, cell construction, digestion, temperature regulation and every other
metabolic process in your body. In short, your BMR is the total sum of all the energy used
for basic bodily functions, excluding physical activity.

Those basic functions usually make up the largest amount of your daily calorie consumption
 - about 2/3. BMR is at its lowest when  asleep,  and you’re not digesting anything.
It can also vary dramatically from person to person depending on genetics. We all probably
know someone who eats anything they want yet they never gain an ounce of fat. This type of
fast metabolism person has inherited a naturally high BMR.


2) Activities you do


Behind basal metabolic rate, your activity level is the second biggest factor in how many
calories you require daily. Simply, the more active you are, the more calories you burn.
Become more active and you'll burn much more calories. Sit on the couch all day long
and you hardly burn any.


3) Your weight


Total body weight and total body size are also major factors in the number of calories
you require. The bigger you are, the more calories you’ll require to keep your body going.


4) Your muscle mass (or lean body mass, LBM)


Total body weight follows with the number of calories you require, but sorting your total weight
into its lean and fat mass allows you to calculate your calorie needs even more accurately. The
higher your LBM, the higher your BMR will be.

This is a major factor when you want to lose body fat because it means the more muscle you
have, the more calories you will burn at rest. Muscle is metabolically active tissue, and it requires
very much energy to sustain it. The best way to increase your BMR is to increase your LBM. 
This is why you could say that weight training helps you lose body fat.



5) Your age


Metabolic rate slows down with age. Therefore, the number of calories you, as an average person,
require also goes down with age. Luckily, you can prevent and even reverse the age-related slowdown
in metabolism by developing more muscle through weight training and good nutrition.


6) Gender


Men usually need more calories than women. The average man has a maintenance level of 2800
calories per day. The average female requires only 2100 calories per day to maintain. The reason
for this difference is body weight and muscle mass differences between men and women; the average
man carries much more muscle mass than the average female and this explains the spread in calorie requirements between men and women. In exception are those genetically gifted individuals with
higher BMR.



Methods of determining caloric needs


There are many formulas you can use to determine your daily calorie needs using these six factors.
Any formula using lean body mass in the calculations will always be more accurate than one based
only on total bodyweight. However, even if you only have total body weight to work with, you can
still get a very accurate results.


The "quick" method (based on total bodyweight)


A fast and simple method to determine how many calories you need is to use your
total current weight times a multiplier for TDEE.

Fat loss = 26-28 calories per kg. of bodyweight
Maintenance (TDEE) = 33-35 calories per kg. of bodyweight
Weight gain = 40 to 44+ calories per kg of bodyweight

That is a very easy method to estimate caloric needs, but its most obvious flaws are not taking into
account your activity levels or body composition. If you’re extremely active, this formula underestimates
your calorie requirements.

Using this formula, a lightly active 50-year-old woman who weighs 105 kgs would have a TDEE
of about 3400 calories per day (105 X 33). Since almost all women will rapidly gain weight on
3000 calories per day, this illustrates another flaw in the quick formula – it will overestimate your
calories if your fat percentage is significantly higher than average.

Despite these drawbacks, the quick formula is a good way to get a quick ballpark
estimate, as long as your body fat is at an average level or below that.


On my next post I'll go more deeply in other methods of figuring out your caloric needs, whatever your
goals are. And regardless if these might come off as a little boring to you, don't still underestimate the importantness of this subject!
Keep going, until tomorrow!

The fundamental law of energy balance

My yesterdays post brings us to the law of energy balance; the granddaddy of all nutritional laws,
and the first fundamental you must understand and obey if you want to get super fit.

The law of energy balance establishes, that when you burn more calories than you consume, then
your body must use the stored fat for fuel to make up for the calorie deficit and you will lose fat.
And of course, the reverse is also true: If you consume more calories than you burn each day, you
will store the extra nutrients and gain fat (or when weight training, gain muscle).


The first natural outcome of the law of energy balance


There are two natural outcomes with the law of energy balance. The first outcome is that
too much of any food – even so-called “healthy” foods – will be stored as body fat. If you
consume more calories than you are burning each day, it doesn’t matter what you eat; you
will gain weight, usually in the form of body fat. When the calorie surplus is beyond what you
need for muscle growth, then all those extra calories will be converted into body fat.

There’s no such diet where you can “eat all you want” and lose weight and body fat by simply
eating one particular food, one food group or a special combination of foods – this is physiologically impossible. It’s also not wise to eat excessive amounts of calories (or protein) thinking that you’ll
gain more muscle that way. No diet program has any "metabolic advantage” that can override the
law of energy balance, no matter what combination of foods it prescribes.



The first natural outcome of the law of calorie balance

Too much of ANYTHING will get stored as fat - 
yes, even healthy foods.


The second natural outcome of the law of energy balance


The second outcome of the law of energy balance establishes, that if you are eating fewer calories
than you are burning each day (you’re in a calorie deficit), then even if you eat junk food, you won’t
store it as body fat.

But this should NOT be interpreted as a recommendation or a free license to eat anything you want
in small quantities because you can “get away with it.” Obviously calorie quality is also very important. However, knowledge of this allows you to relax your diet and enjoy some “cheat” foods from time to
time without feeling guilty about it, as long as you do it in moderation. In other words, you can have
your cake, and eat it too. But just don't eat the whole thing!




Outcome two of the law of calorie balance

Small amounts of anything - even junk food - will 
probably not get stored as fat if you are eating fewer 
calories than you burn up.


Pay attention to portion size and never stuff yourself at 
one sitting


The law of energy balance is the major law of fat loss you need to understand and follow if you
want to get lean. This law and its two outcomes override all other nutritional laws. I've seen many
people do almost everything right: they work out, choose the right foods and eat frequently. Yet
they're missing the most obvious factor of all: they simply eat too much calories!

Sometimes the only mistake keeping people from reaching their goals is failure to pay attention to
portion sizes they eat. Not every overweight person is an overeater. Some people hardly eat at all
and they still can’t lose weight, because of their bodytype. However, it's still the number one cause
why people are overweight, even though that might be the ONLY thing they’re doing wrong. Fat loss requires the discipline and willpower to control your portion sizes at all times.


The good rule to follow is to never stuff yourself in one sitting. Instead, always spread your calories throughout the day in smaller, more frequent meals. The benefits of small and frequent meals will be discussed in my later posts, but one of the major benefits is body fat reduction through portion control.



How to find out your caloric needs


Once you understand the importance and essence of calories, you’re ready to figure out how
many you actually need. The first step in designing your personal fat loss plan is to count the
total number of calories you are burning every day. This is known as your total daily energy
expenditure (TDEE). It's also known as your "maintenance level," because this is the level
where your calorie deposits are equal to your calorie withdrawals, as established on my
previous post.
.
TDEE is the total number of calories your body burns during 24 hours, including metabolic  rate
and all activities you do. Once you know your maintenance level, you will have a reference point
from which to start your plan.


Some typical calorie averages


Before I tell you how to calculate your own caloric needs, it is helpful to know the average
person’s calorie requirements. According to exercise physiologists, the average maintenance
level for women in the USA is 2000-2100 calories per day and the average for men is
2700-2900 per day.

Of course, these numbers are only averages. Actual caloric needs may vary widely and are much
higher for athletes or extremely active people. Some triathletes and cyclists for example may require
as many as 8000 calories per day just to maintain their weight! Endurance cyclists often eat energy
bars and high calorie carbohydrate drinks on the saddle, just to keep from losing weight every hour!

Calorie requirements can also vary among people with the same activity levels because of
differences in genetic metabolic rates.



Typical calorie averages for men and women:

For maintaining weight (TDEE):

Men (average): 2700-2900
Women (average): 2000-2100

For losing weight:

Men (average): 2200-2700
Women (average): 1400-1800

For gaining weight:

Men (average): 3200-4000+
Women (average): 2200-2500+


That's all for today, but tomorrow I'll tell you which 6 factors can affect your daily caloric needs, and an
simple way to roughly determine your calorie needs during the day!