* These are the nutrients that we will be tracking *
Calories
Protein
Carbs
Fat
How do I find my Maintenance Calories?
(This is the amount that I need to eat every day in order to maintain my current weight)
Step 1
- Take your current body weight and multiply that by your activity level.
- This will be your Maintenance Calorie goal.
Level 10
No Exercise/Walks
Level 11
Light Exercise/Strength training 2 times a week
Level 12
Moderate Exercise/Working out 3 -4 times a week
Level 13
Heavy Exercise/4 – 6 times a week
Level 14
Athlete/Everyday/6 times a week for multiple hours
Here are a couple of examples Below: (I will continue to use these 2 examples below)
- A person weighing 150 lbs. that exercises 2 times a week… (150 x 11 = 1,650)
- This person would need to eat 1,650 calories a day to maintain their weight of 150 lbs.
- A person weighing 210 lbs. that doesn’t exercise at all… (210 x 10 = 2,100)
- This person would need to eat 2,100 calories a day to maintain their weight of 210 lbs.
*If you want to lose weight and not maintain your current weight, go to step 2*
Step 2
- Decide how much of a deficit you would like to start with.
- The larger the caloric deficit, the more weight you will lose, however, remember that the goal isn’t to drop a lot of weight really fast because cutting your calories too low too quickly will be really hard to maintain and it doesn’t leave you anywhere to go later.
- I would recommend 200 calorie deficit to start. But this number is totally up to you.
For Example:
- 150 lb. person from above – 1,650 – 100 = 1,550 I only chose a 100-calorie deficit for this person since they don’t weigh much.
- 210 lb. person from above – 2,100 – 200 = 1,900 I chose the 200-calorie deficit for this person because they have more calories to work with.
How do I find my Protein Goal?
Step 3
- Take your current weight and multiply by the appropriate Protein Number.
Protein # 1.5
Weight 125 lbs. – 145 lbs.
Protein # 1
Weight 145 lbs. – 165 lbs.
Protein # .9
Weight 165 lbs. – 195 lbs.
Protein # .8
Weight 195 lbs. – 250 lbs.
Protein # .6
Weight 250 lbs. – 300 lbs.
For example:
- 150 lb. person from above – 150 x 1 = 150 This person needs to eat 150 grams of protein a day.
- 210 lb. person from above – 210 x .8 = 168 This person needs to eat 168 grams of protein a day.
How do I find my Fat goal?
Step 4
- Take current body weight and multiply by .3
- This “.3” number will stay the same for everyone. (No matter what you weigh)
For example:
- 150 lb. person from above – 150 x .3 = 45 This person needs to eat 45 grams of fat a day.
- 210 lb. person from above – 210 x .3 = 63 This person needs to eat 63 grams of fat a day.
How do I find my Carb Goal?
Step 5
- There is no formula for finding carbs. So, we have to do a little math to figure this out. We need to figure out how many calories a day we are consuming from protein and fats.
- Once we figure that out, we will then be able to see how many calories are left for carbs.
What we Know:
- 1 GRAM OF CARBS = 4 CALORIES
- 1 GRAM OF FAT = 9 CALORIES
- 1 GRAM OF PROTEIN = 4 CALORIES
For Example:
- Take the grams of protein from our 150 lb. person and multiply that by 4 in order to get calories from protein.
- 150 x 4 = 600 calories from protein
- Take the grams of fat from our 150 lb. person and multiply that by 9 in order to get calories from fat.
- 45 x 9 = 405 calories from fat
- Add the calories from protein and the calories from fat together. 600 + 405 = 1,005 total protein and fat calories
- Now, take the DEFICIT calories for our 150 lb. person above and subtract the total protein and fat calories.
- 1,550 – 1,005 = 545 calories from carbs
Let’s do another example with our 210 lb. person:
- Take the grams of protein from our 210 lb. person and multiply that by 4 in order to get calories from protein.
- 210 x 4 = 840 calories from protein
- Take the grams of fat from our 210 lb. person and multiply that by 9 in order to get calories from fat.
- 63 x 9 = 567 calories from fat
- Add the calories from protein and the calories from fat together. 840 + 567 = 1,407 total protein and fat calories
- Now, take the DEFICIT calories for our 210 lb. person above and subtract the total protein and fat calories
- 1,900 – 1,407 = 493 calories from carbs
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER!
Now that we have the calories for all three categories, we are going to finally figure out how many grams of carbs these people should have per day.
** For 150 lb. person
- Take calories from carbs and divide by 4 to get total grams of carbs needed per day.
- 545/4 = 136.25 grams of carbs per day.
** For 210 lb. person
- Take calories from carbs and divide by 4 to get total grams of carbs needed per day.
- 493/4 = 123.25 grams of carbs per day.
So, what are the final macros for the 2 examples?
** For 150 lb. person with a 100 caloric deficit
- Calories per day = 1,550
- Protein per day = 150 grams
- Carbs per day = 136.25 grams
- Fat per day = 45 grams
** For 210 lb. person with a 200 caloric deficit
- Calories per day = 1,900
- Protein per day = 168 grams
- Carbs per day = 123.25 grams
- Fat per day = 63 grams