Counting Calories Simplified

No matter what diet you plan to adopt, calories matter. In order to lose fat you need to be in a calorie deficit – the problem is how do we know if we are or not?

We have put together an example of how to work out how many calories you should consume and how much protein, fat and carbs you should consume.

We will preface this by saying this is only an example of one way of eating to achieve your goals. Some people won’t want to track calories, some people will get great results on a lower carb diet – everyone is unique and you will have to find a way of eating that you can adhere to – please remember this before you read the example below. This is an example of how we would plan someone’s eating that is willing to track food and count calories.

If you are planning on tracking calories and macronutrients then here is an example of how to work it all out, remember this is helpful but not essential.

Firstly, download the App ‘MyFitnessPal’ – track everything you eat and drink for at least a week and monitor your weight. When you find out how many calories you consume that maintains your bodyweight, take a note of this number.

DO NOT SKIP ANYTHING – TRACK EVERYTHING

We will use 2500 calories as an example. If we maintain weight at 2500 calories and our goal is to lose fat then we should aim to reduce our calories by 10% = 2250 calories.

2250 calories is what we should consume to lose fat, but what should your macro split be?

As mentioned previously, say you weigh 180 pounds, this means you should consume around 180 grams of protein (research suggests slightly under 1g per pound of bodyweight but this makes it easier to calculate), this equates to 720 calories.Our overall calories should be 2250 and we know that 720 calories should be from protein which leaves 1530 calories.

We always try and encourage people to make up the remainder of their calories from their own personal preference, however if you are unsure of how much fat to consume aim for 1 gram of fat per 0.5 pound of bodyweight. So if you weigh 180 pounds, aim for 90g of fat. There are 9 calories per gram of fat which equates to 810 calories from fat.

To work out Carbohydrates, we basically work out the remaider of the calories and have these from carbohydrates. When we take away calories from protein and fats we are left with 720 calories to be used from carbohydrates. There are 4 calories per gram of carbohydrates which means we should consume 180g of Carbohydrates.

So here is what you should consume from the example above:

2250 calories
180g Protein (720 calories)
180g Carbohydrates (720 calories)
90g Fat (810 calories)

As mentioned before, you can be fairly flexible with carbs and fats but make sure you hit your protein targets.

This is just one strategy you can adopt while trying to find a sustainable way of eating for you.

Please share or tag anyone that would be interested in this information.