Calculating Calories

 Calculating your calorie needs:

I think this should be helpful for those of you struggling to do or understand the nutrition calculations. I provided an example calculation of my Carb/Fat/Protein ratio based off of my BMR and the percentages that work best for me. The rest is basic knowledge you can get from intro to nutrition.

Remember, everyone's body works a little differently. For example, I am not one of those people who tolerates carbohydrates well. As a general rule of thumb, 45-65% of the diet should be from carbs, but I personally go with 40%. Over years of experimenting, 40/30/30 works great for me. Don't be afraid to test what is best for you, but remember, give each test at least 2 weeks before changing it up.

I recommend using something like (MFP) www.myfitnesspal.com (they also have an app) until you find what is best for you and are comfortable with the diet change. To change your intake goals on MFP, make a profile and fill in everything honestly. Under "my home" select "goal" then "change goals" and select "custom." Then you can put in the percentages that you want, and it will calculate everything for you!

I wanted to make clear that the safe weekly weight loss range from most acceptable sources is 1-4 pounds per week. Notice, I put 1-2 pounds per week in DIET here. You should never aim to lose more than 2 pounds a week from diet alone. Therefore, you should not cut more than 1,000 calories from your BMR + Activity in order to lose the weight, and you should get a minimum of 1200 cals a day no matter what.

To create a larger calorie deficit, turn to exercise, but remember, your total deficit should not exceed 2,000 calories a day. I personally aim for a 750 cal deficit from diet and 750 from exercise for about 3 pounds loss per week. This way, I am losing at a good pace, but I do not feel totally drained.

Also, make sure you adjust this each time you have lost 5-10 pounds or when your regular activity changes. When you know you are regularly burning 750 calories a day in activity because you work out 2 times a day and you have a job that keeps you running around (like mine, as a nurse aid does) or working hard (like a construction worker), then you need to adjust your activity % that you add to your BMR to make sure you are eating enough food to keep you from crashing. www.myfitnesspal.com will do all of that for you! Just make sure you are making your changes every few weeks as needed by weighing in and changing your activities as needed.