Determine Your Daily Calories
Changing your body is a process, a science and a numbers game. To build muscle while minimizing fat gain you need to have a firm understanding of how many calories to consume on a daily basis. Need more information? Check THIS post out.
There are many ways to determine the caloric balance for weight loss, maintenance and gain, but the below is pretty straightforward and a good rule of thumb without additional equipment or tests for measurement.
Fat Loss:
Current bodyweight * 10-13 (calories per pound)
Weight Maintenance:
Current bodyweight * 14-16 (calories per pound)
Weight Gain:
Current bodyweight * 17-19 (calories per pound)
For example, I weigh 140 pounds and at any given point in time am most likely trying to shed fat (while building muscle). I tend to consume 12 calories per pound (1,680 calories).
As mentioned, changing your body is a process, a science and a number games. Unfortunately, it’s not one-size fits all and it can change in a blink due to circumstances like workouts, weather, travel, stress, etc. You’ll need to take time (and it takes time, like weeks) to find your sweet spot. But when you do you’ll be set up for success to reach your fitness goals.
Don’t like to do your own math? Check out this website to determine your maintenance balance.
Do you use your current body weight or your “goal” body weight? If i was trying to lose ten pounds for example, would I use current weight or current weight minus ten to determine my calorie intake? I’ve been doing a little research to try to confirm but cannot find a straight answer – I assume that you use current weight and adjust as you lose because the caloric multiplier for fat loss already has a deficit built in but wanted to confirm. Thanks!
Use your current weight with the outlined calories per pound for weight loss. You’re right – if you have too much of a deficit your body will hold on to its current fat stores and you’ll get the opposite outcome! Play around with your levels and see how you feel. If you’re STARVING you may need a bit more, but know it will take about a week or so for your body to truly adjust!
Perfect and easy to understand for my tired brain. TY!!!
So happy I found This today. Need to re-evaluate my calories in. Happy to strive to be a part of the 4%