Dieting Basics: Tracking, Macronutrients (carbs, fat, and protein), Energy?, and Determining Calories.

Dieting.  Eating.  Confusion.  Frustration.  Sound familiar…?

Are you one of those people who decides to go on a diet and starves themselves?  Perhaps you think, “if I really reduce my calories then I will lose weight faster.”  Have you repeatedly tried diet after diet restricting, yourself, and always feeling like you would never achieve your weight-loss goal?

First, let’s explain the word diet.  To the rest of the world diet means what you consume day-to-day.  To those in America however, it is usually used as a restrictive state – something you “go on” per se.  For the purpose of this article, we are referring to all dieting phases (loss, surplus, and maintenance).

Secondly, let us define a couple terms or dieting phases, weight-loss and the word “bulk.”.  When someone says, “I wanna lose weight” they mean FAT loss, not just weight.  It would be wonderful if we could target our fat loss and just burn the love handles, our butt, our guts, et cetera, right!?  Unfortunately, we cannot.  The last thing we want however, is to lose our lean body mass (LBM) or skeletal muscle mass (SMM), as this is the driver of our metabolism.  So, to sum up a fat loss phase, we are eating in a calorie deficit to lose fat while creating a stimulus to keep or create more lean mass (so our metabolism stays revving)!

Next is “bulking.”  This is a scary word to many, especially women as they think this means they are going to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger!  Bulking just means the primary goal is to make muscle gains.  I prefer though, to use the terms grow season or gain phase, but these all mean the same thing.  Simply put, we are eating in a calorie surplus while placing a demand on the body to create more skeletal muscle mass.  There is some fat gain associated with a bulk phase.  It is impossible for us to control how our body partitions or uses the nutrients we give it.  Some will go to repairing and growing new muscle tissues and some will be stored as fat (just like we cannot target fat loss).  

This is where a lot of confusion sets in.  “Do I need to only eat vegetables?”  “Do I need to cut carbs?”  “What do I do?”  “How many calories do I need?” “Can I just eat anything?”  “How do I start when all my other attempts have failed?”  Has this been you?

This is where we begin…..

I want to start with an overview or break down on nutrition.  It is important that everyone is in the know before moving forward.  Our “Big 3” macronutrients or macros are protein, carbs, and fat.  They supply the body with the energy and the nutrients we need to live our best each day.  

– Protein is the most thermogenic (meaning it costs the body to break it down). Yields 4 calories (abbreviated as kcals) per gram. It is essential for us, as it is made up of amino acids – think of these as the building blocks of our body (notoriously UNDER consumed in comparison to carbs and fat).

– Carbohydrates (carbs) are the body’s preferred fuel source. Converted, then stored in lean mass, BUT will be stored as fat if over consumed. Yields 4kcals/gram like protein (notoriously OVER consumed).

– Fat is essential for many things, but especially for healthy hormone function.  We only “need” an average of 15-20% of our day’s caloric needs to be from fat in order to absorb our fat-soluble Vitamins (A, D, E, & K). Yields 9kcals/gram thereby being the most energy dense of the macronutrients (also, like carbs, notoriously OVER consumed). 

• NOTE: Alcohol is considered a macronutrient and yields 7kcals/gram, being the second-most energy dense macro (second only to fat). However, your body views it as a toxic per se (lay terms) and therefore prioritizes its removal before it processes anything else.  Generally speaking, any other macronutrients consumed in the “alcohol window” are stored.  I caution you to be mindful of alcohol consumption, especially in regard to goal obtainment (plus, despite popular belief, it does inhibit sleep quality).

If you have not been tracking calories then you need to begin.  You need to see what you are consuming day-to-day before you attempt to make changes.  You need to know what to change, bottom line.  I know this may sound like a pain, but in all seriousness you need to know what your caloric maintenance at your current state is (current state is your average weight over a period of ~14 days).  Simply download a free tracker of choice, tell it you want to maintain your weight, and answer the questions.  Now, begin tracking anything with calories for at least 14 days while weighing yourself daily.  Do NOT begin restricting anything as of yet AND do NOT eat back any exercise calories (if possible, turn this function off in the tracker).  Also, it is best to weigh after waking in the am (after you use the restroom of course) before any food or beverage.

After this 14-day period, look at what you’re at – what are your total calories day-to-day and how much protein, carbs, and fat have you been consuming.  Odds are, this will be an eye-opener for you.  It will allow you to see how you are, where you are.  This is power, do not be ashamed of this.  Also, do not beat yourself up here either – remember, this is just data, and this data will offer you valuable information.  You now have a starting place to move forward towards your goals.

Now that we know what macros are and the energy (calories or kcals) they offer us, let’s discuss the components of energy out and how to determine a calorie need for our specific goals.

The body has four basic energy out determinants.  These are your basal metabolic rate (BMR), non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), thermic effect of food (TEF), and exercise activity (EA).  Let’s break each down a little further, nothing crazy, just the gist (energy and calorie are interchangeable here).

Energy Out Basics 4 main factors

1. BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) – what you burn just to be alive, sitting on the couch watching tv, reading a book, trolling through social, et cetera.  This is by far the greatest energy (calorie) demand for your body.  It makes up about 60-75% of your day’s total calorie (energy) needs.
2. NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) – what you burn doing your regular daily activities like walking the dog, doing dishes, shopping, working, et cetera.  Think of it this way – this is what your body is used to doing aside from any exercise-specific activity.  NEAT makes up about 10-15% of your day’s total calorie (energy) needs.
3. TEF (Thermic Effect of Food) – what it costs your body to break down the “energy” (food/beverage) you have consumed. Protein is the most thermogenic macro, costing your body 20-30% just to break it down and process it (source-dependent).  Both fat and carbohydrates average somewhere between 5-10%, like protein, it depends on the source.  Regardless of the source, TEF only makes up about 10% of your day’s total calorie (energy) needs.
4. EA (Exercise Activity) – what you burn during exercise-specific things: lifting weights, running, HIIT, swimming, et cetera.  This is NOT to be confused with your NEAT or what your body is currently used to doing day-to-day – this is above and beyond that, this is exercise-specific.  EA can be 10-30% of your day’s total calorie (energy) needs depending on person-specific variables, and of course, exercise activities, hence the name.

As you can see our body stays busy keeping us moving and grooving!  In order for our body to be its healthiest it needs micronutrients too, not just macronutrients.  Our micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals that we absorb from our food and beverages or through supplementation.  In order for our body to function optimally and thrive, not just survive, we must give it the essentials of life: protein, carbs, fat, vitamins, and minerals.  This is why food quality matters so much.  The more real foods you eat, the better off you will be nutritionally. 

Now that we understand how our body uses the energy we give it, let us take a look at setting up/adjusting the tracker as needed to achieve the desired goal.  While these numbers will get you in the ball park, this is where coaches can offer more value than trackers and online calculators, as we have a better understanding of you and what you need specifically.  Plus, if we write your programs, they are person-specific and therefore, directly targeted to your goals!

You can now set up the food tracker to override what it gave you when you first began (at the end, be sure to sync the app to save the changes).  First, you will need to use the average calories you have been consuming for the past 14 days and adjust by the general starting points broken down by goals below.  There is also an example using this information here:

• If fat loss is your goal, set your calorie deficit at about 250-300kcals of what the data revealed to you as your average daily calorie consumption.
• If gaining mass is your goal, start with a surplus of about 250kcals/day.
• If you want to maintain your current state, then continue consuming calories as you have.

Adjust your grams of protein, carbs, and fat as needed being sure to set protein to at least 1 gram per pound of ideal body weight or lean body mass (1g/lb) if you have access to this information.  Re-read the last sentence – this is crucial!  Remember, we want our body to be the best fat-burner, muscle builder it can be, in order to do this effectively we must have adequate protein each day. 

If you haven’t read or want to review why protein is so important:  https://dynamohealth.org/protein-is-essential-especially-in-fat-loss/

After establishing how much protein is needed, I usually determine fat next.  Fat needs are very dependent on sex.  For males, I usually set a starting fat need at 20% of the day’s total calories.  For females that are cycling (menstruating, not talking about carb cycling), I usually set their fat to about 25-30% (this is very person-specific). 

Lastly, fill in the remaining caloric need with carbs.  If you are an exerciser make sure you don’t go carb-slashin’ crazy!!  Usually, it breaks down somewhere in these ranges:

Protein 25-30% / Carbs 25-40% / Fat 15-40%

Using the example of 2000kcals/day for a relatively fit 200lb male in a fat loss phase, it would look like this:

Determine protein:     

200 (his weight) x 1 = 200g/protein = 200 x 4 (for 4kcals/g) = 800kcals

Determine fat:

As I stated above, I usually start men at 20%.

20% of 2000 (days total kcals) = 400 / 9 (for 9kcals/g) = 44.44 or 44g/fat.

44 x 9 = 396kcals

Now, add the kcals together for protein and fat:

800 + 396 = 1196kcals.  Remember, he needs to eat 2000kcals/day.

2000kcals – 1196kcals (protein & fat added together) = 804kcals remaining.

Determine carbs using the remaining 804kcals.  804 / 4 (for 4kcals/g) = 201g/carb

A little tip on fat — be mindful and make sure to set fat no lower than 15% of your day’s total calories regardless of the dieting phase.  As mentioned above, this is the average necessary for our body to properly absorb the fat-soluble Vitamins A, D, E, & K.  Also, none of these numbers are ”hard.”  You will be adjusting them as needed throughout your journey.  I would suggest though, to stick to a certain set of numbers for at least 14 days to see how you respond, feel, if sleep is impacted, and of course, perform in life (and the gym if you are an exerciser).

You can stay with the tracker option discussed above (to have a more person-specific approach) or you can use one of the many calculators available online.  I am attaching one here that covers all dieting phases (fat loss, gains, and maintenance) for you to utilize if you like, basic macro calculator (Bodybuilding.com, 2021).  Just take what the calculator suggested and input those numbers (calories and macronutrients needed) in your tracker and save it.  Be sure to sync the app too, so your data is saved and not lost.

• Remember, these calculators are factoring in all activities.  It is important for you to be honest and have perspective on total energy output.

In closing, our body is amazing!  Its ability to adapt, grow, repair, create life, et cetera, is truly phenomenal.  It even has its happy set point (homeostasis).  There are many things that make up your body’s happy place, but to keep this simple and for the purpose we discussed in this article – we are referencing how long you’ve been at your current weight.  The longer you’ve been at a set weight (within 3-5 pounds thereabouts) is where your body has adjusted, decided this is where it is comfortable, and wants to maintain.  So, when deciding your calorie needs remember this saying by my friend Rob DeBoer, “your body loves you so much that it has figured out a way to store energy and we call that fat.”  If fat loss is your goal, be mindful.  The greater your caloric deficit and the longer you’ve been in it, the sooner the body will pushback — so start slow, so weight lost is truly fat lost.

Still not sure where to start or want personalized guidance achieving your goals?  Click the coaching application below and let’s schedule a complimentary call today!