Do I Need to Count Calories????
Do I need to count calories???? Well, in short – YES!!!
If you have the desire and ambition to make changes in your life, it is essential that you keep track of both your calorie input and output. Now, many may be thinking that counting calories is only for those who are trying to become figure competitors or bodybuilders, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Anybody who wants positive change should be counting.
Losing weight or gaining weight is in reality quite a simple process – take in less calories than your body requires and you will lose weight. Conversely, take in more than your body requires and you will gain weight. First, you need to establish what your baseline is or what is referred to as your daily maintenance level. There are plenty of calculators on the internet or on bb.com that can help you determine exactly what your maintenance level is. For men, generally maintenance runs between 2500 – 2800 calories per day, while for women it is about 1800 – 2000 calories per day. These of course are just averages – individual results may vary. In theory, if you were to consume your maintenance calories per day and do nothing else, your weight would stay the same.
Now, a little science behind the madness; one pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories. So if you were to consume 500 calories per day less than your maintenance and keep that up for 7 days, you should lose one pound of fat (500 x 7 = 3500). Basically you have created a deficit and the greater the deficit the greater the fat loss. That doesn’t mean to go crazy and only eat 700 calories a day and think because you are so far below maintenance that you will lose plenty of fat – WRONG. If you dip too far below your maintenance your body will wonder why you are not feeding it and wonder where and when its next meal is coming – it will think you are starving it. So, to combat this it will actually hold on to your fat as a way of adapting to this stress – this is called a starvation response.
500 calories per day seems to be the magic number and this is ideally in most cases what an individual should look at cutting from their maintenance if they want to lose weight. When you throw in some exercise, it does create a greater deficit and helps to increase the fat loss. Of course, like anything, there are always exceptions to the rule and especially in some women a cut of 500 calories per day may be too great of a calorie reduction. If they are of smaller frame and their maintenance level is 1400 – 1500 calories, then a reduction of 500 would be almost 33% of their diet. This is terribly low for general survival and very unhealthy. A person should never dip below 1100 – 1200 calories per day.
If an individual is looking to gain some size or ‘bulk’ then they would ideally pick a target that is higher than their maintenance. To build muscle, you need to feed it and in those cases individuals will consume anywhere from 500 – 2000 (or more) calories above their maintenance in their quest for mass. Inevitably fat will accompany this muscle development, which is why most competitors will do a bulk, followed by a cut - build muscle, strip away the fat; and then repeat as needed.
However, back to my original question – do I need to count – YES YOU DO!!!! If you want to make to make change via a cut or bulk, how would you know if you are on track if you are not counting? How would you know if you are 500 below or over or on par with your maintenance? Short answer – you wouldn’t – and thus, there goes your goal right out the window.
If you want to succeed you need to set goals. As part of those goals you need to determine what you plan of action is and that means counting calories and outlining your diet in detail. If you have never done this before you would be surprised about how little or how much you are consuming in terms of calories. Get a journal, write everything down that you put in your mouth and examine the calories at the end of each day. Then you will know if you are in your ballpark or not and whether you have a chance of meeting your goals. Also, get in the habit of reading labels, if you already don’t. This will be essential to your success. Knowledge is power and the more you have the greater your odds of achieving that change you desire.
In addition to just counting calories, you should get in the habit of examining the protein, carb and fat make-up of your diet. Breakdown these daily numbers too. A good rule of thumb is that 40% of your diet comes from protein, 40% carbs and 20% fat. The more you get into things and educate yourself, you may want to tweak those numbers slightly, but as a beginner that is an ideal ratio.
So, remember, write everything down, read those labels, count those calories and watch those changes happen!!!!!
EAT CLEAN, LIFT HARD AND STEP BEYOND !!!
