Eating plenty of vegetables, grains, and fruits-along with lean or plant-based protein sources-is one good way to achieve a healthy balanced diet. A healthy diet consisting of nutrient-dense foods ensures that you can get the nutrients you need for optimal health without overconsuming calories. This dietary approach is crucial for weight maintenance. The banana provides electrolytes, fiber, and prebiotics, while the jellybeans provide just 200 calories of sugar. In other words, you should be trying to consume more energy-dense calories or calories that contain a lot of nutrients per calorie rather than empty calories.įor example, if choosing a 200-calorie snack, 200 calories from jellybeans are not the same as 200 calories from a banana. The quality of your food should always be considered for the goals of weight loss, weight gain, or weight maintenance. Referring to a particular food or meal as having a certain number of calories dictates how much energy will be released by the nutrients in that food or full meal once digested and absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract.Īll calories are not the same some are quality calories, meaning they provide more nutrients per calorie than others. Kilocalories, or kcal, is the term used for measuring food energy. Remember, combining exercise with a small calorie deficit is the best intervention to maximize weight loss! Additionally, consuming a high protein diet (or sticking to the higher ranges based on your activity level) will help maintain and preserve muscle mass while losing fat.From a scientific perspective, a calorie is a unit of energy and is the amount needed to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water one degree Celsius. Therefore, creating a calorie deficit of 500-1,000 calories per day can lead to a max weight loss rate of 2lbs/week. Taking this into consideration, it is more feasible to cut back on food since daily caloric requirements for maintaining weight are much higher. So keeping that in mind, the goal is to lose 1-2lbs per week.įor sedentary individuals, it would be recommended to set a goal of losing 1lb per week, which would equate to a calorie deficit of 500 calories/day.įor more active individuals, daily calorie requirements are higher in order to account for exercise and active lifestyles. More often than not, when weight loss exceeds 2lbs in a week, the majority of that is water loss. That would equate to a calorie deficit of 1,000 calories per day. See this blog on How Many Carbs Per Day for Weight Loss to learn more.įor healthy, sustainable weight loss, it is generally not advisable to lose more than 2 pounds of fat per week. Step 2: Divide answers in step 1 by 4 since there are 4 calories per 1 gram of carbohydrate Multiply daily calorie requirements by 0.45 & 0.65 to obtain calories from carbohydrates. Step 1: Calculating grams of carbohydrates. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that carbohydrates should make up 45-65% of one’s daily calories. Third: Calculate Daily Carbohydrate needs See this blog on How Much Fat Per Day for Weight Loss to learn more. Using both of these references you can calculate your daily fat needs: The Dietary Guidelines for Americans also recommends fat should make up 20-35% of one’s total daily calories. To prevent any fatty acid deficiencies it is recommended to consume at minimum 1g/kg of fat per day. Multiply weight in kilograms by range that best fits your activity levels. This is the last step of calculating calories, and it's one that's absolutely essential for getting accurate weight loss results.ĭid you know that protein is a huge catalyst for weight loss and hunger satiation? Let's compare and contrasts sedentary versus moderately active individuals and their protein requirements.įor sedentary/lightly active individuals: 1-1.2g/kg/dayįor moderately active - extremely active: 1.4-2.2g/kg/dayĬonvert body weight in pounds to kg’s (round to the nearest 10th)
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