How many calories do you need per day to lose weight effectively and safely?

Every athlete who visits the gym sooner or later switches from the phase of mass gain, into the period of weight loss or drying. For many, this is the least favorite period. Since this requires a complete change in the principles of nutrition. But most importantly, you need to know and be able to calculate how many calories you need to lose weight.

Scarcity Principles

Unfortunately, it is impossible to answer this question unequivocally. For one, it will be necessary to limit the calorie intake of only 250 kilocalories. For another, for 2000. How can you correctly calculate how many calories you need to consume per day for weight loss? To do this, you need to calculate the following basic factors:

• The current calorie intake.
• The percentage of mass gain, taking into account both muscle building and body fat.
• Training intensity.
• The presence of cardio loads.
• The number of meals.
• Type of food consumed.
• Food from which the required calories are consumed.
• Body type.
• The percentage of adipose tissue to muscle.

As you can see, all this is not easy. But there are some simple principles that will help make it easier to shed those extra pounds. Let's start with a simple weight loss formula. In order to burn fatty tissue, first of all, you need to ensure a calorie deficit. Oddly enough, but for many it is not so obvious. A deficit can be created in two ways:

1. Cut back on food.
2. Increase consumption.

At the same time, you need to understand that our body is not a fool, and with a sharp decrease in the supply of nutrients, it will begin to slow down metabolism, which will affect productivity, activity and the rate of weight loss. What deficit can you start with? For starters, you can limit your diet to 10% of the number of calories you burn. That is, if you spend about 3000-3500 calories per day, then for the experiment, reduce the calorie content to 2500-2800. After the weekly limit, check your own weight and see the performance:

1. If the muscles start to burn, it is worth increasing the calorie content by 3-5%.
2. If the result is satisfactory, nothing needs to be done.
3. If you want to speed up weight loss, add protein and cut the calorie intake by another 10%.

Following this principle, you can lose weight to the required weight. Naturally, at the beginning, the rate of dropping extra pounds will be higher than at the end.

Types of nutrients (well, or "good and bad calories")

This principle seems extremely simple and straightforward, but it has many pitfalls that make losing weight difficult for most gym goers. First of all, this is the type of nutrients received, their real energy value.

Protein

Proteins are considered the most useful. Why? Everything is very simple. With a small deficit (of the order of 10-15%), they go not for energy breakdown, but for amino acid transformation, which enters the muscle tissue, and allows you to reduce catabolic processes. With a greater deficit, a smart body does not care where to draw energy from, so it breaks down proteins as easily and quickly as other nutrients.

It is important to understand that to lose weight, you need to monitor not only the indicators of the weights, but also the overall satiety. Regardless of the ideal diet, it will not be beneficial if you feel hungry right after you eat.

Therefore, all proteins still need to be divided into:

1. Fast - usually whey. It is digested by the body in a matter of hours, after which it begins to require additional food intake.
2. Slow - casein, not dietary meat. They are usually digested and broken down for a long time.
3. Complex - egg white, dietary fish and poultry meat.

For those who want to maintain muscle mass, it is better to use all three types of proteins (thanks to this, the muscles will be supplied with amino acids and can be preserved). For those who pursue the goal of exclusively maximum weight loss, you can use extremely slow proteins that can relieve hunger for a longer time.

Fats

In second place for weight loss, oddly enough, are fats. Why? Everything is very simple.

1. Fats contain useful cholesterol, which is involved in the synthesis of the main anabolic hormone - testosterone, which means it allows you to preserve muscle tissue.
2. Fats are digested for a very long time and are practically not absorbed by the body. This leads to an increase in the digestive cycle, which makes you feel full for much longer.

However, it is important to understand that not all fats are created equal. Modern traditional cuisine is dominated by omega 6 fatty acids (found in sunflower oil), which greatly disrupts the balance of acids in the body. Therefore, for weight loss, it is recommended to temporarily replace sunflower oil with olive, or fish oil - rich in omega 3 polyunsaturated acids.

Note: There is a myth that when losing weight, you need to almost completely eliminate fatty foods. He is only partly true. In fact, if you preach a separate diet and consume fatty foods without carbohydrates and abundantly supply yourself with fiber, almost all omega fatty acids will simply pass through the body without being absorbed or deposited. However, if you combine fatty acids with even a small amount of carbohydrates, then the released insulin will open the fat depot, where all the calories coming from fatty acids will go practically unchanged.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are a necessary evil. It is of them that the main calorie content of dishes consists, no matter how a person wants it. If you completely eliminate them from your diet, the body will no longer store glycogen and will not be able to function normally. But during drying / losing weight, you need to limit the intake of carbohydrates as much as possible. In addition, even the remainder must be properly distributed. In particular, you need to consume complex carbohydrates - they take much longer to digest, which means, like complex proteins, they allow you to feel full longer.... The second principle is the use of the glycemic index and load.

The glycemic index in simple words is a parameter that is responsible for the percentage and rate of absorption of carbohydrates. That is, the higher it is, the faster and more calories will enter the body.

Glycemic load is how the digestive system reacts to incoming carbohydrates. To lose weight, you need to look for foods with a maximum glycemic load - which will complicate digestion, and therefore reduce the percentage of absorbed carbohydrates in the body.

For example, the simplest example is sugar and honey. Sugar has a high index and low load. And, therefore, it provides short-term saturation with full absorption. On the other hand, honey - it has a significantly lower glycemic index, due to which it can put off the feeling of hunger for a much longer period.

Life hack

For those who still constantly go hungry (due to high acidity or due to insufficient calorie intake), there is a life hack that will allow you to keep the feeling of fullness for a longer period. This is fiber. It is found in green vegetables and special supplements. What is its advantage?

1. It slows down the digestion process. This results in a longer saturation.
2. It allows you to fill the distended stomach without a significant increase in calories.
3. It removes excess proteins and fats from the body, which are not deposited in adipose tissue.

Of course, this is not a panacea, but it is due to fiber that you can facilitate the process of losing weight and reduce discomfort along with the feeling of hunger.

How to calculate the deficit correctly?

In order to understand how many calories to consume per day for weight loss, you need to know how many people spend them. After all, the effectiveness of the diet as a whole depends on this factor. Since the same amount of calories for a person leading an active lifestyle or a turnover for days sitting in an office should be different.

To calculate the calorie consumption per day, you need:

• Calculate your own net weight without body fat.
• Next, using data on physical activity for the day, calculate the approximate expense.

Example: for a person weighing 75 kilograms and engaged in sports against a person of 75 kilograms, leading a sedentary lifestyle, the calorie calculation will differ by about 35%. So, the first will need to take into account the consumption of calories during sports (about 700-1000 kcal on average). And its net weight due to its low body fat will be much higher. A person who does not go in for sports will have a lower net weight, and the lack of expenditure on training will make them significantly cut back on food. The flow rate will be executed with a small error, because all tables on the Internet are only approximate.

Only after calculating the calorie consumption, you can start drawing up a diet.

For men

Calculation of consumption and calorie intake per day is very difficult and not always accurate. Therefore, everything is always done by trial and error. However, the research of American scientists can be taken as a basis. They calculated that the average man with a total weight of 75 kilograms and 25% fat spends 3000 kcal per day (without training). Based on this data, we calculate the calorie consumption per kilogram of net weight. This comes out to 53 kcal per kilogram. This means that to create a deficit, men will need to create a 10% deficit (48 kcal per kilogram), from which the total calorie intake is calculated. On training days, you can add an additional 500-600 kcal, which are spent during training.

For women

Using the same studies, the researchers calculated that a woman weighing 70 kilograms with a body fat percentage of 25% spends 2,500 calories. This means that women spend about 47 kcal per kilogram of weight. The calculation of incoming food is similar. Calculate net weight, create a 10% deficit, add 300-500 calories on training days.

Nutrient consumption with a calorie deficit

Separately, in a nutshell, it is worth running through the consumption of nutrients when creating a calorie deficit. With a properly composed menu and a slight calorie deficit, it all depends solely on the frequency of meals and the presence of loads.

Case 1: A person has slightly reduced calories and plays sports

In this case, good and high-quality weight loss is ensured, albeit at a not very high rate. Sports and a slight decrease in calorie content reduce the supply of glycogen, which means that the incoming energy goes not to the fat depot, but to the muscles. As for the fat itself, in view of a small deficit, it is actively consumed during training immediately after the complete depletion of glycogen. Proteins are involved in active muscle building.

Case 2: The person has significantly reduced calories and plays sports

In this case, you can provide an express result of weight loss, after which it slows down. In the first 2-4 days after cutting the calorie content, the body will consume adipose tissue by inertia. When the amount of energy is not renewed, the process will take a slightly different path. There will be a decrease in muscle mass (as the main energy consumer), a decrease in metabolic rate. In this case, the incoming proteins and fats will not be used to create an anabolic background, but will directly be stored in the fat depot. Such a diet will allow you to lose weight only for short periods (up to 6 days).

Case 3: The person has slightly reduced calories and does not play sports

Nothing will happen. Since glycogen stores are depleted very slowly, the body will simply begin to convert proteins and fats into energy to compensate for the deficiency. With a greater deficiency, a slowdown in metabolism will occur.

Case 4: The person slightly reduced calories and increased the number of meals

Every time after a meal - the hormone insulin will open the transport cells and release excess energy. If it is spent, then the person will get rid of excess fat, if not, then before closing the cells, the energy will be converted back into fat. Painless but low-rate weight loss. By increasing the metabolic rate.

Case 5: The person significantly reduced calories and increased the number of meals

With a large deficit, an organism with an accelerated metabolism will burn all the energy (which is required to maintain vitality), muscles and adipose tissue will also be used. The fastest way to lose weight, often used by women who do not seek to preserve muscle tissue. Ineffective for athletes due to the possibility of losing shape and performance. Protein is used to replenish energy, not to build tissue.

List of useful foods

If you have a strong desire to lose your weight, you need to be able not only to count how many calories you need to lose weight per day, but also to be able to compose food from the correct and healthy nutrients.

List of acceptable foods when composing a universal diet for weight loss.

As you can see, the list of foods that can be eaten during weight loss and drying is quite large, the main thing to remember is the calorie deficit and the fact that the amount of incoming nutrients should be in balance. (here is more about drying for girls).

• Proteins 60%.
• Fats - 10-15%.
• Carbohydrates - 25%

Outcome

Almost all modern diets are based on cutting calories. Starting from harmless, and ending with the most extreme. If you really want to get rid of excess weight, while not suffering from hunger, not losing muscle mass, and most importantly, avoiding the rollback effect, but at the same time are not committed to a serious approach, try the simplified system.

1. Cut your food down by 10% from your current one.
2. Break the remaining calories into more meals (5-7).
3. Look at the scales.

If there is a result - good, no - it means you need to cut more. Using this simple principle, you can lose weight without even really changing your diet.

Well, for those who want to lose weight faster, better and with less effort - just follow the principles mentioned earlier.

Watch the video: How Many Calories Should I Eat a Day? How Many Calories Should I Eat to Lose Weight? (November 2024).