WHY COUNT CALORIES AT ALL?
There are plenty of people who can maintain a healthy body composition without ever counting. But for many others, it is incredibly valuable. Registered dietician Susan Hewlings, Ph.D., explains why in the video "All You Really Need to Know about Calories and Food Labels" in Bodybuilding.com's Foundations of Fitness Nutrition course.
"So, what are the advantages of a calorie-focused system? For one, it gives you an objective way to compare very different meals and make informed decisions about overall portion sizes. These can be some of the most difficult nutrition decisions to make!" she explains.
"A number can also help you see how what seems like a small indulgence can really add up," Hewlings continues. "For example, a can of soda a day may not seem like much, especially if everyone around you is drinking out of far bigger cups. But it's still 150 extra calories a day—and 150 of pure sugar, at that. Consumed regularly, that's enough to make a difference in how you look and feel—maybe up to 15 pounds of weight gain in a year."
While counting calories is a great place to start, the quality of your food, the balance of macronutrients, and the type and amount of activity in your life also matters plenty! So along with your caloric target, consider:
1. CALCULATING YOUR MACRONUTRIENT RATIO.
Calories aren't just calories! They're actually values that come from the macronutrients protein, fats, and carbohydrates (as well as alcohol). Splitting your caloric intake into a tried-and-true ratio is the next step after determining how many you need. Registered dietician Paul Salter can show you how in the article "Macronutrient Calculator: Find Your Macro Ratio for Flexible Dieting and IIFYM."
2. LEARNING ABOUT NUTRITION.
We created a nine-video course, Bodybuilding.com's Foundations of Fitness Nutrition, to help fit-minded people learn what they need to know not only about calories, but also the three macronutrients, how to eat for healthy weight loss or weight gain, and even supplements.
3. FOLLOWING A CONSISTENT EXERCISE REGIMEN.
4. LEARNING ABOUT SUPPLEMENTS THAT COULD HELP YOU NAIL YOUR GOALS.
Fat burners and pre-workout supplements are popular choices for people looking to lose weight. Creatine is a staple choice for people trying to gain weight. And protein is often a high priority for both camps.
WHAT DO I DO AFTER A DIET?
If you've been eating less than you burn for a while, or if you feel like your body has stopped responding to a deficit, then the answer may not be to continue cutting. Instead, you may want to consider reverse dieting.
Here's why this approach works. You need to eat fewer calories than you burn to lose fat. However, if you restrict your energy intake for too long, this can eventually slow your metabolism in a process called "metabolic adaptation," which makes it difficult to continue losing weight.
To combat metabolic adaptation, you can gradually increase your caloric intake in order to raise your metabolism. Even though it sounds a little crazy to increase calories to lose weight, this ultimately helps you burn more calories.
To create an effective reverse diet, you could also do less cardio and more weight training, which will further optimize your metabolism to build muscle and shed fat. If you've reached a point with your dieting where you think you may need to reverse diet, do it strategically, like how registered dietician Katie Coles recommends in the article "The Ultimate Guide to Reverse Dieting," to maximize your results.
HOW DO I CALCULATE THE CALORIES IN MY FOOD?
In order for you to get the most out of the calculator, and macronutrients as well, you need to be able to match it up to the foods you eat. You can do this using food labels, or by weighing out your food and using one of the many online nutritional databases. Weighing food may seem like a lot of counting and not much fun, but it gets easier over time. Fitness coach Vince Del Monte says in "From Here to Macros: 4 Steps to Better Nutrition" that you quickly learn to "eyeball" quantities after just a few weeks of practice.
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