How to Determine Your Daily Calorie Requirements

Garlic pepper baked chicken tenderloins, mixed nuts, baby red potatoes.

Today’s nutrition lesson: how do you know how much you should be eating each day? What are your calorie requirements? 

Generic guidelines from the medical industry and the government are not tailored to your individual specific needs. 

There are many different formulas which can be used to calculate calorie requirements. 

Over the years, with many clients and myself, I adopted the method to calculate calories based upon activity level. For calorie requirement calculations there is a value for low, moderate, and high activity levels.

Some formulas use 10, 11, and 12 for their numerical values for activity levels, while others use 11, 12, and 13, some use12,13, and 14, and some use 13,14, and 15. 

Over many years of experimentation with numerous clients and myself, I have determined that the 13, 14, and 15 values are the most effective for the majority of people.

To perform the calculation to determine your calorie requirements using the 13, 14, and 15 method, you'll take your body weight x the activity level 13 for low activity level, 14 for moderate activity level and 15 for high activity level. This calculation will give you your maintenance calories. 

If you're trying to lose weight you'll take your calculated maintenance calorie number and subtract 500 from it. This will give you your deficit number for weight loss.

Example using my numbers:

220X13 equals 2860, 

220X14 equals 3080, 

220X15 equals 3300, 

these are my maintenance calories. 

For weight loss I would subtract 500 from each maintenance number and this would be my deficit calories.

So my deficit calories for each activity level would be as follows, 

low activity 2860-500=2360, 

moderate activity 3080-500=2580, 

high activity 3300-500=2800. 

To determine how many calories per meal I would simply divide each activity level number by the number of meals that I planned for the day.

An example would be my high activity level deficit number of 2800 divided by six meals =466 cal per meal.

This method will allow you to determine your daily calorie requirements as well as the number of calories per meal.

Periodic updates should be made as your weight changes and as your goals are met or changed. Modify and update your caloric requirements as necessary. 

Bands, BowFlex, and TRX Workout

Band/ BowFlex/ TRX workout: we have had rain in my area, off and on for the past two weeks. This causes my arthritis, asthma, and allergies to crank up to an annoying level where I basically feel like crap all the time. 

The joints have been hurting far more than usual. Plenty of reasons to justify to myself that skipping workouts is authorized under these conditions. Long term health, wellness, and fitness are directly impacted by these mental conversations. Skipping one workout leads to skipping a second and so on. Can’t let that happen.

The program called for my usual heavy bench press workout. That wasn’t gonna happen. So I compromised and decided to go in the gym and do whatever I could do. I improvised a workout that I was actually able to do mentally. 

So I started off with the resistance bands. Then I moved to the BowFlex. Then I transitioned to the TRX and some crunches. I ended up doing 4 sets of 5 reps on 10 exercises with minimal rest between sets. It wasn’t the hardest, fastest, heaviest workout by any means. It started off easy. By the end I was tired and had worked chest, back, and abs. 

Instead of skipping a workout, I ended up doing far more than I imagined. Once again, as I always say, just get in the gym and do something. 99% of the time you will end up doing way more than you thought you would. 

The Muscles and Strength Building Formula is

now available, on sale, with 6 free bonus reports 

here: https://payhip.com/b/OmEXr

Get Outside and Walk

Re-entering friendly lines after a short walk. 

My days of all night movements with a 100lb ruck are long gone. But I can still get out there and walk around the neighborhood. 

You don’t have to do long distance to get a training benefit. Throw a ruck on and get outside. Even 20-30 minutes can make a noticeable difference. 

And if you can’t handle a ruck, just go walk. Just get outside and do something. It’s always a better answer than being sedentary. 

Muscles and Strength Building Formula Training Guide with 5 FREE Bonus Reports Now Available

 

New addition to my online book store! 

I just added the Muscles and Strength Building Formula Training Guide. 

It is on sale now with 5 free bonus reports for those who act quickly. 

This package has tons of info covering muscle building, strength training, nutrition, workouts, and more.

Check it out here.

Muscles and Strength Building Formula

Use protective gear when lifting heavy

275 was feeling heavy on this one. 

This workout was power singles up and down. Standing band chest press x20, slingshot bench press: 135x10, 225x1, 245x1, 275x1, 265x1, 255x1, 245x1, 235x-, 225x1. 

But the elbows felt great in the new elbow sleeves. Another thing I wish I had started using 30 years ago. For so many years the self proclaimed gurus said if you wear gloves, belts, sleeves, wraps, etc…you were a weak pos. 

I agreed in part as I do think there is a time and place to use and not use different gear. But I was wrong about not using protective gear when lifting heavy. 

Time, failure, and experience are the great teachers. So from someone who has been training for over 40 years, I now say use all the gear when lifting heavy and protect your joints and body. Your older self will thank you. 

I’m getting new wrist wraps and gloves next. It makes lifting enjoyable again instead of simply just grinding through a pain tolerance session. And simply ignore all of the gurus who say don’t use gear. 

Your body, your joints, and your health are all yours. Nobody else cares about your pain except you. Train hard and smart - pain and injury free. 

Step into the Arena and Face the Beast

Entering the arena and facing the beast! This means different things to different people. And it applies to any life topic not just exercise.  

Generally, it means facing the thing or task that you suck at, fear, or hate the most, and attacking it with your best effort regardless of the outcome. 

For me with age, and plenty of old army injuries (which of course were not service related, yeah FU VA 😆), my gym demon is now squats. And I’ve conveniently talked my way around them for too many months after my last back strain. 

So here I am eating humble pie and trying to not tap out or get hurt. Pathetically light weight for 4x6. And it kicked my butt. - which also means it’s an awesome exercise. 

I have to do box squats for any type of squats now  and I have to avoid barbell back squats. This was hard to accept. I can do these safety squat bar box squats as long as I use light weight and really pay attention to detail. Also hard to accept. 

I can go much heavier with goblet squats and those are the safest and easiest for me to do. The SSB box squats are really hard right now even with light weight- and they scare me. And that’s why I’m doing them. Cause it scares me and it’s hard! If you run from that it’s over. So yeah a lot of this is mental. 

Go do the thing you suck at/fear/hate the most and get better at it one day at a time. 

That will be worth so much more to you in the end than the coward life of running away and avoidance. That was me and these damn squats. Was… - not any more. Go get sum!!