Fat makes you fat. Eating more carbs makes you fat. Lack of exercise and prolonged sitting makes you gain weight. All these are just weight loss myths and the fact is that eating more calories than your body burns daily leads to fat accumulation, which leads to weight gain due to excess fat. This over-accumulation of fat and lower energy expenditure for years slowly becomes a risk factor to develop several lifestyle issues and conditions. Feeling scared and confused as we have burst some of the biggest myths? Don’t worry, we have your back. It is so easy to calculate your caloric needs and we have some easy ways with which you can do it. Post calculating your caloric needs, please do take help from a professional health coach or a lifestyle coach so that he/she can suggest the best food items that can be included to fill in those calorie needs and the right workout suitable for your lifestyle to burn the calories on the other hand. So, let’s get started with the real game of health transformation. 

Understanding TDEE & BMR:

TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure. Total Daily Energy Expenditure tells you the amount of energy you spend every day. Our body needs energy for almost everything right from breathing, walking, or running. Thus, eating a well-balanced diet is extremely important to maintain a healthy body.

Basal metabolic rate(BMR) is the amount of energy our body spends at rest under the normal environmental temperature to keep the organs functioning at a normal level. It is important to note that our body spends energy even while sleeping. A person spends an average of 50 calories per hour during sleep.

Note: TDEE will be always higher than BMR because we as humans do so many activities like NEAT (Non-excercise activity thermogenesis), mild/heavy workouts, manual work, walking, desk jobs, etc. where we spend energy performing those activities too. 

BMR Energy Expenditure + Non-BMR(Activity) Energy Expenditure = Total Daily Energy Expenditure

An average Basal Metabolic Rate can be calculated with many formulas or to get an accurate BMR level, one should take a BMR test conducted at weight loss clinics or fitness clubs by doctors and fitness coaches,  Unless you know your Total Daily Energy Expenditure(TDEE), you cannot calculate your daily caloric needs. Without knowing your caloric needs, the same fat accumulation and weight gain issues will continue. In this piece of article, we will help you calculate average TDEE and will make you understand the average caloric needs and suggest some best tips to fill those calories. Take this as your first step towards health transformation to stay fit and strong irrespective of your gender, age, or any other factors.

Calculation Of Average TDEE:

To calculate average TDEE, a person’s age, weight, height, gender, and activity level are taken into consideration. There are various TDEE calculators available online where you can enter the required details and it will automatically calculate your average total daily energy expenditure. These calculators also give your caloric needs to maintain weight, lose weight, and even gain weight. Cutting down calories and balancing the nutrients is termed a calorie-deficit diet. Generally, people consume

80 – 90 percent of your average calorie needs for mild weight loss

75 – 80 percent of your average calorie needs for weight loss

50 – 60 percent of your average calorie needs for extreme weight loss.

For healthy weight loss, fitness coaches or health professionals fill the calorie intake with a low-calorie but protein and fibre-rich foods as it takes a long time to digest making you feel full and not allowing you to crave unhealthy food. They also suggest drinking enough water to keep the body hydrated and flush out toxins.

Roughly, a normal healthy man needs 2500 calories while a normal healthy woman needs 2000 calories to maintain their body weight. We humbly request you this caloric need not apply to all people. It is better to consider your health conditions, fitness levels, mental health, hereditary issues, and other factors before concluding the caloric needs of your body. As we do not have the expertise to do all these calculations, it is highly suggested to get a personal wellness coach or a lifestyle coach to do these calculations for you.

Calories & Their Sources:

Calories are present in all food items and drinks we consume. While there are several minor sources of calories like vitamins, minerals, etc. the three major sources of calories are carbohydrates, fat, and protein. Fat ranks first as it provides a large number of calories in every gram of fat. Here is a brief explanation of the number of calories every gram of these macronutrient provides:

1 gram of fat = 9 calories 

1 gram of protein = 4 calories 

1 gram of carbohydrates = 4 calories

With this do not conclude that cutting down all fat and eating carbs all day enables you to eat more but still stay at a calorie deficit. Fats are an extremely important source of nutrient because they are good for heart health as it keeps cholesterol levels under control which automatically results in controlling various other health issues like blood pressure, obesity, etc. Also, not all fats are good fats. You should try to swap saturated fats & trans fat that is found in animal products and packed food items with unsaturated fats which are found in certain fruits, olive oils, nuts, fish, etc.  

Again protein on the other hand cannot be ignored as they help in muscle development, repairing of tissues, and growth. They require higher energy levels to be digested and make us feel satiated and help us to go on a calorie deficit diet effortlessly. Also as protein helps in the development of lean muscle mass, it helps you increase your average BMR and helps you burn more energy even at rest. Universally, it is recommended to include 1 gram of protein per kg of our body weight to stay healthy.

Carbs can be again categorized into processed and unprocessed carbs. If you compare a bowl of fruits with a bowl of cooked rice or fries, cooked rice is processed and can be easily digested. As the digestion process was easy, it makes you feel hungry in the next few hours of eating. While a bowl of fruits has abundant unprocessed carbs, and water along with other nutrients like fibre (which is again a type of carb), it takes a very long time to be absorbed by our gut and keeps us full.

Thus, not all calories are equal! The digestion process of these calories also matters when it comes to a caloric deficit or caloric abundance diet.

To Summarize:

We hope you had a basic understanding of caloric needs and how every food we consume contributes calories/energy to our body. Fuel your body right with the right food. We know it is time-consuming and difficult to count calories. Try taking help from a lifestyle coach or fitness coach for a healthy transformation. Do not fall for fad diets, myths, and false claims about health transformation.