How I calorie count...

I have had someone ask some questions about calorie counting and sites etc i use so thought id do a post on it.

Firstly in relation to counting calories...you firstly need to work out home many calories to eat....this can be a bit of trial and error. There are plenty of sites around that have calorie calculators on them, one you can try is Daily Plate. The problem I found with these sites is that they highly over inflate the calories you need. But they are a pretty good starting point. Pop your details in and use whatever calories they give you as a guide....stick to it for 2-3 weeks and then reevaluate...if your not losing what you hoped try reducing by 100 or 150 calories per week till you find your sweet spot.

But if you want to do a calculation more specific to yourself i do have the calculation for that too! okay...got your calculators out and ready for this?

So the first thing you need to work out is your BMR....the calculation in metric is:

BMR = 655 + (9.6 X weight in kilos) + (1.8 X height in cm) - (4.7 X age in years).

Once you have worked that out you need to work out your activity level for your job....

Sedentary - little or no exercise
Calorie-Calculation = BMR X 1.2
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week)
Calorie-Calculation = BMR X 1.375
Moderately Active (mod exercise/sports 3-5 days/week)
Calorie-Calculation = BMR X 1.55
Very Active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise 6-7 days/week)
Calorie-Calculation = BMR X 1.725
Extra Active (very hard daily exercise/sports & physical job)
Calorie-Calculation = BMR X 1.9

So you multiply your BMR by the relevant activity level....im a office worker and sit on my ass most of the day....so i actually only multiply mine by 1.1

Next is to work out your calories burnt. I work out my calories burnt over a week and then divide it by 7 to get a daily average (so for me its like about 400 calories per day)

Soooooo...you take your BMR multiply it by the activity level then add your average daily calorie burn. So you now have a (approximate) guide fo how many calories you burn on average per day. If you want to work it out without a HRM heres a site http://www.mydr.com.au/tools/calories-burned-calculator

Okies...so now we know how much we burn....we know to lose weight we need to eat less then we burn. To lose 1 kilo per week we have to eat 7000 calories less then we burn....to lost 500 grams per week we need to eat 3500 calories less then we burn. Soooooo you take the figure you got at the end of the previous calculations and multiply by 7 to get your weekly burn....you then minus 7000 calories (for a kilo loss per week) and then divide by 7.....and TA-DA you have got your magical number!!

Now next my recommendation (and what works best for me) is to do what i call calorie cycling....so do a couple of days slightly higher then you "magical" number (i do 3).....a few days lower then your magical number (i do 4) and that way your body is eating different calorie amounts each day hopefully avoiding a plateau...i also find it leads me to eat different foods each day. For a idea on how i work my calorie cycling (and this aveerages out to 1415 calories per day) i eat:

monday : 1200
tuesday : 1300 (weigh in day)
wednesday : 1200
thursday : 1600
friday : 1200
saturday : 1800
sunday : 1500

Now for websites to track your calories if looking for a free site id recommend www.calorieking.com.au (be aware i have found some errors with a couple of food items on there site) and if your happy enough to pay id recommend www.biggestloserclub.com.au. I use the biggest loser club,.....i like the visuals it gives u specially for keeping a eye on macronutrients.

If you want more info on calorie counting id recommend this forum : http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/calorie-counters-172/ It is a US site but I found it very informative in the beginning.

So thats how I do my calorie counting....hope I didnt lose too many of you with the calculations but if i did remember go to a site like daily plate and use their calculation and go from there.....any questions feel free to leave a comment and ill do the best to answer it BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE

Also if you want to know healthy ways to increase your calories in a healthy way on high calorie days...I add a extra weetbix at breakfast...add a slice of cheese at lunch and might have a roll instead of a sandwich....its really not that hard to add extra "healthy" calories