Lose body fat and gain muscle diet

I heard I’m supposed to eat 5, 000 calories to build muscle?

As a personal trainer and online fitness coach, I get tons and tons of questions about everything fitness-related on a daily basis. The ones that I get asked about the most though are: 1) how many calories someone should eat for fat loss or 2) how many calories someone should eat to bulk up.

Before I get to that, I want to make one thing clear first because I think it’s important for you to know this as a prerequisite. So when you take a look at nutrition labels, ever notice how there’s always a percent daily value column?

Ignore that. That doesn’t mean anything to you. These numbers are based on the government’s recommended daily intake on a 2, 000 calorie diet. Two things to note with this:

The 2, 000 calorie diet doesn’t apply to everyone. Every individual will have different targets based on things like their height, weight, age, body fat percentage, and current activity level.

The nutrient recommendations are not in line with your fitness goals. They’re basically just cookie-cutter figures that the government things everyone should follow, whether you’re a professional athlete with a very high activity level, or an Average Joe working a desk job.

Ignore the percent daily value at all cost.

First Step: Calculate Your Calorie & Macro Targets

There are two different ways to do this: one is by doing some basic math (less accurate), and the other is by using a calculator that takes your age, height, weight, gender, activity level, and body fat percentage into consideration (more accurate).

I’m going to assume that you want to take the more accurate route.

A quick explanation of what this calculator does:

1. The first thing it figures out is your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure). This is essentially your maintenance calories, the amount of calories YOUR body burns based on the measurements and activity level that you enter in.
2. From there, it then shows your target calories that you should consume depending on your goal (-20% calorie deficit for fat loss, and +20% calorie surplus for muscle building).
3. The resulting macro numbers are your protein, carb, and fat daily targets. More on this later.

A (Simplified) Explanation of Calories and Macros

As you probably already know, a change in your body composition — whether it’s fat loss or muscle gain — is mainly dependent on calories. The only way to lose fat is to be in a calorie deficit (expending more calories than you consume), and the only way to pack on muscle is to be in a calorie surplus (consuming more calories than you expend).

A rule of thumb on how to figure out your target calories is by using the 20% Rule:

1. Go on a 20% calorie deficit for fat loss
2. Go on a 20% calorie surplus for muscle building

For Fat Loss

Why subtract by 20% of your total calories instead of just subtracting a fixed amount like 500 calories, which is what we’ve always been told to do?

To put it simply, subtracting 500 calories for those who already have a low caloric maintenance isn’t the best approach to take. If someone has a maintenance of 1, 500, for example, it can be detrimental to eat 1, 000 as opposed to taking a much “healthier” and slower route at 1, 200 calories (-20% of their maintenance).

Your rate of fat loss on a weekly basis will depend on your starting weight and bodyfat percentage. If you have a lot of fat to lose, expect to drop about 1-3 pounds of fat every week when on a calorie deficit. If you’re leaner and want to shed the stubborn fat, expect to lose only 0.5-1lb per week.

For Muscle Gain

On the other end of the spectrum, you don’t want to go overboard when trying to pack on muscle while on a calorie surplus. A lot of people think that eating more than 20% of calories in addition to your maintenance will speed up results. Well, the only thing that’s actually going to do is speed up fat gain on top of building muscle.

On Macronutrients: Protein, Carbs, and Fats

When it comes to counting calories for your fitness goals, it’s also important that you are consuming the right amounts of macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fats) for optimal results.

Calories are important, but macros are crucial.

You see, there’s difference between eating 2, 000 calories worth of Twinkies and 2, 000 calories of whole foods and Twinkies. Both will help you to lose weight if your maintenance is 2, 500 calories, but only the latter might help you to 1) preserve muscle mass and 2) keep your hormones, brain function, and immunity in check.

Anyway, here are the main things you need to know with each macronutrient.

Protein

This is what helps to build muscle and/or prevents muscle loss when going on a calorie deficit. A common misconception is that only people looking to build muscle should bother to eat an adequate amount of protein per day. Wrong. When trying to shed fat, eating an adequate amount of protein is very crucial for appetite control. Protein also helps to boost metabolism because it requires more energy than the other macros to digest.

How much to eat:

• 0.8-1.5g per pound of lean body mass (your total weight minus body fat)
• If you have a lot of fat to lose, go with the low end of the requirement (0.8g/lb of LBM)
• If you’re already very lean, you’ll want to go on the higher end (1-1.5g/lb of LBM)

Each gram of protein contains 4 calories, so to figure out how much of your calorie intake is coming from protein, you would multiply your intake in grams by four. This equation will make much more sense when you get to the Summary section below.

Fats

To put it simply, the consumption of fats help to regulate our bodies’ hormones and brain function. It’s an essential part of our diet that should not be skipped out on. Just like protein, you want to eat a minimum amount on a daily basis for optimal performance.

• About 25% of your total calorie intake
• Depends mainly on personal preference — if you’re a carb lover, eat less fat. If you’re NOT a carb lover, eat more fat

Each gram of fat contains 9 calories, so to figure out how much of your calorie intake is coming from fats, you would multiply your intake in grams by nine. Again, this number will be used in an example later in the Summary section below. Don’t worry about it for now.

Carbs

Lastly but certainly not least, carbs are what our bodies’ use for fuel. Stored as glycogen in the liver, muscles, and blood, carbs are basically what helps to keep us moving.

• Remaining number of calories after protein and fat have been added
• Will vary depending on factors such as activity level and personal preference
• The more active you are, the more carbs you’ll consume
• If you’re a carb lover, eat less fat. Not a carb lover? Then keep your fat intake on the high end

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