CALORIE SETTING
& TRACKING
GUIDE
CALORIE TRACKING
CALORIE TRACKING: WHY AND HOW DIFFERENT USES OF CALORIE TRACKING
WHY TRACK CALORIES? There are three main ways we’ll use calorie tracking
during coaching you.
1 - A way to get a snapshot into your intake, by getting
you to track your kcal for 5-7 days, eating as normally as
You’re effectively always either losing weight, gaining weight, or possible for you, gives us a great way to gauge how much you
staying the same. are consuming day to day, and then be able to adjust based on
that. Typically, with this we’ll have you monitor for 5-7 days,
And it comes down to an energy balance - either you’re burning we’ll then make recommendations for adjustments. You’ll track
off more than you consume (you’ll be losing weight), are for another 5-7 days while implementing these, and then can
consuming more than you burn (you’ll be gaining weight), or simply track food a few days every 3-4 weeks to make sure
meeting and matching what you consume/burn (you’ll be you’re still on point.
maintaining weight).
By accurately and honestly tracking your food intake, we can
get as accurate an insight into how much you are consuming on
a day-to-day basis kcal wise, as well as the breakdown of 2 - A way to consistently monitor your food intake to
protein, carbs and fats too. provide steady and sustainable weight loss or gain, or for sports
performance. For this we’ll set your kcals, then monitor your
All this info is super important to helping make sure you get the progress, and adjust as necessary.
very best results possible.
This isn’t to say you must track your kcal for life - in fact, I’d not
recommend it.
3 - A way to incorporate more advanced nutritional
But - what we DO what to do, is get as specific and accurate as practices such as carb cycling or intermittent fasting, to
needed to ensure you make great progress consistently. accelerate results and break plateaus. So, we’ll coach you
through more advanced nutrition programs, and use calorie
tracking as a tool to make this as accurate as humanly possible
CALORIE SETTING
METABOLISM & ACTIVITY BASED CALORIE SETTING
Here’s how to set your initial kcals and protein numbers…
STEP 1: In order to set your kcals and macronutrients, we need
to work out your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) - so
how many kcals you’ll burn on a typical day. The number of
kcals you’ll burn in a day will be dependent on 4 things:
1 - Metabolic rate (BMR) - what your body burns as standard
2 - Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) - kcals used to break down
food
3 – Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) - kcals burned
through daily movement that’s not exercise - e.g. - standing up,
wiggling your toes, typing etc.
4 - Thermic Effect of Activity (TEA) - kcals burned through
exercise
There is of course no mainstream, accessible way to determine
your EXACT TDEE. But….the simplest way to work out your
approximate TDEE is to go to https://tdeecalculator.net/ and
fill in your details. This will give you the answer.
CALORIE SETTING
METABOLISM & ACTIVITY BASED CALORIE SETTING
STEP 4: Now you can input these numbers into
STEP 2: Now we need to create your calorie deficit. MyFitnessPal as your goals. So set your kcal target to what you
worked it out as, then set your protein target to what that came
This is super simple. out as. And then just focus on hitting those targets as priority!
You can either, simply minus a maximum of 700kcal a day from What about carbs and fats?
your TDEE/maintenance kcal. e.g. - if your TDEE = 2300kcal,
minus 700 kcal = daily target of 1600kcal. (then just divide that These simply make up the remainder of your kcal each
by the number of meals you’ll eat in a day, and that will give you day, and can be adjusted as needed based on activity level (eg
your daily target per meal) - if you train more, you’ll likely want higher levels of carbs)
Or STEP 5: Adjust and adapt. Now you have your targets
set, be sure to accurately monitor your food intake, and your
measurements/progress. We can then adapt and adjust your
calorie and macronutrient intake as needed based on results,
You can go a percentage-based route: progress, and how you’re getting on.
Anything from 5-20% is about right. So, if TDEE = 2300kcal and
you want to shoot for a 15% deficit, that’s 2300 x .85 = daily
target of 1955kcal/day. Again, you can then work out your daily
What if my kcal target seems super low or high?
target per meal.
If your target kcal based on the calculations is super low
- so below 1200 for a female, or below around 1800 for most
males, consult with your coach and we’ll tell you what to do, as
STEP 3: Now calculate your protein intake. You want anything lower doesn’t necessarily = better
from 1.5-2 grams per kg bodyweight per day. So, if you weigh
70kg, you want between 105-140g protein per day. Say you
choose 140g, divide that by 4 meals = you need 35g protein per
meal
CALORIE SETTING
FOR MUSCLE/WEIGHT GAIN DON’T FORGET…
MUSCLE/WEIGHT GAIN Everything detailed within this document will ONLY help you if
you do it right, and do it accurately :-)
Gaining muscle/weight is often a fun one - as you effectively,
get to eat loads :-)
We can utilize the same methods previously looked at in this
book. So, either track everything, then add a set % of kcal and
build from there
OR
Work out your TDEE, then eat ABOVE your TDEE each day.
In terms of how much more to eat, either start by shooting for
10% more, or go for 500kcals more, depending on your
preference.
Again, this gives you your starting point, and we can build from
there.
