The daily calorie intake

The daily calorie intake is also a key point. Its reduction is always working for losing weight if this is your goal. And the opposite, if you want to gain weight, you must increase it. For every man this number is different. In order to know what is yours, we need the following information:

•         Weight
•        Age
•        Height

Then we can use the formula given by WHO to calculate our metabolism at rest – it shows how many calories per day we need for proper functioning of our body and its systems without physical activity.

Formula for Women

(65+ (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.7 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age))

Formula for Man

 (66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) - 6.8 x age))

The formulas are approximately correct because they do not take into account body structure, percentage of muscle mass and subcutaneous fat, condition of metabolism.

EXAMPLE

A man at the age 34 weights 85 kg and is 174 cm tall. How much calories he needs to sustain his metabolism at rest:

(66+(13.7 x 85) + (5 x 174) - (6.8 x 34))

(66+ 1164 + 870 – 231) = 1869 kcal

There is no one otherwise healthy who is at rest all day, so an index of physical activity is added to this formula:

1.2 - less or no exercise

1.375 - low activity - small exercise or sports 1-3 days per week

1.55 - moderate activity - small/moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days/week

1.725 - high activity or sport 6-7 days per week

1.9 - extremely high activity - vigorous daily exercises or sports, physical work with sporting as well.

In my case the activity is moderate so I take 1.55 as an index and multiply it by 1869 kcal and the result is 2897 kcal.

Calories for sure should be properly distributed in the macro nutrients and the different phases of our diet give different proportions, so our final goal is to fasten metabolism and to burn extra fat without losing muscle mass.

Here’s the re-commendatory protein intake per day:

No Sports:

0.8 – 1 g per kg, daily or up to 25% kcal per day

Sports active:

Armatures - 1.5 – 2 g per kg, daily

Professional athletes - 2 – 2.5 g per kg, daily

Carbohydrates have the highest energy pool (50 % and more) in the daily food intake. They are broken down to glucose and are stored in the form of glycogen. Part of the latter is stored in the liver and maintains constant levels of blood glucose when it is needed. The main part of glycogen is in the muscles and ensures their work. The caloric scheme mentioned above shows that for 2897 kcal per day 50% or 1400-1500 of them should be carbohydrates. To know how many grams of carbohydrates is that, we divide them by 4 (1g of carbohydrates has 4 calories) - this makes around 360g carbohydrates per day or approximately 4.2 g/kg in a balanced diet.

The daily intake of fats should not exceed 20 % of the whole caloric intake in case your food is rich in the other two main nutrients. Except for being the best source of “saved” energy, fats stabilize joints and increase the liberation of some hormones. So we cannot avoid them at all. If we follow the scheme with 2897 kcal, 579 kcal should come from fats. To know their amount in grams divide the calories by 9 (1 g of fat has 9 kcal) and you get 0.75 g/kg fats.

The daily intake of proteins should be approximately 30 % of the whole caloric intake. The caloric scheme mentioned above shows that for 2897 kcal per day 30% or 800 - 900 of them should be proteins. To know how many grams of proteins is that, we divide them by 4 (1 g of proteins has 4 calories) - this makes around 200 g carbohydrates per day or approximately 2.3 g/kg in a balanced diet.