HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR MACROS

Before we learn about how to calculate your macros. We need to go over some terms.

BMR- our basal metabolic rate (BMR) is defined as the rate at which your body uses energy when you are resting in order to keep vital functions going such as breathing.

TDEE stands for ‘Total Daily Energy Expenditure’, which is the total number of calories your body is burning each day – and, by extension, the number of calories that you’d need to eat each day to maintain your current weight.

STEP 1 FIGURING OUT YOUR BMR

• Convert pounds to kilograms (weight in pounds divided by 2.2 = weight in kilograms)

• Convert height in inches to centimeters (height in inches times 2.54 = heigh in centimeters)

For women (10 x weight in kg) + (6.25 x height in cm) - (4.9 x age) - 161=

For men (10 x weight in kg) + (6.25 x height in cm) - (4.9 x age) + 5 =

Example: 23 year old female that is150 pounds and 65 inches. She works out 5 days a week and has a sedentary job. She wants to lose weight.

(10 x 61) + (6.25 x 165) - (4.9 x 23) - 161

610 + 1031 -113 -161 = 1367

BMR is 1367

STEP 2 FIGURE OUT YOUR TDEE

Now we need to determine an Activity Factor from list below

1.2 - Sedentary (desk job, little or no exercise)

1.375 - Light Activity (light exercise/ workout 1-3 times a week)

1.55 - Moderate Activity ( workout 3-5 times a week)

1.725 Very Active (you train hard 6-7 times a week and you’re on your feet quite a bit)

1.9 Extremely Active (you train very hard 7 days a week and have a physical job)

From our example client she states she works out 5 days a week and has a sedentary job. We are going to use the Moderate Activity factor. (most people will fit into the Moderate Activity factor)

BMR x activity factor

1367 x 1.55 = 2119

TDEE is 2119 calories

STEP 3 SET YOUR GOAL

If your goal is to lose weight, you will want to start with a deficit from 10-20%. Remember the goal is to diet on the highest number of calories while still losing fat. I would suggest starting at a 15% deficit.

TDEE x 15% =

2119 x 15% = a 318 calories deficit

2119 - 318 = 1801 calories

If your goal is to maintain. Keep your calories at your recommend TDEE.

If your goal is to bulk (add muscle) increase calories 5% above recommend TDEE.

TDEE x 5% =

2119 x 5% = 106

2119 + 106 = 2225

STEP 4 SETTING YOUR MACROS

Protein = 4 calories per gram

Carbs = 4 calories per gram

fats = 9 calories per gram

Protein - Recommend is .6-1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight in pounds. If you have a lot of weight to lose I would go with .6-.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight in pounds.

Fats - Fat will be 20-35% of your calories. I would look at the food you normally like to consume and base fats off of that. If you like low fat food go with 20-25% of calories from fat. If you like higher fat start with 30% of calories from fat.

Carbohydrates - Rest of calories will go towards carbs.

Taking our example client we will first start by deciding protein intake. Since she doesn't have a lot of weight to use we will set protein at 1 grams per pound of body weight.

150 x 1 = 150 grams of protein

150 x 4 = 600 calories

Next we will set fats.

1801 x 25% = 450 calories

450 / 9 = 50 grams of protein

Now we will set carbs.

1801 - 600 - 450 = 750 calories

750/4 = 188 grams of carbs

Macros will be: Calories 1801, Fat 50, Carbs 188, Protein 150