How Much Food Do I Need, And What Are My Macros?

If you are on the Silver or Gold package then I am prescribing a diet for you and we are working on finding the right one that works for you. So what if your a bronze member how should you work out how much food you need?

First you need to work out how many calories your body needs, from this you can then tailor your calories to make yourself in a calorie deficit (to loose) a calorie surplus (to gain) or maintenance calories (to maintain).

Please note this is just a guide, breastfeeding mums need to ensure they are eating enough and drinking enough fluids in order to have a good milk supply. Now is not the right time for an extreme diet, it is about being more mindful, choosing carefully and making small changes.

Your Basal Metabolic rate is the calories needed for your body to function at rest, you can find an online calculator easily by using a search engine, you will need to input your gender, height, weight and age.

Once you have this you need to add the calories for the day to day activity you do. You can use a PAL value, just simply multiply your BMR by the following as a guide-

For a sedentary lifestyle 1.4

Low physically active life style 1.5

Moderately physically active life style 1.6

Physically active life style 1.7

Now with this value you need to make it fit your goal.

For weight loss following the recommended exercise guidelines you should create a calorie deficit.

For weight gain you go the other way and start with 150 calories above this value.

For maintenance then try this value to start, you may find with extra exercise you will need to up them.

Everybody has different calorie needs and this is simple a starting point, if you loose more than 2lbs more than two weeks in a row you may be loosing muscle mass so you will need to up your calories, this is really important, you CAN NOT drop more than this healthily. 

You may also gain weight at first with exercise so you must also record your progress through measurements and pictures you can see that its working. If after 2 weeks your weight does not drop and/or you do not feel any better, measurments are not going down and you cant see a difference in pictures then reduce calories by 100-200 or increase your activity. Please make sure you do NOT drop calories too low, this is not healthy. You do not want to be in a calorie deficit of more than 700 calories through both diet and exercise. You also need to give things time to work so don't up exercise and decrease calories at the same time, change one thing at a time and review it after a week. 

Some people prefer a higher fat diet but the ideal macros for a healthy diet are 50% carbs, 30% Protein and 20% Fat. Although we do need to make sure our bodies are getting the correct balance there is no magic macro split, it is the overall energy balance that effects out fat stores and alongside exercise, our muscle mass.

Eating often is also really important for our blood sugar levels and metabolism, you should aim for Breakfast, lunch and tea and 2 healthy snacks a day.

There are lots of other community blogs on living a healthy lifestyle and changing habits, this is just a starting point which may be useful for some people. 

If you would like me to prescribe your diet and exercise then please check out or silver and gold packages to see what levels of support are available.

Maricarmen x