Calorie confusion

navillus3

Hello! I find myself struggling with knowing how many calories I should be eating. When doing online calorie calculators I have a difficult time knowing what my general activity level is (just what the heck does “moderately active” mean???) my fitness goals have been oriented towards building muscle. Before coronavirus I spent about an hour in the gym 5 days a week starting in February doing light dumbbells (I’m quite weak haha) and about 20 minutes of cardio. I had a fitness assessment in February and was given a body fat % of around 15, bmi roughly 18.8 - 19. I am 5’7, 120 - 122 lbs, female.

My daily activity is 10,000 to 15,000 steps on average most days. I do 30 minutes to 1 hour bodyweight exercise using the Nike training club app about 6 days a week. I used to go on daily runs starting in March, but now I’m riding my bike about 1 hr - 2 hrs (10 - 15 miles average) about 5-6 days a week. Biking speed and distance/time varies on weather and terrain, I live in a big city so some routes take longer and get bogged by traffic.

All in - I want to be stronger and fitter. I have nothing but free time right now and getting my health on track is my priority. That being said I have no idea if I’m eating too much or too little or just the right amount to see results. On average I consume 1700 - 1900 calories a day (some days up to 2200 if I’m super hungry or have a treat) I took a break from calorie counting to practice eating intuitively but I was curious about my calorie intake and started again. My food diary has been updated the last 2 days. I eat a ton of veggies and fruit, nutrition isn’t a huge concern, it’s mostly energy balance.

So how do I fuel my body for optimal results?

mmapags

With the number of step you are getting, you are active or very active. You are also at the lowest range of healthy BMI, on the edge of underweight.

You are already very fit. If you want to get stronger, eat slightly more and incorporate more resistance training. What determines whether you are eating too much or too little is your overall weight trend. You surely don't want to lose.

So, if your weight is going down, you are eating to little. If it has stayed the same for awhile, you are eating a maintenance. As a woman, you are already at very low body fat. Likely you need to eat slightly more to fuel some muscle growth and increase resistance training. Body weight exercises can be fine for awhile but at some point they will not provide enough resistance. You are doing a lot of cardio. Are you training for some kind of competition? There also don't seem to be many rest days in your schedule.

ETA: How much protein are you getting daily?

navillus3

I have been maintaining my weight (give or take 1-3lbs of fluctuation) since November. I haven’t stepped on a scale since early March due to not having access to one. I have a hard time resting, I think that’s also why I do more cardio - I feel the need to move constantly. Unfortunately I have no weights at home, just resistance bands, so body weight exercise is all I can do until my gym opens up again. I might need to up my protein intake a bit, I eat a very veggie cantered diet and by my own estimation I’m getting roughly 70-90g protein a day.

BAC716

@navillus3 Regardless of any calculation you go with, it's always going to be an estimate. I use a simple calculation with people who I work with to determine a starting point: Their bodyweight (BW) x 10-12 for fat loss, 13-15 for maintenance and 16+ for weight gain. a x10 would be an aggressive fat loss for many, 12 could be the edge of fat loss or maintenance, etc., it all depends.

I like to use a slightly higher multiplier in each range if the person is more active so we can have them eating as much as possible while losing weight. The goal is to use the lowest effective dose (eating more calories while still seeing progress in the right direction).

Whether you choose something simple like this or an online calculator, it's always an estimate and will vary based on the person. The easiest thing you can do is choose any starting point, track your intake as well as you can and take you morning weight daily. From there, compare your avg. weekly weights and avg. daily calorie intake to see how your body reacted and adjust up or down accordingly if need be.

Let me know, if you have questions or anything about that. It's just a baseline to work off of! Any online calculator isn't going to be very accurate either! So many variables so you just have to pick something, test and adjust!