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We know what the food groups are here’s how we get them into our diet.
The health message of 5 fruit and veg portions per day is especially important. It’s how we can gain lots of nutrients. Whether you are trying to lose weight, gain weight or maintain a healthy body. 5 portions and the right amounts of carbs, proteins and fats will let you reach your specific needs in the healthiest way possible; your body will thank you for it. Here is a list of the nutrients our bodies require, please don’t get hung up on these - it’s not essential that you memorise them all. You’ll find a balanced diet goes a long way to obtaining the following |
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How much to eat?
Now we sort of understand nutrients (I hope) we can look at Energy. How much do we need? Well, here is a quick and easy way to do this. Firstly. we need to know our own BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate).
Your Basal Metabolic Rate is the number of calories required to keep your body functioning at rest. BMR is also known as your body’s metabolism; therefore, any increase to your metabolic rate, such as exercise, will increase your BMR.
To get your BMR
Your BMR is your weight in kg x22 if you’re a female or x24 if you’re male
An example is, if you’re 11 stone female that’s 69.8kg x 22 = 1535 calories you need to eat each day.
But now we need to add the extra calories to make up for your movement. We need to know how active you are and then do a small calculation on your BMR.
If you’re inactive we multiply this by 1.2.
Fairly active 1.3
Moderate activity 1.4
Very active 5hrs exercise per week would be 1.5.
If an 11 stone woman is moderately active 1535x1.4= 2149calories
This 2149 calories per day is to remain healthy and stay at a stable weight. If we wish to lose weight in a safe way we can reduce this total by 20 – 30%, I would recommend only 20% if you’re active because we don’t want to get fatigued.
2149- 20% =1745 calories per day.
Now if we want to know what proportions of calories we should get from each Macro, we can multiply by the following factors:
1745x0.52 = 872 calories from Carbs.
1745x0.28 = 488 calories from Protein
1745x0.2 = 350 calories from Fats
Then to work out the number of number of grams of each Macro we divide the calories by 4 for carbs and protein and 9 for fats:
872 calories of carbs divided by 4 = 218g
488 calories of protein divided by 4 = 122g
350 calories of fat divided by 9 = 39g
So, this is the basis of understanding nutrients, but it goes further than many food plans and well-known diet information and busts myths about certain food groups beings bad and others being good. There are no bad foods just the wrong amounts for your specific needs. (unless you have intolerances of course then the amount is none or you know whatever you doctor said)
Now we sort of understand nutrients (I hope) we can look at Energy. How much do we need? Well, here is a quick and easy way to do this. Firstly. we need to know our own BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate).
Your Basal Metabolic Rate is the number of calories required to keep your body functioning at rest. BMR is also known as your body’s metabolism; therefore, any increase to your metabolic rate, such as exercise, will increase your BMR.
To get your BMR
Your BMR is your weight in kg x22 if you’re a female or x24 if you’re male
An example is, if you’re 11 stone female that’s 69.8kg x 22 = 1535 calories you need to eat each day.
But now we need to add the extra calories to make up for your movement. We need to know how active you are and then do a small calculation on your BMR.
If you’re inactive we multiply this by 1.2.
Fairly active 1.3
Moderate activity 1.4
Very active 5hrs exercise per week would be 1.5.
If an 11 stone woman is moderately active 1535x1.4= 2149calories
This 2149 calories per day is to remain healthy and stay at a stable weight. If we wish to lose weight in a safe way we can reduce this total by 20 – 30%, I would recommend only 20% if you’re active because we don’t want to get fatigued.
2149- 20% =1745 calories per day.
Now if we want to know what proportions of calories we should get from each Macro, we can multiply by the following factors:
1745x0.52 = 872 calories from Carbs.
1745x0.28 = 488 calories from Protein
1745x0.2 = 350 calories from Fats
Then to work out the number of number of grams of each Macro we divide the calories by 4 for carbs and protein and 9 for fats:
872 calories of carbs divided by 4 = 218g
488 calories of protein divided by 4 = 122g
350 calories of fat divided by 9 = 39g
So, this is the basis of understanding nutrients, but it goes further than many food plans and well-known diet information and busts myths about certain food groups beings bad and others being good. There are no bad foods just the wrong amounts for your specific needs. (unless you have intolerances of course then the amount is none or you know whatever you doctor said)