CreveCoeur note* This seems to be bit high(3411) & since Creve is not in a big rush for muscle/fat growth; will monitor weight & BF keeping around 3000-3100 daily calories weekly average.
Trial & error to figure out what's best for each individual
Energy Balance: You might be surprised!
John M Berardi
So what is energy balance? Here's the simple equation: Energy
Balance = Energy Intake - Energy Expenditure
Energy intake is made up of what you eat and drink. Energy expenditure is made
up of several factors including resting metabolic rate (RMR), calorie cost of
activity, thermic effect of food (TEF), and adaptive thermogenesis (the X
factor). The balance of intake and expenditure is an important factor in weight
gain or loss. If you have a positive energy balance (intake exceeds
expenditure), you gain weight. A negative energy balance (intake is less than
expenditure) dictates that you'll lose weight. Simple enough.
Remember, however, that energy balance is only one factor in getting massive (or
getting lean for that matter). And although it's the most basic and simplest
part of understanding your needs for growth, ironically, most people totally
screw it up! So let me be your metabolic guide. Below I'll provide some
practical ways to navigate through the harsh jungle of energy balance equations
so that you'll emerge ready to tackle the challenge of muscle growth. Pick up
your pencils again, class. Better yet, grab a calculator!
Step #1: Resting Metabolic Rate
CreveCoeur's: Wt. 150lbs/2.2=68.18Kgs x .07%BF=4.7727FatMass 68.18Kg-4.7727FM=63.4072FatFreeMass
Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) for Athletes=63.4072FFMx22+500=1894.96
or (RMR=1895)
Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the energy it costs the body to basically keep
alive. This doesn't include the costs of getting your butt out of bed and moving
around; those numbers are calculated in later. Although you might not guess it,
about 50 to 70 percent of your entire day's calorie expenditure is a result of
the RMR. So, let's figure out your RMR right now.
Determining RMR:
To start off with, you need to take your body weight in pounds and convert it to
kilograms. (International readers, please bear with us silly non-metric
Americans for a moment.) This is a simple conversion. Just divide your body
weight by 2.2.
Next you take your percent of fat and multiply it by your body weight (which is
now in kilograms). This will give you your fat mass (FM) in kilograms. Next
simply subtract this number from your total weight in kilograms and you'll have
your fat free mass (FFM) in kilograms.
Before we go on, why don't we try this out on me. Since I'm an athlete with a
body weight of 200lbs at 5% body fat, I'd take my total body mass and divide it
by 2.2:
Total body mass in kilograms = 200lbs / 2.2 = 91 kg
Next I'd multiply this kilogram number (91 kg) by my percent of body fat.
Remember, percents are really decimals so 5% equals 0.05, 12% bodyfat will be
.12 etc.
Fat Mass = 91kg x 0.05 = 4.55kg FM
Next I subtract this fat mass number (4.55 kg) from my total body mass (91kg):
Fat Free Mass = 91kg - 4.55kg = 86.45kg
Therefore my fat free mass is 86.45 kilograms. From that I can determine my RMR.
The formula for RMR is as follows:
Resting Metabolic Rate for Athletes (in calories per day) = 500 + 22 x fat free
mass (in kilograms).
Again, for me, I'd multiply 22 times my fat free mass and add 500 to that number
as shown below:
RMR= 22 x 86.45 + 500 = 2402
Therefore my resting metabolic rate is about 2400 calories per day. Everyone
have their RMR figured out? Good, let's move on.
Step #2: Cost of Activity
CreveCoeur's: 1895RMR x 1.7(Creve's always
on feet/busyat home & will not count 2-4miles ave. work walking w/ suitcases
into exercise)= 3221.432
The Cost of Activity represents how many calories are required to move your butt
around during the day. This includes the cost of walking out to your car,
scraping the ice off the damn thing, driving to work, pinching the secretary's
ass, going to lunch with the boys, and of course, training after work. These
factors make up about 20 to 40% of your daily caloric intake based on your
activity level. So let's figure out your costs of activity. I'll use myself as
an example again.
Determining Activity Costs:
Cost of Daily Activity is equal to the RMR you calculated above multiplied by an
activity factor that fits your daily routine. I've listed some common activity
factors below:
Activity Factors:
1.2-1.3 for Very Light (bed rest)
1.5-1.6 for Light (office work/watching TV)
1.6-1.7 for Moderate (some activity during day)
1.9-2.1 for Heavy (labor type work)
Note: Don't consider your daily workout when choosing a number. We'll do that
later.
With this information we can get back to determining my calorie needs. Since I
work at a university, most of my day is pretty sedentary. Even though I run back
and forth between the lab and classes, I've selected 1.6 as my activity factor.
Therefore the amount of calories it takes to breathe and move around during the
day is about 3800 calories as shown below:
RMR x Activity Factor = 2400 calories x 1.6 = 3800 calories
Costs of Exercise Activity:
CreveCoeur's: Creve will do this each day,
but he's been under computing here too... 1.5 hour Raven Run x10(Low
Moderate)=900Cals
Next, we need to determine how many calories your exercise activity burns so
that we can factor this into the totals. Exercise activity can be calculated
simply by multiplying your total body mass in kilograms (as calculated above) by
the duration of your exercise (in hours). Then you'd multiply that number by the
MET value of exercise as listed below. (MET or metabolic equivalent, is simply a
way of expressing the rate of energy expenditure from a given physical
activity.)
MET values for common activities:
high impact aerobics? 7
low impact aerobics? 5
high intensity cycling? 12
low intensity cycling? 3
high intensity walking - 6.5
low intensity walking - 2.5
high intensity running? 18
low intensity running? 7
circuit-type training? 8
intense free weight lifting? 6
moderate machine training? 3
So here's the formula:
Cost of Exercise Activity = Body Mass (in kg) x Duration (in hours) x MET value
And here's how I calculate it for myself:
Exercise Expenditure for weights = 6 METS X 91kg x 1.5 hours = 819 calories
Exercise Expenditure for cardio = 3 METS X 91 kg x .5 hours = 137 calories
Add these two together and I burn 956 total calories during one of my training
sessions.
Since my training includes about 90 minutes of intense free weight training and
30 minutes of low intensity bicycling (four times per week), my exercise energy
expenditure might be as high as 1000 calories per training day!
The next step is to add this exercise number to the number you generated when
multiplying your RMR by your activity factor (3800 calories per day in my case).
So 3800 calories + about 1000 calories = a whopping 4800 calories per day! And
we're not done yet! (Note: I rounded 956 up to 1000 for the sake of simplicity.
If you're a thin guy trying to gain muscle, it's better to round up anyway than
to round down.)
Step #3: Thermic Effect of Food
CreveCoeur's: 1895RMRx.10=189.5TEF so 3221.5+189.5=3411
CreveCoeur note* This seems to be bit high(3411) & since Creve is not in a big rush for muscle/fat growth; will monitor weight & BF keeping around 3000-3100 daily calories weekly average.
Trial & error to figure out what's best for each
individual
TEF is the amount of calories that it takes your body to digest, absorb, and
metabolize your ingested food intake. This makes up about 5 to 15% of your total
daily calorie expenditure. Since the metabolic rate is elevated via this
mechanism 10 to 15% for one to four hours after a meal, the more meals you eat
per day, the faster your metabolic rate will be. This is a good thing, though.
It's far better to keep the metabolism high and eat above that level, than to
allow the metabolism to slow down by eating infrequently. Protein tends to
increase TEF to a rate double that of carbs and almost triple that of fats so
that's one of the reasons why I'm a big fan of protein meals.
Determining the Thermic Effect of Food:
To determine the TEF, you need to multiply your original RMR value (2400 in my
case) by 0.10 for a moderate protein diet or 0.15 for a high protein diet. So
this is what the formula looks like:
TEF = RMR x 0.10 for moderate protein diet (1 gram per pound of bodyweight)
TEF = RMR x 0.15 for high protein diet (more than 1 gram per pound of
bodyweight)
Since I eat a very high protein diet (about 350 to 400 grams per day), I use the
0.15 factor and my TEF is about 360 calories per day as displayed by the
calculation below:
Thermic Effect of Food = 2400 calories x 0.15 = 360 calories per day
Now add that to your calorie total.
Step #4: Adaptive Thermogenesis
I like to call Adaptive Thermogenesis the "X factor" because we just aren't sure
how much it can contribute to daily caloric needs. Some have predicted that it
can either increase daily needs by 10% or even decrease daily needs by 10%.
Because it's still a mystery, we typically don't factor it into the equation.
Just for interest's sake, one factor included in the "X factor" is unconscious
or spontaneous activity. Some people, when overfed, get hyper and increase their
spontaneous activity and even have been known to be "fidgety." Others just get
sleepy when overfed ? obviously the fidgeters will be burning more calories that
the sleepy ones.
Other factors include hormone responses to feeding, training, and drugs, hormone
sensitivity (insulin, thyroid, etc), stress (dramatically increases metabolic
rate) or temperature induced metabolic changes (cold weather induces increased
metabolic activity and heat production).
With all that said, you don't need to do any math on this part or fiddle with
your calorie total. This is just something to keep in mind.
Step #5: Putting it all together
Okay, so how many damn calories do you need to consume each and every day? Well,
adding up RMR plus activity factor (3800 calories in my case), cost of weight
training (819 calories), cost of cardio (137 calories), and TEF (360 calories),
we get a grand total of about 5116 calories! (Remember, that's just my total.
You'll get a different number.)
Now that's a lot of food! And I must eat this each and every day when I want to
gain weight. Are you surprised at how many calories I need? Most people are. So
the next time you complain that you're "eating all day and can't gain a pound"
you'd better realistically evaluate how much you're really eating. If you're not
gaining a pound, then you're falling short on calories.
The Secret is in the Surplus!
So at this point, the keen T-mag readers that aren't afraid of massive eating
might ask the question, "Since this is technically just your maintenance level,
how can you get bigger by eating this amount? Wouldn't you need more?" The
answer is simple. Since I train only four days per week this diet would meet my
needs on those four days. But on my three off days per week I'd be in positive
calorie balance by about 1,000 calories per day! (That extra thousand calories
isn't being used when training, in other words.) This adds up to a surplus of
3,000 calories per week. And this is where the growth happens!
I especially like this "staggered model" because rather than trying to stagger
your calorie intake on a daily basis by eating different amounts of food on
different days, I let my training cycle my calories for me. This way I can eat
the same thing every day while preventing my body from adapting to that habitual
level of intake. Just like we vary our training to prevent adaptation,
prevention of dietary adaptation is one of the secrets to changing your body
composition.
At this point, I want to stop and give you a week to think about your energy
needs. Go do the math if you haven't already, figure out how many calories you
need, and take some time to compose yourself. After you've realized that you've
been grossly under-eating, start thinking about ways to add calories to your
diet. In the next installment we'll discuss how to design an eating program
that's individualized for your own needs. We'll also get down to the
nitty-gritty and talk about what kinds of foods you should and shouldn't be
eating. I'll meet you back here next week!
John M Berardi is a scientist and PhD candidate in the area of Exercise and
Nutritional Biochemistry at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He also
serves as a nutrition and training consultant to numerous athletes including US
Olympic and NCAA track and field athletes, world-class endurance athletes,
collegiate and professional football players, strength competitors, and
bodybuilders.