Good morning and thank you all for being so patient on my last post. The holidays really do make everything harder.
Last week we talked about when to end a cut and this was a very important topic when it comes to trying to create a physique you truly are proud of but how to at least keep it looking good is where a lot of problems come in.
A lot of people will give you information on how to bulk up and gain muscle so you can put on the size you are looking to have or the more developed areas so you can get what you are looking for (like me endlessly chasing big legs). Or they will talk about how to lose weight and potentially push you down a road of dieting for a long period of time — which is never a recommended strategy unless you have a ton of weight to lose.
With all the hype around losing weight during the new year or the talk of how you should be always trying to grow your muscles, what often gets overlooked is the maintaining of a weight that works well for you and has a healthy amount of body fat to support your normal hormone function and be able to eat enough to get you through a tough workout.
There is so much to be said about being able to maintain your weight and live a wonderful and fulfilling life without worrying about losing or gaining weight.
Calculate your Maintenance Calories
There are a few ways to do this, and there is no specific right or wrong way to do it. Find a way to do it that seems like you would prefer that way and head down the math path.
Eat somewhat normally for two weeks, track everything you eat, weight yourself daily, and see what your weight does.
If your weight stays around the same then you have generally found your maintenance calories without doing terribly much effort. A lot of people like doing this so they can kind of gauge to see if they naturally eat at maintenance or if they need to make a mental note to eat more or less to be able to keep their weight steady.
If your weight goes up, reduce the amount of calories by 5 to 10 percent and try your two weeks again and adjust continually as needed. If your weight goes down, increase the amount of calories by 5 to 10 percent and adjust when you need to. This is probably the easiest and less intimidating way you can keep track of yourself.
Multiply your bodyweight by 12-17 to get a number that may be close to your maintenance and use that for two weeks and adjust as needed.
For me, this would be a range of 1800 - 2500 and this depends on my activity level. If you are working out heavy, have a harder job, and move around a lot every day it would make sense to use the upper end of the calories and then continue with the same two week tracking and adjusting.
If you do not workout a lot, are sedentary, and sit most of the day then it would make sense for you to go towards the lower end of the range of calories and adjust where you need to.
A lot of people like this way because it gives you a nicer looking number than a formula would and it is easy to remember when you need to recalculate.
Use a formula to calculate your calories.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Coffee, Cake & Weights to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.