To maintain physical fitness, gain muscle mass or successfully lose weight, a person needs to control his diet, know how to calculate BJU, determine the energy and nutritional value of each meal consumed. Closely monitoring changes in their weight, losing weight people try to get rid of extra pounds as quickly as possible, revising their diet and reducing its nutritional value.
But sometimes the desire for a quick result plays a trick on them. Why?
The basic value of the diet
A positive result of losing weight can be obtained by correctly calculating the calorie content of the diet and the energy value of each of the foods used. Refusals from food, exhausting hunger strikes and dubious mono-diets not only harm the body, but often cause feelings of excruciating discomfort. At the same time, a competent ratio of useful components in the process of nutrition provides the body with the necessary amount of energy for a full life and at the same time helps everyone losing weight to build their dream figure, safely getting rid of extra pounds. Most professional recommendations telling how to calculate BJU for people who maintain their weight, who want to build muscle or lose extra pounds, are primarily tied to the WHO guidelines for proper nutrition.
According to professionals, human health and activity depend on the daily intake of proteins (1 g per 1 kg of body weight), fats (1.1 g per volume) and carbohydrates (4 g, respectively). This basic ratio of BJU completely fits into the “corridor” - from 10 to 15% of proteins, from 30 to 35% of fats and from 50 to 60% of carbohydrates. But many fitness trainers recommend that their wards, before calculating the
BJU for weight loss, use the scheme: 30-35% protein, 10-15% fat, 50-60% carbohydrates. Or common ratio: 30/20/50. In this formula, a protein was assigned an unusual energy function instead of fat.
The history of the appearance of the "golden" weight loss scheme
In order to maintain normal weight, specialists have developed the classic ratio of BZHU in grams - 1: 1: 4. This percentage rate looks like this: 14/31/55 and in total is 2400 kcal. Nutritionists considered that for effective weight loss of patients this energy value of the diet can be reduced by half, up to 1200 kcal. It is impossible to reduce the daily norm of proteins, therefore carbohydrates and fats were cut off. From the 4/9/16 ratio, which together give 29, we singled out 14, subtracting 5 units from fats and 9 from carbohydrates. As a result, 4/4/7 remained, which in percentage terms meant 27/27/46. Having reduced fats and rounded proteins with carbohydrates, professionals have developed a universal formula that helps to learn how to calculate weight loss diet: 30/20/50.
But this scheme is valid only for a diet with a calorie content of 1200 units! Today, the
Institute of Nutrition RAMS has established daily intake rates for an adult: proteins - at least 70-105 g (10-15% of the diet per day) and fats with the same weight in grams, but 30-35% of calorie content. The difference in the amount of nutrients is due to individual physical activity of a person.
Popular formula for calculating the ratio of nutrients in the diet
In order to calculate the BJU norm based on two common formulas - Harris-Benedict (proposed in 1919 and modified by contemporaries) and Mifflin-San Geor, recently deduced (in 2005), it is necessary to decide which one suits the losing weight more. For people who ignore sports and prefer a passive pastime, the coefficient of mobility (KP) corresponds to 1.2; for those who exercise moderately (3 times a week), it increases to 1.375; hard trainers (5 times in 7 days) should consider KP = 1.4625. For all manual workers, who are also passionate about strength exercises, KP 1.6375 is suitable; practicing intensively several times a day - 1.725; but if physical work is added to this tight training schedule, then the CP will increase to a value of 1.9. Both schemes for calculating the basic daily calorie use this parameter. In the first (Harris-Benedict), the calculation is as follows: 655.1 + 9.563 x weight in kg + 1.85 x height in cm - 4.676 x age. Then the result is multiplied by KP. This calculation has a small error for a modern person (about 5%), therefore, nutritionists often use the second formula.
Knowing your height and weight, you can also calculate the basic metabolism (BOV) according to the Muffin-Geor scheme (also called the Mifflin-San Geor formula) for women: 9.99 x weight in kg + 6.25 x height in cm - 4.92 x age - 161; for men: 9.99 x weight in kg + 6.25 x height in cm - 4.92 x age + 5. The daily need for calories will be equal to the obtained values, to which you need to add 10% of the base metabolism (energy used for digestion of food) and the amount multiplied by the activity coefficient: SEC = (BOV + BOV x 0.1) x KP.
With the calorie calculated by this method, a person can maintain his weight, but for weight loss you need to create a deficit by reducing it by 500 kcal. For a comfortable weight loss, we calculate the calorie corridor. To do this, add 100 kcal (upper limit) to the result and subtract 250 kcal (lower limit) from the original figure. For example, if the diet should be 1500 kcal (2000 - 500), then the lower limit of the corridor will be 1250 kcal, and the upper - 1600 kcal. Taking into account the calorie content of nutrients: proteins (4 kcal), fats (9 kcal) and carbohydrates (3.75 kcal) per 1 gram, respectively, you can calculate the calories of BJU and the amount of each of the nutrients in the diet. Proteins will be 1500 x 0.3: 4 - about 113 g, fats - 1500 x 0.2: 9, i.e. about 33 g, carbohydrates - 1500 x 0.5: 3.75 (about 200 g). Thus, the energy value of proteins in the diet will be 450 kcal (113 g x 4), fat - 300 kcal (33 x 9), and 750 kcal carbohydrates (200 x 3.75).
Squirrels
Critics of this method of calculating the ratio of nutrients using the daily calorie intake pay attention to a significant bias in the diet: an excessive amount of protein, a lack of fat and a small amount of carbohydrates.
Before calculating the BJU on the advice of nutritionists who adhere to the above method, it is necessary to take into account that an excess of proteins leads to: increased stress on the internal organs (kidneys and liver are especially affected); increased blood urea concentration; putrefactive dyspepsia (decay of proteins in the colon); excessive load on the digestive tract. An abundance of protein in the diet is contraindicated for people with diabetes (type 2), which often happens with obesity.
Fats
Reducing the vital environment for the breakdown of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K leads to a disruption in their energy and plastic function. Deterioration of the skin, nails and hair is an external manifestation of a deficiency of fats and vitamins. Hypovitaminosis A is “night blindness,” D is depression, loss of strength, muscle weakness, conception problems, osteoporosis, diabetes and obesity, E is a decrease in its antioxidant effect, the formation of blood clots, the development of vascular atherosclerosis; K - reduction of blood coagulability, increased capillary permeability, impaired tissue regeneration. Fats are often called the "secret" of female beauty. Fitness trainers often urge you to pay attention to WHO standards and prevent excessive fat reduction before calculating BJU. Even for very strict diets, the lower critical bar for eating an important nutrient is 0.8 g per 1 kg of weight. It is better to reduce the calorie content of the diet by eating healthy fats (vegetable oils) and reducing the amount of fast carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates
The most valuable components of these substances are disaccharides and monosaccharides. Their balance ensures the full functioning of the muscular system, strengthening it and making it work intensively. With a lack of these substances, those who lose weight experience general exhaustion, malaise, and malfunctioning of the central nervous system. In the event of an excess of incoming carbohydrates, a person is facing obesity, diabetes mellitus and digestive problems.
It is known that these components of the products give energy to the body and nourish the brain, therefore, the diet should have a sufficient amount of complex (indigestible) or slow carbohydrates, giving saturation and strength. And the consumption of fast simple carbohydrates is better to minimize and not eat them in the afternoon, when the body is most predisposed to convert them into fats.
How to correctly calculate BZHU for weight loss
For the correct calculation of the ratio of nutrients in the diet, dietetics and sports nutrition experts advise using the individual weight in kilograms as the main parameter. The protein norm will correspond to world standards (1 g per 1 kg of weight), and the required calorie deficit (400-500 units) will be created due to an adequate reduction in fats and carbohydrates. It is necessary to reduce them proportionally, and in case of violation of border norms, consider WHO recommendations as the main ones, changing the overall calorie content. Only in this case will it be possible to correctly calculate the amount of BJU without creating a skew in the diet, and, as a result, losing weight will proceed comfortably and safely.
Only for athletes who have been engaged in strength training for a long time, people who have been friends with sports all their lives, the process of muscle building due to burning subcutaneous fat (drying the body) is associated with increased consumption of lean protein, along with a decrease in the amount of carbohydrates in the diet. These events are held in conjunction with a whole program of recommendations, therefore, with moderate physical exertion, experts do not recommend using them on their own.
: how to correctly calculate their quantity in one dish
Having dealt with the caloric content of the daily diet and calculating the energy value of each of the nutrients in the diet, it is necessary to determine how much protein, fat and carbohydrate is contained in each of the prepared dishes. To count, you need to arm yourself with an arsenal of tools: a kitchen scale, a calculator, calorie tables of raw foods - and start a food diary. They will help to calculate the BJU dishes once, and in the future use ready-made values. In addition, the diary will become a source of information about your eating habits, which in case of violations can always be corrected. To begin with, weigh all products and calculate their total calorie content, including the energy value of nutrients in raw form. We also find out the mass of the finished dish (be sure to subtract the weight of the pan). Water has no calories. For example, the energy value of 100 grams of dry buckwheat is 336 units, porridge from it has boiled and weighs 200 grams, but the total calorie content remains the same - 336 units. Therefore, 100 grams of finished porridge will have a calorie content of 168 units.
In fried foods, the nutritional value of the main product must be added 20 percent - the energy value of absorbed oil during heat treatment. Grilled chicken becomes one third more caloric, and dried fish due to moisture loss - by half. In salt, along with
water, there are no
calories . A fifth of the total number of calories of raw foods (20%) that are boiled in it (meat, fish, mushrooms or vegetables) goes into the broth. Berries and fruits give the compote a third of their calories (30%).
Advice
In practice, fitness trainers recommend, when independently calculating the individual BJU ratio, not to go beyond the minimum values: protein (at least 1 g per 1 kg of weight), fats (at least 0.8 g per 1 kg) and carbohydrates - at least 50 g per day (subject to a low-carb keto diet with a predominant amount of protein in the diet). If the starting body weight of a person before losing weight is large enough, then the calculation of the BJU is best done in stages (after every 5-10 kilograms lost).