Geschatte leestijd: 6 minuten
When women aim to achieve their ideal figure, it often comes down to reducing body fat and getting toned legs and buttocks. While most women focus their efforts in the gym, an important aspect, the kitchen, is often neglected. Of course, delicious meals are prepared in the kitchen, but to what extent are the right amount of calories and macronutrients considered to achieve your desired goals?
Let me make it clear,
there is no perfect diet plan. Adjusting the intake of the right amount of calories and macronutrients needs to be tailored to you as an individual (gender, body fat percentage, and weight), your daily energy expenditure, and your goals. Every person is different, so what’s the point of adopting the eating patterns of
Doutzen Kroes or
Bella Falconi? Moreover, a diet plan is not indefinitely usable; it will need to be adjusted based on the progress you make or the circumstances you are in.
This article provides clarity on how you can adjust your diet to lose body fat and/or build muscle. Perhaps it’s perfect for you at this moment, but remember that it deserves regular adjustments!
How many calories in my diet plan
In this article, we only describe the calories and macronutrients needed for a flat stomach and round buttocks. It goes without saying that sufficient vegetables and fruits as well as water are very important for good health, but let’s save that for another time.
To find out what works for you, you can calculate (or rather estimate) your daily calorie needs. For this, you preferably use the Katch McArdle formula or the calculator below.
The Katch-McArdle formula does not distinguish between men and women.
Why not?
Quite simply: the difference between men and women is mainly in the difference in muscle mass. If you know that muscle mass, also known as Lean Body Mass (LBM), then there is no need for a difference in the calculation! Fat does not burn calories, so the calculation is based
only on your muscle mass.
Your LBM is calculated based on your weight and your body fat percentage. Of course, you need to know that body fat percentage! How do you get that?
You can best measure your body fat percentage with a skinfold caliper. There are body fat percentage meters that work in the same way as the skinfold measurement, but they do the calculation for you, such as the
FatTrack GOLD Digital Body Fat Caliper.
With the
FatTrack GOLD Digital Body Fat Caliper, you only need to measure the skin folds and the calculation of your body fat percentage is done for you.
The Katch-McArdle formula is as follows:
BMR = 370 +(21.6 * LBM in kg)
You can also calculate your maintenance calorie needs with this formula. For that, use the Harris-Benedict Formula list.
In the calculator below, you need to enter your weight, your body fat percentage, and the number of your activity level (see below) and click on
Calculate BMR.
If you want to enter numbers with decimals, use a period (.) instead of a comma, otherwise the calculator won’t work.
- Weight (kg)
- Fat % (cm)
- Activity level
12345
- Your LBM (kg)
- Your BMR
- Maintenance
You can’t make the calculation more precise yourself! Only in a laboratory can you go further, but that is completely unnecessary.
You need data about your weight, body fat percentage, and daily activity level to calculate what you need in calories for a neutral energy balance. Once you’ve done that, we’ll look at what you’ll do with these values next.
Gaining muscle mass
If you want to gain (muscle mass), you need to eat more than you burn daily. As a rule, we use about 10% on top of your daily ‘maintenance’. If the calculation shows that you need 2000 kcal daily for a neutral energy balance, then you can consume about 2200 kcal every day.
Losing body fat
To lose fat, you will need to eat less than you burn daily. How much exactly depends on how quickly you want to lose weight and whether you can afford to lose some muscle mass. As a rule, we currently use a deficit of 20% on your daily maintenance. If your daily intake is 2000 kcal, you can consume about 1600 kcal from your diet every day.
Composition of calories, macro nutrients
How many calories you eat daily determines the effect on weight loss or gain. Are there any other factors that influence this? Absolutely, what the calories are composed of is also important. Each food consists of a combination of the three macro nutrients: proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Eating more or less of one macro nutrient has a different effect on your body and mind than when
A diet that consists of 80% carbohydrates and only a small portion of protein and fat has very different consequences than a diet where a lot of protein is eaten and a lot fewer carbohydrates.
Each food consists of a combination of the three macro nutrients: proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.
Proteins
Protein is composed of amino acids, which are the building blocks of your body. By eating enough protein, your metabolism increases, you have better protein synthesis, and you feel more satiated.
Animal proteins usually contain a higher quality of protein than plant-based protein. This is because the amino acid profile is more similar to human protein, or the proteins that make up your muscles.
Although plant-based sources of protein have a less complete package of amino acids, it can be useful to get your protein from them. Especially if you are a vegetarian.
One gram of protein provides 4 kcal
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates provide quick energy for all processes in your body. You need them to perform well in the gym and to be mentally sharp
.
Many people have been wrongly scared of carbohydrates. For many people, it is good to eat fewer carbohydrates and get more energy from protein and fat, but you absolutely need them to achieve maximum results.
One gram of carbohydrates provides 4 kcal.
Fats
Fat is essential for good health but is often wrongly omitted from a diet to lose weight. A big mistake, as it is impossible to function well without consuming enough fat. Especially for your hormone balance, it is important to get enough fats.
One gram of fat provides 9 kcal.
The ideal ratio Proteins, Carbohydrates, and Fats
What works best for you may deviate slightly from the numbers mentioned here, but this is a very good way to start. I’ll tell you how many grams you should consume of each macro nutrient to reach the total number of calories.
From each macro nutrient, we count the number of calories it contains after you have determined the ideal amount for you.
1. You start by determining the amount of protein. For this, take your body weight and multiply it by 2 to calculate the number of grams you can eat every day. If you weigh 65 kilos, it is 130 grams of protein.
One gram of protein provides 4 kcal, so you consume 520 kcal from protein (130*4).
2. Then you determine how much fat you are going to eat. Take one gram per kilo of body weight. If you weigh 65 kilos, it is 65 grams of fat.
One gram of fat provides 9 kcal, so you consume 585 kcal from fat (65*9).
3. Add up how many calories you get from protein and fat (520+585 = 1105). Subtract this from the total number of calories you can eat daily. From the earlier example for weight loss, you came to 1600 kcal. This leaves you with 495 kcal (1600-1105).
These 495 kcal are ‘left’ to get from carbohydrates.
4. Calculate how many carbohydrates you can eat. One gram of carbohydrates provides 4 kcal, so you can eat 123.75 grams of carbohydrates daily (495/4).
Once you’ve calculated everything, put it on paper and you can start determining how to fill it in with food. What I recommend you do is keep track of what you eat in a fitness app for a day (or two). The most suitable one is
the FITSociety app. You simply enter everything you eat in a day and then see how many calories, proteins, carbohydrates, and fats it contains. If you need more of one, you can work with it the next day. For example, leave out some bread if you eat too many carbohydrates and take some chicken fillet instead if you have a protein deficiency. By filling everything in again, you can perfect your diet until you reach the desired targets.
Notes: The amounts mentioned above are guidelines. What works best for you may be different, especially if you are very ‘lean’ (low body fat). In that case, it may be wise to eat less fat and more carbohydrates. A distribution of 0.7 grams of fat per kilogram of body weight and filling in the rest with carbohydrates may give you better results. Stick to the above guidelines for a few weeks and then vary to see which gives the best results.
Building muscle and losing fat simultaneously
Yes, it is possible to build muscle mass and lose body fat at the same time. Especially women who do not (well) strength train or do not eat enough protein will be able to make great strides. By having a higher protein synthesis combined with a small calorie deficit, you get two benefits and you can get both a flat stomach and firm, round buttocks.
A method that also yields a lot of results is eating by means of the so-called ‘carb cycling’ method. Here you dose the amount of carbohydrates in larger portions on the days you train and eat fewer carbohydrates when you have a rest day. This way, you create a small calorie surplus at times when you need it, when you’ve trained your buttocks. By eating less on other days, you also have the beneficial effect of a calorie deficit, as you lose body fat.
In addition to the right advice on nutrition, I also give you the perfect training programs including extensive instructional videos and lifestyle coaching. Download the FITsociety app and choose me as your trainer or coach.
