Caloric Intake

kristi

Cathlete
Where do I find out how many calories a person should intake when working as hard as we do with Cathe? On Mondays and Wednesdays I do a 1 1/2 hr taekwondo class. It is intense. I don't want to undereat. Thanks!
 
The way I calculate my calories is by using the Mifflin Method. A friend of mine is a trainer and nutritionist, and she goes over it in depth here:

Counting Calories: Round 3! | Trainer Momma

This is the method I've used for a long time, and it works very, very well both for weight loss and maintenance. This method works the best if you have a heart rate monitor. The other method I've used before is take your goal weight and times it by 10. Then add 300-400 for very active days, and 100-200 for moderate days. I personally like the Mifflin Method better. I've always had consistent results with it.
 
Thanks for your response! I've never heard of this method before. Will this formula work even if I don't own a heart rate monitor?
 
Yes, it will give you a caloric number to shoot for depending on your activity level regardless of a monitor. The heart rate monitor makes it really precise because you can take your RMR x PAL factor results, subtract your weight loss calories, and then add in exactly how many calories you are burning during your workouts.

With my slow metabolism I have discovered that I need to always subtract 300-500 calories from my RMR x PAL results and then add back in my calories burned during exercise in order to maintain my weight. However, I've been tracking my calories like this for so long that I rarely wear my monitor anymore; I just use the RMR x PAL number. I use 1.3 for my PAL factor since my workout is the most strenuous part of my day. The rest of the day is rather sedentary at a desk or doing normal housework.

So my equation looks like this (I weigh about 130): RMR 1275 x PAL 1.3= 1657.5 calories/day for maintenance.

If I wanted to lose a few pounds, I would subtract 300-500 from 1657, and then add back in my workout calories from the reading on my monitor (to be very precise).
 

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