Calories, Grams of Protein/Carbs/Fats per day

Do you know how many calories you should be intaking. What about your protein, carbs & Fat? Most likely you don't; so I have the solution!

First Find your BMR:

WOMEN                                                                 MEN

   655                                                                 66

+ (4.3 X Weight in Pounds)                          + (6.23 x Weight in Pounds)

+ (4.7 x Height in Inches)                             + (12.7 x Height in Inches)

-  (4.7 x Age in Years)                                    - (6.8 x Age in Years)

Example:

655                        655

+ (4.3 x 117) =  + 503

+ (4.7 x 64)     =  + 301

-  (4.7 x 23)   =   -  108

                                1351

Now calculate your AMR

Sedentary (little or no exercise) = BMR x 1.2

Lightly Active (light exercise) = BMR x 1.375

Moderately active (moderate exercise/work out 3-5 days per week) = BMR x 1.55

Very Active (hard exercise / work out 6-7 days a week) = BMR x 1.725

Example:

    1351

X 1.55

2094 (this is the amount of calories you need to eat a day to MAINTAIN your body weight)

 If you’re goal is to lose weight subtract this number by 500 to lose 1 lb per week

Maintenance calories:     2094

Subtract deficit calories: - 500

Total Diet Calories:  1594 calories per day (round up to equal 1600)

Now calculate your Micronutrient Ratio:

Ectomorph: Naturally thin; needs higher calories to add shapely muscle

(40% protein, 35% carbs, 25% fats)

Mesomorph: natural athlete; wide sholders; has muscle but holds some fat

(45% protein, 30% carbs, 25% fats)

Endomorph: thick-bones; wide hips; slow metabolism; gains unwanted weight easily

(50% protein, 25% carbs, 25% fats)

Example of a Mesomorph:

Total Diet Calories or Maintaining Calories:  1600                

Divide by Protein Percentage:                       /  45%                

Daily Protein Calories:                                       720                           

Divide by 4 calories per gram                          /  4                        

Daily grams of Protein per day:                     180      

Total Diet Calories or Maintaining Calories:  1600

Divide by Carb Percentage:                            /  30%

Daily Carbohydrate Calories:                             480

Divide by 4 calories per gram                          /  4   

Daily grams of Carbohydrates per day:         120   

Total Diet Calories or Maintaining Calories:  1600

Divide by Fat Percentage:                              /  25%

Daily Fat Calories:                                               400

Divide by 9 calories per gram                          /   9  

Daily grams of Fat per day:                             44.5    

When I'm working out more often then I normally will stick to this maintenance

Divide these grams up among how many meals a day you eat to find out how many calories/grams of nutrients  you need per meal. I eat six meals a day based on a 2000 calorie diet (when I'm not carb cycling or cutting) so on a normal daily basis I take in about 30 g of protein per meal, 25 g of carbs per meal and about 9 grams of healthy fat per meal.

What to Eat

I have gotten a few questions recently on what to eat, when to eat, what to eat pre workout, what to eat post workout and a lot of questions about carb cycling, supplem. The next few posts I will try to touch on the subject of carb cycling and glycemic levels of foods and how it is important to know what to eat and when to eat it but in this post I am going to briefly summarize what to eat.


I know so many people that get lost in grocery stores. Not literally but mentally lost.  They get off track, and start impulse buying what looks good although it may not be the healthiest.  Others just don't know what is healthy and what isn't. I saw a woman not too long ago with a grocery cart stocked full of lean cuisines, lunch meat, flour tortillas, special K "protein" shakes, and a few other items that ultimately she thought was healthy but overall, not so much...

I mention below Avocados in my vegetable section, which it is a vegetable but I would recommend eating this as a healthy fat instead. 

See below a list of foods to choose from at the grocery store.

Proteins (Meat & Eggs)

-            Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

-            Tuna (water packed)

-            White Meat Chicken (water packed)

-            Fish (US Farmed Tilapia, Pacific Alaska, Gray or True Cod, Alaskan Pacific Wild-caught Halibut, Wild Caught Salmon, Farm Raised Trout, Shrimp)

-            Extra lean Ground Beef or Ground Round (92 – 96%) / Bison Ground Beef

-            Buffalo Steak (lean)

-             Protein Powder

-            Eggs

-            Rib Eye Steaks or Roasts

-            Top Round Stakes or Roast (AKA Stew  meat, London Broil, Stir Fry)

-            Top Sirloin (AKA Filet, filet mignon)

-            Top Loin (NY Strip)

-            Flank Steak (Stir Fry, Fajita)

-            Eye of Round (Cube meat, stew meat, bottom round, 96% lean ground round)

-            Extra lean ground turkey, Turkey breast slices, or cutlets (fresh meat, not deli cuts)

Carbs

-            Oatmeal (Old Fashioned or Quick Oats)

-            Beans (Pinto, Black, Kidney)

-            Cereals  (Only with less than 10 grams sugar)

-            Ezekial Bread (Organic Frozen Section)

-            Cream of Wheat from Box

-            Grits (plain only)

-            Pasta (Whole grain)

-            Rice (Jasmine, basmati, Arborio, wild, brown)

-            Potatoes (sweet, red, baking, new)

-            Whole Wheat Pita (Low carb variety)

-            Ezekial Tortillas

-            Rice Cakes (Lighty Salted)

-            Multi-grain cereal

-            Cous Cous

-            Blue Corn, Multi-Grain or Baked Chips

Vegetables (Fresh first, Frozen second, Canned last)

-            Leafy lettuce

-            Broccoli

-            Asparagus

-            String / green beans

-            Spinach

-            Bell peppers

-            Celery

-            Mushrooms

-            Pickles

-            Cabbage

-            Sprouts

-            Cucumber

-            Green or red peppers

-            Onions

-            Garlic

-            Tomatoes

-            Zucchini

-            Squash

-            Carrots

-            Corn

-            Peas

-            Avocado

Fruit

-            Blackberries, blueberries & raspberries

-            Lemons

-            Limes

-            Melons

-            Grapefruit

-            Apples (organic)

-            Grapes (organic)

-            Oranges

-            Bananas, strawberries, peaches, plums (Eat sparingly lots of natural sugar)

Healthy Fats
-            Natural Style or Organic Peanut Butter

-            Olive Oil or Safflower Oil

-            Nuts (peanuts, almonds)

-            Seeds (pumpkin, sunflower)

-            Flaxseed oil

-        avocado

Dairy

-            Low/fat free cottage cheese  

-            Low or Non-fat Milk

-            Plain Kefir

-            Low/Fat Free Cheese

-            Fat Free cream Cheese

-            Carb Master Yogurt (Kroger)

Beverages

-            Bottled Water

-            Crystal Light

-            Diet Sodas

-            Coffee

-            Tea 

Condiments & Miscellaneous

-            Fat Free Mayonnaise (on occasion)

-            Ketchup (Low Carb/Low Sugar Brands Only)

-            Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce

-            Reduced Sodium Teriyaki Sauce

-            Balsamic Vinegar

-            Balsamic or Raspberry Vinaigrette

-            Salsa or Fresh Pico De Gallo

-            Splenda/Ideal/Truvia/Stevia

-            Steak Sauce

-            Sugar Free Maple Syrup

-            Sugar Free Jelly

-            Chili Paste

-            Tomato Paste (Low sugar)

-            Mustard (Yellow or Dijon)

-            Extracts (vanilla, almond, etc.)

-            Low sodium fat-free beef or fat free chicken broth

-            Plain or reduced sodium tomato sauce, puree, paste

-            Fat free cooking spray

-            Sugar free applesauce

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I came up with this recipe when my craving for oatmeal raisin cookies became unbearable.  The first batch I made did not turn out so great.. They were too cakey but I resisted giving up... So I made another batch and SUCCESS!

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups quick cooking rolled oats

1/4 cup oat bran

1/2 cup crushed/chopped almond mixture
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons smart balance butter

4 tablespoons applesauce

1/4 cup Splenda Brown Sugar

1 Egg, 2 egg whites or 3 tbsp of all whites

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Note that I did not use any flour at all in these cookies. I try to stray away from using flour as much as possible..

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat Oven to 350º F.  Grease baking sheet with non stick spray

I took about a handful of almonds (about 1/2 cup) and ground them up in my food proccessor until they were finely chopped (almost like a flour).  If you have almond flour on hand, you can use that instead.



In medium bowl mix all dry ingredients together.  Almond flour mixture along with oats, oat bran, raisins, baking powder, ground cinnamon, & salt in a mixing bowl and set aside.

This is the oat bran I use



In a large bowl beat butter, applesauce, and brown sugar.

Add the egg & vanilla, beat until blended.  Add the flour mixture to and beat just until blended.

Form Cookies by scooping up spoonfuls of dough with a tablespoon and place on baking sheet.

Bake in oven for 15 minutes or unitl 

edges are a nice golden brown.

FIRST STEPS

I started posting low carb/ healthy/ clean eating recipes on my facebook page and surprisingly started getting questions about dieting, what to eat, exercises and many people told me I needed to start a blog, so here I am, blogging.
Growing up, my parents always ate right.  My father was diagnosed with cancer in his 40’s therefore, he drastically changed his diet from healthy to even healthier.  He began to eat organic foods, and made drastic changes to his diet to help ward off the cancer invading his body and I believe his diet helped him live for another 10+ years.  Therefore, I grew up with minimal junk food in our house, which at the time disappointed me, but to this day I am grateful. 
This doesn’t mean when I grew up I continued to eat right... I bought what was cheap, easy and ultimately it was unhealthy.  I was never overweight but I was not in the shape I wanted to be in.  I always wanted to have the body you see in fitness magazines, not the skinny anorexic type, but a muscular, & toned physique.  But even though I had this image of what I strived to look like I didn’t know where to start.  I continued to doubt myself and thought, “I’ll never be able to look like that,” and my negative thoughts continued to infest my will to change.   I continued to eat fast foods, bought processed foods, and didn’t exercise as often or as intensely as I should or could have.
After my father passed away in 2010 I began to do research on pesticides linked with cancer. As my research became more extensive I eventually became infatuated with nutrition, supplementation, and exercise.  Since then I have  changed my diet, become an avid runner, and exercise on a regular basis and am mentally and physically the strongest I have ever been.  At first it was definitely not pleasant eating this "bland" healthy food, but through much trial and error and experiencing with different recipes, seasonings, combinations,  I have now found a way to make everything taste wonderful... I would rather have the food in my fridge & pantry than fast food ANY day. 
  It has been a pretty slippery slope for me, just like anyone else that has tried to lose  weight but I can happily say I am at a place where I know what is wrong, and what is right and how to stay HEALTHY and ultimately, happy.
I strive to be a role model in some way to people who are seeking to eat right, lose weight, gain muscle, etc.  The most important thing is to make SMALL changes.  If you prepare too many different goals for yourself you will become unmotivated.   Don't overwhelm yourself with too many goals.

I will be posting various recipes that have worked well for me, as well as fitness tips and inspirational quotes.. I hope this blog can help in some way for anyone desiring to live a healthy lifestyle!
If I can motivate someone to reach their goals purely by example and advice, then I am honored. :)