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LIFELINE offers a wide range of Wellness and Spa services for both men and women. This is besides the health & fitness programs, body assessment & diet evaluation systems, and of course well-trained and qualified trainers.
Exercise and Lifestyle programs
Our exercise and lifestyle programs are designed after thorough evaluation of your health history and wellness profile. This is followed by a fitness profile program, which records, analysis and tracks physical health and fitness measurements for individuals of all ages. The following are the tests conducted:
- Cardiovascular Test ( V02 -volume of oxygen consumed during exercise )
- Biometrics such as height, weight, circumference and BMI
- BMR
- Blood pressure
- Heart rate
- Body fat, water and mineral composition
- Visceral Fat
- Bone Mass
- Fat Free Mass
- Flexibility test
- Muscular strength
- Metabolic Age
- Physique Rating
Exercise programs are customized and prescribed after thorough fitness and health assessment as well as nutritional profiling. The Health & Fitness programs are designed using the blend of varied systems of training which includes Cardio-vascular & Muscular strength training, Isometric & isotonic trainings, Aerobics & Circuit training, Yoga & Meditation.
This blend of systems provides a holistic approach towards Weight gain or loss, Stress management, Lifestyle diseases such Diabetes, Hypertension, Obesity etc, enhancing or even just maintaining general Health or Fitness.
To know more about the science behind this report, browse below
BODY MASS INDEX
To calculate your body mass index (BMI), you first need to know your weight and height, and then whether you are a healthy weight.
Calculating your BMI involves dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in meters squared. Usually, the resulting number falls between about 15-40, showing whether someone is underweight, at a healthy weight, or overweight/obese.
The BMI calculation does not just consider height and weight for individuals between the ages of 2 and 18. The age and gender of the participants are also taken into consideration.
BMI RANGES
For most adults, a healthy BMI range between 18.5 and 24.9. The difference is noticeable among individuals having a normal musculature.
The ranges measure in at:
- Underweight: below 18.5
- Healthy weight is between 18.5 and 24.9
- Overweight: 25 to 29.9
- Over 40 years old: overweight
IDEAL BODY WEIGHT
IBW was originally designed with a medical outlook in mind. Applications include dosage estimates and the like. The formulas used to determine it are completely divorced from image and the idea of somebody’s ideal body weight.
These days, IBW is most used for both working out drug dosage, with metabolism of many drugs aligning more closely with IBW than with total body weight, and for weight classification in many sports.
IBW is far from a perfect measurement. In fact, the further somebody is from what might be considered a normal body shape, the less accurate it becomes- here, we are mostly thinking of overly muscular athletes such as bodybuilders and rugby players. In the same way that other, similar bodyfat measurements do, IBW does not distinguish between lean body weight and body fat: it is very possible for somebody with low body fat and high musculature, such as an athlete, to appear overweight when figuring out their IBW.
You should always consider IBW in this light. The simple fact of being over or under your healthy IBW range need not mean that you are over- or underweight. There is no exact science to it. It is just a good yardstick, especially for those with less muscle mass, in the same way that something like BMI (Body Mass Index) can be.
There is also no measure or formula that can fully objectively, definitively, tell somebody what their perfect body weight is. Once more, we must make use of yardsticks and temper any measurements with our own good sense. Initiating a healthy, active lifestyle, with a clean diet and plenty of exercise is far more important and will represent a far greater use of your time and energy, than obsessing over a few points either way on any body weight measurement.
There are some variables we can use to better judge our best guess at an ideal body weight. IBW calculators and formulae will take these into account, so that the number they give you will be as accurate and personalized as possible, within the above context.
Variables Include:
Age
Age should not matter too much after adolescence. For men, this means post 16-17, for women more like 14-15. After this point, we tend to stop growing (in fact, we will eventually begin to shrink by a few inches). As we age, we tend also to lose lean muscle mass and put on excess body fat, though this can be halted and even reversed through healthy diet and lifestyle choices.
Gender
Broadly speaking, women will weigh less than men, and should have a few extra percentage points of body fat at every equivalent level. This is because men generally have denser bones and greater muscularity, whilst women will carry extra body fat around their reproductive organs.
Height
The taller somebody is, the more they weigh. This is where the bodyweight to height converter really kicks in, as obviously those who are taller will have greater lean mass and body fat compared with those who are shorter.
LEAN BODY MASS
A good way to determine lean body mass is to measure your weight. Moreover, it adds insight into conventional measures of weight, such as BMI, as well as serving as an indicator of general health. Weight loss is the very measure by which you plan a lot when you are trying to tone up, lose weight, or build muscle. Lean body mass is an important concept, but how are its measurements determined?
Lean Body Mass is the difference between your overall weight and your body fat weight that determines your lean body mass. To determine your lean mass, subtract the fat from your total weight (your body fat percentage).
Those who want to lose weight can use this information to maintain fat-only weight loss. It is better to maintain your lean body mass as you reduce your overall weight, so that you do not lose your muscle mass or bone density.
On the other hand, those looking to bulk up through muscle gain should work on adding lean mass at the same speed as their overall weight gain. By doing so, they will discover that they are not gaining any extra body fat even when their weight is increasing.
In order to calculate lean body mass, you typically need to know your body fat percentage; however, we’ll examine some methods below that do not require this information. The fact is that some methods of calculating lean body mass are more accurate than others, while others are more accessible, however, we are going to go over them all shortly.
It is possible to calculate lean body mass in two different ways. Methods that are most accurate are often out of reach for many people, and accuracy often must be traded for accessibility.
DETERMINING YOUR LEAN BODY MASS WITH A WEIGHT AND A HEIGHT
One of the simplest and most accessible methods to determine your lean body mass is by using a tape measure. A simple formula can be used to determine your weight based on your height and weight alone.
It is important to note that this formula will be quite inaccurate, although it could be used in the first instance as a rule of thumb.
It is always possible to find lean body mass online using an online calculator.
USING YOUR BODY FAT PERCENTAGE
Like we mentioned above, you can work out your lean body mass by calculating your body fat percentage. You can make your body fat percent decimal by dividing it by 100. By multiplying this number by your overall weight, you will get your body mass index.
SKIN FOLD ASSESSMENT
Measure the folds in your skin at several points on your body. By pinching the skin and measuring its thickness, you can convert the numbers to lean body mass using the conversion table or calculator.
The personal trainers at any decent gym are knowledgeable about this technique. The method is not the most accurate, but it is easy and relatively reliable and consistent.
BIOELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE SCALE
Another option is to sign up for a class or join a gym. As you stand on, or grip the electrodes with your hands, a gentle current pass through your body as a bioelectrical scale would. You will be able to tell everything you need to know about muscle and fat by the way they conduct electricity. These devices are safe, but not exactly accurate (other factors, such as hydration, can sometimes affect results).
HYDROSTATIC WEIGHING
It is here that we get very exact and very inaccessible information. When you weigh yourself hydrostatically, you compare your weight on land to your weight submerged completely in water. After calculating your body fat percentage, a technician can provide you with your results.
It is still very reliable: however, you’ll need a lot of special equipment, won’t find it at your local gym, and it can be expensive.
BASAL METABOLIC RATE (BMR)
Even when your body is at rest, it continues to burn calories. Energy is vital for basic functions in the human body like breathing, muscle repair, cell regeneration, and the utilization of nutrients.
To keep all your body’s functions functioning, it needs a certain number of calories each day.A decrease in your BMR and TDEE is common as you age.
The RMR Calculator lets you calculate the RMR by learning more about the difference between BMR and RMR
CALIBRATION OF YOUR BASAL METABOLIC RATE AND YOUR CALORIE NEEDS
If you are going to start a diet or exercise regime, you need to figure out how many calories you will need. In order to locate your basal metabolic rate (BMR), you need to know your age.
CALCULATING YOUR BMR
You need to multiply your BMR by your activity level once you have it. As a result, you will be able to account for the extra calories you will use while exercising, playing sports, and training to strengthen your muscles through hypertrophy.
Based on your BMR, you can determine the number of calories you should consume to maintain weight. It is likely you will have to tweak the numbers as you go to make them more suitable for your needs.
Keep this amount of food in your diet if you wish to maintain your current weight. Adding 500 calories per week will cause you to gain 1lb per week and subtracting 500 calories will cause you to lose 1lb per week. The BMR can be easily calculated by estimating your weight. Regardless of differences between individuals – there are simply too many variables to account for always being 100% accurate – a BMR calculator can offer some insight into what to expect.
RESTING METABOLIC RATE (RMR)
Many people interchangeably use resting metabolic rate (RMR) and basal metabolic rate (BMR), and for good reason. They are both popular perceptions of how much energy the human body consumes (calories burned) at rest before activity level is taken into consideration.
Nevertheless, there are differences between the two, and each has its own advantages.The basic idea of BMR is that it is a very precise calculation, based on your biometric data, that tells you exactly what calories you should burn at rest based on your body composition.
Meanwhile, RMR represents the amount of energy required to sustain an animal’s life without activity, and it is only as precise as is necessary for practical purposes. Even though it accounts for 70% of energy expenditure, it is only one of the major components.
A minimum metabolic rate is a minimum threshold, so metabolic demands and rate of metabolism will be higher.
WHAT GOES INTO A RESTING METABOLIC RATE?
Almost all people (except those with severe medical conditions, such as hypothyroidism) can calculate RMR from a few simple variables. As follows:
- Age
- Sex
- Weight
- Height
- Body mass that is lean (fat-free)
Thus, a calculator that gives us the resting metabolic rate will be most useful for determining our own individual RMRs.
WHAT CAN AFFECT RESTING METABOLIC RATE?
RMR is not fixed for anyone, since there are a few different factors that can affect it. Some of these include:
- Your age: As you grow older, your RMR will decrease. The key reason for weight gain later in life is this.
- Muscle mass: As muscle increases your metabolic rate, your RMR increases as well.
- Genetics: RMR will only be accurate to the degree to which genetic factors are present. Regardless of biometric data, someone who is more genetically inclined towards burning energy will have a higher RMR than someone who is not.
- Climate and environment: Extreme cold can be stressful on the human body, primarily due to lifestyle factors. When temperatures are cold, the process of moving around is more energy-intensive.
- Nutrient intake schedule: Usually, smaller, more regular meals will improve RMR.
- Pregnancy: While pregnant, your RMR will increase – you are eating for two- after all.
Losing muscle generally leads to a fall in RMR. Even if fat is lost alone but lean mass is maintained or increased, this will not lower the RMR. To lose fat while retaining lean body mass (muscle), follow a moderate caloric deficit while engaging in resistance training and keeping your protein intake high.
Because they cause people to lose a lot of body weight, crash diets have a detrimental effect on RMR. The reductions in lean body mass (muscle mass) and body fat mean that resting metabolic rates decrease. Consequently, the body’s ability to process energy is compromised and its ability to maintain a healthy weight and stay structurally sound is seriously compromised.
The digestive health of an individual has little to no bearing on RMR, contrary to popular belief. If you alter your diet, increase fiber intake, or perform any of the other common hacks to improve digestion, your RMR will not be less efficient (though they are still worthwhile for overall health). With an improved digestive system, there will be no more energy expended.
Lastly, even though genetics play a significant role in determining RMR, they have a relatively small impact. The fact that someone’s RMR is altered by genetics is true, however, research indicates that the variance of RMR is very low.
If you are seeking success with any health, fitness, or dietary goal, knowing your RMR can make all the difference. It is vital to understand your body’s specific needs, requirements, and limitations regarding energy metabolism in order to keep yourself healthy and well-nourished without having too many body fat reserves. If you are aware of what your body requires, it is much easier to structure an appropriate, healthy, balanced diet. This, in turn, will significantly improve our overall health and wellbeing.
CALORIES
Whether you are embarking on a training regimen or new nutrition plan, calculating your caloric requirements is an important step. To get in shape, you must calculate how many calories you need to lose for every health and fitness goal. Only doing so will allow you to alter your body composition.
It is necessary to know your basal metabolic rate (BMR calculator) before you can calculate your caloric requirements. Even when we are not doing anything, our bodies burn calories. To carry out these well-established human functions such as breathing, repairing muscle tissue, repairing cells, and processing nutrients and oxygen, the body needs multiple calories. BMR is therefore determined by the number of calories your body requires for each of these functions.
The moment you know your BMR, any alterations you want to make to your body suddenly seem more feasible.
It is necessary to consume fewer calories than you expend when trying to lose weight, and to consume more calories than you expend when trying to gain weight. It is determined how much food you need to consume to lose weight, or gain weight, or maintain your weight depending on how much energy your body uses, as indicated above by your BMR.
You can get a fairly good estimate of your BMR fairly easily. It is impossible for any calculator to be 100% accurate all the time due to the enormous number of variables that must be considered, but a straightforward calorie calculator can provide an approximate estimate.
VO2 MAX
Whatever ‘getting fit’ means to you, it is always an ongoing adaptation process. Your body adapts as you keep pushing yourself harder. A fitness program should include progressive overload. It is imperative that you sign up for a gym membership to start on your fitness journey.
It is also crucial for you to measure your body’s progress in this process to ensure you’re enabling it. The result could be based on your performance: how many laps you can swim in ten minutes, how fast you can run one mile, or how much weight you can squat or bench press. You may also measure it biometrically: your lean muscle mass, your resting heart rate, and, as we are about to discuss, your maximum oxygen consumption.
A VO2 max test can provide important insight into your cardiorespiratory fitness. Specifically, it will bear a direct, strong relation to performance measures, such as how long you can exercise at an intensity, or how quickly you can recover from hard training sessions.
Exercise allows your body to use its maximum amount of oxygen. This is called VO2 max.
Before, during, and after training cycles, athletics use VO2 max to test their aerobic endurance and heart fitness. It differs from heart rate, even though they are correlated. Fitness can be gauged even better by this method because it discerns the body’s efficiency much better. The oxygen consumption rate is calculated by dividing body weight by milliliters of oxygen consumed per minute.
VO2 MAX TEST
VO2 max is a lot harder to test accurately than resting heart rate, though it may be a better gauge of fitness. As a result, many people should use resting heart rate primarily as a measure of their cardiovascular fitness.
There are many expensive pieces of equipment and highly trained specialists needed to test VO2 max. You use a mask and monitor to monitor your heart rate while you do exercises on a treadmill or stationary bike. It is used to collect and measure the volume of oxygen inhaled by athletes regardless of their exercise intensity. The intensity of the cardio equipment is increased until steady oxygen consumption is achieved.
As the body reaches this plateau, it changes from aerobic metabolism to anaerobic metabolism. In this area, there will not be enough oxygen for you to consume amino acids, fats, or carbohydrates in order to fuel your metabolism.
There are a lot of clinics that run this kind of trial, but they can be quite expensive. In recent years, gyms and athletic and wellness centers have offered VO2 testing to their members. In addition to using their equipment, test subjects will use VO2max calculators to determine where they fall in relation to VO2 max
VO2 MAX RATES
No ideal VO2 max exists, and the prediction of which amount is appropriate will depend on a variety of variables including gender, age, fitness level and environmental factors. It appears that certain ranges, such as resting heart rates, are generally healthy and normal for any given population segment.
MAX HEART RATE
A person’s maximum heart rate is just as important as knowing their maximum weight (1 repetition max) for common exercises. By training based on your heart rate- both maximum and percentage, you will be able to run at the right intensity to reach your training goals. In addition to helping, you maintain the right intensity, it will allow you to track your cardio fitness more easily.
Each heart rate zone has a different purpose and range of requirements for training intensity. From a very low percentage to a maximum intensity of 90%+, they go from low to high percentages.
As an example, heart rate zone four runs between 81 and 90% of your maximum capacity. Your ability to maximize your performance will improve as a result of training here.
All these heart rate readings are expressed as a percentage. It is therefore imperative that you know your maximum heart rate- or at least be able to estimate it- in order to calculate them.
HOW IS THE MAXIMUM HEART RATE CALCULATED?
Here are the simplest ways
The maximum heart rate can be computed or estimated in a couple of different ways. By using this simple formula, you can get the crudest, yet most accurate results:
220 minus your age
A twenty-year-old, for example, has a maximum heart rate of 200bpm (beats per minute). 50-year-olds, on the other hand, will have a maximum heart rate of 170 bpm. A lot of factors, including fitness levels, lifestyle, and genes, come into play here, and this is quite inaccurate. Even so, some might argue that it does have the dubious distinction of being simple and accessible while also faithfully reflecting the decline in maximum heart rate as we age.
For a more accurate picture, you may want to try a maximum heart rate calculator, which incorporates more variables than simply age.
The clinical way
It is also possible to measure your heart rate clinically. As such, this is both the most accurate and the least accessible way to measure max heart rates: it is generally available only to top sportspeople whose fitness facilities are of the highest quality. A cardiologist or exercise physiologist usually conducts these tests, which include exercises like bicycle stress tests, as well as various measurements such as echocardiograms (ECGs).
The field test
To determine your maximum heart rate in a field test, try pushing your body upwards until it reaches its max.
It is not difficult, but it is simple. Running shoes and a simple heart rate monitor (such as those that are inexpensively available individually or as part of a Fitbit-style biometric scanner) are all that is needed.
Spend at least 10-20 minutes warming up so you can push yourself as far as you can. Afterwards, you could jog or cycle on a flat surface, followed by some dynamic stretching. Afterward, perform exercise until you reach 10RPE (rate of perceived exertion), pushing yourself until you cannot go any further. Your max heart rate is defined by the highest number you reach when you measure your heart rate.
These types of workouts can be accomplished by sprinting up hills by foot or by bicycle. Consider a hill that could be climbed in a few minutes on foot if you are running, or by bicycle if you’re cycling. From the bottom, sprint towards the top. Once at the bottom, walk or freewheel for a minute before taking a break.
The first time you try something, do not put all your efforts into it. You should complete 6-10 sprints, getting harder until you reach a maximum effort. Throughout, record your heart rate to see how high it spikes.
Using any of these methods will at least provide you with an approximate estimate of your maximum heart rate, which should be accurate enough to work with for purposes of programming. Ideally, you should be testing your max heart rate every few months, either as a field test or, if available, in a laboratory, to see how your cardiovascular ability is progressing.
TDEE - TOTAL DAILY ENERGY EXPENDITURE
TDEE, or total daily energy expenditure, is crucial if you are trying to lose weight, build muscle, maintain your body composition, or change any aspect of your physiology through diet. A daily calorie deficit is the number of calories your body burns in one day.
TDEE dictates that to lose weight one must eat fewer calories than their TDEE dictates; to gain weight one must eat more calories than their TDEE dictates; and to maintain their current weight, they must eat exactly what TDEE determines. At least on a baseline, this is how you manipulate your weight.
As a result, TDEE is important when you calculate your daily calorie intake and macronutrient breakdown.
HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR TDEE
Unfortunately, it is not that difficult to work out your TDEE at least approximatively. Simple TDEE calculators are available for this purpose. A simple formula is used to determine the TDEE. Find out what you need to be consuming every day by entering your details and selecting your goals.
Your TDEE represents the interaction of several factors.
It’s crucial that you know your BMR (basal metabolic rate)- so much so that you see many people ignore TDEE and go directly for BMR. However, that method can give a rougher estimate of how much you should overeat and is ultimately less efficient.
Moreover, it includes non-exercise activity thermogenesis, also known as NEAT. This is the energy spent on all activities other than sleeping, eating, and exercising in a sport-like manner.
Finally, there is the thermal effect of food, or TEF. Taking in, absorbing, and disposing of nutrients require energy to do these things. Dietary fat content varies depending on the type of food consumed.
As a baseline, we can figure out exactly how many calories an individual will need to consume per day by adding these into the equation, accounting for them properly.
NUTRITION
It is possible to have a number of different fitness goals throughout your life. You can achieve these goals by signing up for a gym membership. It is possible to lose body fat sometimes if you wish or need to. There is a time when you go through a muscle building phase to increase your muscle mass.
You may need to change your diet to address certain health conditions, while at other times you may want to improve your athletic performance or boost your overall energy levels.
To achieve your goals, you will need to be well-versed in how you plan and structure your dietary intake, as well as be aware of the foods your body would require. Realistically, this means trying to determine how many calories you need and then breaking those calories down into macronutrients in the right proportion.
Macronutrients consist of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. A variety of functions are performed by each, and each provides energy to the body in the form of calories. The deficiency of any of these components will result in severe health complications, and each component plays a unique role when trying to modify your health, fitness, and body composition.
To build muscles, for example, you need protein. Carbohydrates are an essential source of energy. To maintain hormonal balance, fats are essential. Macroscopic nutrients have numerous uses, among which these are a few.
The amount of energy that each macronutrient delivers can also be determined by:
- 1 gram of protein will give you 4 calories
- 1 gram of carbohydrate will give you 4 calories
- 1 gram of fat will give you 9 calories
Hence, when you plan and track macronutrient intake, you will always start by tracking calories because they are always the focus of any weight-loss or weight-gain program. Additionally, balancing the amount of each nutrient (your macronutrient ratio) is the best way to ensure your body gets the most benefits from each one, without overdoing or underdoing any. When planning a ratio, one must consider numerous factors, and there are numerous ratios to choose from.
This is where a nutrition calculator will be useful. It will make everything a lot easier. A nutrition calculator generally considers a few factors:
- Your personal details and biometrics (such as your height, age, weight, sex, and so on)
- Your physical activity levels (both passive daily exercise and training)
- Your health and fitness goals
- The date by which you want to reach your given goals
- Your dietary preferences
- Your macronutrient preferences (balanced, high protein, low carb and so on)
You will use these to calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR), your metabolic rate adjusted for activity levels, and the changes you need to make to your caloric intake based on your goals and the speed at which you want to reach them. A nutritionist is essentially automated through this software.
These kinds of calculations can be made by many nutrition calculators online. It can also be done by many apps. There are several apps which may be helpful to you, as they are generally meal planner or tracker apps, which allow you to layout your macronutrient needs per meal and make sure you hit each target. They can also help you to keep track of your weight, which allows you to make any necessary changes as you go and will change your needs accordingly as your biometrics change.
In this way, things like meal planning and macronutrient tracking go hand in hand, and you can log everything you eat, without the need to track calories and macros. You are far more likely to follow your requirements and achieve your fitness and health goals if you use an app or online source such as this.
MACRONUTRIENT
If you want to achieve your fitness or health goals, making sure that you have an adequate range and ratio of macronutrients is important. You need to maintain the right caloric load for your goals and ensure that your fat, protein, and carbohydrate intake is appropriate. Exercise can also affect how well you perform in the gym.
The most popular myth revolves around caloric load, however no matter how many calories you consume, your weight will remain stable. To gain weight, you must consume enough calories. In order to lose weight, you must maintain a deficit.
As far as body composition is concerned, this approach usually works. In terms of determining how much weight you will gain or lose; simple arithmetic can make a big difference. However, the determinant is incredibly small in the grand scheme of things.
Side note: Besides being easier to follow, flexible dieting is also much easier than macronutrient planning. No matter where you get your fat, protein, and carbs, as long as you hit x grams daily, you’re fine. In the same way that green veggies are carbs, sugary treats are fat; deep-fried foods are on par with nuts and avocados as fat sources. If you are looking to make gains in the gym, but do not like to be too restrictive in your diet, this could be an option for you.
It does not matter whether you are flexible or super healthy in the way you get your macronutrients- more and more people are figuring out what macronutrients they need to get their health and fitness at their best. It does not take long for the results to show up once they know their standing.
USING A MACRONUTRIENT CALCULATOR
Based on various factors (lifestyle, biometric and goals-based, for example), a macronutrient calculator should provide you with a personalized needs analysis that estimates the amount of fat, carbohydrates, and protein that you need to consume each day.
The effect of this might be different if you are used to eating 2,400 calories per day and are hard training in the gym to elicit hypertrophy. A calorie counter would allow you to simply eat and eat until you reached 2,400 calories. It is likely that this will not adequately fuel you to get through your workouts. In addition, it won’t enable you to recover properly or grow your muscles. Most likely, you will experience energy spikes and crashes as well as long-term fatigue and aches and pains.
The macronutrient calculator shows that the situation is quite different when viewed from another angle. To ensure muscle recovery and growth, you would consume enough protein. Carbohydrates, and no more, will keep your energy levels high (especially if you choose complex carbs) and fat intake will be sufficient to keep all of your major bodily functions in good working order.
THE MACRONUTRIENT CALCULATOR ITSELF
It’s fairly simple to use macronutrient calculators. You simply need to know a few of your key biometric measurements, lifestyle factors that affect you, as well as your fitness goals.
The first thing you need to do is enter your height, weight, and gender. Once you have completed the activity levels, you will add them to your profile. The calculator will then calculate your basal metabolic rate, based on the Harris-Benedict formula, and adjust it for the number of calories you are actually consuming.
After that, you decide what your priorities are. In the macronutrient calculator, the suggested macronutrient target is determined by using these factors. What you’ll get is something like this:
- Carbs: 50%
- Protein: 25%
- Fat: 25%
You should then follow a meal plan that provides you with a similar volume of each macronutrient each day. Although it may initially seem difficult- there are plenty of apps you can use to help- it quickly becomes second nature and will significantly enhance your health and fitness.
FAT
Our health and fitness potentials are enhanced when we consume fat, and most people believe that more fat is needed than they do. Among many other functions, our bodies rely on it to function correctly and optimally. Hormone-regulation, energy balance, joint health, and many other things are all optimized when our bodies are properly hydrated.
Aside from its poor reputation, the word ‘fat’ itself has rather a bad reputation. Since the obesity epidemic is growing and people are getting fatter, it has received a lot of bad press in the popular imagination. It is imperative to distinguish between excess adipose (body fat) and healthy dietary fat in order to maintain fitness. Dietary fat is essential.
The common misconception is that fat is one of the three macronutrients, along with carbohydrates and proteins. Our body requires all three types of food to survive, and they provide us with energy and nourishment. As a result, our bodies get the energy they need.
The caloric density of fat is quite a bit higher than that of protein or carbohydrates. These two delivers 4 calories per gram; fat, on the other hand, delivers 9 calories per gram. This is great for overeating fat but also means skipping fat often leaves us with insufficient energy.
However, we get more energy from fat than just energy. In addition to the functions noted above, it also has some other features.
First and foremost, fat stores energy both as fat and as adipose tissue. In a nutshell, this occurs during a caloric deficit when the body is unable to consume enough energy to meet its needs. Bodyfat is then metabolized for energy, leading to weight loss. Adipose tissue also protects our organs from harm and insulates the body from the cold.
Further, fat plays a variety of roles in the body, as amply illustrated by the effects of eating too little fat. You can experience any of these symptoms if you don’t consume enough fat in your diet:
- Dry, scaly skin
- Anxiety
- Constantly feeling cold
- Hair loss and/or dry hair
- Menstrual problems, including loss of cycle
- Inability to feel full/always feeling hungry
- Concentration problems and/or mental fatigue
- Fat-soluble vitamin deficiencies
- Constant fatigue
While there are no strict rules on how much fat should be consumed each day, there are certain things to consider. No number is perfect. The average diet consists of a combination of macronutrients in which fats constitute about 20-35% of the daily caloric intake. According to research, most people consume 400-700kcals from fat when eating a 2,000kcal diet.
Considering that each gram of fat contains 9 calories, this gives us anywhere from 44-78 grams of fat per day (400/9, 700/9).
It is worth noting that this is a very broad range and that it can shrink, grow, or shift according to your biometrics, activity levels, and dietary goals. It makes sense then, to use a fat intake calculator – it will make use of all the relevant variables to give you the range that is optimal for you.
Calculators for fat intake are actually pretty straightforward to use. It only takes a few key biometric readings, lifestyle factors that affect you, and your health and fitness goals.
Just plan your meals to provide you with a volume of fat equivalent to this each day, preferably spread fairly evenly.
While you may need some time to become comfortable with measuring food at this level, it will not be difficult. There are several apps available that will help you plan your meals and target your macronutrients. In just a short time, this will become second nature, and you will progress much faster on your health and fitness journey.
CARBOHYDRATE
It is essential that we consume carbohydrates. The vitamin B group is one of the three macronutrients that provide us with energy, along with fat and protein. As the body breaks down carbs and turns them into glucose, they are our main source of energy. A surplus of blood glucose is stored in muscle tissue and liver as glycogen or burnt into fat. Nutrition must be considered when planning your fitness journey.
Simple and complex carbohydrates are generally separated, which is why sugars (simple) and other carbs are typically separated, though many foods contain a good mix of sugars and complex carbohydrates. The added addition of starch, fiber, and sugar to carbohydrates makes it possible to further classify them.
Sugar
Carbohydrates such as sugar are the simplest forms of the nutrient and are easily broken down and processed by the body. These substances occur naturally in fruits, dairy products, and vegetables, and they can also be added to foods as sweeteners. A wide range of foods and drinks are sweetened, including biscuits, cakes, chocolates, and cola drinks.
Starch
The body takes a while to break down starches, which are complex carbohydrates. Therefore ‘slow-release carbs’ are often referred to as such: they release their energy gradually over the course of several hours. The starch found in vegetables, legumes, and grains is often referred to as carbohydrates.
Fiber
Lastly, we have fiber. Fibrous carbohydrates are indigestible and are generally complex carbohydrates. Digestive health depends on them, since they provide bulk to stools. Foods containing them are fruits, whole grain products, vegetables, and legumes.
Most of the dietary carbs in your diet should be complex carbohydrates. Their nutritional benefit is greater, they maintain insulin levels, they are more satiating, and they generally contain much-needed fiber. Sugars, also known as ’empty carbs,’ provide little by way of fast release energy. As a result, they spike insulin levels, increase hunger pangs, and provide little micronutrient benefit.
In the next few minutes, we will explore our carbohydrate calculator and determine how much carbs we need. Sugar that has been processed and refined is not necessary. It is therefore important to limit sugar intake. In place of simple, fiber-rich carbohydrates, we want to consume more complex carbohydrates from sources such as:
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Whole grains
- Legumes and pulses
Unlike simple carbs, these complex carbohydrates are digested slowly. In this way, we will be able to release energy at a steady rate, enabling us to remain energized and satiated for a longer period. This makes them perfect for maintaining a low-calorie intake, whether it’s carbohydrates specifically or calories in general.
It is not possible to accurately estimate carbohydrate needs- and they will always be estimates- without considering a great many factors. For most adult diets, 130 grams of dietary fiber is recommended at the beginning. It is from here that they can form up to 75% of a person’s overall calorie intake.
It may be necessary for some people to increase their intake. Including those who naturally metabolize carbs most efficiently, as well as those with demanding physical lifestyles, such as athletes and manual laborers.
The lower end of 130 grams of carbohydrates is generally considered ok for most people (although, the lower end should be maintained). Therefore, many fad diets find it acceptable to severely restrict carbohydrate intake, with people following a ketogenic diet being restricted to a mere 50 grams per day. It is important to approach these with caution, and only on a medical professional’s recommendation.
You might want to consult a carbohydrate calculator for a better idea of how much carbohydrate you should be consuming daily. You will be evaluated based on a variety of factors, including your own biometric readings, your age and gender, and your lifestyle, physical activity level, and fitness goals. They can provide you with both gram and calorie information about how much of your diet should be carbs.