LEVEL 1 - ENERGY BALANCE (Part 1) Tracking

Question 1

What are some ways to track maintenance calories?

Answer 1

• Finding Maintenance By Tracking Weight & Food Intake Over Two Weeks

OR

• Estimating Maintenance By Calculation

Question 2

How does tracking maintenance calories by an equation giving an estimate compare to tracking maintenance calories by tracking weight & food intake over a period of time (2 weeks)?

Answer 2

Tracking bodyweight and calories ascertains the relationship between the two variables it’s very specific to you and far more accurate. Estimateing maintenance calories with an equation is just an estimate based on a general equation, you may fall slightly out of the bounds. Both work but tracking is far more accurate.

Question 3

How do you calculate for maintenance calories when tracking weight & food intake?

Answer 3

1. Make sure you have all 4 tools (Body & Food scale, database for caloric intake & weight fluctuation over time).
2. Spend 2 weeks weighing and tracking your food as best as you can when you prepare it, and estimating your caloric intake when you aren’t preparing your own food as accurately as possible.
3. At the end of two weeks, you will have 14 weigh-ins, and 14 calorie values. First determine your average caloric intake by adding all 14 calorie values together and dividing by 14.

Question 4

How many calories are there in 1lb of adipose tissue? How does knowing the calories of 1lbs of adipose tissue help in calculating weight loss or gain?

Answer 4

• Recall that 1 lb (~0.5 kg) of adipose tissue contains ~3500 calories. Therefore we can estimate how much of a surplus or deficit you are in based on weight change.
• Using a short-term period of 2 weeks and you haven’t manipulated your diet to result in significant changes in bodyweight or expenditure yet. Thus, changes in weight are predominantly fat and water and using a 7-day average will eliminate the “noise” of water weight fluctuations. So, you can be reasonably sure that the short-term changes in bodyweight you observe will be well represented by the “3500 calorie rule”.
• ***While “the 3500 calorie rule” isn’t perfect since not all weight gained or lost is fat and energy expenditure changes over time, this value is still a good way to roughly estimate maintenance calories***

Question 5

How do you calculate for calories gained or lost based on your weight gain/loss in a given period?

Answer 5

1. Split your weigh-ins into 2 weekly averages, by adding your first 7 weigh-ins together and dividing by 7 and doing the same thing with your last 7 weigh-ins.
2. Measure change of weight based on the different averages for both weeks(W1, W2, etc). Multiply that change times 3500 (1lbs of fat = 3500 Cals). In other words (W2-W1)3500 = Surplus/Lacking cals in a week. You can also divide this number by 7 to give you a daily Surplus/Lacking.

Question 6

How do you calculate for an estimated maintenance calories?

Answer 6

Baseline Multiplier x Activity Multiplier = Estimated Calories For Bodyweight Maintenance

1. Take your bodyweight in pounds and multiply it by 10 (Baseline Multiplier)
2. Multiply that by an activity multiplier.

Question 7

What is NEAT?

Answer 7

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis - any activity outside of exercise, including subconscious movement.

Question 8

How does NEAT adapt to weight changes?

Answer 8

NEAT is one of the main ways we regulate energy expenditure. Meaning, if we diet and lose weight, or eat more food and gain weight, our body typically will adapt to some degree to maintain our “normal weight”. It does this by making us burn more or less calories, and a lot of that is a function of just dgeting, postural support and control, and subconscious movement. It’s not something we can really modify.

Question 9

What is an activity multiplier?

Answer 9

A multipler based on activity levels - IE: Daily activity, exercise activity, NEAT.

Question 10

What is the activity mutiplier table composed of?

Answer 10