The Weight Loss & Gain Pin Code! Unlock Your Bodys Secret Passcode!

I had a very interesting question today!

How many calories should I consume daily to either lose weight or gain weight?

Awesome Question!! Something that I’m sure all of us has asked ourselves.
Hopefully, I can shed some light on this topic.

As I’m sure you are very aware, all calories were NOT created equal. Calories from fat, protein and carbohydrates - when being broken down by our bodies - behave VERY differently inside of us.

As a broad guide, use these numbers as a reference point:
Carbs = 4 cals per Gram
Protein = 4 cals per gram
Fat = 9 cals per gram
Alcohol = 7 cals per gram

As you know, I’m by no means a Nutritionist and I encourage all of you to source a GOOD naturopath or nutritionist to help you find what works for you and your body.


With that being said, I will give you a look inside what I try to do daily to hopefully give you a better understanding!

Let's get started:

First we must assess what our total ACTIVE TISSUE (AT) is. We don’t want whole weight; we want to subtract our body fat from our total weight to establish active tissue weight. It's easy to find out.

We can do one of two things.

1. Get a Dual Energy X_Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) body scan. This is the best way to find out as it won’t leave you guessing. This is a relatively inexpensive procedure and can cost as little as $60. Check out http://www.bodycomposition.com.au/index.php?pageid=2 . As an added bonus, the DEXA scan also supplies you with your Bone Mineral Content (BMC). The BMC is useful to know as it can be an early warning sign of osteoporosis if you come back with a low BMC. The mineral content of your bones is extremely important as this is your body’s BANK account so to speak which we will draw from as we get older.

2. Body fat percentage test. If you have some Tanita scales you can use them to find your overall body fat percentage. Most of these scales require you avoid eating for 4 hours before hand and limit water intake 30mins before you stand on the scales. This will help to get a more accurate result.

Once we have our active tissue mass we need to work out our Resting Metabolic Rate. Using the Cunningham formula below, I worked out my RMR as follows:

64kg (my AT, NOT my overall weight) x 22 + 500 = 1908cal

This is the amount of energy expended while at rest in a neutrally temperate environment. In other words, this is what my body needs EVERYDAY just to function all of my organs, muscles and glands, my breathing, my heart beat, my core temp... everything!


This is what my body needs if I DON'T MOVE, everyday!!!!! If I was to lay on a bed without doing anything, I would burn 1908cal per day until I waste away.

Take a moment to think about that for a second...... ready to move on? If you know your AT, go ahead and work out your RMR.

Now that we know what we burn doing nothing, we can find out how much we burn in our active, daily lives. Because our lifestyles predominantly dictate our activity levels, we will all have a different coefficient (activity factor). Check out the table below for where you sit. We can then use this table to work out our activity levels and multiply our RMR by the activity factor that matches our activity levels.

Activity | | Factor Category | | Category description |

1.25 | Sedentary | | Little or minimal exercise |

1.50 | Moderate |Training 2 -3 times per week |

1.75 |High | |4 hard workouts plus some activity on rest days |



Getting the hang of it?? :)

So check out my numbers below using the formula and the coefficient:

64kg (AT) x 22 + 500= 1908 cal (RMR) x 1.75 (coefficient) = 3339 cals.

That might seem a lot to take in but when you simplify it like that, pretty easy hey? Even for a Personal Trainer.


If we eat LESS then this, our body will USE our muscle (AT) to get an insulin spike when it has no energy or it’s running low, in turn, decreasing our metabolic rate and making it harder to burn body fat because muscle is more metabolically active then fat tissue. So, in other words it just needs more energy than body fat everyday to stay on our bodies.

Moving on.......

Now that we know “our numbers” we need to work out what to do with them. For maintenance purposes, our caloric intake will remain fairly close to If you wanted to lose some kg’s, these must be done incrementally otherwise you will lose muscle, not fat, and inevitably put it back on shortly thereafter. I’ve done the math for you. Check the numbers below:


To lose:
250g per week = 321cals LESS per day. 3339 calories - 321 = 3018
500g per week = 642cals less per week. 3339 calories - 642 = 2697


So what I’m saying is this:


• We can see if we're feeding our bodies enough to keep it healthy and to maintain our ACTIVE tissue and bone mineral content.

• We can see if we are meeting our daily requirements to support movement, active tissue (muscle) growth.

• We can work out how many calories less we need to consume to get a reduction of 250, 500g of fat per week. This is key because when a lot of people lose weight they lose water and muscle which they will put back on at some point.

• We can work out how many calories more we need to consume to get an increase of 250, 500g of weight per week. This is key because when a lot of people put on weight they add a lot of fat mass which is not ideal. In turn people go through a cycle of bulking and starvation which by what you can see, is also not ideal.


I hope this helps and you become slimmer, fitter, more educated and more energetic!


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Additional Reading: Rules of engagement found in the blogs below this one.

This will give you the ‘rules’ of which to go by to make this journey a successful one. Knowing the numbers is only HALF the equation. You need the numbers + Source and Process of food to = Success.

Keep smiling!

Health & Chi
Shane Richards

Add your equations, success stories, a friendly hello or experiences to comments below! I look forward to reading them! :)