![]() ![]() Whether we like it or not, this is the one and only way to find the accurate calorie intake we need.Ĭalorie calculators are only useful for giving us that initial estimated number to start with at the beginning of the process. If not, repeat this process again until it is. Is your weight doing what you want it to do? If so, awesome.250-500 calories at a time), track your body weight over the next 3-4 weeks, and see what happens then. But if it’s not, make a small adjustment (e.g.If it’s doing what you want it to do, you’re good.Eat the amount of calories the calculator estimates for you, and track what happens with your body weight over the next 3-4 weeks.How To Make It AccurateĪll you need is some trial and error, and a little patience. If no weight loss happened, it’s guaranteed proof that the estimate was higher than it needed to be, and a deficit didn’t exist.Īnd when a deficit doesn’t exist, weight loss doesn’t happen. ![]() ![]() Well, assuming they actually ate that amount in the first place (fun fact: most people eat more than they realize, which is a common problem I cover here: Why Am I Not Losing Weight?), the problem is that the calorie intake this calculator gave them simply wasn’t accurate. So why didn’t this person lose weight even though they ate the amount the calculator said they needed to eat to lose weight? In reality, of course, weight loss is always about calories. This person will then say “I tried counting calories but it didn’t work!” Or, even worse, “I tried counting calories but it didn’t work, so this proves that weight loss isn’t really about calories after all!”Īnd then they’ll switch to some myth-based diet that also claims weight loss is about something other than calories (like the low carb diet), and they’ll continue not making any progress with that diet either. So they’ll start eating 2000 calories a day for a couple of weeks and then… nothing. Here’s A Problem Calorie Calculators Causeīecause what ends up happening – and I’ve seen this many times – is that someone will use some calculator to figure out they need to eat 2000 calories a day to lose weight (just an example).Īnd they’ll assume this is a magical all-knowing calculator that can’t possibly be wrong, therefore 2000 is definitely the right calorie intake for them. That’s why you need to think of calculators only as a tool for getting an estimated starting point, not a tool that will tell you for sure what calorie intake is guaranteed to work for you. It could sometimes be kinda close, which would would be fantastic, as “kinda close” is the most realistic best-case scenario you could hope for.īut it could just as likely be hundreds of calories off.Īnd that’s enough to put you at maintenance or even into a surplus rather than the deficit you’re aiming for (or vice versa). It’s Always Just An EstimateĪll calorie calculators, no matter how accurate they claim to be, are nothing more than a quick and easy way to come up with some kind of estimated starting point for what your calorie intake should be.Īnd while we all hope this estimate is the super accurate number we need, it’s usually not.ĭon’t get me wrong. Don’t use a calorie calculator with the intention of getting a number that will be 100% perfectly accurate for you.Don’t use a calorie calculator to figure out how many calories you need to eat to get into a surplus after being in a deficit (or vice versa).Don’t use a calorie calculator to find your new maintenance level at the end of a fat loss or muscle building phase.Don’t use a calorie calculator to make adjustments when your progress stalls.I call it… Calorie Calculator DOs and DON’TSĭO: Use a calorie calculator when you’re first starting out to help you come up with an estimated starting point for how many calories you need to eat per day for your goal ( losing weight, building muscle, etc.).ĭON’T: Use a calorie calculator for literally anything else ever again. In fact, let’s make this a fun little DOs and DON’Ts thing. Let me clear something up about calorie calculators. My question is, should I use this same calculator to recalculate my calories whenever my progress stalls? And then use it again when I finish losing weight and want to go back to maintenance or into a surplus to build muscle?” “I’m using a calorie calculator to figure out how many calories I need to eat to lose weight. A reader recently asked me the following question… ![]()
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