Why You Need More Calories

Let me tell you how important it is to eat enough calories everyday. Yesterday during my workout I hit a wall. Why? Because I had not eaten near enough calories that day and the day before. I need around 3300 calories per day and I was nowhere near that.

How do you know how many calories you need to eat everyday? There are many ways to determine this. A simple equation I got from Rachel Cosgrove, a personal trainer in LA, suggests to multiply your body weight by 13 0r 15. Then take both of those numbers and add or subtract 15% from each depending on whether your goal is weight gain or weight loss.

Did you figure that out? I bet your are nowhere near that amount? Especially if you are trying to lose weight.

So why do you need to consume more calories? Well, if you do not have enough energy in your body your body will burn muscle tissue for energy. Resulting in less total muscle mass and a slower metabolism. Not good. However, if there is enough energy in your body you will not burn muscle tissue and keep your metabolism running high. The higher your metabolism is the more calories you will burn with everything you do all day. The other important reason to eat adequate calories is to provide your body with the nutrients and energy to repair itself after a workout. If you are not getting in enough calories you will soon feel drained and not be able to complete your high intensity workouts. Again not good.

This is why almost all diets that restrict calories come up short in providing you with the results you want. You cannot workout intensely and hard, if your calories are super restricted. For most anything less than 2000 calories per day on a training day is too little. Yes, if you excessively restrict your calories you will lose weight, but at the expense of decreasing muscle tissue and slowing down your metabolism.

So eat more, workout harder, and get your metabolism burning higher.

Until Next Time,

Josh