Laura Schoenfeld: Okay, so I guess I’m a little confused about what the question is asking. So I’ll try to answer it with how I’m interpreting it. But I’m not really sure if you’re asking how to figure out what a person needs or if you’re asking how to figure out how much you’re eating. Because the calculations usually, well, I guess there’s the two main calculations are gonna be identifying what an appropriate amount is going to be. So you’re mentioning people who are underweight, overweight, if they need to lose weight versus if they need to gain weight; that’s going to affect the calorie estimate depending on how active the person is, that’s going to affect the calorie estimate, their height and weight and gender and age is going to affect the calorie estimate. So just keep in mind that these estimates are just that, they’re just basically a guideline that isn’t necessarily set in stone, it’s not going to make or break someone’s success if they’re over or under a couple hundred calories a day. It’s a good place to start and you may be able to come up with some basic meal plans or other recommendations that are based on a basic calorie amount.
That’s something that I tend to do with a lot of my clients is come up with their basic calorie needs and then use some standard percentages of macronutrients. So usually go 20 percent protein, lately I’ve been doing a lot of more moderate to higher carb intakes, maybe 40 to 50 percent of carbs, and then the rest fat so that might be like 40 percent fat. So I’ll use that basic amount and then I’ll come up with some more open-ended guidelines for meal planning. So, for example, maybe it’’ a palm-sized portion of protein, and a cup of starch, and a cup of non-starchy veggies, and one to two tablespoons of added fat. And that might be a basic meal template three times a day and maybe they have a little extra carbs like fruit or something at snack time or before bed. And just giving them those basic meal guidelines is a way for me to help them reach those goals without it being something that they have to measure and weigh and be really neurotic about getting exactly what they’re supposed be getting every day. Because I also like to teach people how to eat a little bit intuitively as well, so you know giving them a meal template is helpful because it can help them start to build more balanced meals, especially if they’re coming from a background of being too low carb or just too low calorie in general.
It helps them to have some basic guidelines for each meal that helps them move towards that calorie and macronutrient recommendation. But it’s really just a place to start, and I like to have the people also use a little bit of intuitive eating with this approach because I don’t want people to be eating too much and feeling ill when they eat that much or maybe eating what we recommend, but then feeling really hungry and not eating more because they feel like they’ve already had what they were supposed to have. So especially people who are overweight or underweight, that’ll affect their hunger levels and whether or not they need to eat more than what somebody else who’s a normal weight would be eating.
Now, as far as calculating what the person’s actually eating, that’s usually even more tricky because people are notoriously bad at recording and tracking what they eat. I have a couple clients that are really good at it. I have one client who’s just freakishly good at it to the point where it just amazes me how accurate she is with the portion sizes and that kind of stuff. But most people are really bad at calculating their calorie and macronutrient intake. So I try not to put too much stock in it. Most of the people that use calorie tracking for are my clients who are actually undereating. So it helps them be more aware of what their overall intake is and make sure that they’re increasing even if they’re not feeling super hungry. And the main reason for that is because a lot of people who have a history of undereating are going to have a reduced appetite. So they’re going based on their appetite, and it is not always gonna work for them to start increasing their calories up to the amount that they really need to support their height, their weight, and their activity levels.
But basically just doing either estimate as far as the food intake is concerned, or if people want to be really precise they can use cups and scales to weigh and measure their food, tablespoons, that kind of stuff to actually get a measured amount that they’re going to be having. So that’s not something I really recommend people doing long term. I mean there are some people who really like that approach, especially if they’re trying to lose weight and they’re getting good progress with that approach, it can be very motivating to continue to do that. But most people, I find they’ll do it for a couple weeks at most and then they start to get distracted by life, which is totally fine. I mean, we don’t want to be telling people to do things that are basically causing stress or getting too complicated for the other things that their daily life requires. So it can just be a tool for the short term to make sure the person is just having a little bit more awareness of what they’re eating. And once they get into a better routine of eating about what their estimated needs are, then they can slowly stop tracking after a while, because they’ll probably just get used to this new pattern of eating and won’t need to track anymore. So hopefully that answers that question.
I’m just trying to see if there’s anything else in this question that I didn’t really answer just because I don’t know which calculations you’re talking about, Amber. So and I don’t know if Amber’s here live. I don’t think she is, so yeah she’s not. So hopefully that did answer her question. And Amber if you’re listening to this, just let me know if there’s anything that wasn’t answered in the answer I just gave, or if you want to give me any sort of extra information about what you’re looking for in terms of assistance or extra tips for how to do this type of approach.