Everyone has busy schedules and so much desire and hope for themselves during their life. I know I am constantly trying to do all the things I need to do in a day while maintaining my energy and motivation. Some days, I am just so tired and unmotivated to do anything that I am dragging myself though the movements so I can rest and relax at night.
If this sounds like you, luckily, learning how to balance your energy will allow you to feel better throughout the day. The appropriate energy you should produce and spend daily is calculated through a science. However, in simple terms, is it all about the food you consume and your energy intake.
Energy, in most people’s eyes, are thoughts of power, liveliness, and motivation to continue your day. This is what adults wish they have more of, and children can’t seem to run out of. The body uses energy to do everything from sleep to intense training and exercise. We are constantly using energy and need fuel to perform properly and efficiently.
Balancing Energy Equation
The energy balance equation is actually quite simple. It is the idea of balancing the energy you put into your body, in the form of food, with the energy you spend throughout the day.
Energy In = Energy Out
Many people focus on the energy-in side of the equation when we should first consider the energy-out.
So first let’s consider energy-out and how that effects the energy equation.
Energy Out
Energy out is the total amount of energy required by the body over the course of the day, also known as the total energy expenditure. This includes your resting metabolism and physical activity.
Your body uses energy to breath, circulate blood throughout the body, move food through the digestive system, absorb nutrients, maintain your body temperature and so on. Therefore, your resting metabolism rate is the amount of energy or calories your body uses when you are completely at rest. Then, you have to add on the amount of energy your body uses doing any physical activity throughout the day.
That together will total your energy expenditure, the amount of energy you use, throughout the day.
Resting Metabolic Rate
Last year I was in a nutrition study put on by one of my professors at the University of the Incarnate Word. For this study we had to get a body composition scan many times throughout the entire study.
This scan included a bunch of information about my body, but it also included my basal metabolic rate. Basal metabolic rate is the minimum number of calories your body needs to perform its most basic functions. It is very similar to the resting metabolic rate with only slight differences.
In my last scan from a little under a year ago, my basal metabolism rate was 1446 kilocalories. Therefore, on average, I would need a minimum of about 1400 k/cal per day to maintain weight and have a balanced energy equation if I were to rest all day. However, I am a college athlete, so I engage in a lot of physical activity. This will increase the number of calories I need as fuel per day.
Everyone’s resting metabolic rate is different. RMR is affected by age, gender, genetics, hormonal changes, body size, body composition, caffeine intake, amount of lean muscle, exercise, etc. A lot goes into this number and a lot can change it.
While some factors of RMR you can not change such as genetics, others you can, such as amount of lean muscle. You gain muscle by lifting weights. So, if you want to increase your resting metabolic rate, lifting weights is a great way to do so. Click here to learn more about the most efficient type of exercises for building muscle.
Calorie Consumption
One thing to note, is when people start extreme dieting and drop way below their resting metabolic rate, the body will go into starvation mode which protects the body from losing fat. While most people’s goals are to lose fat when they start a restrictive diet, it might be counterproductive if it is too drastic of a decrease in calories.
If you would like to learn more about healthier habits to properly lose weight, click here.
With all that said, this helps to answer the big question of “How many calories do I need to consume each day?”
The honest answer is that the number of calories you need to consume each day varies. Your estimated energy requirements is the average dietary energy intake that you need to maintain energy balance. Energy in = energy out. It depends on age, gender, weight, height, physical activities and more. Getting a baseline of your resting metabolism is a great start at answering that question. Then you just have to factor in your physical activity level and intensity.
Below is a simple formula on how to calculate your own RMR or click here to web-generate your own RMR.
Calculating Your Resting Metabolic Rate:
There is a simple formula for calculating your RMR using your weight, height, and age. Keep in mind that this is an estimate and there can be an error of up to 20%. However, I think this would be a great number to start with and knowing about how many calories your body uses each day during rest is super valuable information.
Men: RMR (kcal/d) = (9.99 X Weight) + (6.25 X height) – (4.92 X age)
Women: RMR (kcal/d) = (9.99 X Weight) + (6.25 X height) – (4.92 X age) – 161
***Note that weight is measured in kilograms, height is in centimeters, and age is in years.***
Energy In
Energy-in is much simpler. Food is the only source of energy your body has and will use food as fuel. Food is how you get your energy and what makes you feel better and more awake throughout the day. Chances are, if you feel yourself starting to decrease focus, get irritated easily, or feel sluggish, you are probably lacking fuel and need to eat food.
Once you estimate your energy out, you can use that number to equal the number of calories you consume. Many people hear the word “calories” and immediately think negative thoughts or are scared of the idea of eating too many calories.
However, if you think of calories as energy, it will create a much more positive view of food and what your body needs to have efficient support. Calories are the bodies main form of energy.
Tracking Calories
When people want to lose weight, you typically see them starting to count calories. When I first started trying to lose weight, I didn’t know what 1,500 k/cal compared to 2,000 k/cal felt like per day. Tracking calories was a great way to see what I was eating and help me understand portion size and what that all looked like. This will also help you start balancing the energy to consume and expend.
There are a ton of free apps you can download to track calories if that I something you wish to do. I used MyFitnessPal.
However, I don’t track my calories anymore. I eat when I’m hungry and stop eating when I’m full. I’ve gained a lot more knowledge about what I should put into my body and how much of everything. I don’t need to obsessively log my calories anymore.
With that said, I think tracking calories is great for anyone just starting their journey and might not know how to measure potion sizes or what that actually looks like. But tracking calories is not necessary. Maintaining energy balance is all about energy in = energy out. At the beginning, it may be beneficial to track your calories and see if your energy-in is equal to the energy you expend.
Something really important to know is that these are all estimates. The energy you use is an estimated number and might not be super accurate. Similarly, tracking calories, is not exact. People tend to leave out little snacks or beverages. In addition, the amount you log might not be accurate either. This percent of error might disrupt your accuracy in tracking those calories.
A healthy balance
Proper energy intake and expenditure will help you feel livelier and more motivated each day. You need food as fuel for your body in order to be successful and feel good throughout the day. If you are someone that wants to maintain their body composition, having an equal proportion of energy-in to energy-out is crucial.
Those who might to lose body fat must reduce their food intake, however, they still need to consider the energy they use each day and their RMR. Dropping their food intake too much might put their body into starvation mode. Balancing energy that you consume and expend is so important to living a healthy and happy life.
“Be a positive energy trampoline – absorb what you need and rebound more back.” – Dave Carolan
“There’s a direct correlation between positive energy and positive results.” – Joe Rogan.
Nutrition for Sport and Exercise (4th ed. 2019) by Marie Dunford & Andrew Doyle
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