Proper nutrition is essential for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and providing your body the nutrients it needs to be strong and healthy. While it is important to understand the general guidelines for what you should be consuming each day, nutrition needs vary per individual. For example, nutrition needs for women are different than the needs of men.
Some other factors that affect the nutrition needs of women include age, physical activity level, menstrual cycle, and your resting metabolic rate (RMR).
Nutrition is a hard topic because it varies so much based on the individual. Each person’s nutritional needs are different and can be completely customized. This becomes an issue when people expects there to be one right answer for everyone. One size doesn’t fit all.
Here you will find the general nutrition recommendations for women, what factors play into these needs and how to customize your own nutrition plan based on your goals.
General Nutrient Recommendations for Women
Total Caloric Needs
The total calories you need in a day depends on your total energy expenditure. This is the amount of energy required by the body over the course of the day.
Your total energy expenditure consists of 3 factors:
- Basal Metabolism – This is very similar to the resting metabolism rate and is affected by age, gender, genetics, hormonal change, body size, body composition, and exercise. It is the amount of calories you body burns simple by being alive, at rest. It includes breathing, circulating blood through your body, moving food through the digestive system, absorbing nutrients, etc. Your basal metabolic rate determines 70% of how much calories you need in a day.
- Thermal affect of food – How much energy it takes to digest the foods you are eating. This includes 10% of the calories your body needs each day.
- Physical Activity – how active you are during the day. Your physical activity levels accounts for 20% of the calories you need each day.
Calculate your Resting Metabolic Rest here. (BMR and RMR are often used interchangeably, however RMR is about 10% higher than your BMR)
RMR Estimate for Women = ((9.99xweight) + (6.25xheight) – (4.92xage) – 161)
(Weight = kilograms, Height = centimeters, Age = years)
Once you have your RMR, you can then factor in the amount of physical active you do each day. More physical activity means more calories burned and more calories needs.
It is important to note that even if you are trying to lose weight, you should never eat below your RMR amount. It is the lowest amount of calories your body needs to survive. Keep reading for more on how your weight and body composition goals play into affect with the nutrition needs for women below.
Carbohydrates
There is a such a big misconception when it comes to carbohydrates and the nutrients it provides. Carbohydrates are our bodies preferred and main source of energy. When ate in moderation, they provide important nutrients to the body. They are an important factor of a balanced diet.
There are 2 types of Carbohydrates:
- Simple sugars: which provide our bodies with quick energy but should be limited because they don’t contain a high number of nutrients. Examples are white bread, pasta, processed foods.
- Complex starches and fiber : These are considered the “good” carbs and include whole grains, corn, beans, potatoes, quinoa, oatmeal, etc.
General Recommendation for Carbohydrates for Women: 3-4 g/kg of body weight daily.
Meaning, if you weigh 150 pounds or 68 kilograms, you should consume about 204-272 grams of carbohydrates each day.
General Recommendation for Carbohydrates for Women athletes or individuals with moderate to high activity levels: 4-5 g/kg of body weight daily.
Fats
Fat is the most dense macronutrient coming in at 9 calories per gram. This is why foods such as avocados and oil that are rich in fats, are also high in calories.
The general guideline recommend a fat intake of 1g/kg of body weight daily. Or about 20-35% of total caloric intake.
Protein
Protein is how your body builds muscles and recovers from any exercise or active movement. It also keeps you feeling full the longest. There are 2 types of proteins.
- Animal origin protein: These proteins are considered complete proteins and contain all the nutrients needed for growth and muscle repair. They include any food coming from animals. (Chicken, beef, eggs, milk, yogurt, etc.)
- Plant origin protein: These proteins are considered incomplete proteins. While they can still fulfill all your protein requirements and needs, you will have to pair two complementary protein together to get all the nutrients. (Ex: beans + tofu = complete protein)
The general recommendation for protein is 0.8-1.7 g/kg of body weight daily. This depends on your activity level. The more active you are, the more protein your body needs in order to repair and build muscle.
Customized Nutrition for your Goals
Each person has a different goal when it comes to weight and body composition. Many people focus only on exercise and neglect nutrition. However, nutrition is just as important, if not more important than exercise when it comes to reaching your goals.
It’s true…you can’t out perform a bad diet.
Here are some guidelines regarding nutrition needs for women based on your specific goals.
Weight loss: Fat Loss
The #1 rule when it comes to weight loss is that you have to be in a caloric deficit. This means that the amount of energy you are spending (calories you spend in a day), has to be lower than the amount of energy (amount of calories) you are consuming. That is the ONLY way to lose weight. You HAVE to be in a caloric deficit.
When people say they want to loss weight, what they actually mean is they want to lose fat. Losing fat and losing weight are two completely different things. If you are a fit person and regularly workout, you will lose weight once you stop working out. However, all that weight loss will be from muscle and not fat.
In order to lose fat and maintain muscle, you have to be increase your protein intake (around 1.2 g/kg daily) and decrease carbohydrates, making sure you are still in that caloric deficit. Maintain muscle as you lose fat also means that you are going to have to work those muscle. You are going to have to workout to maintain muscle while you are in a caloric deficit. A combination of proper nutrition and exercise will give you that toned look.
Click here for more Healthy Eating Habits to Lose Weight
Weight gain: Muscle Gain
Opposite of weight loss, in order to gain weight, you have to be in a caloric surplus. You have to consume more calories than you are spending each day.
If you want to gain weight, all you have to do is eat in a caloric surplus. However, if you want to gain muscle weight, you should increase your protein intake and keep you carbohydrates and fats relatively the same. You are also going to need to workout and exercise your muscles to build and maintain muscle.
Think of it like this…exercising breaks down your muscles so they can grow, repair and mature into stronger muscle. However, they can’t grow without sufficient protein and nutrients. Therefore, exercise without proper nutrition isn’t going help reach your weight goals.
Click here for a delicious, HIGH protein dinner.
Other Things to Keep in Mind
- Your caloric needs each day vary. You burn a different amount of calories each day depending on how active you were, if you worked out, what you ate, etc. So listen to your body! If you feel more hungry than normal, it is probably because you’re body needs a little extra energy that day.
- Your resting metabolic rate varies across the menstrual cycle. Some women’s RMR changed by up to 10% when menstruating. Other’s only vary about 1% when menstruating. This means that you may feel hungry and needs to consume more. This is another reason why nutrition needs for a women vary through the month.
- Nutrition needs for women can also change throughout your life cycle. Other facts such as age, pregnancy, and health conditions play into affect and should be acknowledged.
“Exercise is king. Nutrition is queen. Put them together and you’ve got a kingdom.” ~ Jack LaLanne
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