Portion Sizes & Calories Needed to Build Muscle, Lose Fat

Getting the right amounts of food is a huge part of the muscle-building and fat-loss equation. You can train as hard as you want enough in the gym, but if you don’t get enough food, you’ll never have the fuel needed to become stronger.

On the other hand, if you eat too much, you’ll end up overweight and wondering where your muscle is buried beneath the fat. So the question is: How much food, or how many calories do I need to consume?

The truth:

Counting calories is a great way for you to know that you are eating the correct amount of food. In fact, it is the best way for you to measure your daily calorie intake. But the truth is that most of you are never actually going to weigh your food and do the work necessary for calorie counting to pay off.

We can talk all day about how many calories you should be eating, but it won’t do you any good unless you are actually counting your calories.

Portions:

Since most of you are too lazy to count your calories (just admit, and I will too) I recommend the portion method for most people. This simple method has been around for a long time, and it is the quick and dirty way to know the right amount of food for you. Here’s how to do it:

Six small meals: Each meal should contain a protein, a carbohydrate, and some vegetable. It’s an oversimplification, I know, but the fact that this is so simple means you’ll actually do it.

• Protein: Eat a protein source with each meal about the size of the palm of your hand.
• Carbohydrate: Eat carbs that are roughly the size of a tightly clenched fist.
• Vegetable: The size of one or two clenched fists. Try to eat vegetables with at least 2-3 (out of six) meals each day.

The beauty is that every person’s hand size is relative to their body size, so this method works well, but it’s not perfect. Each person has different goals, and you’ll need to adjust for that.

• Building muscle: Increase your intake of each portion by 15-20%.
• Losing fat: Decrease your portion intake by 15-20%.

Of course, since this method isn’t perfect, you may need to do some adjusting over time. If you are actively exercising and lifting weights to keep your metabolism up, and you’re still unable to keep fat off, do another moderate carb adjustment from there.

Same goes for weight gain. If 15-20% over the initial recommendation isn’t enough, then adjust. The main idea is to get a feel for what portion size helps you to meet your goals. This simple method should take you most of the way to where you’re trying to go.

Calorie Counting:

Try the portion method first, and if it just isn’t accurate enough for you and your goals, then move on to counting calories. There are a number of ways to determine how many calories you need in a day.

These methods are recommended by fat-loss expert Tom Venuto. I’m not going to get too deep into these here. If you are really going to take the time to count calories and weigh your food, you will also be willing to take the time to read this article about each of the following calculation methods.

And if you’re really serious about counting calories, you should also read Tom’s book, Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle. You’ll know everything you need to know about calorie counting and fat loss after reading it. Here are the 3 methods:

1. The quick method: This is my favorite, quick and easy. Just choose your goal and do a quick calculation to see how many calories you need in a day.

Fat loss: 12 – 13 calories per lb. of bodyweight
Maintenance: 15 – 16 calories per lb. of bodyweight
Weight gain: 18 – 19 calories per lb. of bodyweight

2. The Harris-Benedict Formula: This one is more accurate, but requires a little more calculation. You can still get this calculation done in a minute or two if you need to.

3. The Katch-McArdle formula: The most accurate. This requires you to actually measure your body fat percentage for the calculation.

The lazy man’s method:

There is a certain value in not always following your portions or calorie recommendations 100% of the time. Your appetite will often spike on workout days and drop down when you’ve been less active for a few days. Listening to your stomach can be more valuable than all the scientific calorie counting and portion measuring in the world… but you need to be in touch with your body first.

Most people aren’t ready to follow what their stomach tells them on a regular basis. Eating too much food can expand your stomach and skew your perception about how much you should be eating. If you’ve been doing all the right things and you’re in touch with your body, your appetite levels can be valuable feedback about your body’s needs.

Finally:

Now, with all that having been said, it’s important to realize that all of this portion measuring and calorie counting isn’t the most important thing. Eating the right types of quality foods is far more important than making sure that you’re getting the exact number of calories you need.

Spend your time thinking about what the right foods are first, and then measure them second. Thinking about it the other way around just doesn’t make sense anyway.

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Related posts:

1. Eating To Gain Muscle Or Lose Fat – It’s Almost The Same
2. Article of Shame- Cut 5,000 Calories in A Single Day!
3. Eat Like This To Gain Muscle And Lose Fat At The Same Time – conclusion

Tags: calorie, diet, food, nutrition, portion