Reaching that ideal body weight we all strive for remains a great challenge for many people who are serious about fitness. No matter how much time we commit to the gym, ultimately our diet will play a massive role in that number we see when we step on that scale. So how do we calculate our daily calories for ideal body weight while maintaining a healthy and hearty diet?
The figure of 2,000 calories is a number that many people aspire to without properly asking why. Jordan Syatt is a 5-time power lifting world champion and a nutrition expert and his latest YouTube video offers a very simple equation for anyone looking to know the daily calorie requirements to reach an ideal body weight.
You'll find it in the video below:
Here's the equation:
- Take the ideal weight you're looking for (in pounds)
- Multiply by 12
Syatt uses the example of someone looking to get to 150 pounds. If you multiply 150 X 12, you get 1800. 1800 calories then becomes the ideal daily calorie figure to shoot for.
Syatt also recommends a massively pragmatic approach to calorie counting. He urges people not to be fixed to that number, and to build high and low calorie days into their weekly calendar. So if you're doing a big workout, you might find yourself hungry and in need of more calories. Syatt recommends that the 1800 calorie a day person boost their daily calorie count by 200 on those days to a final figure of 2000. On the end of the spectrum, you might have a low-intensity recovery day. On those days, Syatt recommends cutting calorie count by 200 (so in the case of the 1800 calories per day person, you'd end up on 1600 for a low-intensity day).
All of this adds up to an eminently practical and pragmatic approach to discovering your daily calorie intake. Syatt's approach is probably most pragmatic when it comes to people who are looking to lose a lot of body fat. Rather than pick an overly ambitious ideal body weight, Syatt suggests a gradual approach that allows people to get their ideal weigh without being overwhelmed by the task at hand.
"This way, you can eat more calories and still lose body fat."
