Increasing & Decreasing Your Calories To Suit Your Goals

This blog is here for our athletes who prefer to track their macros and want to learn more about increasing or decreasing their calories to suit their goals. Never heard of such a thing? We highly recommend checking out this article to learn about this way of life. It's a flexible approach to eating that allows you to reach your physique goals without missing on those special moments in life like eating out with friends. We do not recommend making drastic changes to your calorie intake. If your calculated calories are significantly lower or higher than your current intake, please contact us at hello@thebod.com.au

Here are some reasons why you may be thinking about increasing your calories:

• You've successfully reached your goal weight and are looking forward to adapt your metabolism to a higher intake of food
• Your goal is to increase muscle mass, fat mass or body composition

Here are some reasons why you may be thinking about decreasing your calories:

• You're on a weight loss journey and require a calorie deficit (reduction)
• Your weight loss has hit a plateau
• You are planning to compete in a fitness competition and require gradual fat loss

 

These are some things to think about when increasing calories or decreasing effectively!

 

Increasing calories:

The first criteria for making a change to your macros is that you must already be hitting your macros consistently. Consistency is one of the first things our coaches look for because it's difficult to implement change if there was no consistency to begin with. The greater the consistency, the better the outcome for any changes you choose to implement. This goes the same way for decreasing too! As a general rule of thumb, you can slowly increase your calories by 50-100 per week when increasing your calories according to our coaches. The majority of these calories will be sourced from carbohydrates. You should aim to keep the percentage of your protein and fat the same as what was calculated for you.  

 

Decreasing calories:

If you haven't consistently tracked your macros in the past, it's generally acceptable to start your journey on your newly recommended macros. If the decrease in calories is significantly lower than what you're used to consuming, please reach out to us at hello@thebod.com.au for guidance. When it comes to fitness competitors, the requirements are slightly different. Each athlete's body adapts to a decrease in calories differently. Some athletes respond instantly, and only require drops as little as 50 calories per week. Some athletes require a larger drop that can be between 100-200 calories per week to see changes. Remember, this is very individualised and should be implemented with the guidance of a coach!

Don't be scared about increasing your calories.

Maybe you're just about to kickstart your fitness journey with The Bod and your mouth dropped to the floor when you learned the meal plan is a lot higher in calories than your norm. Our proposition to you is:

• Trust the process,

• try it for at least 3-4 weeks and

• reassess your progress from there!

A huge key to creating body composition changes according to our coaches is compliance. If you can stay consistent and comply to your set macros, your body will respond amazingly! Learn more about our set meal plans and macro approach to nutrition here.