This is by far the hardest thing for most people embarking on a weight loss, strength gain, body composition journey.
The many factors that go into calculating the right amount of:
Calories
Macronutrient volumes
Exercise calories burned
Appropriate caloric deficit to sustain fat loss, and when to take a break.
These are the main factors taken into consideration, but there are still more to take notice of.
What does all of this mean?
First and foremost, yes, you may likely need to weigh your food, at least until you gain an understanding about what it all looks like, then continue to monitor it somehow.
When working out your caloric demands, you will take into account a few factors;
What your BMR (basal metabolic rate) is, determined by a body scan.
Work out roughly your exercise calories daily.
Add them both together.
Subtract anywhere from 10-30% and eat that volume.
Now that you have established your daily needs, we can now determine the right split so you’re eating enough protein, carbs and fats to ensure you achieve your composition goals.
A standard calculation would be 35% Protein, 40% carbs, 25% fats.
This split may not work for you, so you can adjust the percentages and make them work for you.
For someone who has a higher muscle mass, they will likely tolerate a higher carbohydrate intake, and will likely metabolise them more efficiently. If you’re main focus is fat loss, you may choose to slightly lower them. I definitely do not recommend you lower them to the point which creates an energy deficiency and poor training effectiveness as carbs are most often converted as the main source of energy.
Stick to consistency for 3-4 weeks minimum and keep consistent. This will give you the best feedback to whether or not you need to make any adjustments.
After 6-12 weeks, you may find that progress begins to slow down, which is your cue to give yourself a short break.
After 3-4 days of eating back in calorie maintenance or surplus (eating what you are burning, or slightly higher), you can then return to a caloric deficit, slightly higher than before to stimulate your body into more change and adaptation.
After another round of this, you should find that your progress begins to move again. I would suggest not spending round after round in calorie deficit. Allow your body to go through a building phase before another deficit phase. Long term deficit will become detrimental and will stop working if done for too long.
At the same time as this, focus on training consistency, and frequency. So 3-4 times per week, EVERY WEEK! Throw in a minimum of 10,000 steps each day, or at minimum, 10,000 average across 7 days.
In a calorie deficit you may find your lifts are not progressing as quickly as you’d like so it’s important to focus on technique and continuing to lay perfect foundations.
If you’re not sure what to do with training, please, please, please hire a good coach to help you.
This is the simplest method to use to ensure you drop body fat, and start to achieve your physical goals.
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