Analyzing Calorie Intake In Your Diet To Start Building Muscle Or Losing Fat

A very important step in the processes of both building muscle and losing fat is analyzing your existing diet to see what nutrition changes that you have to make to confirm to the requirements of fat loss and muscle building. The truth is this, most people will need to make some sort of changes to their existing diet as part of their fat loss or muscle building program requirements. Even if you think that your diet is already healthy, it may still fall short of certain nutrition requirements for muscle gains and fat loss.

One of the most important diet component that have to be analysed and adjusted properly to gain or lose weight is your caloric intake. You must be consuming more calories that you are burning daily to gain muscle mass. The other end of the spectrum, burning more calories than you consume daily must be established in your diet to lose fat. So how do you adjust your calorie intake in the direction of your body weight goals for achieving success?

First you have to calculate to find how many calories your body needs to maintain itself daily. This will be the number of calories you'll consume without gaining or losing weight. So once you know this calorie maintenance level you'll be able to create a calorie deficit and a calorie surplus by including the right amount of calories in your diet. Therefore, unless you know how many calories that you are eating on a daily basis you will not be able to make the correct adjustments.

Your existing diet could be anywhere up, down or within your calorie requirement for gaining or losing weight. The only way to find out the actual amount is to learn the nutrition information about the foods you eat regularly, look at their calorie content and then you'll know how to adjust to fit your goals.

The equation is simple. If you want to build muscle which is a form of weight gain you have to make sure that your calorie intake is above your maintenance level. About 500-1000 calories above maintenance level is a good starting point for most people to build muscle. On the other hand, you must be consuming calories below your maintenance level to lose weight. 500 calories less is also a good starting point. However, it's up to you to analyse your existing diet properly and make the respective changes to your calorie intake based on your goals.

I recommend getting a notebook, computer, iPod or phone to start writing down everything you eat and drink daily. Then look up the nutrition information of these foods to find out where you are in respect to your calorie requirements for putting on or dropping weight.

Don't waste your efforts on doing the wrong things to get in shape. Get more information on building muscle and losing fat to improve body composition and get in shape.

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