Customizing Your Calorie Goals

You have the freedom to choose both your calorie intake and calorie burning goals!

When you first started to use MyNetDiary, or even if you simply tried the Free Test Drive, then you probably noticed that you had to answer a series of questions before starting. Specifically, you provided your height, weight, age, gender, and activity level so that the program could calculate your estimated calorie intake for your body weight, as well as the amount of essential dietary nutrients needed for your age and sex group. Guidelines about calorie estimate and nutrient levels come from the Institute of Medicine's Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs). You can find a link to the DRIs on this site by clicking on "Help" in the Plan section, or by clicking on this USDA link. Also, review another MyNetDiary article on Customizing Your Nutrient Goals.

Weight Control Basics

Before proceeding with strategies for customizing calorie intake, let us first review the basic concept behind weight control: calories.

1 lb of body weight is roughly equivalent to 3500 calories. Over time, net calories will determine whether or not you lose, gain, or maintain your weight. It is very much like money in a checking account.

• If you consume (Calories IN) fewer calories than you burn (Calories OUT), then Calories NET will be negative and you will lose weight. That is, a calorie deficit results in weight loss.
• If you consume (Calories IN) more calories than you burn (Calories OUT), then Calories NET will be positive and you will gain weight. That is, a calorie surplus results in weight gain.
• If you consume (Calories IN) the same amount of calories that you burn (Calories OUT), then Calories NET will be zero and you will maintain your weight. That is, calorie balance means weight maintenance.

These simple equations help us think about what we can change in order to lose, gain, or maintain weight. If you want to lose weight, then how do you want to create the calorie deficit? Do you want to eat fewer calories, burn more calories, or maybe do a little of both? The choice is yours.

Customizing Calorie Goals

It is important to understand that there is more than one way to use MyNetDiary to set up calorie goals. I will describe two strategies.

Method 1: Quick

Enter an activity level that reflects your average daily activities in the Account section. It helps to review in what activity category you really fit. For detailed technical information on how physical activity affects energy (calorie) balance, please read the DRIs on energy.

See below for examples of each activity category:
• Sedentary - You work at a desk full-time and commute by car. You do not have time to exercise regularly. Or, if you stay at home, you are sitting for most of the day. You engage in typical daily activities (shop, cook, and put away dishes, etc).
• Light Active - Same as above, but you manage to fit in 30 minutes of walking every day. Or, you are a stay-at-home parent who takes care of the children and performs household chores, but you do not engage in planned exercise.
• Active - You work full-time on your feet (e.g. floor nurse or electrician). You engage in at least 60 minutes of daily moderate intensity exercise (such as brisk walking, stair climbing, jogging, etc) either as planned exercise and/or as a part of your job.
• Very Active - You work full-time in construction or your work involves running, walking with heavy loads, using ladders, climbing, digging, or pushing (e.g. fireman on active duty). Athletes usually fall into this category when they are training. For others not in an active occupation, use this category if you engage in typical daily living activities AND do at least 60 minutes or more of daily moderate exercise AND at least 60 minutes or more of vigorous activity.

In Plan section, enter weight goal and target date. Keep in mind that the rule of thumb for weight loss is 1-2 lbs per week. If you are already within 10 lbs of your weight goal and find it difficult to lose any more weight, then please consider a slower rate of weight loss of 1-2 lbs per month rather than per week.

Review the recommended calorie deficit needed to meet your weight goal in My Analysis section. I find it a lot easier to eat well and not feel deprived when my goal is to create a calorie deficit of about 250 calories per day (which will result in a weight loss of 2 lb per month). The goal is to lose weight and keep it off, so do whatever you can to make your eating pattern and exercise habits sustainable.

Next, go to My Daily Nutrition Plan and view your Personalized DRI for calories (row 1). The Personalized DRI for calories is the estimated calorie intake needed to SUSTAIN your current body weight, given the activity level chosen in Account section. If you want to lose weight but do not plan to change your activity routine, simply decrease the calories you consume using information from My Analysis section.

In My Daily Consumption row, decrease the grams of protein, carbohydrate, and fat so that the system decreases the calorie intake for the desired goal. Every gram of fat provides 9 calories, every gram of carbohydrate provides 4 calories, and every gram of protein provides 4 calories. If you want to keep the proportion of total calories from fat (27%), carbohydrate (52%), and protein (20%) roughly similar to the Personalized DRI, then for every 100 calorie decrease desired, decrease fat by 3 grams, carbohydrates by 13 grams, and proteins by 5 grams. In the near future, MyNetDiary is going to provide more options for changing your calorie goal.

Nutrients that provide calories but are subtypes of fat or carbohydrate will not affect the calorie goal (e.g. sugar, saturated fat, trans fat, polyunsaturated fat, and monounsaturated fat). You can change gram goals for these nutrients but they will not affect the calorie goal since the calories are already being accounted for in their parent group. Cholesterol does not provide calories. Please read the article entitled "Customizing Nutrient Goals" if you would like guidance on how to change or set these goals.

Of note, alcohol does provide calories, but is not included as a nutrient goal. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend limiting alcohol consumption to 1 drink per day for women and 2 drinks per day for men (12 fl oz beer, 5 fl oz wine, or 1 shot distilled spirits).

Vitamins and minerals do not provide calories although many are important in metabolic pathways responsible for energy production.

If you have chosen a weight loss goal that forces a calorie intake below 1200 calories, then the system gives you an alert to reassess your timeframe for weight loss. Please be aware that if you try to eat less than your basal metabolic needs (calories needed for basic functioning, which does not include physical activity or the caloric cost of digesting/processing consumed food), it is likely that your body is going to fight you to conserve energy. So, do yourself a favor and do not put yourself on a starvation diet! If you are curious, your basal metabolic rate is available at the Daily page, in My Measurements section. Incidentally, many of us need more than 1200 calories to sustain our basal metabolic rate.

Important: Sometimes members accidentally "count" their activities twice - first in the Account section, and then again in the Plan section under My Weekly Activity Plan. Please do not count your physical activities twice. This will cause the system to overestimate your daily calorie burning and your calorie statements will be off. For example, if I work at my computer all day, commute by car, but manage to walk 30 minutes daily, then I will chose "Light Active" for my overall activity level in Account section and I will NOT enter anything into My Weekly Activity Plan.

Method 2: Detailed Plan

In Account section, choose the level of activity that reflects your job or typical day without planned exercise. That is, if you have a desk job and commute by car, then you might choose, "Sedentary."

In Plan section, enter the weight goal and target date, keeping in mind the 1-2 lb weight loss per week rule of thumb (or the 1-2 lb weight loss per month goal).

Review the recommended calorie deficit needed to meet your weight goal in My Analysis.

In My Daily Nutrition Plan, note the Personalized DRI calories. Consumption of this calorie level will maintain your body weight given baseline activity (not including planned activities).

If you know you need to improve your diet, then try taking off 250 calories from the Personalized DRI calories. Please read how to reduce your calorie intake goal in the section above. Unless you were overeating quite a bit before starting this program, I do not recommend trying to lose more than 250 - 500 calories from a diet (which means a 1/2 lb - 1 lb per week weight loss if no planned exercise is included). Reducing intake by more than 500 calories daily is very hard to achieve and often results in not meeting intake goals for essential dietary nutrients.

If you love to eat and would rather take off calories through more exercise, then leave the calories as calculated by the Personalized DRI. However, it is important to be reasonable with your weight loss goal and time frame for this loss if you will use only exercise. If you are fairly athletic or are training for an event, then you probably have the capacity to create a large calorie deficit through exercise alone.

Go to "My weekly activity plan" and enter all planned activities. Take time to accurately estimate how much time you will spend in each activity. For instance, if I ski every Saturday from 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, my planned ski time is not 7 hours. I have to account for time sitting on the ski lift, waiting in the lift line, bathroom breaks, and lunch break. My planned ski time is likely to be closer to 4 - 4.5 hours. Same goes for other stop-and-go activities such as dancing, gardening, and most team sports.

The Institute of Medicine recommends 60 minutes of daily moderate activity, or 30 minutes of daily vigorous activity. This amount of activity is associated with a healthier body weight (as measured by the Body Mass Index or BMI). Does your plan include that much physical activity? If not, then perhaps plan to do more activity to help you meet your calorie loss goal. If you have a physical limitation that prevents you from exercising or being physically active, then you might consider getting a referral to a physical therapist so that you can learn how to move safely and effectively within your own limitations.

Go to My Daily Energy Balance and view your planned calorie balance. Will your estimated calorie intake and calorie burning allow you to achieve your weight loss goal? If not, then you must decide how you will achieve a greater calorie deficit: eat fewer calories, burn more calories from exercise, or do a combination of both. If the calorie deficit seems too great for you, then reconsider the rate of weight loss. That is, pick a target date that is farther out so that your rate of weight loss is less (e.g. 1-2 lbs per month instead of per week).

Good luck with your plan and remember to take advantage of the Community Forum for basic questions regarding nutrition and weight control.
Also, check another article entitled Customizing Your Nutrient Goals.

Katherine Isacks, MPS, RD