Are you Eating Enough?

We are bombarded by news reports about the obesity epidemic, about how our collect weight is on the rise, but rarely do we talk about the flip side of the equation, under eating.

Whilst obesity poses a real risk, so to do does not eating enough whether it’s due to intentional restriction, a natural decrease in appetite or other reasons like stress.

In this article we will explore signs that you are potentially under eating, and how to calculate how much you should be eating.

Lack of energy/Constant fatigue

If you’re knackered before you even start your warming up for class, that’s a clear sign that you may need to re-evaluate what you’re eating, when you’re eating and how much. If you’re schedule means you are skipping meals and having to rely on caffeine or something carb rich before a workout, you might need to make some changes.

This constant fatigue shows that you aren’t giving your body enough fuel to function at the level you need—both inside the gym and out but how do you overcome this?

It would be oversimplifying it to say just ‘eat more’. Even though that is the crux of the issue, but let’s look at ways to do this in a positive way. Consider eating more smaller meals throughout the day.

Some people prefer to eat all their calorie intake in a couple of meals, and if that works for them great! However, is you want to increase your daily food intake without eating monster meals, look to eat 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day, spaced evenly apart. Doing so will not only help to regulate your blood sugar but can provide you with a more stable energy release rather than one big high followed by a corresponding low (i.e., constant fatigue).

Bad mood/High Stress

Every single person will experience stress in some form throughout the course of their day— even a tough GPP class with Coach Tommy is an example of putting your body under stress. However, these workouts are acute stressors. The stress we experience outside of the gym environment be that a crappy email from your boss, an argument over who’s doing the dishes, or even worrying about how you are going to purchase your next pair of Metcons can become chronic. Which means our bodies will begin to release a high amount of stress hormones—like cortisol—which has a negative impact on our health (high levels of cortisol is linked to heart disease, obesity, depression and high blood pressure).

But did you know you are more likely to react to these feelings of stress when you aren’t eating enough? Yup, we’ve all experienced hanger (anger as a result of being hungry) before, it can also increase the likelihood of reacting purely to any negative little blip. As we mentioned above what, when and how much your eating is key, and to create the happiness hormone (serotonin) you need to consume plenty of complex carbohydrates.

Other signs to look out for include:

·        Poor workout recovery

·        Always feeling hungry

·        Being unable to gain muscle or hit strength goals

·        Not achieving desired fat loss

·        Hair loss

·        Changes in your menstrual cycle

If any of those sound familiar, lets explore how to calculate how much you should be eating.

Figure out your basal metabolic rate (BMR)

Your BMR is the total number of calories your body needs to survive if were to do to absolutely nothing over the course of a day. Luckily some clever folk designed a handy calculator to help you figure it out!

We’ve written the equation down below so you can see how this would look for you:

Men:

BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)

Women:

BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)

* Some handy conversions for you: 1 inch = 2.54 cm and 1 kilogram = 2.2 lbs.

Here’s how it might look for a real human:

So, you’re a 27-year-old man weighing 180lbs and your 5'11", here’s the calculation.

66 + (13.7 x 81.81kg) + (5 x 180 cm) - (6.8 x 27 yrs) = 1903

In this example your BMR is 1903. From there, you need to figure out your total daily energy expenditure, which is a fancy way of saying what you need to maintain your current weight depending on your current activity level. We promise this is the last bit about maths! Simple multiply your BMR with the figure that best depends how active you are.

Activity Multiplier

Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)

Slightly Active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)

Moderately Active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)

Very Active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)

Extremely Active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest or so on)

If that feels like too much maths, you can use this calculator by the Diabetes Association to figure out your BMR and times it by the corresponding number.

If any of that feels overwhelming, we can help.

We have an inhouse nutritionist who can do the maths for you. Helping you develop a clear understanding of how much you should be eating, the perfect macros for your unique needs, and the best time to be eating. He’s based at our gym in Glasgow but provides online coaching to clients around the world. Pop in for a visit or drop us a message to learn more.