One of the most important tools in nutritional advice is a reliable calorie calculator. While debate continues about the importance of caloric needs, the value is still extremely relevant as a guide for your counseling. Knowing the value is so important because your customers usually do not know it and are almost always wrong in their self-assessment. Customers who want to lose weight or maintain their weight almost always eat above their calorie requirements and are surprised that they are not losing weight. Conversely, customers who want to gain weight or build muscle mostly underestimate their needs and think they are already eating way too much.
Calorie calculator for individual calorie needs
The initial value of the calorie requirement, which the calorie calculator determines, is therefore a decisive indicator of the permitted amount of calories that should be ingested, depending on the nutritional goal. Natty Gains has developed a calorie calculator integrated into the nutrition software that you can use to calculate the individual calorie needs of your customers - easily, quickly and reliably.
Automatic calculation of calorie goal
As a nutritionist, imagine the following situation: You have met your customer and taken an anamnesis with him. Next, you determine his individual calorie requirement so that the desired nutritional goal can also be achieved. This step is made easy with the calorie calculator in Natty Gains nutrition software. You quickly and intuitively enter the questions for your customer about body data, sleep, activity level at work and leisure as well as sport in the digital anamnesis form and thus have the calorie target for the customer determined automatically.
Calorie calculator in nutrition software
It doesn't matter whether your customer wants to lose weight or gain weight: For the best results, it is important to know the customer's individual calorie expenditure in order to be able to determine the calorie goal. This allows the nutrition plan to be perfectly tailored to the needs of the customer. The calorie target is made up of the basal metabolic rate and the performance turnover plus or minus the calorie surplus or calorie deficit.
Basal metabolic rate:
This is how many calories the body consumes when it is absolutely at rest, i.e. when it is sleeping / completely relaxing on the couch.
Performance turnover:
This is extra energy required for physical activity, i.e. every single step and muscular exertion.
Total turnover:
The sum of the basal and performance turnover gives the total turnover and thus the daily calorie requirement to maintain the weight.
Calorie Goal:
Depending on the formulated weight goal, a calorie deficit or calorie surplus is necessary, which is then added or subtracted again and results in the individual calorie goal.
Determine the customer's goal
In the anamnesis form, you set the goal of your customer in the first step. Here you choose between 3 basic options: increase performance, manage weight or increase well-being.
Increase performance
Does your customer want to increase their performance - both on a physical and mental level - and optimally support it with nutrition? Then select "Increase performance" and specify the selection by specifying in which sport you want to increase your performance.
Manage weight
Does your customer want to work on their figure and either gain weight, especially muscles, or lose a few extra pounds in a healthy and sustainable way without having to go hungry? Perfect, then specify the weight goal in the next step. Here you can choose between the following options: lose weight, define muscle, build muscle, gain weight, maintain weight.
Increase well-being
Your customer wants to increase their well-being, live healthier and therefore eat more consciously. However, has his/her diet been too monotonous for this so far? Choose this selection if your customer wants to feel fresher and more vital, have a more balanced diet overall or want to regenerate better through an adapted diet.
Determine customer's calorie and macronutrient goal
The next step is to determine the calorie needs of your customer. Here the anamnesis sheet gives you 2 options: You can either calculate it using a calorie calculator. Or, if the value is already known, you enter the calorie requirement of your customer yourself.
You also have the option of freely determining the distribution of the macronutrients proteins, carbohydrates and fats. This makes sense if you have previously carried out a body check or a genetic analysis with the customer or specify a special form of nutrition in your coaching sessions.
The following formula regarding the distribution of macronutrients applies if you do NOT determine the macronutrients yourself.
- Proteins: 1.5 g / kg body weight
- Fats: 0.7 g / kg body weight
- Carbohydrates: The remaining calories
You have 2 options for your own, modified distribution of macronutrients:
- Define macronutrient distribution in absolute gram values
- Determine macronutrients in percentage ratio
Calorie calculator for recording basic physical data
First you enter the basic physical data of your customer in the anamnesis sheet in the calorie calculator: sex, age, height and weight. Based on this data, the calorie calculator in the nutrition software determines your customer's basal metabolic rate, i.e. the calorie consumption that the body needs to maintain vital functions. These include maintaining body temperature, breathing and organ functions.
The Harris-Benedict formula is used to calculate the basal metabolic rate.
- For women: 655.1 + (9.6 x body weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) – (4.7 x age in years)
- For men: 66.47 + (13.7 x body weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) – (6.8 x age in years)
Sleep
Sleep duration and sleep quality affect the entire daily routine. If we don't sleep enough or not enough, the functioning of our brain is severely affected. Memory performance is reduced, and the ability to concentrate, reaction speed and decision-making power as well as endurance decrease. We also lose the sense of time, space and planning.
Sleep also influences our emotions, our physical health and of course our regeneration. As a result, poor and insufficient sleep has a negative impact on our mood and stamina. Good sleep, on the other hand, provides more energy, a healthy body and improved regeneration.
Calorie calculator to record the customer's activity level
In addition to the basal metabolic rate, every other activity counts towards the performance turnover. The questions about recording the activity level are relevant if you use the calorie calculator to calculate the calorie goal for your customer. The power conversion is calculated with the 'metabolic equivalent' (MET).
Calorie calculator for activity level at work
By determining the activity level at work, you enter in the calorie calculator how much the customer moves at work and how much calories they burn.
Mostly sitting
Occupational examples for mostly sedentary occupations are: office job, precision mechanic, pupil/student, vehicle driver in traffic, teacher, judge, etc.
Sitting and standing
Occupational examples of alternating sitting and standing jobs are: police officer, doctor, housewife, warehouse worker, cashier, etc.
Mostly standing
Occupational examples for mostly standing activities in the profession are: light trades (e.g. electrical or painting business), car mechanic, retail salesperson, nursing professions, social work, etc.
Heavy physically
Occupational examples of physically demanding occupations are: heavy handicraft, construction workers, roofers, agriculture, animal and forestry occupations, miners, high-performance athletes, etc.
Free time activity level calorie calculator
By determining the activity level in your free time, you enter in the calorie calculator how much the customer moves in their free time and how much calories they burn.
Barely active
After work, your customer prefers to put his feet up and he usually takes the car or train to cover his daily journeys. His leisure activities are mainly limited to watching TV, internet, reading, gambling and general relaxation.
Quite active
In his free time, your customer does household chores, likes to walk outside and raise the children. He also likes to ride his bike or walk to get from A to B.
Very active
For example, your customer regularly travels by bike or on foot and uses his free time to do sports, go dancing and be active. Typical activities in his free time are: sports, dancing, climbing stairs, heavy gardening, etc.
Sport
In order to be holistically fit and healthy, an exercise and training concept plays an important role in addition to nutrition. In this step, you coordinate training and nutrition and select your customer's primary sport and sport days.
Endurance sports
Typical examples of endurance sports include jogging, cycling and swimming at low intensity.
Weight training
Typical examples of weight training are bodybuilding or weight training in the gym or at home. But Crossfit or exercises with your own body weight, such as freeletics or calisthenics, are also part of it.
Other low-impact sport
Typical examples of low-impact sports include yoga, tai chi, golf and ping pong.
Other medium-impact sport
Typical examples of medium-impact sports include football, tennis, squash, badminton and horseback riding.
Other high-impact sport
Typical examples of high-impact sports include HIIT, boxing, handball, intense swimming, and track and field.
Not at all
Choose this option if your customer does not exercise at all.
Sport days
After you have determined in the anamnesis sheet which sport the customer primarily practices, the next step is to select how often and on which days of the week sport is practiced. To do this, activate the corresponding days of the week.
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