Counting calories and macros for wheelchair users can be a minefield as there is no strong research in this field. This article explains as simply as possible how to calculate your daily requirements that go with your desired result. This is based mostly on my own experience and working with others with different abilities.
When it comes to calculating calories and macros, it can be extremely daunting. I have laid out all the information below. If you want to get it as accurate as possible, I highly recommend that if you have had problems in the past getting to a desired weight, then following this exactly will go a long way.
Personally, I haven’t actually calculated my calorie intake in a long time as I have developed a good understanding of roughly how much I need on a daily basis. Use this information to get you started and then check back. Try to avoid being obsessed with the numbers.
“Macros” is short for macronutrients not macaroni (i wish!) which are:
There is technically a 4th, alcohol, but I’m not going into that one specifically. However if you drink alcohol, you should know that 1 gram of alcohol has 7 calories and they do count. They just won’t build muscle.
When setting up a macro goal, this can be for two reasons:
An important first step is to find out exactly how much you are eating now. This can simply be done by keeping track of your food intake for 2-4 weeks. An excellent tool for that is myfitnesspal app. Weigh yourself before and after this process. This can often be done at a hospital (or even at a scrap metal merchant!) if unable to use home scales.
If you have lost weight in this period, then you are not eating enough. If you have gained weight, then you are eating too much. But if there was no/little change then you are eating enough for your current energy output.
In all cases it is handy to calculate your daily caloric intake. Simply add up all the calories you have consumed and divide them by the days. This will give you a daily average.
Also, by documenting your current eating habits, you can assess more easily what types of changes you need to make, or find out if you were already on the right track.
A BMR is the Basal Metabolic Rate, which is the amount of energy your body needs to survive each day. This energy is needed for breathing, your heart beating, nails growing, digestion – you get the idea.
On top of that, you need energy for daily activities, like pushing the Wheelchair, transfers, exercise, etc. These two combined are called the Total Daily Energy Expenditure, TDEE. This is different for everyone, since it depends on gender, height, weight and activity level.
There are easy tools to help you calculate these numbers. The one I recommend is TDEECalculator.net. This tool is pretty accurate with calculating the BMR & TDEE for the average person; however, as a wheelchair user, we naturally expend less energy as we aren’t using the big leg muscles as much or at all, so use this handy guide when calculating to get a more accurate guide:
Temporary Wheelchair users/Low Level Paraplegia:
In the activity box click the appropriate amount of exercise for your level. This may be a little high but some fine tuning can be done later.
Mid-Higher level Paraplegia/Low Level Quadriplegia/Spina Bifida
In the activity box choose the level down from the one that represents your activity level. For example, drop moderate exercise down to the light exercise level.
High Level Quadriplegia
In the activity box, select two levels down from the one that represents your activity level. For example, drop athlete down to moderate exercise.
Why still calculate this?
If you compare the numbers in step one with the numbers in step two, you can get the most accurate number possible in order to set your macro goals. It is simply eliminating as much error as possible. There may be other factors involved, but at least there will be a fairly accurate starting point.
This depends on your goal in step 1 (lose weight or gain muscle). The above website has handy extra calculations in the macronutrient section that does the hard work for you!
Bulking: increase your current weight (building muscle) (+500 calories per day)
Let’s dive into this in a bit more detail, you’ll see under each tab moderate/lower and higher carb amounts. This is there to adjust to the type of fitness you are planning on doing. If you are an endurance athlete for example you will need extra carbohydrates. If you are looking to build muscle, then you will want a lower percentage of carbs, meaning your protein intake will need to be higher. During our fitness plans, we combine cardio and resistance training so a moderate amount of carbohydrates is a great place to start. You can always adjust over time to suit your needs.
Both options here are in a safe range, but do not see this as a hard and fast rule. Small adjustments will not make huge differences. Over time, if we aim for a certain weight and reach it, then we need to obviously change our input calculations as we now require different amounts. This can be done as often as you like, but once every 3-4 months is recommended as this gives you enough time to adjust and properly see results.
Keeping track is where it really starts. Assuming you are using MyFitnessPal, you can enter the desired calories, protein, fats, and carbohydrates into your profile.
Now it is up to you to track what you eat every meal, every snack, every day. This may sound tedious, but after a few times this becomes a routine. We are creatures of habit that tend to eat similar things each week. This means that the reliance on tracking will decrease as you get an understanding of what intake is needed.
You may have guessed it, but if you want to be as accurate as possible, a kitchen scale is an essential tool. At some point, you will get better at estimating portions without the scale, but in the beginning, it is highly recommended..
There are of course multiple tools out there to keep track of your food intake, but MyFitnessPal is used by most people, has a huge database of foods (that you can scan the barcode of as well), provides an overview on how your progress is during the day, and also if you are on the right track. This way you can tweak your food intake as you go along, and you will not run into surprises at the end of the day.
Measuring progress must be defined right from the beginning. How are you going to measure your progress? If you want to lose weight, the scale is a logical option, but should not be the only way to measure success. The scale can give conflicting results as well.
For example, if you are also doing weight training, you will gain muscle mass, which results in more body weight.
To make sure you can truly see results, do the following:
So get out a measuring tape and measure up. The most common areas to measure:
Another way to really see results is by measuring body fat. This should be done by a skilled person, and is usually done with calipers. The skin fold will be measured on several parts of the body, and the average body fat percentage is calculated.
There will always be a discrepancy. For a more accurate body fat measurement, you can do a DEXA scan, hydrostatic weighing, or a bodpod, but these are often not always available everywhere and are more costly.
The tutorial above is intended for those who have a specific goal in mind, whether that is losing fat, gaining muscle mass or both, but is not intended to turn you into an obsessive calorie counter. To be realistic, calories DO count. It is personally refreshing that you can have so much control over your diet once you have the correct knowledge! There’s no secret diet or food, it is just mathematics and tracking, plus, it has already been figured out for you!
The fact of the matter is, that in order to achieve a certain goal, you need to define the path towards it and this is a way to do just that.
Simply saying “I want to lose weight, so I’m going to eat less” will perhaps work for a while; but, sooner or later, you will hit a plateau. Without insights into your eating habits, things will get a lot more difficult. Educating yourself in what your numbers are, what the caloric value of food is and how to implement it in your life will make the road to achieving your goals a lot easier.