The dominating debate in the body building literature about caloric control overshadows very key concepts of dieting. You might actually get lost in the miasma of opinions and egos, at the expense of validated, objective truth about how much calories you need and how much you should eat. Putting all controversies aside and taking on a factual analysis of calories and their effect in the body building diet, it becomes possible to determine your caloric needs in a way that is both constant and straightforward.

Achieving an optimal caloric diet is simply a nutritional nirvana and growth will be nothing short of phenomenal. Yet doing so needs no aeronautical skills but basic nutritional sense. So let’s get simple, basic, realistic and effective in coming up with the correct calorie ration that you need to get your body building objectives.

Start by determining your current body tare weight. Then decide on a realistic goal in terms of body weight, either upwards or downwards. Then multiply this goal with any factor, take 12, 15, or even 18 for instance. Now, if your goal is to lose weight or to reduce the metabolism speed, just multiply your current weight by factor 12. If however your goal is to maintaining the current weight, then multiply your current weight by factor 15. A special mention for hard gainers, those who seem never to gain weight, their sole aim is to gain as much weight as is humanly possible. To gain the weight therefore, just multiply your current weight by factor 18.

This is the starting point in determining your daily caloric requirements. As such, a male body builder weighing 200lbs will need at least 3000 calories daily (200 x 15) to maintain that weight. On the other hand, a female body builder weighing 130lbs can maintain her current weight if her daily calorie intake is 1950 (130 x 15). If the two however are intent on gaining more weight, then the male body builder will have to eat 3600 calories daily (200 x 18), while the female will have to eat at least 2340 calories daily (130 x 18). To loose weight, then a daily dose of 2400 and 1560 calories respectively (Multiply weight and factor 12), will get the job done alongside a workout routine.

This calorie intake should be maintained for a period of not less than four months for the gains to be consolidated in the body. You can however adjust the caloric ratio by 50 or even 100 calories daily, if after a while, the diet seems not to be working as envisioned.

The daily calories should be distributed across the day, and divided between the various types of foods that constitute your diet. In this, 40 percent of the calories should be carbs, complex if possible, while 30 percent should be proteins. The safe (read healthy) fats should be about 20 percent, which is very marginal amounts given that every molecule of fats contains three calories. The remaining ten percent should incorporate all other necessary minerals and compounds that make a body building diet balanced, comprehensive and healthy, such as vitamins, iron, calcium, magnesium and other minerals.

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