Ninja Nutrition: Calories!

Living a Ninjutsu Lifestyle requires us to fuel the fire each day, but over fueling or filling up on crap is not going to help you or I progress where we need to go so here is the next step in building your Ninja Nutritional program!

Determining your daily caloric requirements

Each day your body requires a certain amount of calories to maintain normal bodily functions. This includes everything from just staying awake to your workout sessions or martial arts class. Each person is different and requires a different total number of calories in their nutrition plan. To begin to understand how much you require and for your particular needs ( Lose weight or Gain weight) you will need to do a few calculations.

 

 

Step 1: BMR (Basil Metabolic Rate)

 

(BMR) is the number of calories one would expend if you did NO activity all day.

 

For Men: 1 x body weight (kg) x 24 = _________
For Women: .9 x body weight (kg) x 24 = _________

 

( In order to convert pounds to kg, divide weight in pounds by 2.2 )

 

Step 2: Percent body fat calculation

 

This step takes into account that pound for pound, leaner people generally have a higher BMR.

 

Percent Body Fat Multiplier
Men 10 to 14%, Women 14 to 18% 1.0
Men 14 to 20%, Women 18 to 28% .95
Men 20 to 28%, Women 28 to 38% .90
Men over 28%, Women over 38% .85

 

Now calculate your daily requirements:

 

(BMR) X (% body fat multiplier) =    Daily calories required

 

 

One last piece to add to this mix, as each individual has a certain level of activity in their daily life this also has to be factored into your final caloric intake calculation.

 

 

Average Daily Activity Levels

 

Taking your DCR(Daily Calories Required) information, you must now multiply this by your total activity load. This will give you the final number for our program to start with.

 

 

The Average Sedentary Individual (Hopefully this isn’t you!)

 

1.30 (130%) = Very Light: Sitting, watching T.V., talking, little walking or other activities during the day
1.55 (155%) = Light: Typing, teaching, lab work, no lifting, some walking throughout the day

 

The Moderate Fitness Individual:

 

1.55 (155%) = Light: Typing, computer operation, teaching, lab work, light walking
1.65 (165%) = Moderate: Walking, jogging, gardening type job with activities such as cycling, dancing, skiing or weight training 1-2 hours per day

 

The Aggressive Athlete Individual: (Oh yes this is a Ninja!)

 

1.80 (180%) = Heavy: Heavy manual labor such as construction, logging, climbing, with activities such as grappling, MMA, body building  etc., 2-4 hours per day
2.00 (200%) = Very Heavy: A combination of moderate and heavy activity 8 or more hours per day, plus 2-4 hours of intense training per day

 

(DCR) X (Activity Level) =  Final Calories Required(FCR)

 

So how does this all factor in to your nutrition plan??

Well once you have an idea of the ~ number of calories you require for daily activity, we will have to break this out into a nutrition plan!

 

Bufu Ikkan

 

Airyu – “Living the Ninja Lifestyle!”

 

 

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