At Ascend, we emphasise evidence-based strategies to help you achieve lasting results. One of the most important concepts to understand is calorie balance—the cornerstone of changing your body composition.

Whether your goal is fat loss, muscle gain, or just maintaining your current shape, it all starts with knowing how many calories your body burns in a day. Once we know your maintenance calories, we can confidently create a plan that delivers real results—so long as the program is followed consistently.

Let’s break it down.

🔥 The Components of Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)

Your daily calorie burn is made up of several key parts:

1. Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

This is the energy your body needs to stay alive—running organs, regulating hormones, digesting food, and maintaining body temperature.
💡 Muscle mass increases BMR, which is one reason strength training is always important. That said, the increase isn’t as massive as once thought—it's just one piece of the puzzle.

2. Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)

This is the energy burned through daily movement outside of workouts—walking, standing, fidgeting.
🧠 Did you know? NEAT drops subconsciously during a diet. That’s why tracking steps is so valuable—it keeps energy output consistent and helps avoid plateaus.

3. Thermic Effect of Food (TEF)

Digestion itself uses energy.
🥩 Protein burns the most, followed by carbs, then fats. Keeping your protein intake consistent day-to-day helps standardise this part of the equation.

4. Exercise Activity

Calories burned through cardio and resistance training.
🧠 It’s tricky to estimate resistance training accurately (squats burn more than curls!), but cardio can be measured and matched with carbohydrate needs—a topic we’ll cover in detail during our nutrition for performance modules.

💡 TDEE = BMR + NEAT + TEF + Exercise

This formula gives us a full picture of your energy needs.

To simplify things, you can use this free calculator:
👉 TDEE Calculator

📊 Quick Calorie Estimates

These numbers offer a starting point if you're new to tracking:

• Maintenance = Bodyweight (kg) × 35

• Deficit (fat loss) = Bodyweight (kg) × 30

• Surplus (muscle gain) = Bodyweight (kg) × 40

👍 Pro Tip: This method is best for moderately active individuals without access to detailed body composition scans.

📐 Advanced Option: The Müller Equation

If you have a DEXA scan or access to body fat and lean mass data, the Müller equation offers greater accuracy:

BMR = (13.587 × LBM) + (9.613 × FM) + (188 × sex [1 = male, 0 = female]) - (3.351 × age) + 674

Use this only if you’ve got accurate measurements. Otherwise, the simpler approach above works well for most clients.

🏃 Now Add Your Activity Level

To get your true TDEE, multiply your BMR by one of the following:

• 1.2 = Sedentary (desk job, no training)

• 1.375 = Lightly active (daily steps or light exercise)

• 1.55 = Moderately active (training + desk job or active work + moderate training)

• 1.725 = Very active (training 5–6 days/week + active job)

• 1.9 = Extremely active (hard training + physically demanding job)

⚙️ Real-World Application: How to Adjust Calories

Once you have your TDEE, we manipulate calories based on your goal:

🔻 For Fat Loss

• Aim for a 10–20% calorie deficit.

• Start with a 10% drop and increase to 15% or 20% if needed.

• Example: If maintenance is 2500 kcal, start with 2250 kcal.

🔺 For Muscle Gain

• Increase calories gradually to minimise fat gain.

• Aiming to gain 0.25% of your bodyweight per week is ideal.

• Example: For a 70kg person, that’s ~175g/week.

We’ll cover macronutrient targets (protein, carbs, fats) in the next module.

⚠️ Factors That Can Skew Calorie Needs

A few extra variables can affect your calorie burn:

• Height and Body Proportions – Taller people burn more.

• Stress – Can slightly raise calorie burn but often leads to water retention or emotional eating.

• Recovery Needs – Sore, damaged muscles require more fuel.

• Genetics – Some metabolisms are naturally more “efficient.”

• Body Fat % – Leaner individuals often need more calories to maintain weight.

• Stimulants – Caffeine can increase metabolism slightly (but not significantly).

🧠 Final Thoughts

No formula is perfect—but they give us a strong foundation. From here, consistency and tracking will tell us how your body is responding.

✅ Stick to your plan for at least 4 weeks before making adjustments. Your body needs time to adapt, and we need reliable data to make smart changes.

In our upcoming modules, we’ll break down:

• How to track changes

• How to periodise your nutrition

• And how to dial in your macronutrients