What we cover today

1. Energy balance, the one equation that runs everything
2. BMR, NEAT and TDEE, where your calories actually go
3. Work out your own numbers, live, in this room
4. Macros, protein targets, and the health halo trap
5. Flexible dieting, the weekly calorie budget, and supplements
6. Tracking setup, then the 30-Day Fuel Challenge

What this session is, and is not

One equation runs everything

Keto, fasting, paleo, carnivore. Different doors, same room. They all work by changing one side of this equation.

Where your calories actually go

The cost of being alive

• Your Basal Metabolic Rate is what you burn lying still. Brain, heart, lungs, organs, body temperature.
• It runs 24 hours a day and it is the biggest slice of your burn by far.
• More muscle means a higher BMR. Aggressive crash diets push it the wrong way.

The hidden lever for desk workers

NEAT is Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. Every step, fidget, and flight of stairs that is not a workout.

Digestion burns. Training burns less than you think

"Then what's the point of the gym?"

A 40-year investment,
open at any age

Question period

• Which slice surprised you the most?
• Roughly how many steps do you think your work day gives you?
• What have you been told about metabolism that now looks shaky?

Your calorie calculator

SEX

MALE FEMALE

AGE

HEIGHT CM

WEIGHT KG

ACTIVITY

Desk job, little exercise Light, 1 to 3 sessions a week Moderate, 3 to 5 sessions a week Hard, 6 to 7 sessions a week

BMR

1,740

kcal at rest

TDEE · MAINTAIN

2,390

kcal per day

FAT LOSS TARGET

1,890

TDEE minus 500

BUILD TARGET

2,690

TDEE plus 300

No pen needed. Scan this instead: it opens this exact calculator at calc.hpp.team. Tap Share, then Add to Home Screen, and your numbers travel with you.

Phones out. Punch in your own numbers and write your TDEE down. This figure is your starting point for everything that follows, and it is an estimate. Real life data from tracking beats any formula.

Where calories come from

• Fats are more than double the calories per gram. A generous pour of olive oil is 120 plus kcal before the meal starts.
• Alcohol is nearly as dense as fat, brings zero nutrition, and loosens the grip on every food decision after it.
• Protein does the most work per calorie. It repairs, it fills you up, and it costs the most to digest.

Anchor every day with protein

• An 80kg person needs roughly 145g a day. That is a palm of protein at every meal plus one snack, not a bodybuilder diet.
• What 30g looks like: a chicken breast, a tub of Greek yoghurt plus a scoop of whey, a tin of tuna and two eggs.
• Protein is the most filling macro. Hit the target and the snacking problem mostly solves itself.

Deficit, maintenance, or surplus

The trap: the 1,200 kcal crash diet fails the same way every time. The biggest deficit you cannot sustain always loses to the smallest one you can.

Same person, different macro split

The pattern: carbs are the biggest slice in both, because they are your performance fuel. Protein anchors both plans. Fats hold a hormone floor and are the first dial we trim in a cut.

"I eat healthy but can't lose weight"

Healthy does not mean low calorie. This is why calorie counting is powerful: it catches the halo foods that quietly erase your deficit.

Calories you never chewed

• Liquids do not trigger fullness the way food does. The calories land, the appetite does not move.
• Two coffees, a juice, and two beers after work is 700 plus kcal. That is most people's entire deficit, gone, invisibly.
• Easiest wins in the whole game: swap to smaller coffees, zero soft drinks, and eat your fruit instead of drinking it.

Whole foods mostly, life included

• Aim for 80% whole foods. They drive daily energy, hormones, digestion, and every one of your seven pillars.
• The other 20% is life. The Friday dinner, the birthday cake, the beers with mates. Budget for them, do not skip them.
• No food is banned. The budget decides, quality decides how you feel spending it.

Calories are a weekly budget

• Think of your TDEE like a weekly pay cheque. Roughly 16,800 kcal a week for a 2,400 TDEE. Spend it how you like.
• Most people already spend money this way: quiet during the week, biggest spend on the weekend.
• Calories can work the same. Trim a little Monday to Friday and bank it for the dinner, the birthday, the special occasion.

Banking vs the starve and blowout

Both weeks total 16,800 kcal. The red week tanks Wednesday's session, Friday's focus, and the willpower collapse makes the blowout bigger than planned. Then Monday starts tired. Can be done, not recommended for high performance.

Food first, then the big three

Supplements supplement. They sit on top of whole foods, protein, and sleep, never instead of them. On medications? Clear it with your GP first.

The 30-Day Fuel Challenge

• Score one point per box ticked per day. Team leaderboard posted weekly.
• Miss a day? Log it late and move on. The streak is the habit, not perfection.
• Highest score after 30 days picks the prize. Make it worth playing for.

What to walk away with

• Energy balance runs everything. Calories in vs calories out, no exceptions.
• Your TDEE is written down and loaded into your tracker. Guesswork is over.
• Small deficit, 2g/kg protein, 80% whole foods, daily steps. Boring on purpose, effective on purpose.
• The 30-Day Fuel Challenge starts Monday. Log, walk, weigh, protein.

Take the calculator with you

Scan now, then tap Share and Add to Home Screen.
It installs like an app: calc.hpp.team