Core principle 1 - Calorie counting
Calorie counting
Calorie counting is something every aspiring hero should do at least once!
Why? Because most of us have no idea what’s really in the food we eat day to day. And if you want to build a superhero physique (or just look and feel more like your favorite anime character), learning this skill is like unlocking your first special move. And let me be real: You don’t have to track calories forever. The goal is to do it for a little while, learn what works for your body, and then you can graduate to what we call “intuitive eating. That means you’ll know, just by looking at your food, if you’re eating enough to get bigger, or not enough to get leaner.
But you can’t skip the first step. At least not if you want results.
Don’t Be Scared, We’ve Got Your Back
Look, I get it. When you first open up a calorie tracking app, it feels like entering the Batcave for the first time. It can be a little intimidating, kind of mysterious, and filled with gadgets that make your life easier.
At The Hero Academy, we are all about making this as simple as possible. We’ve coached everyone from first-timers to people prepping for the big screen.
Let’s be honest. We’ve pored over hundreds of superhero and celebrity transformation diets. The secret sauce? They all learned what’s in their food, and they all built in some favorite “cheat” meals or daily treats to stay sane.
Even Goku has his feasts. Thor isn’t eating chicken and broccoli 24/7.
That’s why our Hero Academy Nutrition Core Principles are all about balance and sustainability. Yes, that means you get to keep some of your favorite foods.
Let’s Talk Macros (Because Every Hero Needs to Know Their Tools)
“Macros” is just short for “macronutrients.” Here’s what you need to know:
Carbohydrates (4 calories per gram)
Proteins (4 calories per gram)
Fats (9 calories per gram)
That’s it! Every food you eat is made up of some combo of these three.
Quick math example:
If you eat 5g of fat (5 x 9 = 45), 15g of carbs (15 x 4 = 60), and 20g of protein (20 x 4 = 80),
Total calories? 45 + 60 + 80 = 185.
Do You HAVE to Track Every Macro? (Nope!)
Here’s a myth-buster.
You do NOT have to track every single macro every day unless you really want to geek out.
At The Hero Academy, we recommend you track:
Total calories
Protein intake
Let carbs and fats fall where they may. Seriously.
Why? Because whether you want to get lean like Spider-Man or bulk up like Broly, it all comes down to:
Calories in vs. calories out
Protein for muscle gain or maintenance
Bottom line: You can lose or gain weight without ever tracking a single macro besides protein. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
How Many Calories Should You Eat? (Let’s Level Up)
Step One: Use a BMR calculator online (that’s your Basal Metabolic Rate, the number of calories your body burns just existing).
Step Two: Decide your goal:
Cutting fat? Eat 15–20% less than your BMR or maintenance
Bulking up? Eat 10% more
Step Three: Plug that number into your favorite calorie tracking app. We like “LoseIt” or “MyFitnessPal.” Or go old school with pen and paper, but let’s be honest, apps are easier.
Step Four: Hit your numbers every day! Want to lose a pound a week? Be in a 500 calorie deficit per day.
Want to gain? Be in a 500 calorie surplus.
Avoiding the Most Common Tracking Mistakes
Tracking your calories isn’t rocket science, but there is a learning curve. A lot of heroes-in-training mess up here and wonder why their results don’t match their effort. Let’s break down the big pitfalls and how to dodge them like a true hero:
You must track EVERYTHING.
This is where most people go wrong, right at the start. If it goes in your mouth, it goes in your tracker. That means everything: the splash of milk in your coffee, that spoonful of peanut butter, the olive oil you used to cook, the ketchup on your fries, the beer at dinner, even a “taste test” while cooking. It all adds up.
Don’t eat more just because you’re burning more!
Some tracking apps (like MyFitnessPal) will try to “reward” you for workouts by giving you back extra calories to eat. Unless you are specifically programming this with a coach, ignore it. Most calorie calculators already factor in your activity level. If you eat more every time you exercise, you’ll erase your deficit if cutting, or make bulking much sloppier than it needs to be.
Custom means custom.
If you’re ordering food (Subway, Chipotle, whatever) and you swap or add ingredients, don’t just log the base menu item. If you get double meat, extra cheese, avocado, sauce, and so on, track all those add-ons.
Same thing at home. Don’t just log “omelet.” Log each egg, the cheese, the butter, the salsa, the toast on the side. The difference between a little bit of mayo and a lot of mayo is often a couple hundred calories!
Be honest and measure when you can.
Guesstimating is fine sometimes, but eyeballing a “tablespoon” of peanut butter or olive oil almost always leads to eating more than you think. Invest in a food scale (they’re cheap, and trust me, every hero uses one at some point).
Tracking gets easier the more you do it. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough. Close is better than not trying.
Track as you go, not at the end of the day.
Memory is a tricky villain, so don’t rely on it. Log meals right when you eat them or prep them. The more you wait, the more little details get missed.
Bottom line: Tracking isn’t forever. But if you’re going to do it, do it right, just like training for your first big boss fight.
Why Consistency Beats Perfection
Here’s something most new heroes miss.
Consistency will always win over chasing “perfection.” You can eat clean and stay “on track” for five or six days, but blow it all in one or two nights if you’re not paying attention.
Let’s break it down, exactly like you had it:
Assume restricting to 2,000 calories would allow us to lose 1 lb. per week of targeted fat:
Monday: 2,000
Tuesday: 2,000
Wednesday: 2,000
Thursday: 2,000
Friday (Night out drinking): 3,500
Saturday (Family Dinner): 3,500
Sunday (Football Sunday): 5,000
Where does that leave us?
Well, we WOULD have been 3,500 total calories under (which is equivalent to 1 lb. of weight loss), but we were OVER 1,500 calories Friday, 1,500 Saturday and then 3,000 on Sunday.
That means our weekend of an extra 6,000 calories actually not only voided out our weight loss, but it actually turned our cut into a bulk by putting us 2,500 calories OVER our BMR and nearly tacking on 1 lb. of fat instead of the loss we were shooting for.
Consistency is your sidekick here. You don’t have to be perfect every day, but don’t let the “all-or-nothing” mindset sabotage your hero journey.
“But I Can’t Eat Enough!” Or “Am I Eating Too Little?”
Here’s the truth.
If you’re not losing fat in a deficit, it’s almost always a tracking error.
You can eat a little below your goal (we suggest leaving a “buffer” of about 100 calories).
You shouldn’t go way below or above your target. Slow and steady really does win this race.
For gaining:
Make sure you’re in a surplus, but not so high you’re just gaining fat. Aim for 250–500 extra calories a day for lean muscle.
For losing:
Stay in a 500–1,000 calorie deficit per day, but don’t go lower. You don’t want to lose muscle.
The Biggest Myths (And Why We Ignore Them)
“Cutting calories never worked for me!”
Usually? People aren’t tracking accurately or aren’t in a real deficit.“Our ancestors never counted calories!”
Sure, but they also didn’t have pizza, Starbucks, or Uber Eats. Welcome to the 21st century.“Calorie counting is too hard.”
Only for the first week. Like any superpower, it gets easier with practice.
Final Words from The Hero Academy
If you want to look and feel like a hero, you have to learn the basics first.
Once you do, you’ll have the freedom to eat intuitively, fuel your workouts, and get the results you want, no matter what diet you follow.
Remember, every superhero starts out as a beginner. Track your calories for a bit, get the hang of it, then go save the world.
Oliver Reed - Signing off
Director, The Hero Academy
What’s a Calorie, Really?
Time for some quick science.
Here’s the Google definition:
“A calorie is a unit of heat energy. Technically, the amount needed to raise 1 gram of water by 1°C.”
Okay, but what does that mean for you? Basically, Calories = energy for your body.
At The Hero Academy, we don’t want you worrying about the science class details. Just know that the food you eat contains energy, and how much is measured in calories.
When we talk about “calorie counting,” all we’re really doing is keeping score of how much energy you’re taking in, so you can control your transformation.
How to Actually Track Your Calories (And Not Go Insane)
Download your app of choice.
Log what you eat, every meal. Seriously, everything counts, even that little splash of milk or the ketchup on your fries.
If you eat out, search the menu in the app. They have everything from Big Macs to sushi rolls.
If you’re cooking, scan barcodes or enter ingredients as you go.
Pro tip: Don’t stress about being perfect. Close is good enough to start.
Special Note: Training & Calories
When you’re following a Hero Academy program (like Hero’s Path Warrior), adjust your calories depending on how hard you’re training.
If you are training hard, eat your normal deficit or surplus.
If you’re not training, cut back another 10 percent.
It’s all about keeping your gains (or losses) moving in the right direction.