Calorie Counting and Weight Loss
Weight loss is a simple equation. Amount of lost weight or gained weight is equal to the number of calories eaten minus the number of calories burned. In other words, if an individual eats more calories than they burned they will gain weight. The reverse is also true. If an individual eats less calories than they burned they will lose weight. The former is called a positive calorie balance and the latter is called a negative calorie balance.
By creating a calorie deficit the body must begin to burn fat stores in order to provide enough energy to take care of body systems. Did you know that everyone has a specific amount of calories they burned each and every day, even if they never get out of bed? This number of calories is called the basal metabolic rate. This rate is able to be calculated using basic math equations that given individual the amount of calories it requires to keep their body running and functioning optimally.
There are several calculators online in which you can plug your height, weight, age and gender in the calculator will give you your basal metabolic rate. This is the base number of calories upon which anyone should base their calorie intake when they want to maintain, gain or lose weight. The equation is different for both men and women.
Men Basal metabolic rate: 66 + (13.7X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) – (6.9 X age in years)
Women Basal metabolic rate: 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 x ht in cm) – (4.7 X age in years)
1 inch = 2.54 cm
1 kg = 2.2 pounds
Technically there is no magic number of calories than an individual should eat in order to lose weight. Researchers and physicians agree that people should not be less than 1200 calories per day because it places their body in survival mode, metabolism slows considerably and other bodily systems are sacrificed in order to maintain heart, brain and lungs.
However there is a way of estimating how many calories you should eat in order to maintain your body weight. Some individuals use this as a baseline for their weight loss program. For instance, if a person of your height, gender and age would require 1600 calories per day in order to maintain their body weight at the body weight you desire it appears reasonable that by scaling your caloric intake to 1600 calories per day you should be able to lose weight and then maintain it at your ideal body weight.
The first thing to do is to calculate your current basal metabolic rate as well as the basal metabolic rate at the body weight you wish to achieve. Remember that these are the calories required in order to keep your body functioning while just lying in bed. Now you need to multiply this particular number by a specific percentage for individuals who are sedentary, have light activity, etc.. In other words, you must account for the calories you burn while at the office, cooking dinner and walking the dog.
Sedentary X 20%
light activity X 30%
moderately active X 40%
active X 50%
extra active (you do hard labor or are in athletic training) X 60%
Add this particular number to your BMR of your ideal body weight and this is the number of calories you can eat every day in order to lose weight and maintain your new body weight.
Another option is to add this particular number to your current BMR and then gradually reduce the number of calories you are eating in order to begin losing weight.
The second option is to begin burning more calories by getting a greater amount of exercise so that you can maintain the amount of food you are eating but also begin to gradually lose weight. This is because you will be placing your body in a negative caloric balance by burning more calories than you are eating.
Most of the weight loss programs available on the market today go well beyond calorie counting. They have brought nutritional intake and weight loss psychology to a whole new level. By taking calories out of the equation and reducing weight loss to counting points, eating all you can of protein or high-fat foods or increasing activity levels and incorporating well balanced nutritional meals these new weight loss programs have negated the overall negative value that has been placed on counting calories over the past two decades.
However, counting calories is not as difficult or negatives as one may think. Instead, it gives you great control over the amount of food and the types of food that you can he while helping you to understand the relationship between calories burned and calories eaten. By using this particular tool more individuals are able to lose weight and maintain that weight loss over years in the future.
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