How Many Calories Do You Burn Daily
How to figure out how many calories you burn each day
Now that we realize that calories are an important component in any weight loss or even in maintaining a healthy weight it’s important to know how to calculate what you need in terms of caloric content each day in your diet. There are several ways to do this, one is figuring your BMR and activity level and using a formula. Another is just using charts and guidelines put out by the government or given to you by your doctor.
How many calories you need is a function of your body type, age, height, weight (or desired weight) activity level and gender. The BMR is a good indicator but it doesn’t take into consideration those who are super athletic and have a high muscle mass. But, if you don’t fit into that category likely you can do the BMR and activity level formula and come up with your caloric needs so that you can either lose weight to become your desired weight, or maintain your current weight.
The important thing is to be honest about your activity level, and realize that the numbers can be shocking. Most people eat far too many calories and if you’ve not gained a lot of weight yet, but you’re regularly ingesting too many calories, you will soon. We can be tempted to blame outside factors and health issues on weight gain but it’s really quite rare for most people. Unless you’re entering perimenopause, it’s likely you can lose weight just fine by sticking to a high nutrition, low calorie plan based on the BMR formulas. Of course, it’s important to get your overall health status confirmed by a doctor before embarking on any weight lose regime.
First write down your age, the weight you want to be,(lbs) and your height in inches. Now determine your activity level. If you don’t do any type of intentional exercise then you are considered to be sedentary or not active. If you walk at least 1.5 miles per day at a brisk pace, in addition to your job, this is considered to be moderately active. Be honest about your activity level and realize that if you’re not you’ll only have yourself to blame if you don’t reach your weight loss goals.
Now look at the BMR charts and equations on this page. Using the formula let’s figure the calorie requirements for a 5.5 inch woman who is 140 lbs and wishes to maintain that current weight. She is moderately active. From the charts we have the following formula.
BMR for women — BMR = (65.5 + (4.35 x weight in lbs) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)) x 1.55 (activity quotient)
This woman, when figuring out the formula in its entirely, should eat no more than 1272 calories per day if she wishes to maintain her current weight. She can up her exercise levels, in order to increase her calorie intake, but for the most part, this is what she can eat each day to maintain her current weight.
To make it easier to stick to it is important to eat high water content and high fiber foods to stay full, get all the nutrients needed, and to not feel deprived.
Obesity Versus Overweight- What Is The Difference
Obesity versus overweight, what is the difference.
A lot of us are closer than we’d like to admit to being medically obese. You might think that you need to be 100 lbs or more overweight to be considered obese but actually someone can be obese and at risk for all the illnesses associated with obesity by just being 40 lbs over eight. Take a look at this BMI Chart:
Now let’s use an average height woman at 5 foot 5 inches as our guide. According to this chart a 5 foot 5 inch woman who is 140 lbs is within a normal BMI range, with a BMI of 23.3. So, how much weight does she have to gain to be 30.0 or above? Surprisingly, only 40 lbs.! At 180 lbs, the 5 foot 5 inch female, will have a calculated BMI of 30.0. That’s quite scary when you think about it.
There are different classes of obesity, with the morbidly obese woman having a BMI of 40 or greater. So, how much weight does our 5 foot 5 inch woman need to gain to become morbidly obese? She’d have to weigh 247 lbs to be classified as morbidly obese. However, even before she gets to that level she’s in danger of many illnesses associated with obesity such as heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. Once a woman gets to the level of morbid obesity she likely has one or more conditions present and unfortunately, without drastic intervention most morbidly obese people don’t lose weight and keep it off.
This is not to say they cannot, it’s just to say that statistically, it’s unlikely. But, the fact is if you remain morbidly obese you’re not going to live a long and happy life. You will die early from a whole range of painful and deadly diseases. While statistics put the obese person as unlikely to lose weight and keep it off, the truth is, you can stick to a diet that considers your nutritional needs, caloric needs, and mobility so that you can give yourself a chance at a long, healthy, and happy life.
You don’t have to resort to surgery, although for some this may be an answer, though a dangerous one. Sticking to a whole food diet, rich in veggies and fruits, and low in processed GMO (genetically modified organisms), low in processed foods, will improve your health and lead to a slow and healthy weight loss.
However, it has to be an entire lifestyle change, and not just a diet that has a finish line.
There is no weight loss race in spite of the diet industry and reality TV’s portrayal of weight loss.
The best way to permanent weight loss is through a permanent change in what you eat. Even if you do resort to surgery, the truth is, you’ll be also making a huge change in what you eat, if you made those same changes without surgery the result would be the same. Weight loss.