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Showing posts with label Useful Information. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Useful Information. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Calorie Intake to Lose Weight

I found this at the following web-link and thought it was very useful...

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/calorie-intake-to-lose-weight.php

Calorie Needs to lose weight
There are approximately 3500 calories in a pound of stored body fat. So, if you create a 3500-calorie deficit through diet, exercise or a combination of both, you will lose one pound of body weight. (On average 75% of this is fat, 25% lean tissue) If you create a 7000 calorie deficit you will lose two pounds and so on. The calorie deficit can be achieved either by calorie-restriction alone, or by a combination of fewer calories in (diet) and more calories out (exercise). This combination of diet and exercise is best for lasting weight loss. Indeed, sustained weight loss is difficult or impossible without increased regular exercise.

If you want to lose fat, a useful guideline for lowering your calorie intake is to reduce your calories by at least 500, but not more than 1000 below your maintenance level. For people with only a small amount of weight to lose, 1000 calories will be too much of a deficit. As a guide to minimum calorie intake, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that calorie levels never drop below 1200 calories per day for women or 1800 calories per day for men. Even these calorie levels are quite low.

An alternative way of calculating a safe minimum calorie-intake level is by reference to your body weight or current body weight. Reducing calories by 15-20% below your daily calorie maintenance needs is a useful start. You may increase this depending on your weight loss goals.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

How many calories do I need? - Formulas

On top of having to carefully watch what types of food I eat (more on that later), I really need to determine how much I should (or should not) eat.


The BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) Formula is an easy calculation using the following variables: height, weight, age and gender. Other things do factor into calorie needs such as activity level and lean body mass, however, for all intensive purposes, the following calculation will suffice.



English BMR Formula

Women: BMR=665+(4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)

Men: BMR=66+(6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)


Once you know your BMR, you can calculate your Daily Calorie Needs based on your activity level using the Harris Benedict Equation

Harris Benedict Formula
To determine your daily calorie needs, multiple your BMR by the appropriate activity, as follows:

1. If you are sedentary (little or no exercise): Calorie Calculation = BMR x 1.2
2. If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week): Calorie Calculation = BMR x1.375
3. If you are moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week): Calorie Calculation = BMR x 1.55
4. If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week): Calorie Calculation = BMR x 1.725
5. If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training): Calorie Calculations = BMR x 1.9