How Many Calories

Its important to learn about how many calories your consuming with everything that you eat and drink, taken care that during the food preparation or eating time, many extra calories can be added in the form of cooking oils and sugary sauces.

The resources section will give you a link to a site that will give details of how many calories are in a specific food, we have not added such information to this weight (fat) loss section, as it's a book within itself.

Your calorific requirements will depend on the following:

Gender - Men require on average around 2,500 - 3000 calories per day, compared to 1,800 - 2,000 for women, this is due to the larger muscle mass that men carry compared to women. Remember that these are only guidelines.

Goals - If your aim is to lose weight, then it obvious that you need to use more calories than you consume, whereas, if you intend to maintain your current weight level, or actually increase it, your calorie intake should be the same or higher than your expenditure.

BMR - (Basal Metabolic Rate) This is one of the most important factors when looking at losing body fat. Your BMR is the rate at which your body uses calories in order to carry out everyday functions such as breathing - digestion - bodily repair, in fact all activity's which you carry out without actually thinking about. The higher your BMR, then the more calories your burning whilst simply sleeping and having your body repair your muscles from the previous days exertions.

Lifestyle - If you exercise or have a labor intensive occupation (postal worker / construction) or simple sit in front of the TV or computer all day, then your daily calorie intake will greatly vary.

Age - After the age of around 30, your body naturally begins to lose its lean muscle tissue, about 10% per decade. Only a small loss in your calorie burning lean muscle without any change in your calorie intake will often result in the middle age spread.

Composition ( Lean Body Mass - Fat) - Muscle uses fat as an energy source to perform everyday tasks or exercise. The more muscle the easier it is for you to utilize fat. The more muscle you have, then the greater the amount of calories your body will need to function at optimal levels - you can easily have 2 people the same weight and height, however 1 could be obese and the other athletic.

If you can workout your weekly calorie expenditure by using the food diary in the resources section, you can get a guideline as to how many calories you have been consuming - it will not always be more than the amount you should actually consume!

There are a multitude of formula's and a number of web sites that offer methods of calculating your daily calorie expenditure, however these are often the cause of you being over-weight, as the methods used are often out dated and greatly in-accurate.

The Harris-Benedict Formula may appear to look complicated, however it is quite simple to work out,especially if you have a calculator.

This method will calculate your BMR, based on your total body weight, but should not be used for either heavily obese (over estimates calories) or high muscular individuals (under estimates calories).

Men - BMR + 66 + (13.7 X weight in KG "2.2 lbs to a KG" + (5 X height in cm "2.54 cm to 1 inch") - (6.8 X age in years).

A man who weighs 93kg and is 6 foot 1 inch high at 35 years old will have the following results.

Its is far easier to work out the 3 different equations, to simplify your mathematic calculations.

66 + (13.7 x 93 weight in KG) = (66 + 1274) = 1340

5 x 185 (height in centimeters) = 925

6.8 x 35 = 238

1340 + 925 - 238 = 2027

The final figure of 2027 is a rough guideline to your BMR - "Basal Metabolic Rate" the amount of calories that your body requires in order to perform its basic daily functions.

The formula used for Women's - BMR is 655 + (9.6 x weight in KG) + (1.8 x height in centimeters) - (4.7 x age in years)

A women who is 55kg and 155 centimeters, at the age of 45, would have a BMR as follows:

655 + (9.6 x 55= 528 ) + (1.8 x 155 = 279) - (4.7 x 45 = 211.5)

Work out the figures in the brackets, then add the first three 655+528+279 = 1462

Finally minus the final age bracket figure of 211.5 from 1462, giving you a BMR of 1250.5

An adjustment will need to be made dependent on your activity level (physically demanding job / high exercise) - the higher the level of your activity, the greater the calories that are required.

You may want to look at changing your calorie intake on days that are either active or sedentary to keep your calorie intake equal or ideally less than your expenditure in order to lose weight.

In order to find your daily calorie intake multiple your BMR figure (example 2027) by the following based upon your lifestyle.

Its important to understand that these are only guidelines, as it is quite easy to under or over estimate your calorie requirement, especially if your lifestyle is active, however its important to also understand that when going to the gym, you need to be exercising to burn calories, not simply talking to your friends. A number of modern gyms have machines that will give you a reading that shows your calorie expenditure, these should also be used only as a guideline, as the results are often inaccurate, designed for the benefit of gym equipment manufacturers to help sell their machines.

If our example above of our 35 year old male who attends the gym at least 3 times a week for a minimum of 45 minutes, having a non active job, would need to multiple his BMR of 2027 by 1.55 = 3142

3142 equals the total daily amount of calories for any given day.

In order to lose weight in the form of body fat, a reduction in the amount of calories consumed needs to be implemented, or alternatively a increase in activity level whilst keeping calorie consumption at the same level.

If focusing on restricting your calorie intake, reduce your calories by around 10 - 15%, however remember to base your meals on healthy lean proteins that have a high thermic value.

If our example man is looking to lose weight he should reduce his calories by taking 3142, and place a decimal point after the last two digits, as this will then give him a single 1% figure.

3142 divided by 100 equals 31.42

If you wish to reduce your intake by 10%, then you would multiply 31.42 by 10, (simple move the decimal point 1 place to the right) 314.2, if you wish to reduce your calorie intake by 15%, then multiply 31.42 by 15 = 471

Once you have your figure of 314.2 (10%) or 471.3 (15%) take this calorie reduction from your daily calories of 3142

10% 3142 - 314.2 = 2828

15% 3142 - 471.3 = 2671

All of the above figures may look a little complex, however if you work them out with a calculator or pen and paper, they will appear to be straight forward. It's very difficulty to be 100% accurate when counting your calories either used or eaten, however generally speaking, if your not losing body fat, then you have either made a mistake in your calculations (not adding calories from alcohol etc) or simply not having an active enough lifestyle.

For those that are heavily obese, there are two separate issues. Firstly this method will be less accurate, as a far higher percentage of your body weight is in the form of adipose fatty tissue, which does not burn calories like lean heavier weighing muscle tissue. Secondly, a number of heavily over weight people will find performing any form of exercise difficult, due to either joint problems- blood pressure - cardio problems or even all three.

Doctors guidance or that from a qualified fitness professional should be sought to give individual recommendations. As long as you can raise 1 arm or take a few steps, then your burning calories, simply rest and repeat as often as you can, if you feel OK to do more, than look at doing - just keep it regular and safe.

Heavily obese persons should look at their eating plan for week 1 of their new lifestyle regime, to get an understanding of how many calories they are eating, and look at reducing this by a minimum of 10% calories, with a further minimum of 10% calories of daily exercise / lifestyle induced calorie expenditure.