Reader's Corner
| Self Help | ||||||||||||||||
| Source: Health and Nutrition | ||||||||||||||||
| How Many Calories Do You Burn? | ||||||||||||||||
| We Simplify The Maths That Goes Into Your Weight Loss Effort. | ||||||||||||||||
| You’re trying to maintain a healthy weight or achieve one, you may wonder how many calories you should be consuming on an average day. You know, for instance, that less than 30% of your “daily calories” should come from fat. But how many calories is that? Unless you spend hundreds of rupees at a high-tech metabolic lab to measure your energy needs, you’ll have to settle for rough estimates. Here are some pointers. | ||||||||||||||||
| (Note: If your arithmetic is poor, you may need a calculator.) | ||||||||||||||||
Fat Factors
Many factors affect the rate at which your body burns calories – known as your metabolic rate – notably these: Body Size And Composition. These are the greatest determinants of metabolic rate. The more muscle and less fat you have, the more energy you will use, even at rest, which is in large part why men tend to have a higher metabolic rate than women. Activity Level. Physical activity burns calories. In addition prolonged, intense exercise has a carry-over effect – that is, it can “stoke up your furnace “ and boost your metabolic rate somewhat for at least several hours. Genetic Factors. These have a relatively minor direct effect on resting metabolism. Age. Starting at about age 30, metabolic rate starts to slow. A Guesstimate The chart below gives a very rough idea of daily calorie needs for people aged 19 to 50, based on how active they are. For people over age 50, the numbers are 15 to 20 percent lower. |
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
| Note: Your "activity level: is based on the most vigorous activities, such as driving, reading, writing, or typing. "Light" means activities such as leisurely walking, house cleaning, and golf. "Moderate" includes brisk walking, cycling, tennis, dancing, and weeding. "Heavy" includes running, basketball, soccer, and heavy manual labour.
Once you determine your daily calorie needs, you can figure out how much fat you can eat so that it supplies less than 30% of your total calories. Multiply your number from above by 0.30, then divide by 9 (the number of calories in a gram of fat). That will give you your daily maximum number of grams of fat. For a shortcut, simply divide your daily calories by 30. Thus, if you consume 2700 calories, you should consume less than 90 grams of fat to stay under the 30% cutoff. HITTING THE MARK Here’s a more accurate way to computer your daily calorie needs, which will take into account your desired weight. It is in two parts. First, calculate your resting energy needs as follows: Men 18-30 : multiply your weight in pounds by 7 and add 679. Men 31-60: multiply your weight in pounds by 5.3 and add 879 Men Over 60: multiply your weight in pounds by 6.1 and add 487 Women 18-30: multiply your weight in pounds by 6.7 and add 496 Women 31-60: multiply your weight in pounds by 4 and add 829 Women Over 60: multiply your weight in pounds by 4.8 and 596 Then multiply the result by one of the following activity levels to get your total daily calorie needs. |
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
| Note: This and similar formulas will be less accurate for obese people, since excess body fat burns few calories.
Keep in mind: To a large extend, you can’t change your resting metabolic rate since you can’t change you age, genes, or sex. However, by exercising regularly, you will boost your calorie needs. And, by taking up weight training, you can burn calories even while you lounge on the sofa in front of the T.V. |
||||||||||||||||
 |
