Calorie Balance

As a fitness professional, the 2 questions that I get asked the most frequently are both centered around calories. How many calories should I be eating? And, how many calories do we burn from this workout? Having the answers to these two questions is essential to finding the correct calorie balance. There are 3 factors that determine your calorie requirements.

1. Basal Metabolic Rate: This is the minimum amount of energy needed by the body at rest. It includes basic body functions such as respiration, cellular metabolism, circulation, gland activity, and body temperature control. It is affected by such things as age, gender, pregnancy, body composition, nutritional status, sleep, climate, and fever.
2. Physical Activity: The amount of calories needed for physical activity depends on the type of activity or work, the intensity and the duration.
3. Specific Dynamic Action of Food: This is the amount of calories needed to manage food intake and includes digestion, absorption, and metabolism of food.

Balancing the calories you take in with those you put out is the safest, healthiest way to control your weight – for the next two weeks, or the next 20 years. Finding the correct calorie balance is important whether you are someone trying to lose weight, gain weight, or maintain your current weight. When calculating your calorie intake, make sure to calculate with your ideal weight. So if you are currently 160 pounds but are trying to lose 20 pounds, make sure to use 140 pounds when you calculate. Same thing if you are trying to gain weight, just add the weight you want to gain onto your current weight.
A word of caution for anyone who needs to lose more than 60 pounds; don't calculate your calorie needs with your final ideal weight. You should instead calculate your calorie needs in phases to ensure that your body is getting enough energy so that it doesn't enter "Starvation Mode" (i'll get to this later). Start by calculating your initial needs with a 30-40 lb. weight decrease from where you currently are. Then when you have 10 lbs. to go in phase 1 recalculate your calorie needs for the phase 2. Continue this process until you have reached your ideal weight.

Calculating Calorie Needs
Step 1: Calculate BMR  (W = weight in kg, H = height in cm, A = age in years)

For Males, BMR= 66 + 13.7W + 5H - 6.8A

For Females, BMR= 655 + 9.7W + 1.8H - 4.7A

W(kg) = W(lb.) x 0.4536          H(cm) = H(in.) x 2.54

Step 2: Add in calories for purposeful exercise. Since most people do not track their calories during exercise choose your activity level from the following:

• If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
• If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
• If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
• If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
• If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

So now you know how many calories you should be consuming eachday. If you are trying to lose weight, here's some advise.  It takes about 3500 calories to make one pound of fat. So to lose one pound, you can:

• Burn 3,500 excess calories (if you have a few hours to kill) 
• Eat 3,500 fewer calories (starvation diet, anyone?)
• A combination of exercise and diet (the best option)

For example, to lose one pound in a week, you could simple create a calorie deficit of 500 per day (7x500 = 3,500). That could be as simple as cutting out one donut (280 calories) and jogging for 25 minutes (240 calories) each day.

Starvation Mode
There is a common misperception that to lose weight, the lower the calories the better. Ironically, the key may be eating more calories. You can actually hurt your body's ability to lose weight by going too low. Here's why. The body has a protective mechanism, and when calories drop too low the body reacts as if it is starving and tries to conserve energy. It will lower your metabolism, conserve calories and fat, and you will not burn calories as quickly. This results in a slower weight loss or even no weight loss. This is what's know as "Starvation Mode". When calorie intake falls below 1,200 (females) to 1,500 (males) calories a day, it is also extremely difficult to follow a balanced diet and obtain all the nutrients that are needed by the body to stay strong and energetic and prevent disease. These very low calorie intakes can also lead to other health problems such as eating disorders, gout, gallstones, and heart complications.
No matter what your ideal weight, you should never go below 1,200 calories a day for females and 1,500 calories a day for males. Remember, your body is still burning calories for energy not matter what you are doing. You just burnt calories as you sat here reading this post (approximately 68 calories per hour for a 150 lb. individual). I will be adding some resources into the Fitness tab at the top of the page to estimate calorie burn during activity. So if you're curious approximately how many calories you burn while exercising, check out those resources for a quick estimate!!

And as always, if you have questions or comments about anything I have posted here or even something that I haven't posted about, please reach out to me! Either comment below, post in the Wildcat Wellness Support Group on Facebook, or email me.