Calories Consumed vs. Calories Burned

If your goal is to lose weight the only way to do that is to take in fewer calories than you are burning. So the question is how many calories are you burning? Here is an abbreviated calculation that will give you an idea of how many calories you burn daily. To compute you need to know your BMR which is your basal metabolic rate. BMR is the number of calories you would burn over 24 hours while just lying around. To determine that follow the three steps below:

1. Convert your bodyweight from pounds to kilograms by dividing your weight by 2.2
2. Multiply your bodyweight in kilograms by 24
3. Using an average lean factor of .95 multiply the number obtained from step 2 by .95

Example:
Step 1. 125 lbs. divided by 2.2 equals 56.82 kilograms
Step 2. 56.82 times 24 equals 1364
Step 3. 1364 times .95 equals 1296 BMR (or calories burned from lying around)

Now we'll multiply your BMR times your average daily activity level to get a final number of how many calories you are burning daily. To determine that choose one of the levels below. Once you determine your correct level, multiply it times the number from Step 3 above.

1.43 - Couch Potato Range: Some walking throughout the day but more sitting, studying, typing, teaching

1.60 - Fitness Buff Range: Walking, jogging, gardening, cycling, tennis, dancing,skiing or weight training 1 to 2 hours per day

1.90 - Athlete or Hard Daily Trainer Range: Heavy manual labor, activities such as football, soccer or body building 2 to 4 hours per day

Example for calculating your daily caloric expenditures if your activity level is 1.60 "Fitness Buff Range":

1.60 times 1296 (BMR from step 3 in above example) equals 2,073

So 2,073 is the number of calories burned daily based upon this example's (me) activity level. That means I can consume 2,073 calories and maintain my current weight. If I want to lose weight I need to consume less that 2,073 calories.

Now that you have that number, we'll use it in tomorrow's post to compute how you can adjust the proportions of your daily caloric intake of protein, carbs and fats. This will put you on the road to weight management.