With weight loss, it all comes down to eating fewer calories than you burn off. Really, it’s all a matter of maths but how do you work out your magic number? If you find out your basal metabolic rate, or how many calories you burn in the day without being active, you can find out how many calories you need to consume. This number is how many calories you need to stay alive, and can be calculated by applying an easy formula:
66 + (6.3 x your weight in pounds) + (12.9 x you height in inches) – (6.8 x your age in years)
However, this isn’t the whole story as you also need to know the extra calories you need for your daily activities. Make sure you work this out too as it can be damaging to your wellbeing if you don’t consume enough calories.
If you go about your day with the minimum amount of exertion, such as only walking when you have to and taking the lift instead of the stairs (which, by the way, isn’t good for your wellness), you roughly need 20% more calories than your basal metabolic rate. Therefore, take the number from the above equation and times it by 120%.
If you do light activity, which means walking an extra distance to take the bus or the train, taking the stairs rather than the escalator or the lift, or perhaps having a slightly more active job or school life with movement around the workplace or campus, your caloric need is 30% more than your basal metabolic rate, so multiply it by 130 percent to find out how much you need to burn if you fit in this category.
If you’re a moderately active person, you run or jog 2-3 times a week, or engage in a sport or exercise that makes holding a conversation when exercising difficult, and spend around 4-5 hours a week exercising. If you fit in this category, your caloric need is 40% more than your basal metabolic rate, so multiply it by 140 percent to find out how much you need to burn.
Finally, if you’re very active, it’s likely that you train every other day, most likely doing sports or exercises, either at home or the gym, with the time spent ranging between 6-10 hours daily. It’s probably impossible to keep a conversation with you when you’re exercising, as you are focused and your breathing is too heavy to talk. This means that your caloric need is 50% more than your basal metabolic rate, so multiply it by 150 percent to find out how much you need to burn if you fit in this category.
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