Counting Calories Right
Knowing how many calories a day you need to lose weight, specifically for your body, allows you to build your diet and exercise regime in an optimal way. Of course, there is an average number that applies to everyone, but it will not allow you to manage your weight loss process as effectively as you would like.
There are two parts to metabolism, the basic metabolism and the energy expended for active life activities. Basic metabolism is the calories needed to support the very processes of life, that is, the functioning of the very cells of the human body, for temperature maintenance and digestion, for growth, for breathing and heartbeat. Even if you sleep deeply, your basic metabolism consumes energy. The second part of the amount of calories a person needs is what is spent on motor activity.
The basal metabolic rate depends on age and gender, on body weight, the older a person is, the lower the basal metabolic rate, the greater the body weight, the more energy is needed to sustain life. The calories needed for motor activity depend on this very activity, the more you move, the higher the need.
An average figure for how many calories a day a woman needs is about 2,000 calories. But imagine a woman weighing 55 kg, working in an office, and a lady weighing 70 kg, doing weightlifting… One 2,000 calories would be too many, and the other would be catastrophically lacking. Of course, obviously, to lose weight your body must be in a caloric deficit, it is recommended to reduce the caloric content of food by about 20% of the need, in order to lose weight.
Calorie needs can be calculated using special formulas, Muffin-Geor and Harris-Benedict. This is quite complicated, you can read how to do it on our website, or you can just use a calculator.
The Muffin-Geor and Harris-Benedict formulas are used to calculate your basal metabolism, and then a correction factor for your motor activity is applied.
It is important to note, the less you move, the less your caloric needs are, the older you are, the less energy your body needs.
Consequently, overeating makes it much easier to get fat.
Having calculated how many calories you need to maintain your weight, you can further calculate how many calories you need to lose weight. To do this, divide the resulting daily requirement by 100 and multiply by 80. By eating within this norm, you will reduce the caloric content of food by 20%, which is quite enough for a gradual and fairly rapid loss of excess weight.
If another weight loss option is also available – simply increase your calorie intake, leaving your diet within the same limits. Physical activity will allow you to lose weight while creating a beautiful body.
