Weight Management | Assessing Your Own Weight 1.1

this is my attempt to lose weight safely and naturally. today is December 1, 2010 and am currently at 160lbs. i hate it. it shows! im chiseled at 148lbs. anyway, i got this from a dieting book, which i got mistaken for as a nursing student. funny thing isnt me being a nursing student, it's me still being a student :) in everything, results show. results of my training and strenuous activities never lie.
here i'ma share you my first steps to losing those unwanted pounds. from my previous entry, i blogged about determining our current weight status through knowing our BMI and Waist Circumference. from these data, we'll shift to our next step on how do we effectively trim down those unwanted pounds, here, specifically by knowing our required calorie intake.

Lestart!

1.     Estimate your Basic Energy Needs

How many Calories your body needs per day for basic energy needs
AGE	Use this equation to calculate your BMR
Men
18-30	[15.3 x weight (in kg)] + 679
30-60	[11.6 x weight (in kg)] + 879
60 & above	[13.5 x weight (in kg)] + 487
Women
18-30	[14.7 x weight (in kg)] + 496
30-60	[8.7 x weight (in kg)] + 829
60 & above	[10.5 x weight (in kg)] + 596

For example: Me, 25, male, weighs 160lbs [as of December 1,2010]

My BMR should look like this:

                          160 lbs. / 2.2 = 72.73 kg 
                
                          72.73 kg * 15.3 = 1112.73 cal

                         1112.73 cal + 679 cal = 1791.73 cal or 1792 cal

So my BMR (or the number of calories that my body needs at
complete rest to function is roughly 1792 calories.

 

2.     Determine your activity factor value

How Active Are You?
In any given day, your activities include:	Your Activity Level Is	Your Activity Factor Is
Sitting, standing; driving; painting; doing laboratory work; sewing, ironing or cooking; playing cards or musical instrument; sleeping or lying down; reading, typing	Very Light	0.2
Doing garage, electrical, carpentry, or restaurant work; house-cleaning; caring for children; playing golf; sailing; light exercise such as walking for no more than 3 km.	Light	0.3
Heavy gardening or housework, cycling, playing tennis, skiing or dancing; very little sitting	Moderate	0.4
Heavy manual labor such as construction work or digging, playing sports such as football, or soccer, climbing	Heavy	0.5

3.     Determine your Calorie needs for Activities

Multiply your basic energy needs by the activity factor value that you determined in Step 2:

Use this equation:

BMR * Activity Factor     =     Calories for Activity

Using my data again:

1792 cal * (0.5) = 896 calories

[*Note: I used 0.5 as my Heavy Activity Factor since I run, swim and bike regularly, and workout in the gym if not doing training.]

4.     Determine your calorie needs for digestion and absorption of nutrients

Digesting food and absorption of nutrients uses about 10% of your daily energy needs.

Use this equation:

[BMR calories + Activity calories] * 10% = Calories for Digestion/Absorption

Using my data again:

[ 1792 cal  + 896 cal ] * 10% = 268.8 cal or 269 cal

5.     Total your calorie needs.

Add your BMR, Activity Calories and Digestion/Absorption Calories----this is your calorie needs to maintain your weight.

Using my data again:

BMR + Activity Calories + Digestion/Absorption Calories = Total Calories

1792 cal + 896 cal + 269 cal = 2957 cal

2957 cal total number of calories I need to stay at 160 lbs.

But hey, no way! My ideal weight at 5’6” is 148 lbs so I need to lose 12 lbs more.

So how do I lose weight from these data?

We have to understand that to lose weight, we have to cut down on how much we eat and increase our muscle mass through resistance training or workouts. Muscles burn fats better.

How much do we need to trim down on our meals? ---- Not too much, gradual trimming will do. If we try to cut too many calories, we may not lose weight at all. When we massively decrease our calorie requirements, our metabolic rate slows down to adjust to the lower calorie level. Plus, we might not be able to stick long with it since we will always be hungry and starving.

So how do we it? Here’s how:

Since there are 3500 cal in a pound (lb.) and 7 days a week, we can cut our daily calorie intake by 500 to lose 1 lb. a week.  If we want to lose 2lbs. per week, we cut 1000 to our total calorie needs.

In my case, am settling lo lose 1 pound per week since I need energy [extra calories] for my training and workout.

2957 calories – 500cal = 2497 calories

In order to lose 1 pound per week while in training, I need to maintain 2497cal.

How do i know whether am getting 2497cal or short? watch out! later!