The Truth About Your Daily Calorie Requirement
"Calories, Calorie Count, Burning Calories and Calorie Intake"
By Tony Ostian, Health and Fitness Director
It's perfectly natural and normal for us as humans to want an easy answer to the question,
"How many calories should I eat every day?"
After all, it makes sense that if we had the answer to that question, then eating healthy would be much easier, right?
Well, that's partially true.
But, remember it takes some time, patience and planning in order to learn how to accumulate that magic number of
calories.
You see, portion sizes are a big part of the over eating epidemic that we have in this country.
In short, you may know exactly how many calories you should eat each day, but if you don't understand or aren't willing to learn how to truly prepare and eat the correct amount, then it's an impossible battle to win.
So let's start from the beginning.
First off, you need to learn just how many calories you should be eating every day.
Now, there's a detailed and in depth formula that you can use if you so wish, but a fairly accurate starting point for most people is to take your body weight in pounds x 15.
The total that you get is the approximate amount of calories you'll need in order to maintain your current body composition.
For those people that tend to gain body fat easily, the number of calories in order to maintain
. . . may be closer to your body weight x 13 or 14.
And for those people with a higher metabolism, multiply your body weight x 16-18.
Example . . . I weigh 180 pounds and my metabolism is normal so, 180 x 15 = 2700
calories that I need to consume daily to maintain my body composition.
Are you with me so far?
Next, you need to sit down and take a moment to decide exactly what it is that you'd like to accomplish.
Some people will want or need to lose body fat, or do you want or need to gain weight in general?
This special report will focus on how to accomplish fat-loss.
However, if you're looking to gain weight or lean muscle mass, and you'd like some help, feel free to contact me. I'd be more than happy to help you!
With that said, your next step is to take the total calories you need to consume daily, (2700 in my case), and divide that number by 6.
Why?
Because you NEED to eat 6 times each and every day!
I know this is a tough one, and I hear every single argument imaginable regarding this one. However, I promise you that no matter what your situation is
. . . it is possible but it takes planning and preparation!
Example . . . 2700 divided by 6 = 450 calories per meal each day.
Now I know that I need to divide up my meals so that they contain an approximate total of 450
calories each.
The key here is taking the time to learn how to measure my food so that I know I'm eating that many
calories.
The process of measuring and learning portion sizes is probably the most work, but remember
. . . it won't last forever, and eventually you'll be able to look at food and eyeball portion sizes without measuring or weighing.
Just don't give up . . . hang in there and commit to sticking this part out because it's important to learn this step correctly.
Here's the thing.
We tend to overeat more times than not, and the overeating and super-sized portions has lead to an epidemic of overweight individuals.
Ringtones for phones:
free ringtones mp3 format. Download 100% free ringtones. . dating personal and
free dating - Service Mamboo.com .
cheap car insurance for senior citizens
By the way, there are software programs that will count calories for you, or you can purchase a food value book at a local bookstore. And food scales can be purchased at places such as Wal-Mart or Target.
Now you have all the tools you need in order to figure out how to maintain your current body composition, so how exactly do you go about losing fat?
The answer to that is by going into a CALORIC DEFICIT.
The only way to lose weight OR fat is by consuming fewer calories than your body burns daily.
In a nutshell, you need to add activity to your plan, decrease your calorie intake, or do a combination of the two in order to lose fat.
For example:
Burning a total of 300 calories a day doing physical activity and cutting 200
calories from my calorie intake leaves me with this . . .
2700 calories to maintain my body composition – 200 calories daily = 2500 daily
calories in food intake. While that leaves me with a deficit already, the additional 300
calories that I'll burn as a result of doing my daily exercise will now put me at a 500
calorie deficit each day.
Remember, 1 POUND OF FAT is made up of 3500 calories and in order to lose 1 pound of fat, you need to be at a deficit of 3500
calories.
In summary, by following the above example I will lose 1 pound of fat each week. (I took the 500
calorie deficit x 7 days per week = 3500 calories.)
