Last weekend, I celebrated my twenty-seventh birthday, and now I am feeling guilty for putting so much crap inside my body. This is one reason why I run and try to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle, so I can binge and not risk instant obesity/type II diabetes.So after the wheels fall off from a weekend of drinking heavy beers, and eating red meat by the kilo, it is time to get back on track with the diet.
I'm sure you've heard it all before, but the first step in managing your weight is determining how many calories you need per day and then counting how many calories you actually get from food. Finding out how many calories you need per day is simple. First, you must determine your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Simply put, your BMR is how many calories your body needs at rest. Here are the formulas for BMR for men and women. If you prefer, visit this link and let the website do the math for you.
For the ladies, your BMR is equal to:
655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
For the gents, your BMR is equal to:
66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)
Now that you have calculated your BRM, find the activity level you fall into and multiply your BMR by the number that corresponds to your activity level. What you are left with is the number of calories you need each day after adjusting for how active you are. I think it is a good idea to know how many calories you need per day for each activity level so you know how much to eat on days you workout and days you do not workout.
A Few Tips
I use a heart rate monitor to log my workouts and find out exactly how many calories I expend during my workouts. Aside from letting me know how many calories I expend on a workout, the heart rate monitor also lets me know if I am working too hard or not hard enough.
I also use a digital kitchen scale to accurately measure how many calories I consume. I really do not obsess about this stuff, I am just a data geek so I like knowing these things. I do not measure everything that I consume and I think it is crazy enough that I do this even a few times per week. If I did it several times a day and took my scale with me at all times, (1) people would think that I was a drug dealer and (2) my wife and friends would disown me.
After I measure my foods, I use websites like sparkpeople and thedailyplate to log calories and nutritional information.
And that, my friends, is how you get back on track after a day/week/month of eating like crap and not exercising enough.
Final Comments
To lose one pound of fat you need to burn 3500 calories. This is actually a lot easier than it sounds! It is only 500 calories each day to get rid of, which you can do through diet, exercising, or both. So, if you are trying to lose weight, try cutting 250 calories each day from your diet, and burning 250 calories each day through exercise or lifestyle changes (walking stairs instead of taking the elevator, parking far away from the store entrance instead of circling for the best spot... you get the idea) and you will soon be on your way to a healthy weight management routine.
