Week #1 - The basics of calories

Let’s just say it.  People get fat cuz they eat too much.  Yeah, there are medical conditions that may cause people to gain weight, but let’s face it.  Most people don’t have any of those conditions.  We gained weight because we ate too much.  On the other hand, people don’t get fat by pigging out on cake and eating deep fried Twinkies.  If a person ate an extra 100 calories (like 1 piece of bread) every other day, they’d gain about 5 pounds a year.  That’s how weight sneaks up on you.  Slowly.  Like a ninja.

If you’ve been packing on the blubber, it means you’ve been eating more than your body needs.  Pretty straight forward, huh?  Well the solution is pretty simple.  If you want to weigh less, you gotta start eating the amount of food that your body needs instead of eating anything that appears to be covered in cheese or chocolate.

How Many Calories do I Need?
First, you need to know your BMR.  BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate.  Let’s say you were hit by a vegetable truck driven by clowns and you ended up in a coma.  Your Basal Metabolic rate is the minimum amount the hospital is required to feed you so that you don’t DIE.  Our bodies need calories to keep our organs running, to power our massive energy sucking brains, and to keep our cells and muscles functioning.
Click the link below to open a BMR calculator.  Enter your current information to figure out your current Basal Metabolic Rate.

http://www.bmrcalculator.org/ 

The calculator says Fictional Frank has a BMR of around 1784 calories per day.  That’s the amount of calories that would keep him from dying.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t think “not dying” is a very good fitness goal.   The problem with that BMR number is that we're not in a coma.  Even though I  have a sedentary desk job, I am moving around and talking (a lot) and living.  So Frank and I would need to bump that calories number up a bit so we can do more than simply NOT DIE.

The Harris Benedict Equation
Since we want to do more than just not die, we need to add calories to our BMR to get the amount of calories our body needs for our level of activity. (Most people would use #2 or #3.)

1. If you sit on your rear all day and do basically nothing active, multiply your BMR by 1.2

2. If you do light exercise 1 to 3 days per week, multiple your BMR by 1.375

3. If you do moderate exercise 3 to 5 days per week, multiple your BMR by 1.55

4. If you do heavy exercise 6 to 7 days per week, multiple your BMR by 1.725

Let's say Fictional Frank exercises 4 times per week; I am going to multiply his BMR by 1.55 to get 2,765 calories per day.  This is the amount his body needs to maintain his current body.  Despite what some diets may tell you, you should NEVER EVER eat below 1.2 times your BMR.  Anything less than eating at the sedentary level is a starvation diet and will only HARM you in the long run.  You will lose weight, but it will not be permanent because your body will eventually realize you are starving and it will fight the weight loss by slowing your metabolism and digesting your muscles.  And the more muscle you lose, the harder it will be to not look fat.   So never eat below 1.2 times your BMR. 

This week, figure out how many calories you actually need.  If you’ve been starving yourself to lose weight, stop it.  It won’t work and it’s sucky to live on cucumbers.  Begin eating the right amount of food for your body and you will feel better.