CALORIES AND WEIGHT LOSS
If you are planning to lose weight, it makes sense to eat less and work out more.
1. For starters, calculate your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)
For Men: 655 + (9.6 weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) – (4.7 x age in years)
For Women: 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) – (6.8 x age in years)
Too complicated and bad at maths? Just google RMR or BMR Calculator and do it online. It's faster.
BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) is often used interchangeably with RMR but both refer to the total number of calories your body burns at rest.
For those who are not familiar with both these terms, RMR and BMR are the total number of calories your body burns when you are at rest which includes breathing, organ and neurological functions.
Once you have calculated your RMR, you can use the following formulas based on your activity levels to determine your daily caloric need.
Sedentary:- little or no exercise = RMR x 1.2
Minimal active:- 1-2 days per week exercise = RMR x 1.375
Moderately active:- 3-5 days per week exercise or sports =RMR x 1.55
2. Create a calorie deficit
To lose 0.5 kg a week, reduce your daily calorie intake by at least 500 calories.
If you want to lose more than 0.5 kg a week, reduce your daily calorie intake and increase the intensity and frequency of your workouts thereby creating a bigger calorie deficit.
3. Choose your calories
There are good and bad calories. Bad calories are also referred to as empty calories but bear in mind “zero calorie” is not only high in calories but also useless.
So what are good calories?
Healthy fat like avocado, nuts and seeds. Lean protein source like chicken and fish and complex carbs like quinoa and brown rice and leafy green vegetables.
Always choose fresh whole foods instead of processed food claiming low or zero calories. Quality supplements and vitamins make good calories too.
Bad calories are processed foods, sugar, unhealthy fats, artificial ingredients and refined flours. Deep fried food even though fried in olive oil becomes bad calories and bad calories usually have high amount of calories.
Calories comes in fluids too. Eliminate sugar and cream from your coffee or choose low fat milk or plant based milks. Eat your fruits instead of juicing them. Drink more water daily.
Some alcoholic beverages have very high calories especially cocktails. So don’t forget to include the calories from your drinks into your calorie counter.
Here is a list of food that can boost your metabolism:-
Protein rich food, fish, chicken and lean meat, nuts, eggs, tempe and tofu.
Coffee. Caffeine in coffee not only increases metabolic rate, but burns more fat and increases your work out performance.
Tea has the same health boosting components like coffee in particular oolong and green tea. They are loaded with antioxidants and can increase your fat burning ability by up to 17 percent.
Cacao and cocoa. Studies have shown that cocoa can prevent the action of enzymes necessary to break down fat and carbohydrates during digestion which can prevent the body from absorbing them and the calories they provide.
Medium chain triglyceride oil (MCT) or coconut oil.
4. Increase or intensify your work outs
The key to losing weight is 70 percent diet and 30 percent exercise.
Now that you have created a calorie deficit, you need to increase the frequency of your workouts or intensify your exercise.
Mix your workout regimes instead of sticking to the same one. For example, include 2 days of weight training in a week, HIIT another 2 days and 2 days of cardio like running, hiking and/or cycling and 1 day of active recovery like yoga, pilates and stretching.
Challenging your body with a variety of workouts with different level of intensity can easily burn another 300 to 500 calories a day.
5. Install a calorie app on your handphone
Last but not least, look for a calorie app that’s user friendly and the good news is most of them are free (at least for the first 30 days).
Here are the 5 best calorie apps for 2021 based on Tech Times Life Hack:-
My Fitness Pal
Lose it!
Weight Watchers
Noom
Pacer Pedomater & Step Tracker
6. Increase your RMR
Here are some tips on how to increase your current RMR:-
Get enough sleep which means at least 7 hours daily. Sufficient sleep will help regulate your eating habits, hormones and increase your metabolic rate.
Do not skip meals.
Get active and exercise. The more muscle mass you build through regular exercising will increase your RMR.
Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue so the more muscle you have, the bigger your RMR expenditure is. - The Vibes, October 6, 2021
