Mt. San Jacinto Outdoor Recreation

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Looking for the Formula for Losing Weight? It's No Secret.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009


How many calories do you need to cut to lose weight? Begin by estimating the calories you burn in an average day based on your age, sex, height, current weight and activity level. You can do this with the Harris Benedict Equation, developed in 1919.

First, you calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which tells how many calories you burn per day at complete rest.

To calculate BMR for women, use this formula: 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds ) + (4.7 x height in inches ) - (4.7 x age).

For men, use this formula: 066 + (6.23 x weight in pounds ) + (12.7 x height in inches ) - (6.8 x age).



Next, factor in your daily activity level, using this formula:

Sedentary: BMR x 1.2.

Lightly active (light exercise one to three days a week): BMR x 1.375.

Moderately active (moderate exercise three to five days per week): BMR x 1.55.

Very active (vigorous exercise six to seven days a week): BMR x 1.725.

Extremely active (intense exercise or sports training six to seven days per week): BMR x 1.9.

What the equation doesn't take into consideration is lean muscle mass. Someone with a lot of muscle and little body fat will need more calories, and those with higher body fat will need less. As fitness levels increase, so does BMR.

Nevertheless, Harris Benedict gives a pretty good idea of how many calories you should consume to stay at your current weight. Because a pound of fat equals about 3,500 calories, cutting 500 calories a day will mean one pound lost in a week, a reasonable amount.

But eating less isn't the only way to slim down. To lose 500 calories a day, you also can cut calories by 250 and add a workout that burns 250 calories.

Some tweaking with the formula might be necessary. If weight doesn't drop after a few weeks, cut the calories, increase the exercise, or both. Always hungry? Add calories or back off on the workouts.

Calorie counts for various foods can be found online at sites such as Calorie King (http://www.calorieking.com) and TheCalorieCounter.com. Calories burned via various activities can be found at CaloriesPerHour.com and NutriStrategy.com (http://www.nutristrategy.com).

This is something I found a while back that may help with the muscle mass/body weight variable. Not exact, but does account for larger sizes. You can estimate where you are, then use the relative differences depending on your situation.

http://www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist.htm



Personally I can usually determine when I'm eating too much crap and need to cut back. Nothing scientific to it, I just notice too much "junk ending up in the trunk."

( oh crud!; noticed you already have nutristrategy's site listed. )

I didn't see any age factor!!

I know, it's only anecdotal, but my experience is this:

In college, I'd sit in class all day. At lunch, I'd eat a large pizza, then go look for something a bit heavier to eat for dinner. I would eat nonstop for the last 4-6 hours of the day.

Caloric intake: >5000 calories
Net time of exercise: 0
Net weight gain: 0.

Now, in my forties, I'll run 20 miles, go home and play with my kids, then mow the lawn or do some other work around the house. I'll eat a potato chip I find sitting on the counter.

Caloric intake: 12 calories
Net time of exercise: 5 hours
Net weight gain: 5 lbs.

Either age has a significant impact, or exercise is making me fat.

z

"Caloric intake: 12 calories Net time of exercise: 5 hours Net weight gain: 5 lbs."

Z, that is so funny!! And you're absolutely right...It really happens just like that. What is that? I don't think it can be explained by science, so maybe this issue should just be added to the realm of Bermuda Triangle type stuff....

good stuff ellen but i have to actually think????
LOL
See you tomorrow for our caloric intake of carbs.

All kidding aside, the reduction in BMR due to age in the formula does increase over time, but it seems to me the progression might be more accurate if it were geometric rather than linear.

Still, if you figure over a 20 year time span, the number of calories does begin to add up: if all other things were equal, I would gain a pound every 2-3 weeks simply due to this change. That's kind of amazing.

End result: If you're doing Skyline now and maintaining your bodyweight, you'll need to do it twice per week in a decade or two, then, with the passage of time, three times per week...makes for a lot of hiking if you live to be 100!

z

better yet, instead of going a steady pace up skyline, mix in 10-20 min intervals that you feel your muscles burning and body like jello, then rest. all the way up!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11976154?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=3&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18845966?ordinalpos=3&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

..., and to think my biggest concerns used to be mixing two-stroke gas absolutely perfect, and proper jetting for altitude on a four-stroke.....

this calorie stuff is really confusing.

I went back and look at both links again and am still clueless as to what they say...only thing I need to know is...

shakes and fries are still ok, right ?

bluerail wrote:..., and to think my biggest concerns used to be mixing two-stroke gas absolutely perfect, and proper jetting for altitude on a four-stroke.....

this calorie stuff is really confusing.

I went back and look at both links again and am still clueless as to what they say...only thing I need to know is...

shakes and fries are still ok, right ?

Just say "supersize me!"

bluerail wrote: only thing I need to know is...

shakes and fries are still ok, right ?"

Only when taken with beer.

In fact, everything is safe when consumed with beer. On Vivian, when I drank out of all the streams without filtering - did you notice I followed that immediately afterward at the peak with a beer? Purely medicinal, you understand. I'm just cautious!

z

Hmmm. That's odd. The quote thingy didn't work right. How do I fix that?