The amount of food that you eat is only a minor factor when it comes to the issue of becoming overweight. The type of food is the main factor that can cause obesity. If a food has high caloric value, it has greater potential of making you fat. Different types of food have different caloric value. Fatty, sweat, and carbohydrate-rich food have high calories compared to other food groups. Some examples of high-calorie food include breads, cereals, cakes, ice cream, chocolate bars, doughnuts, and pastas. If you want to minimize your calorie intake, you should avoid these foods. The excess calories that are not used by the body as energy are stored as fats. Hence, it is very important that you should monitor your calorie needs. Your calorie need will depend on your level of physical activities. It will also depend on other factors such as health, age, gender, and body built.
People who are physically active such as athletes and manual laborers have higher calorie needs. On the other hand, people are physically inactive have lower calorie needs. If you are living a sedentary lifestyle, you should minimize your calorie intake to prevent becoming overweight. The other option would be to burn the extra calories through exercise. Monitoring your calorie intake is not as complicated as you think. You do not necessarily have to be an expert or licensed nutritionist to have the right calorie intake. The number one thing that you should know is to simply avoid or at least minimize eating high-carbohydrate, sugary, and fatty foods.
There are three things that you need to consider if you want to calculate your calorie needs. These include your basal metabolic rate, your activity level, your digestion or food absorption rate. Basal metabolic rate is the most basic factor that you can use to calculate your caloric needs. It is the rate of energy consumption of your body when you are not exerting too much effort. It accounts for about 60% of your total energy consumption. The basal metabolic rate or BMR is measurement of the amount of energy consumed by the basic body functions such as breathing, keeping the heartbeat, maintaining body temperature, and manufacturing hormones.
Typically, a normal person requires about 10 calories of energy per pound of body weight to support all the basic body functions. For instance, a woman who weighs 120 pounds will need 1,200 calories a day to normally function. The gender, body type (built), and age are also factors in calculating the calorie needs. Here are the basic formulas for calculating your BMR:
Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)
Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in year)
As you can see, the gender, weight, height, and age are the main factors considered for determining the BMR. However, your calorie needs increase as you do more physical activities. You may need extra 50% calories if you are doing heavy work or hard exercise. The duration and intensity of physical activity will determine how much additional calorie you will need. You should always watch your calorie intake to maintain your good health and top body shape.
