Hoppin For Health March 11 Understanding Your BMR

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This week has been more organized and productive. 
I owe this making a Menu, Workout Schedule, and understanding my BMR.

Recapping from last week, you have to make your goals and stay on them.  When you accomplish a goal, make sure you stay in motion for the next one.  This is where people tend to fall off the fitness wagon, thinking you can take a few days off and then you notice a month later you have not started back. 

One of the mistakes of working out is eating too little and eating too much.  You may be working really hard and not be seeing your scale moving and wonder why.  One of two things that can contribute to this.

• Eating too many calories.
• Not eating enough calories.

When we eat more calories than we burn we will continue to gain weight.  We can be working out and build muscle and tone, but we won't lose weight unless we reduce our calories intake.  Equally frustrating is reducing calories so low, that our bodies go into "survival" mode and do not allow our bodies to burn the calories we take in.  In survival mode the calories are converted to fat and set to storage.  This contributes to the yoyo effect.  You can be working out and losing weight, then you eat a higher calorie meal, and gain it all back.  You need to have a balance of food eaten and calories burned.
Whether you are looking for weight loss, gain, or maintenance you have to know your calories and energy distribution.  I would like to put this in terms we all can relate too.  Think about money, how we spend and save it.  Overweight and underweight individuals result from unbalanced energy budgets.  The amount of fat you might deposit or withdraw affects the "savings" deposits on your energy balance for that day and the transactions that take place.  What do I mean by transactions?  It is the amount of energy you consume (energy in) versus the energy you spend (energy out).  You can reduce your fat deposits by withdrawing more energy from your body than you put in.  Lets all reduce those deposits!

Calories = Energy

 

One pound of fat stored within the body holds 3,500 calories. To lose one pound, you have to burn 3500 more calories than you take in.  To lose that 1 lb. in one week you would have to burn 500 calories a day.  So watching your calories taken in and the ones you burn can help you budget the weight loss, gain, or maintenance.

 

It is always a good idea to be recording your foods in your journal every week.   This allows you to see what calories you are bring in and the balance of weight.  You can see foods that have helped and the ones that set you back.

 

When estimating what your energy intake should be on a daily basis there are two things you should look at; metabolic processes and voluntary activities.  We will estimate your two activities individually then add them together. 

 

What is you BMR- Basal Metabolic Rate

 This will help you know how many calories you need to eat everyday.
 

Metabolic energy is the energy burned every day and night for body functions.  It is the body's maintenance functions working independent of outside activity; heart beats, breathing, cell growth and repair, waste removal, digestion, nervous functions, nutrient conversions, and more.  In a sense you are burning calories without even knowing this process is taking place.  The energy used for body maintenance is called Basal Metabolic Rate, BMR.  BMR is the rate at which energy is spent for the body’s maintenance activities and is different for every person.  Voluntary activities are the other components taking into consideration when estimating your body’s energy needs.  It is the energy output through physical exertion, voluntary, with use of the skeletal muscles.  When you contract the skeletal muscles you use up a great deal of calories, this is why resistant training is so beneficial.  Whether you do these activities through exercise, yard work, house work, your type of employment, you are using different voluntary energy than another person.

 

EXAMPLE: calculating for a man

For men factor in 1 calorie per kilogram per hour, so for a 150 lbs. man we must first convert to kilograms. 

Take weight of 150lb and divide by 2.2 (150/ 2.2= 68 kg). 

Then multiply weight in kilograms by the BMR factor.  

Multiply the 68 kg by 1 calorie per kilogram per hour (68kg x 1 = 68 cal/hr).

Then multiply the calories used in one hour by the hours in a day (68 x 24= 1632 cal per day).

Your MBR will be 1632 a day.

 

Now calculate your voluntary muscular energy needs.  This is an estimation of energy you spend through daily activities.  Do not confuse busy with active.  Look at these terms to decide which category you fall into. 

Sedentary:  mostly sitting (typist, desk jobs, clerks) add 40 to 50 percent BMR.

Light: sitting and some walking standing (teacher, cashier) add 55 to 65 percent BMR.

Moderate:  mostly walking, standing, and running around (nurse, doctors) add 65 to 70 %.

Heavy:  mostly body exertion working (roofer, construction) add 75 to 100 % BMR.

Let’s take a 150 lb male clerk for example.  We will multiply his BMR (1632) to 50 %. 

(1632 X 50% = 816 calorie a day).

Now add the BMR and the Voluntary together.   1632 + 816 = 2448 cal/day.

So his energy needs and used are 2448.  To maintain his weight he would need to have a daily intake of 2500 calories.  If he was going to lose weight it would need to be a 2000-2200 calorie intake.  For Weight gain he would consume more than 2500 daily. 

 

EXAMPLE: calculating for a woman

If we were looking a woman the only difference would be than a woman uses 0.9 calories per kilogram per an hour.  This would be the same conversion Shown here as a 150 lb female clerk.

BMR (150 / 2.2 = 68 kg)

Then multiply the kg by the BMR factor.  (0.9)

(68kg x 0.9 = 61.2 cal/hr)

Then multiply calories by hours in a day.

(61.2 x 24 = 1468.8cal per day)  BMR is 1468.8 a day.

Now your voluntary activity.

1468.8 cal x 50 % BMR = 734.4 calorie per day.

Add them together.

1468.8 + 734.4 = 2203.2 calories per day.

If the female clerk wanted to either loss, gain, or maintain her weight she would use these calculations to decide calorie intake and restriction. 

 

When you add in exercise you would look to make sure you are taking in enough calories to burn the extra energy as well.  These calories vary with different types of exercise. 

 

When putting together a lower calorie nutritious menu remember to keep in enough calorie for daily functions.  A good rule of thumb for weight loss is taking your current weight and multiplies it by 10.  (150 x 10 = 1500 calorie).  Your calories in are less than the calories burned.  2203.2 - 1500 = 703.2 calories burned that day.  While to lose weight it is not ever recommended to consume less than 1200 calories a day.  The dieter will lose lean muscle tissue, which will result in malnutrition and some side effects can be irritability, nervousness, injury, or worse.  Also, you can be counting calories of food that are high calorie but low in nutritional value.  Make sure you are eating quality foods like fruit, vegetable, and grains, that are low in calorie and high in fiber for satiety.  I get so frustrated when someone counts calories of chips, candy, muffins, and  other junk foods, reducing calories but adding up empty calorie foods.  Make your food choices from whole foods and limit the junk foods and nonfoods to minimal.

 

Here is my Menu for this week. 

You can grab recipes and ideas from here but my serving sizes are based on 2000 calorie days when I a running, and 1400-1500 calories on other days.   I tend to eat larger portions of vegetables and fruits that have lower calories but lots of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

 

My Workouts this Week.

Monday- Sculpt
Tuesday- High and Tight/ Run 10 miles
Wednesday- Sculpt
Thursday- Bum Bum/ Run 10 miles
Friday- Sculpt

Saturday- High and Tight/ run 6 miles

Sunday- High and Tight/ run 6 miles

So far I have lost 8 lbs. in the last 3 weeks, but the important thing is that I am increasing my strength, endurance, and overall fitness level. 
Do you think knowing your BMR will help you?

Week 1

Week 2

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