While losing weight involves many variables that change from person to person, there is still a core science that can be the basis behind planning a weight loss strategy. The widely-accepted science behind the weight loss calculator is:.
Free Weight Loss Planning Calculator for Women & Men
It is not useful for highly fit people who won't be using this calculator anyway. It is also not useful for very tall people. Use the color coding as a guideline for evaluating your body weight. Don't use it as a medical diagnosis. This is a reduction compared to your estimated nominal calorie consumption, meaning the amount of calories you consume while staying the same weight.
If you are currently gaining weight, you need to reduce your calories even further. Keeping track of how many calories you consume is not easy. WebMD has a good food calorie list. Find out whether your blood pressure readings are normal, high or low and what it means for your heart health.
Find out which 5 healthy foods you should be eating and ways to reduce the amount of sugar in your diet. Find out the many benefits of walking and ways you can increase your daily step count without having to devote time specifically for walking. Step 2: Getting There How hard do you want to work? The number of calories to take out of your diet each day: 0 Plus, the number of minutes you need to exercise each day: Moderate Intensity.
Vigorous Intensity. Three examples for removing the recommended amount of daily calories from your diet: 2 fewer oatmeal cookies 2 fewer glasses of beer or wine 2 fewer chicken legs and thighs. Two examples for meeting your recommended minutes of exercise: 4. How the Weight Loss Calculator Works The Science Behind Calculating Weight Loss While losing weight involves many variables that change from person to person, there is still a core science that can be the basis behind planning a weight loss strategy.
Of these equations, the Mifflin-St Jeor Equation is considered the most accurate equation for calculating BMR with the exception that the Katch-McArdle Formula can be more accurate for people who are leaner and know their body fat percentage. The three equations used by the calculator are listed below:. The value obtained from these equations is the estimated number of calories a person can consume in a day to maintain their body-weight, assuming they remain at rest.
This value is multiplied by an activity factor generally 1. As such, in order to lose 1 pound per week, it is recommended that calories be shaved off the estimate of calories necessary for weight maintenance per day.
For example, if a person has an estimated allotment of 2, calories per day to maintain body-weight, consuming 2, calories per day for one week would theoretically result in 3, calories or 1 pound lost during the period. It is important to remember that proper diet and exercise is largely accepted as the best way to lose weight.
It is inadvisable to lower calorie intake by more than 1, calories per day, as losing more than 2 pounds per week can be unhealthy, and can result in the opposite effect in the near future by reducing metabolism. Losing more than 2 pounds a week will likely involve muscle loss, which in turn lowers BMR, since more muscle mass results in higher BMR.
Excessive weight loss can also be due to dehydration, which is unhealthy. Furthermore, particularly when exercising in conjunction with dieting, maintaining a good diet is important, since the body needs to be able to support its metabolic processes and replenish itself. Depriving the body of the nutrients it requires as part of heavily unhealthy diets can have serious detrimental effects, and weight lost in this manner has been shown in some studies to be unsustainable, since the weight is often regained in the form of fat putting the participant in a worse state than when beginning the diet.
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As such, in addition to monitoring calorie intake, it is important to maintain levels of fiber intake as well as other nutritional necessities to balance the needs of the body. Calorie counting with the intent of losing weight, on its simplest levels, can be broken down into a few general steps:. The above steps are an attempt at the most basic form of calorie counting. Calorie counting is not an exact science, and can be as complex as you want to make it. The above does not consider proportions of macronutrients consumed. While there is no exactly known, ideal proportion of macronutrients fats, proteins, carbohydrates some balance is certainly advisable, and different foods have been found to have different effects on health, feelings of hunger, and number of calories burned.
Generally, minimally processed plant and animal foods tend to be more conducive to healthy weight loss and maintenance. There are many approaches to weight loss and there is no set ideal method that works for all people, which is why so many different diets and exercise regimens exist. While some methods are more effective for each individual person, not all weight loss methods are equivalent, and studies suggest that some approaches are healthier than others.
That being said, one of the most commonly effective weight loss methods is counting calories. In its most basic form, calories consumed minus calories expended will result in weight gain if the result is positive, or weight loss if the result is negative. However, this is far from a comprehensive picture, and many other factors play a role in affecting healthy, sustainable weight loss.
For example, there exist conflicting studies addressing whether or not the type of calories or foods consumed, or how they are consumed, affects weight loss. Studies have shown that foods that require a person to chew more and are more difficult to digest result in the body burning more calories, sometimes referred to as the thermic effect of food. While the increase in burned calories may be marginal, foods that are more difficult to digest such as vegetables generally tend to be healthier and provide more nutrients for fewer calories than many processed foods.
Consistent with the view that in regards to weight loss, only net calories are important and not their source, there exist cases such as the Twinkie diet, where a person that solely counted calories while eating a variety of cake snacks managed to lose 27 pounds over two months. As effective as this can be, it is certainly not suggested.
While the participant did not seem to suffer any noticeable health detriments in this particular case, there are other less measurable factors that should be considered such as long-term effects of such a diet on potential for developing cancers, heart disease, and diabetes. However, ignoring efficiency and health, sustained, significant reduction of caloric intake or increase of physical activity should result in weight loss, and counting calories can be an effective way to achieve this sole result. Aside from being one viable method for facilitating weight loss, calorie counting has other somewhat less quantifiable advantages including helping to increase nutritional awareness.
Many people are completely unaware of, or grossly underestimate their daily caloric intake. Counting calories can help raise an awareness of different types of foods, the number of calories they contain, and how these calories have a different effect on a person's feelings of satiety. Once a person has a better understanding of how many calories are actually in that bag of chips that they can so easily inhale within minutes, how much of their daily caloric intake it consumes, and how little the chips do to satiate their hunger, portion control and avoidance of foods with empty calories tends to become easier.
Calorie Calculator – Daily Caloric Needs
Having actual caloric measurements can also assist in weight loss, since tangible calorie goals can be set, rather than simply trying to eat less. Also, although this is not necessarily directly related to calorie counting, studies have shown that portion control by simply eating from a smaller plate can help reduce calorie intake, since people tend to fill their plates and eat everything on their plates.
Many people do not realize that they are overeating, since they have become accustomed to restaurant-sized portions being the norm, when said portions can be up to three or more times larger than necessary for a typical meal. Once a link is made between the amount of exercise that some snack equates to, many people find abstaining from that bag of chips to be the preferred option rather than performing an equivalent amount of exercise — which can lead to healthier eating habits.
In the end however, what's important is picking a strategy that works for you. Calorie counting is only one method used to achieve weight loss amongst many, and even within this method, there are many possible approaches a person can take. Finding an approach that fits within your lifestyle that you think you would be able to adhere to is likely going to provide the most sustainable option and desirable result. Zigzag calorie cycling is a weight loss approach that aims to counteract the human body's natural adaptive tendencies.
Counting and restricting calories, as described above, is a viable method to lose weight, but over a period of time, it is possible for the body to adapt to the lower number of calories consumed. In cases where this happens, a plateau in weight loss that can be difficult to surmount can result.
This is where zigzag calorie cycling can help, by not allowing the body to adapt to the lower calorie environment. Zigzag calorie cycling involves alternating the number of calories consumed on a given day. A person on a zigzag diet should have a combination of high-calorie and low-calorie days to meet the same overall weekly calorie target. For example, if your target calorie intake is 14, calories per week, you could consume 2, calories three days a week, and 1, the other four days of the week, or you could consume 2, calories each day.
In both cases, 14, calories would be consumed over the week, but the body wouldn't adapt and compensate for a 2,calorie diet. This also allows a person more flexibility in their diet, allowing them to plan around occasions, such as work or family gatherings, where a person may consume more calories. Consuming a lower number of calories on other days can allow a person to enjoy these gatherings or even have a "cheat day" where they eat whatever they want without feeling guilty, since they can make up for the excess calories on their low-calorie days.
There is no concrete rule or study that dictates the most effective way to alternate or spread out calorie consumption. How to vary calorie intake is largely up to personal discretion. Depending on a person's activity, it is generally recommended that the high-calorie and low-calorie days vary by approximately calories, where the high-calorie day is often the number of calories a person needs to consume to maintain their current weight.
For a person with a higher activity level, the calorie difference should be larger. The calculator presents two zigzag diet schedules.
- protein lose body fat.
- food that break down fat.
- Calorie Calculator.
- 5 second rule weight loss.
- Calories Burned – Calorie Calculator.
The first schedule has two higher calorie days, and 5 lower calorie days.