CALORIE COUNTING

To purchase the book click hereinfideas.com and quote TDG05 to get 5% off every purchase.

Knowing your daily calorie intake is a useful tool when it comes to weight loss, but that doesn’t mean keeping a calorie counter strapped to you at all times, just a basic knowledge about the calorific value of certain foods will help you in your choices about what to eat and what not to!

Most foods are a combination of protein, fat and carbohydrate in different ratios depending on the food. Gram for gram, fat contains 9 calories, protein and carbohydrates 4 calories, and alcohol, if you’re interested – and who wouldn’t be (!) is 7 calories.

Basically if you eat anything in excess, there’s the potential that it will be more than your body needs in terms of energy or calories and will end up stored as fat, damn it! The recommended average calorie intake is 2500 per day (men) and 2000 per day (women) although you can work it out in a more scientific manner if you’re planning to take it seriously.

The Science Bit:

Step 1

Work out your basal metabolic rate (BMR). To do this, multiply your weight in pounds by 10 if you’re a woman and 11 if you’re a man.

Step 2

Factor in how active you are by multiplying the sum above by 0.2 if you only do very light activities, 0.3 if you dabble in a little more formal exercise eg walking, by 0.4 if you’re moderately active or by 0.5 if your job involves manual labour or you’re especially sporty. The result is the number of calories you need on top of your BMR.

Step 3

Eating and digesting food uses up around 10% of your calorie needs (result!), so, after adding your BMR and the extra calories for your activity levels together, work out what 10% is.

Step 4

Add all three figures together and you’ll have the number of your total calorie needs per day!

So, to lose half a kilo (a pound) a week, you need to cut your daily calories by 500. Although this might not sound a lot, it’s easier to achieve in the long term and easier to sustain. If you lose lots of weight very quickly, you’re more likely to put it back on and get into that yo-yo dieting spiral. All you have to do now is the maths!

*Taken from Lose Weight And Stay Slim by Eve Cameron, published by Infinite Ideas (www.infideas.com)

TheDailyGoss.com accepts no responsibility for any of the comments that are posted below or for any damage or loss that is caused by them.

If you object to anything posted below then please click on the report button below every posting and we will take any necessary action deemed appropriate. So behave yourselves!!!

• No comments have been left for this article. Be the first to comment!