How To Measure Calories In And Calories Out To Lose Weight
Posted by Dr. PJ Prakash | Posted in lose weight | Posted on 19-02-2012-05-2008
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Losing and maintaining weight is not a magical thing. It is a proportion of your calories-in and calories-out. By “calories-in” I mean how many calories you are obtaining from your food on a daily basis, and by “calories-out” I mean how many of these calories you are burning on a daily basis.
If you desire to lose weight, your calories-out should be more than your calories-in everyday until you reach your weight loss goals. If you desire to maintain weight, there should be no significant difference between your calories-in and calories-out on a daily basis. If you desire to gain weight (for too skinny people), your calories-in should be greater than your calories-out until your reach your desired body weight.
It is suggested that a big part of the calories-in for the people trying to gain weight should come from good protein sources, so they gain lean muscles instead of body fat.
Your Goal: Your Daily Calories
To Lose Weight: Your daily calories-out should be more than your daily calories-in
If you want to Maintain Weight: Your daily calories-in should be equal to your daily calories-out
If you want to gain Weight: Your daily calories-in should be more than your daily calories-out
You might be wondering how can you calculate your calories-in and calories-out? Well, that’s simple. Your calories-in can be calculated with the help of a dietician or nutritionist, who would calculate the calorie equivalent of the food that you noramally eat. There are also software applications available on the internet that do these calculations for you.
Your calories-out are in general more than your resting metabolic rate (RMR) . Your RMR is the amount of calories that your body usually burns in a 24-hour period without any activity and during sleep. RMR calculation test is offered by several gymnasiums and dieticians offices. There are various software tools available over the internet that may help you to calculate your RMR.
If you intend to lose weight, the general rule is that you need to consume less calories everyday that your body burns naturally. With the help of a dietician or nutrition software tools, you may determine certain foods or their quantity to cut down from your diet in order to lose weight.
At this point, it is extremely important to know that you only need to cut down on your calories-in, but you still need all other nutrients for optimum health. If your weight loss plan includes cutting down on certain foods and / or their quantity, it will be a good idea to include the supplements of these vitamins and minerals to ensure optimum nutrition.
About author: Dr. PJ Prakash has a Ph.D. in Nutrition from the Univ. of Rhode Island (USA). Want to find out more about nutritional weight loss, then visit his site on how to choose the best nutrition to lose weight.
