Burning Calories

Whether you are trying to lose weight or maintain your current healthy weight, burning calories is the key. While there are clear reasons for the need to ignite your internal furnace, there are also a few tricks to help keep your body running at high speed.

Basal Metabolic Rate

Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of calories your body needs within a 24-hour period to sustain itself. Bodily functions include everything from your respiratory and circulatory systems, to your kidney and liver functions. Your BMR is strictly composed of the number of calories needed for these types of involuntary systems and not the energy needed for physical activity.

There are a number of individual factors that determine BMR. Age, gender, height, weight, and body composition all play a role in BMR. While most of these elements are unchangeable, alterations to body composition is possible and can lead to a more efficient BMR.

A simple formula to determine your BMR is as follows:

½ calorie per 1 lb. of body weight per hour example: 120 lb. person = ½ x 120 x 24 hours = 1440 calories per day

Since this formula does not take into account age and height, the following formula was devised. It is known as the Harris-Benedict formula and is used by expert nutritionists around the globe.

Males: 66 + (13.7 x kg weight) + (5 x cm. height) – (6.8 x age in years) Females: 65 + (9.6 x kg weight) +(1.7 x cm. height) – (4.7 x age in years)

The Importance of BMR

The number of calories a person burns on a daily basis is especially beneficial as we age. Naturally, BMR will lower its speed as we age due to the decreased need for energy. For example, bone is no longer depositing calcium after age 35 or so, all major organs are fully developed, and our body is running as efficiently as it will ever work. Therefore, when we speak of burning calories, it is critical for weight management purposes to have our body burn as many as possible throughout a person’s life in order to avoid weight gain.

Maximizing the Burn

Burning calories via BMR is a somewhat given expenditure. However, there are ways you can maximize your BMR in a general sense, and maximize your caloric usage with physical activity that adds to your BMR usage. The keys to optimal calorie burn include:

1. Strength training activities: Muscle tissue requires more energy, otherwise known as calories, than any other tissue in your body. Even at rest, muscle tissue leads a very active lifestyle. For this reason, the more muscle tissues you have in your body, the more calories you will burn. Free weights, universal weight machines, yoga, and resistance exercises, such as bands, done on a consistent basis will increase muscle mass.
2. Aerobic activities: Running, swimming, walking, and biking are great ways to burn calories. While these types of activities do not directly serve to increase muscle mass, they are extremely beneficial for using up calories that otherwise may be stored as fat. Consistent participation in an aerobic activity of choice is key to burning a consistent number of calories to avoid weight gain.
3. Eat often: The idea of eating several times throughout the day is not new. By consuming an amount of calories that matches your body’s need for the next couple of hours, you are nourishing and providing energy in a sensible manner. When too many calories are consumed at once, the excess ends up being stored as fat. It is better to burn calories as they are being eaten than to pull them from storage, which happens only when extreme hunger is experienced. Importantly, when your body is being deprived of the nutrition it needs, metabolic rate is known to lower itself in an effort to sustain its primary functions of the brain, heart, and other life-sustaining mechanics.
4. Eat sufficiently: Depriving your engines of food decreases BMR because it thinks there is an earthly famine lurking and thus conserves energy for ever-so-important factors like brain function. When a lower BMR has been set, and normal eating patterns return, weight gain occurs due to the body now requiring fewer calories secondary to lower BMR. Tip: When reducing calories, be sure to exercise to offset BMR response.
5. Stay hydrated: When your body fluids are adequately maintained, every cell in your body will operate at its optimal speed. Proper hydration has been shown to increase BMR by up to 30% within 10 minutes and remains elevated for up to 40 minutes. While this may not sound like much, it plays a tremendous role in extinguishing those extra 60 “cookie” calories.

You can check out the number of calories your particular exercise of choice will burn by visiting here.

Burn, Baby, Burn

Indeed, your internal inferno is a mandatory piece of your weight management puzzle. However, by using your BMR to its fullest potential and adding an excess calorie needs requirement through physical activity, your body will be smiling.