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Learn Your BMR and Lose Weight

What Is BMR?

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the number of calories that your body burns at rest during a day. Your BMR is dependant upon age, weight, height, sex, diet, and exercise.

How Can Knowing Your BMR Help You To Lose Weight?

If you know how many calories your body needs a day to maintain it’s current weight (your BMR), then you can use that number to create a caloric deficit by decreasing your daily caloric intake and/or increasing your caloric expenditure.

How To Calculate Your BMR

Visit http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/. Enter the necessary measurements to learn your daily caloric needs.

What To Do Next

• Create a reasonable daily caloric deficit that you can commit to.
• If you are already exercising, but not losing weight, then take your BMR and subtract 200 calories per day. You can slowly (over a month or so) increase this deficit down to 500 calories. Keep in mind that the longer it takes you to lose weight, the more likely you will be to keep this weight off permanently. This is because you will probably be making permanent changes to your lifestyle that allow for weight loss, rather than sudden and short-term changes that will only yield short-term results.
• Every time a pound is lost, re-calculate your BMR and continue to adjust your eating habits to it.
• The most effective way to calculate your calories is to keep a calorie journal for at least one week. Write down the times you eat, what you eat, and the calories in it. Try to stick to serving sizes listed on the foods you buy. If you eat fresh produce, then you can learn serving sizes and caloric information for these foods online. Become aware of how many calories you are taking in daily and make necessary changes to your diet to make sure that you are not eating more than your body needs. Your body will store excess calories that it does not need.

Here is An Example of a Calorie Journal:

My BMR is 1,300 calories/day. I will create a caloric deficit by decreasing the number of calories I consume a day. I will start by subtracting 200 calories. Now, I must make sure that I only consume 1,100 calories/day.

One day of my journal may look like this:

9am: ¼ cup oatmeal 150 cal

4 egg whites 64 cal

12pm: 4 oz. plain chicken 120 cal

8 brussel sprouts 80 cal

3pm: 1 banana 100 cal

¼ cup almonds (24 nuts) 170 cal

6pm: 4 oz plain chicken 120 cal

1 cup asparagus 27 cal

1 sweet potato 100 cal

9pm: ¾ cup cottage cheese 120 cal

½ apple 50 cal

Total Calories: 1,101

Interval Training

Interval training utilizes both of the metabolic systems within the human body: the anaerobic metabolism and the aerobic metabolism.

Anaerobic System: Uses energy stored in the muscles (carbohydrates in the form of glycogen) for short bursts of intense activity. Anaerobic means "without oxygen." Oxygen is not converted during this process, so the body undergoes an "oxygen debt."

Aerobic System: This is your recovery stage or slower interval (Steady State) when oxygen is restored within the heart and lungs. During this time, fat storage is converted into energy. If you want to lose fat, then this is the metabolism you want to be using more of.

The Benefits of Interval Training

• Your body undergoes an "adaptation response" by creating new capillaries. The increase in capillaries leads to your heart's increased ability to efficiently take in and deliver increased levels of oxygen to your working muscles (which are demanding that oxygen in order to continue to contract and work).
• Your heart grows stronger and your cardiovascular system is able to perform better.
• You prevent injuries caused by repetitive stress of simple endurance exercise.
• It allows the ability to "cross train."
• Intervals allow the body to work harder for a longer period of time than continuous exercise at the same intensity.
• More calories are burned during short intense bursts of activity than are burned during longer and slower-endurance forms of exercise. More calories will be burned during 1 hour of intervals than would be burned during a long, lower intensity work out such as a 1-hour jog.

The Main Disadvantage of Interval Training

Not all calories are the same. Calories from fat will be burned during slower intervals while calories from carbohydrates will be burned during faster intervals. Therefore, intervals are a great way to lose weight, but not the best option for those wishing to preserve muscle).

Important Things to Remember When Interval Training:

• warm up
• start slow (walk 2 minutes, jog 2 minutes)
• longer intervals yield better results
• increase intensity (speed) OR duration (time)....but NEVER both at the same time.

Side Note: Circuit training with weights and machines is a form of interval training

How to Make Cardio More Effective

Clients and friends are constantly frustrated when it comes to cardio. Many people find themselves doing cardio day-in and day-out with no results to show for it, and they don’t understand why.

The Problem: As intensity increases, the body converts more carbohydrates into energy. Most of the time, our goal is to burn fat, not carbohydrates! If all you want to do is lose weight, then running is a fine option.

The Solution: During longer, low intensity aerobic exercise (steady state), the body tends to convert fats and protein into usable energy. If you want to lose fat without also losing muscle, I recommend lowering the intensity of your cardio and increasing the duration.

Where Does Energy Come From?

The human body stores and converts our food into usable energy. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a molecule that stores energy throughout the body for later use. Without ATP, muscle use and growth are not possible. The body utilizes one of three energy systems to convert our body’s ATP storage into usable energy. These three systems are the Phosphagen System, Glycolytic System, and Oxidative System.

The Phosphagen System is the primary source of ATP during exercises that are high intensity, explosive in nature, require maximal effort, and last a short period of time (up to 10 seconds). The Phosphagen Sytem is active in the first 10 seconds of all exercises. This system is anaerobic (it works in the absence of oxygen). Sprints, power-lifting, and Plyometrics (jumping) are examples of exercises that would force the body to utilize the Phosphagen System.

The Glycolytic System breaks down carbohydrates in the form of glucose to produce ATP during exercises that are sustained and intense, but not requiring maximal effort. Like the Phosphagen System, Glycolysis is also anaerobic . This system takes over 5-10 seconds after initiation of an activity (after the Phosphagen System) and stays active for up to three minutes. Wrestling is an example of an exercise that would force the body to utilize the Glycolytic System.

The Oxidative System is the primary source of ATP at rest and during long distance or low intensity activities. This system uses carbohydrates and fats as energy.

Unlike the two systems listed above, the Oxidative System is arobic (it requires oxygen). The Oxidative system usually takes over 3 minutes after the initiation of exercise. Marathon running and cross-country skiing are both examples of exercises that would force the body to utilize the Oxidative System.