In order to lose weight you must create a calorie deficit on a daily basis. This means that you have to expend more calories than you consume. You can create this deficit by eating fewer calories than what your body needs, or you can burn calories by exercising.
Figuring out how many calories you are burning can be tough. Here are a few tips on burning and counting calories for effective weight loss.
Find an online calorie burning calculator. Many online sites can be much more specific with their calculations of how many calories you've burned based on your weight, age, activity, and duration of the exercise. Calories burned will be accurately computed if you provide accurate answers. Find one you like by visiting the links in the sidebar or doing a search using a web crawler such as Google.
Do the math! Your alternative is to calculate calories burned yourself. Know how many calories you burn in one minute of your favorite exercises. Low impact aerobics can burn about 6.2 calories a minute. 30 minutes of the aerobics will burn away 186 calories. You can burn about 11 calories per minute jogging, 4.1 calories per minute walking, and 8.6 calories per minute swimming.
Prolonged aerobic exercise burns more calories. To burn the most calories you need to keep your heart rate elevated for at least 20 minutes. You need to learn how to keep in your target heart range for extended periods of time to effectively burn calories. The best way to do this is with aerobic exercise like walking, jogging, swimming, or biking. Stop and go activities and sports are not as beneficial as constant aerobic movement.
Determine your body mass. The Body Mass Index or BMI is the formula that will tell you the amount of fat on your body using your current height and weight. To find your BMI you use the following formula:
BMI = ( Weight (pounds) / ( Height (inches)) * ( Height (inches))) * 703
A normal BMI will fall within 18.5 and 24.99. This will allow you to find the right weight for your body type.
Determine your metabolic rate. Even at rest you are burning calories. Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR is the formula that will tell you the amount of calories that you burn every day with no exercise at all. To find your BMR you use the following formula:
Female
BMR = 655 + (4.35 * Weight (pounds)) +( 4.7 * Height (inches)) – (4.7 * Age (years))
Male
BMR = 66 + (6.23 * Weight (pounds)) +( 12.7 * Height (inches)) – (6.8 * Age (years))
Your BMR will naturally get lower as you age. Therefore, you should make up for those calories lost through increased exercise.
Find a website with an expert staff. If you need to lose weight in a certain amount of time, it may be necessary to get some help. There is a mathematical formula to burning calories. It is complex and uses a variety of lifestyle factors. You can get these calculations through personal trainers that provide services online. There are a variety of websites dedicated to the science of weight loss.
Get help from a professional. Sometimes the best way to lose weight is to be held accountable to someone else. This may mean acquiring the services of a personal trainer through a local gym. These facilities often run specials for new members that include free membership for a period of time as well as discounted monthly rates.
The number of calories you need to burn per day to lose or maintain weight is dependent upon many factors. Some things such as your weight, height, and lifestyle can affect how quickly or slowly your body burns calories.
You've probably heard the word "metabolism" used to explain how someone stays so thin. Your metabolism determines how fast your body burns energy. If you have a slow metabolism, it takes longer for you to shed weight, whereas someone with a fast metabolism may be able to eat more and never gain an ounce! Your activity level and current eating habits are crucial factors in boosting your metabolism.
You don't have to do traditional exercise to burn more calories and lose weight. To increase calorie burning during your day just get up to change the TV channel instead of using the remote, walk over to your colleague to talk instead of sending an email, or use the stairs instead of the elevator. Just get active and the calories you burn will add up fast!
Quick Tips:Write down what kind of exercise you did and how long you perform this routine in a fitness journal. You can then calculate everything you did at once to see the results.
When counting how many calories you've burned in a day, don't forget to include "normal" activities in your chart including walking to and from your desk or car.
