To Lose Weight, How Many Calories Should You Be Having?
Do you know what BMR stands for? How about TDEE?
If so, do you know what yours are?
Well if you're serious about losing weight, you should, because they're both vital to doing so safely, effectively, and permanently. Which means no more yo-yo dieting and ending up fatter than you were before you started!
So what do they mean?
Well, BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate, which is the minimum amount of calories your body needs each day if you were to just sleep or sit around doing very little. Getting less than this amount, even for just twenty four hours, can put the body into starvation mode which has several effects on the body. The two you'll probably be most interested in are a slower metabolism, which means less calories are required (a lower BMR), and more efficient fat storage.
Not something you want to be encouraging!
Now unless you do sleep all day or sit around doing very little, your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is going to be higher than your BMR, because this figure is based on how active your lifestyle is. The more active you are, the higher your TDEE, the more calories you need.
Your BMR and TDEE are specific to you and are calculated based on factors such as your height, weight and age, and knowing them both is essential to working out how many calories you personally need. Whether this is to weigh more, weigh less, or stay the same, you're just guessing if you aren't basing it on your BMR and TDEE.
Most diets will simply tell you that if you're a man you should have 2,500 calories a day, and if you're a woman you should have 2000 calories a day. So if you want to lose weight, just have less. Not only is this wrong, but as I mentioned earlier, basing your calories intake on this could cause you to gain more fat instead of losing it.
Let me show you what I mean with a couple of examples.
First we have a woman who is 40 years old, 5 foot 5, and weighs 15 stone (210lbs). Her BMR would therefore be 1500, and because she has a very sedentary lifestyle her TDEE is 1800. This means that if she had 2000 calories as recommended for a woman, she would gain even more weight, not lose it!
What if she was younger and exercised a little though? Well a woman who is 26, 5 foot 2, and weighs 8 stone (112lbs) has a BMR of just 1144, and even though she exercises 3 times a week this still only puts her TDEE at 1573. That's a LOT less than the 2000 figure!
Plus getting the amount of calories equal to your TDEE obviously isn't going to help you lose weight, it's only going to maintain it. For safe, effective, sustainable weight loss you should aim for less calories than your TDEE, as long as the amount is still more than your BMR. A common guideline is 500 to 1,000 calories less, but as you can see from the two examples, this would put them below their BMR. An alternative is to have 10% - 20% less calories than your TDEE.
To be able to reduce their calorie intake further while still remaining above their BMR, the women in our two examples could exercise more, which would raise their TDEE. Just one of the many reasons why having a more active lifestyle is beneficial to weight loss and a healthier body, and mind, in general.
The other mistake people make when cutting calories is thinking that the less they have the better, but as I've said, getting less than your BMR will put you into starvation mode and have the opposite effect.
Losing weight need not be difficult, all it takes is a little information. Not of the kind you find in magazines trying to sell you the latest fad diet though, but proven techniques that will provide effective and sustainable weight loss.
About the Author
David Hields is a qualified Personal Trainer and writer who has 20 years experience of dieting, exercising and fitness. He has also studied psychology for over 10 years and uses all of this knowledge to help people achieve their health & fitness goals.
Visit his blog at http://www.thedreambodydiet.com/blog
Steven needs to change his sedentary lifestyle.
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