Your Calorie Intake and Your Weight- Know How it Works

Did you know that every single person must intake a certain number of calories every single day in which to maintain their weight? Well, duh… but how about this? Did you know that you may be eating enough calories to maintain your weight, but that caloric intake may be something you would be shocked to know? Hmm… you may be eating enough for 2 people, but guess what? You may not even know that until you know what your body needs in order to keep at the weight it is.

For every pound, the body needs 10 calories to sustain weight. So if you weigh, say, 150 pounds, you need to consume 1,500 calories to stay at 150 pounds. Now, if you exercise and burn off, say, 300 calories a day, then you actually need to consume physically 1,800 calories a day to maintain a weight of 150 pounds. If you consume exactly what you burn off and then eat what your body ‘needs’, then you will always be 150 pounds. Period. If you eat more than 1,500 calories a day (assuming you don’t exercise, if you do, add in the calories burned), you will gain weight. If you consistently eat less than 1,500 calories a day, you will lose weight.

Now, say you want to lose weight. Well, you have already found out how many calories you need to maintain 150 pounds (it’s your weight multiplied by 10), but what if your goal is to weigh 130 pounds? Well, then you need to consume the amount of calories a person at 130 pounds needs, which is merely 200 calories less at 1,300. You can do this by either exercising the same as you normally do and then not refueling yourself with calories, or you can eat smaller meals. Over time, your body has no choice but to adjust to this new calorie consumption, and you will lose weight.

This explains why people who are severely obese lose weight rapidly while people who are slightly overweight lose weight more slowly. If a person weighs 300 pounds and maintains that weight, they eat 3,000 calories a day. If a person is slightly overweight at, say, 160 pounds, then they need 1,600 calories to stay at that weight. If both the 300 pound person and the 160 pound person had a goal to reach 150 pounds, then the person at 300 pounds would have to reduce their calories by 1,500, whereas the person at 160 pounds would have to reduce theirs by 100. Assuming both individuals simply reduced their caloric consumption and not exercised, the person at 300 pounds would lose many more pounds per week than the person at 160 pounds, since their body is taking a greater caloric loss. A huge reason why the people on “Biggest Loser” lose tons of weight at the beginning of the show, then less and less as the show goes on. Less weight to manage at a certain caloric intake.

If you want to lose weight, or stay exactly where you are, multiply the weight you want to be by 10, and eat those calories. You won’t lose weight overnight, but you will lose it. Or if you want to stay where you are, you’ll know your caloric limit. Pretty cool! And don’t forget- if you work out every day, be sure to add those calories to your calorie allowance to maintain your weight as well.

Source:

http://www.aarp.org/health/fitness


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