| New E-book: Weight Lifting for Absolute Beginners
Recent research shows that if you want to lose weight, stay trim, and and maintain an elevated metabolic rate you need to incorporate some sort of resistance or weight training into your weight loss program.
Sidebar: typical, low calorie dieting is very counterproductive. It slows down your metabolism -- i.e., the less food you eat, the less you food require. Worse still, the body has a tendency to catabolize (break down) lean muscle under severe caloric restriction. Since muscle is metabolically active tissue, requiring calories to function at all times, you need all the muscle you have. Lose some, and your caloric requirement drops further -- meaning you have to eat even less to maintain a caloric deficit. Weight training helps sustain muscle mass during dieting.
Read the rest of the Weight Lifting for Absolute beginners article online!
What's Your Basal Metabolic Rate?
The Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is "the minimum
calorific requirement needed to sustain life in a resting individual".
That includes things like keeping your heart rate beating, your
internal organs functioning properly, maintaining your body temperature,
and so on.
You may be asking... so what?
Well, knowing your basal metabolic rate is a pretty handy, especially
when you are trying to lose a few pounds. The most common reason for
failing to lose weight is that people are unaware of...
i) just how many calories they actually require
ii) just how many calories they are consuming throughout the day
While you can obtain a better idea of the number of calories consumed
on a daily basis by paying closer attention to what you eat and keeping
a daily log, you probably won't have any idea of your BMR. The easiest
way to get a general idea of your requirements is to...
i) use an online BMR calculator
You can try Global Fitness' calculator here...
Global
Fitness' BMR calculator
P.S. Global Fitness is offering a 30-day trial of their personalized
training and weight loss service for $4.95 -- a pretty good deal any
way you slice it. While online training isn't for everyone, at this price
it's easy to try it for 30 days and see if it's for you! You can learn
more about the promotion here...
Global Fitness'
$4.95 Special
ii) plug your statistics into the standard BMR formula. There are two...
For women...
BMR=655 + [4.37 X weight in pounds] + [4.32 X height in inches] - [4.7 X your age]
For men...
BMR=66 + [6.21 X weight in pounds] + [12.7 X height in inches] - [6.8 X your age]
Once you have these figures, you'll need to modify them somewhat...
a) If you're sedentary, multiply this number by 1.2. That's your BMR.
b) If you're moderately active, multiply this number by 1.3. That's your BMR.
c) If you exercise 3-4 times a week, multiply this number by 1.5. That's your BMR.
d) If you're very active (4-6 exercise sessions per week, or you have a
physically demanding job) multiply this number by 1.7. That's your BMR.
e) If you work out on a daily basis for an hour or more, multiply
this number by 1.9. That's your BMR.
OK... now you know your BMR!
That's approximately the amount of calories you need in a day. If are consuming significantly more than this, you can be sure that's why your diet has stalled! |
