To achieve your physical goals, you need to know your basic metabolism. It is only by having this essential indicator for losing weight that you will better understand how your body works.
On paper, losing weight seems easy. But in reality, it is not enough simply to play sports to lose weight. Please note that regular physical activity is essential for a healthy body and mind. Except that it is not always enough to get rid of the superfluous kilos that you hate. You have to look at your metabolism. What’s the point ? To define the amount of calories your body needs at rest to function perfectly, in short, it is its energy expenditure. Without this calculation, your weight loss may stall.
How to lose weight smartly?
Calculating your metabolism allows you to lose weight in a healthy and sustainable way. Too often, these two criteria are forgotten in this process. However, it is only in this way that you will maintain a beautiful figure and a healthy lifestyle for the rest of your life. Take the time to do things right (calculate your metabolism, consult a nutritionist, get followed by a sports coach, etc.) before starting to lose weight.
Weight loss: how to calculate your metabolism to lose weight?
Metabolism is based on several criteria: age, sex and physical activity. Physiological criteria must also be taken into account: slow or fast metabolism. Every metabolism is different. By doing the math, you determine how many calories your body should eat per day. Thus, your energy balance is properly balanced. You eat what your body needs to function, and no longer out of greed or otherwise. This way, you don’t gain weight, and you don’t lose it either. When this balance changes, the weight on the scale may vary.
- By eating more calories than your metabolism requires, you gain weight.
- By eating fewer calories than your metabolism wants, your body draws on its reserves, and therefore you lose weight. This phenomenon is called calorie deficit.
In short, a reasonable calorie deficit makes it possible to lose weight in a healthy and sustainable way. The results are observed over time. Now all that remains is to calculate your metabolism to have the right information in hand. The simplest method is that of Harris and Benedict dating from 1994:
- Women: basal metabolic rate = 9.740 x Weight (in kg) + 172.9x Waist (in meters) – 4.737 x Age (in years) +667.051
- Men: Basal Metabolism = 13.707 x Weight (kg) + 492.3 x Height (meters) – 6.673 x Age (years) + 77.607
As soon as the operation is carried out, multiply the result by your level of physical activity (NAP) in order to obtain the total daily calorie expenditure. Here are some pointers:
- 1.3: for office workers without physical activity
- 1.4: for office workers with physical activity 1 to 3 times per week
- 1.55: for intense jobs with moderate physical activity 3 to 5 times a week
- 1.75: for manual jobs with sustained physical activity 3 to 5 times a week
- 1.9: for very hard jobs with sustained physical activity more than 5 times per week
After determining your basal metabolic rate with this calculation, you know what your body needs. To lose weight, it is advisable to eat 90% of total metabolic calories: basal metabolism x 0.9: the number of calories to eat to lose weight. To your calculators!