Calories, weight maintenance and physical activity.
There are plenty of diets and methods that are advertised as miraculous  and they promise to help a person to lose a lot of pounds within a few weeks. However, this is not the best way for weight management, since the drawbacks are numerous. It has been acknowledged that the faster the body weight is lost, the easier is gained back. This happens, because the person, who has undergone food depravation, occasionally very close to starvation, after the desirable weight is reached and the diet is discontinued, he/she, typically, turns to a greedy eater and the weight gain is inevitable. According to specialists, if this is repeated many times, it burdens the individual's health, because it results in significant strain on the cardiovascular system and if the diet is not supported by supplementation, it can lead to malnutrition, vitamin or mineral deficiencies and electrolyte imbalance. In fact, cardiologists prefer their patients to be reasonably and steadily overweight, rather than having their body weight widely fluctuating. Of course, the ideal option is a normal body mass index and a healthy weight.
Specialists believe that a proper and safe weight loss is nearly 1.2 pounds or half a kilogram per week. If you think this is not enough, think that over a year you can lose sixty two pounds or twenty six kilos which is not bad at all.
In order a person to reach a proper body weight within a reasonable period of time or to maintain a desirable physique, the following formulas can be used in terms of caloric intake.
 Ten calories per pound of desirable body weight must be taken on a daily basis, if the person is sedentary or if he/she is obese.
Thirteen calories per pound of desirable body weight for an individual of daily low physical activity or older than fifty five years.
Fifteen calories per pound of desirable body weight for a person of moderate activity.
Eighteen calories per pound of desirable body weight for an individual of daily strenuous activity.
The BMI tables are a grate tool for you to determine the range of your desirable body weight. Visit the relevant page and follow the instructions above the table.
Low-calorie diet and physical activity.
When we start a low-calorie diet, our body tends to save energy by reducing the basal metabolic rate. This is the reason, why people, especially females, starting a diet without doing any significant physical activity, after losing the first couple of pounds they do not have any further successful improvement, according to their expectations and effort. Physical activity is very important, because it makes the individual to consume a great amount of calories, keeps him/her fit and stimulates the body to increase its basal metabolic rate.
How intensive the physical activity must be, depends on a person's fitness, age and medical history. The following descriptions of levels can help you to decide which of the above activity categories applies to you.
Low activity. This is a regular but unscheduled physical activity. It can be done occasionally, during weekends or roughly on a weekly basis and includes a limited range of types, such as golfing, walking, playing bowling, gardening or car washing.
Moderate activity. This is a scheduled participation in physical activity sessions, like swimming, fast walking, jogging, cycling, playing tennis, basketball or doing indoors training for thirty to sixty minutes twice or three times a week.
Strenuous activity. This is a scheduled participation in vigorous physical activity for at least sixty minutes each time and for four or five days per week.
Test yourself.
If you prefer to walk or to run, while doing aerobic exercise, you can calculate your daily amount of physical activity in conjunction with caloric consumption by using the calculator below. The calculation is performed on 0.653 calories per mile per pound (lb) basis. Try it, and you will be surprised.
Bear in mind that it doesn’t matter, whether you walk or run a particular distance. In both cases you perform aerobic exercise and the consumed energy is the same. However, the time you need to cover this distance depends on your physical fitness. |
