How Many Calories A Day? The last thing I want to talk about is calories. It’s important to understand that no matter how healthy you are eating, if you eat more calories a day then you’re burning then you will gain weight. The only way to lose weight is to create a calorie deficit where you are burning more calories a day than you are consuming. The reason why most people continue to gain weight is they don’t know two things: 1. How many calories they need in a day to lose weight 2. How many calories they are actually eating in a day. If you want to lose weight, this is very important to get a handle on. So to figure out how many calories you need we are going to use something called the Harris Benedict formula. It multiplies your BMR (basal metabolic rate) by your current activity level. So first we need to get your BMR:
1. FIRST CALCULATE YOUR BMR: Use pounds for weight, inches for height, and years for age BMR for men = 66 + (6.2 x weight) + (12.7 x height) - (6.76 x age) BMR for women = 655.1 + (4.35 x weight) + (4.7 x height) - (4.7 x age) So for example, a 40-year-old, 150 pound, 5 foot 3-inch-tall woman would be: 655.1 + (4.35 x 150) + (4.7 x 63) - (4.7x40) = 1,415.7.
2. THEN MULTIPLY THE BMR BY THE ACTIVITY LEVEL: 1.2 = sedentary (little to no exercise) 1.375 = lightly active (light exercise 1-3 days per week) 1.55 = moderately active (moderate exercise 3-5 days per week) 1.725 = very active (hard exercise 6-7 days per week) 1.9 = extra active (very hard exercise/training or physical job) So the same 150-pound woman who is “sedentary” would burn this many calories: 1415.7 (BMR) x 1.2 (activity level) = 1698.84 (calories/day to maintain current weight)
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THE SMOOTHIE DIET – © Drew Sgoutas
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