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Calories in versus calories out, or if you follow James Smith, a calorie deficit is the only thing that matters. Sometimes it can be as simple as this but, on the other hand, we are all amazingly complex and no two people are the same.
There are so many facts that can come into play, but let’s get a basic understanding of how the body burns calories.
Daily calories burned fall under four categories:
1.Resting Metabolic Rate
2.Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
3.Calories Burned During Exercise
4.Thermic Effect of Food
Let’s look at each one of these in more detail…
Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)
Your RMR is the amount of energy your body needs to maintain essential functions like breathing, circulating blood and building cells. Things like age, body size and gender affect your resting metabolic rate. Your RMR accounts for 60-75 per-cent of the total number of calories you burn each day.
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)
This is the amount of energy your body uses to do daily activities like washing dishes, typing on your computer, or walking. The number of calories you burn from NEAT varies considerably based on your activity level.
Calories Burned During Exercise
The actual number of calories you burn during your workouts will depend on the intensity and duration of each session.
Calories burned through exercise and non-exercise physical activity account for roughly 15-30 percent of your TEE.
Thermic Effect of Food (TEF)
Your body burns calories to chew, digest, and store food. Each type of food (macronutrient) has a different TEF, and eating protein burns the most calories by a small margin. TEF accounts for about ten per-cent of the total calories you burn each day.
From the info above, I suggest focusing more attention on your NEAT if you want to burn more calories. Walk more during the day, walk when taking calls, stand up when you work, get that extra bit of housework in, shake your legs while sitting at your desk or get up and bounce on the spot. This is fun and makes people around you think ‘what they are at?!’
Now we understand how we burn calories, the next step would be to find out how many calories you need to consume each day. You can work this out for yourself using an online calorie calculator or seek professional help from a qualified nutritionist. Tracking is the next step that you can take. Download My Fitness Pal or write out a food diary of everything you have consumed in 3 -7 days. From here, it’s simple maths. Find out how many calories are in each meal and work out your total amount.
Now you have a baseline, but it may not be 100 per-cent accurate. What you’ll need next is to become your own human experiment for 3-6 months. Have the discipline to stick to your calorie intake and monitor along with the way. You will soon find out if it’s working for you or not.
By Gary Wallace
