It is possible that if you know how much energy you expend in a day, you could gear your caloric, fat, sugar and carbohydrate intake to either maintain or reduce your weight. At least, that’s the theory. Ah, if only our will power was as strong as our sense of deduction. Anyway, if you’re willing to try, here’s a great guide.
How much energy do I burn in a day?
- Convert your weight to kilograms( 1 kg= 2.2 lbs )
Therefore, a 130 lb woman is approximately 59 kilograms.
A 180 lb man weighs approximately 82 kgs.
- This is your Basal Metabolic Rate, or the amount of energy that you require to stay alive with absolutely no activity, per hour. In the case of the woman, it is 59 kcals per hour.
This number is adjusted based on your sex. Men typically expend more energy to maintain the status quo than women. Therefore, for men, it is not necessary to factor this number down. For women, the general guideline is to multiply by 0.9. So:
0.9 x 59 x 24 hours in a day = 1,274 kcals per day for the 130 lb woman.
For the man it’s 1.0 x 82 x 24 hours in a day = 1,968 kcals per day for a 180 lb man.
3.Now adjust for yarding levels of daily physical activity. Choose the appropriate factor according to your activity level from the chart on page 92. Remember, you could have some hours at low activity levels and some hours at high, so, weight the number accordingly.
Let’s say that you are moderately active, at a 1.6 level of activity on average.
4.So, multiply the above kcal/daily by that factor.
For the woman in our example, it is 1,274 x 1.6= 2,038 kcal/daily
For the man, it would be 1,968 x 1.6=3,149 kcal daily
That represents their total energy output.
If our example man and woman consume more than that, they will gain weight.
5.Now, you can estimate if your fat intake falls within recommended and healthy guidelines.
a.For example, to find out if your fat intake is appropriate, convert the average number of grams of fat that you consume daily, and then convert the grams to kcals.
1 gram of fat = 9 kcals.
70 grams of fat = 70 x 9 =630 kcals.
For the woman above, that is :
630 x 100 = 30.9,
2,038
Is that good or bad? Nutritionists generally want you to stay below 30% but Dr. Atkins may say that is fine if you are on his high protein, high fat, low carbohydrate diet.