Weight Loss seems almost impossibly complicated for us normal people. We struggle with this program and that, never understanding what's going on and being made to feel guilty if we don't look like a TV celebrity. It's really quite simple...we gain when we take in more calories than we use up...we lose when we take in less. The trick is in knowing how much we should weigh, the number of calories we need and how to balance our diet to get those calories in a healthy way. Fortunately, BMI and BMR can help us know what we need to get to the right weight.
BMI-Body Mass Index: The BMI can give us an approximation of what we should weigh, based, primarily on our height. All you need to do is plug your height and weight into an online Calculator (see BMI Calculator link below) to find out if you're underweight, normal, overweight or obese. Then work the weight numbers backwards to find out what "normal" is for your height. Now, I strongly believe the person who invented this was anorexic, so, don't be surprised at how light "normal" is. I said it was an approximation! There are wide variations in healthy weight among humans of the same height, like sex and frame size. Another common variation is, as we get older, we can afford to be a little more, shall we say, fluffy. The point is, you now have a way to figure out how much you should weigh based on something more objective than the TV.
BMR-Basal Metabolic Rate: Your BMR is basically, the number of calories your body needs to maintain its current weight. Like the BMI, it's an approximation. If you're an athlete, for instance, you'll need many more calories...couch potatoes need less, but then, couch potatoes don't read this far into a health article. To get your BMR, simply enter your sex, age and weight into a Calculator (see BMR Calorie Burning Calculator below). The number you get out is the number of calories you need to maintain your current weight.
Using The BMI And BMR For Weight Loss: Now, here's where BMI and BMR can be powerful weight loss tools. The BMI Calculator page instructs you how to adjust the BMI for the two most common variations...sex and frame size. Once you've taken the BMI normal weight and adjusted it for sex and frame size, you have your "goal" weight. Instead of your current weight, enter this "goal" along with your sex and age into the BMR Calorie Burning Calculator. The new number of calories are the daily amount you need to slowly lose weight down to your goal and maintain it (optimum calories). Of course, check all of this with your doctor before making any changes because certain medical conditions require special consideration. Still, with BMR and BMI, it's pretty easy to know where the goal line is...the final step is how to get to the goal line.
Fat, Protein, Carbs, Fiber, Water: Once you know how your optimum calories, it's simply a matter of balancing your daily food intake to add up to that total. There are so many different ideas of how to do that, I'm only going to glance over it in this article. In the near future I'll be publishing articles to cover different dietary balance styles for different circumstances. The new USDA Food Pyramid can give you good ideas on balancing your fats, proteins, carbs, fiber and water. If you make sure to keep your diet balanced and keep the daily calories near your optimum, you should slowly and comfortably lose weight until you reach your goal. As an added plus, once you get to the goal, you don't have to change a thing...you've been doing the right thing all along.
Glen Williams is founder and CEO of EHF, Inc. and Webmaster for www.e-health-fitness.com. He has done extensive research on personal and family health and fitness issues and has been helping and advising people on health since 1987. | |
