If you are reading this article, it is safe to assume either you have started your weight loss journey or you are beginning to get concerned. That’s great! Trying to remain healthy and fit should be part of your personal care routine.
Let’s be honest. Each one of us has a unique physique and metabolism rate. What works for you might not work for me and vice versa. Therefore, rather than blindly trusting a standard scale, we all must pay attention to our specific bodily requirements. When you are counting your calories, here are some great tips to help understand how many calories you actually need.
Tips to Understand How Many Calories You Need to Reach Your Goal
Not everyone is concerned about losing weight. Some people are concerned about gaining it. It all depends on what you want to do. Define your goal!
Physique
If you are overweight, you need to reduce your caloric intake consistently for a period of time. If you are underweight, you may have to eat high-calorie foods to help add extra pounds to your body. Those who want to maintain their weight may need to find a balance for their calorie intake and caloric consumption.
Understand Calorie Requirements of a Normal Person
A normal person is neither too thin nor too fat and follows a moderate activity regime. The World Health Organization recommends a daily intake of 2500 calories for men and 2000 calories for women. Unfortunately, this is a standard estimate and you will need to find your personal requirements through meticulously tracking of your diet for at least a month.
Metabolic Rate
Normally, a person with a high metabolic rate usually burns between 80 to 100 calories per hour doing normal routine work. This varies slightly for men and women.
Type of Food You Eat
They say what you eat defines you. That can be quite true in terms of your physique. Eating spicy food will increase your body temperature and metabolic rate which can also increase the number of calories you burn.
Activity Level
Begin by honestly defining your daily activity level. By defining the intensity and duration of activities you do in a day, you can estimate the number of calories you burn.
What You Need to Do: 30 Minutes of Exercise
No diet plan or restricted calorie control are ever going to work unless you complement it with some kind of physical activity – bicycling, walking, jogging or running or any other form of activity. Try to incorporate at least 30 minutes of exercise into your daily routine. If you have an extremely busy routine and cannot take 30 minutes at one time, start by doing 10 minutes of quick exercise in the morning and a 15 minute workout as soon as you come home. Within a month, you will see a noticeable difference in your body shape.
Calorie Tracker
Invest in a wristband calorie tracker. There are a large variety of devices available from basic calories counters to fancy smart watches. Start wearing one to keep track of calories burned during your day. This will aid in helping to determine how many calories you actually need.
Low Carb Regimes
Try to maintain a low carb regime in the long term. Make it a point to go on a strict no sugar diet every once in a while. Also, as a rule, increase your protein intake. Protein not only helps in reducing the number of calories you eat overall, it also reduces cravings. Studies suggest that people who increase protein intake automatically reduce their caloric intake by more than 400 calories a day.
Water Intake
Water intake is critical as you may have read on almost any health-related forum. This is because it keeps your body organs functioning optimally and enhances your metabolism.
Control Sugar and Salt Intake
Not only do you need to control your sugar intake, but also monitor your salt intake as well. Salt aids in retaining water which can add to your weight. Reducing the amount of salt you eat can help you shed excess water weight.
Health Benefits
The case of weight control and/or loss is a simple mathematical problem – calorie in and calorie out. You gain weight if the number of calories you consume is greater than the number of calories you burn. It’s that simple! Controlling what you eat and when you eat can have a lot of health benefits such as those noted below.
Fat Gain
Depending on your personal requirements, fat gain can be either good or bad. While overweight individuals may seek to lose weight those individuals who want to increase their size may want to gain fat.
Your ultimate goal should be to maintain a healthy weight. Overweight people are at an increased risk of diabetes, hypertension, lower testosterone levels, and heart problems.
Increased Energy
The lean individual is much more active and has higher energy levels than overweight individuals.
Improved Metabolism
When you find the answer to how many calories you need you can work on your caloric intake and improve your metabolism. A strong metabolic rate will help you achieve your goals more effectively.
Strength
Understanding how many calories you need and taking good care of your body will help strengthen you both physically and mentally.
Delayed Aging
When your body is performing optimally, your ageing process slows down. You feel active and studies show people who are physically fit live longer.
Better Immune System
When your body is in a good condition, your metabolic rate is close to ideal, and you are exercising regularly, your immune system will automatically become stronger. This makes you much less susceptible to disease.
Unfortunately, no standard tool can tell you exactly how many calories you need. What you need to do is understand your body and its needs. Find out what works for you and what doesn’t! Start wearing a calorie tracker to analyze how many calories you burn on average. This will help you in answering how many calories you need to become optimally fit and healthy.
