Stand by for Math Class

Get your thinking caps on and let's do some math! Your BMR (basal metabolic rate) is the amount of calories that your body needs to breathe, pump blood, digest food and basically, stay alive. This does not include any physical activity throughout the day.

Get a rough idea of this number by dividing your weight by 2.2 to transfer it to kilograms. (example: a 135 pound woman weighs 61.4 kg.) Women, multiply this number by .9 and then by 24. Men, multiply your weight in kg by 1 and then by 24. (example: 61.4 x .9 x 24 = 1326.)

Now add in your body fat percentage:
Men 10-14% and women 14-18% multiply by 1
Men 14-20% and women 18-28%, multiply by .95
Men 20-28% and women 28-38%, multiply by .9
Men over 28% and women over 38%, multiply by .85
(example: our 135 pound woman has a body fat % of 23, so her number is now 1260.)

Now add in the amount of activity you do on the majority of the days of the week:
Very light activity~teaching, lab/shop work, walking around, multiply by 1.55
Light activity~gardening, walking as exercise, multiply by 1.55
Moderate activity~jogging, light cycling or swimming, multiply by 1.65
Heavy activity~running, weight lifting, sports teams, multiply by 1.80
Very heavy activity~intense exercise for two hours a day, multiply by 2.00
(example: our woman has a moderate activity level so her number is now 2079.)

The number that you arrive at here is the amount of calories you need each day to maintain the physique you have now. But you don’t want to maintain what you’ve got; you want to lose the squish you put on over the holidays, right? Your metabolism is a touchy thing. It needs to be fed in order to keep burning. But if it is fed too much it will store the extra calories as fat; if it is not fed enough, it will also store each calorie ingested for fear of starvation. A general rule of thumb is to subtract 500 calories from your last number. (example: 2079 - 500 = 1579.) Don’t get carried away and start slashing calories right and left; the lower you cut these calories, the more likely your metabolism is to slow down and hold on to each morsel you eat in order to prevent starvation. Not good, in fact this is the exact opposite of what you are striving for. You don’t want to eat too much but you also don’t want to cut out too much!

So 1579 is the total number of calories needed each day for our example woman to keep her metabolism burning calories all day long. But now we want to divide this number by five since we all know that we should eat five meals each day, right? If you eat six meals a day, then divide it by six. 1579 / 5 = 316 calories that should be eaten at each meal. Every three hours, this woman should be eating 316 calories. There is no small snack mid-morning and there is no big meal at dinner time. These meals should all be the same size. Any calories that are over the 316 calories, her body cannot process and will store as fat. You guys, keep in mind that these are general numbers. If you find that you are still hungry after your allotted calories, try beefing them up a bit. But I recommend waiting a few days so as not to confuse mental hunger habits with what your body’s true caloric needs.

All of these long-winded calculations can get confusing but be diligent; this is great information to know about yourself. Let’s bottom-line it because when it comes to your eating it really is very simple:
~your first meal should be within an hour of waking up
~you should be eating every 3 hours which works out to 5 or 6 meals a day
~figure out your BMR and divide it by the number of meals you are eating each day
~get your 15-20 grams of protein first in each meal as a priority to your muscles
~fill up the remainder of the calories with whole grains, fruits/veggies and healthy fats
~drink water continuously all day long so you are peeing a pale yellow

It takes some thought and planning but once it becomes habit you’re on your way to a burning hot metabolism and a smokin’ hot body.