Your Daily Calorie Burn

How many calories does your body burn daily? Part of understanding how to manage your weight is knowing how many calories you can consume without gaining. If your goal is to lose weight, you can see how many calories you need to cut in order to begin the losing process. If your desire is to gain weight, you can also understand what needs to be added to your diet to increase your size.

Use the following formula to determine your resting metabolic rate:

FOR MEN

WEIGHT in pounds multiplied by 6.2 = X

HEIGHT in inches multiplied by 12.7 = Y

X + Y + 655 = Z

YOUR AGE multiplied by 6.8 = A

Z-A = B (YOUR RESTING METABOLIC RATE)

FOR WOMEN

WEIGHT in pounds multiplied by 4.3 = X

HEIGHT in inches multiplied by 4.3 = Y

X + Y + 655 = Z

YOUR AGE multiplied by 4.7 = A

Z - A = B (YOUR RESTING METABOLIC RATE)

This formula will tell you how many calories you need to maintain your weight with your present activity level. Apply the following formula to the number you got for your resting metabolic rate:

B = YOUR RESTING METABOLIC RATE

B multiplied by 1.8 = C (YOUR METABOLIC RATE IF YOU ARE AN ATHLETE)

B multiplied by 1.4 = D (YOUR METABOLIC RATE IF YOU DO AN AVERAGE AMOUNT OF EXERCISE)

B multiplied by 1.2 = E (YOUR METABOLIC RATE IF YOU ARE A COUCH POTATO)

If your goal is to lose weight, then determine how many calories you will be able to take in to maintain your new desired weight. To lose weight, eat 20% fewer calories than your goal weight requires you to eat.

What percent of fat do you have in your diet today? To maintain a healthy balance, try not to exceed 30% of your diet in fat. Today we are furtunate to have a fat content listed on most of the foods we buy in the supermarket. Read the labels and keep track of how much fat you are consuming to stay "heart healthy".

We need to understand the enormous value of not being a slave to our own desires. To observe moderation in all things is a powerful thought to live by as a means of true self-mastery.

"Love is the magician, the enchanter that changes worthless things to joy...

It is the perfume of that wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts, but with it, earth is heaven, and we are Gods." -Robert Ingersoll

This page is an excerpt from Susan George's book, "Life is Short, Don't Blow It". If you want to read more about changing your life, read Susan George's new book, "Life is Short, Don't Blow It".