By Fred Schuster, MA, STS Clinical Exercise Physiologist
As the holiday season is upon us, we all look forward to the parties, dinners and great holiday foods. What we don’t look forward to is the unwanted weight gain that accompanies these wonderful holiday treats. Studies show the average American gains 1 to 2 pounds during the holiday season and unfortunately, this tends to become permanent baggage. I guess you can say it’s the holiday gift that keeps on giving! So how do you enjoy holiday foods and make sure you don’t get stuck with an unwanted, un-returnable gift? The answer is simple: You need to move more and eat less.
Calories In versus Calories Out
Successful weight management during the holiday season and throughout the year is all about balancing the calories you consume with the calories you expend. It has nothing to do with the type of food you consume, but rather the amount of calories the food contains. If you expend more calories than you consume you will create a negative caloric balance and lose weight. If you consume more calories than you expend you will create a positive caloric balance and gain weight. If you consume the same amount of calories you expend you will be in isocaloric balance and remain the same weight. Therefore, maintaining a healthy body weight starts with tracking and recording the calories you consume and expend.
Tracking Calories In
Tracking the calories you consume is relatively easy. All you have to do is keep a 3-day food diary and record the caloric content of the food you eat as you eat it. This gives you a good idea of the average calories you consume on a daily basis.
Tracking Calories Out
Tracking and recording the calories you expend is a bit more complicated. The calories you expend on a daily basis represent the sum of three components: Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) + Physical Activity + Thermic Effect of Food.
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) accounts for 60% to 70% of the calories you expend in a day. BMR is a measure of the calories you expend/just to keep yourself alive excluding any physical activity. Physical activity including activities of daily living and exercise accounts for 20% to30% of the calories you expend in a day, and the thermic effect of food accounts for 10% of the calories you expend in a day. The thermic effect of food represents the amount of calories you expend to digest and transport nutrients throughout the body.
Tracking and recording calorie expenditure is complicated and can be a daunting, time-consuming task even for trained professionals. The good news is there is an easy way to calculate the amount of calories you expend in a day. Just measure your body weight (BW) and multiply it by one of the factors below:
- Very Sedentary (restricted movement) – BW x 13 cal/lb
- Sedentary (most Americans) – BW x 14 cal/lb
- Active (moderate exercise at least three days per week) – BW x 15 cal/lb
- Very Active (vigorous exercise at least three days per week) – BW x 16 cal/lb
Multiplying your body weight by one of these factors tells you the amount of daily calories you need to maintain your current body weight. If you want to lose weight just consume less than that amount or exercise more than that amount.
Contrary to popular opinion, you don’t have to sacrifice the foods you enjoy to lose weight. Reducing your daily intake just 500 calories (that’s the amount in one bakery bagel) can enable you to lose one pound of body fat per week. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds and exercise moderately at least three days per week you would multiply 200 x 15. This equals 3,000 calories or the amount you need to maintain 200 pounds. Simply subtract 500 calories (the bakery bagel) from 3,000 to arrive at your new daily intake of 2,500 calories. If you are unwilling to give up that bakery bagel then just add an additional 500 calories in exercise to the 3,000 calories to accomplish the same amount of weight loss.
Choosing the Right Type of Exercise
When it comes to losing weight aerobic exercise is the best choice. Aerobic exercise is exercise performed at a moderate intensity level for an extended period of time using primarily the large muscle groups of the legs. Some common aerobic exercises include walking, jogging, biking, swimming, aerobic dance etc.
Choosing the Right Duration and Frequency
During the first 20 minutes of aerobic exercise the fuel for that activity comes from an equal amount of fat and carbohydrate. After 20 minutes of continuous activity the body gradually begins to spare carbohydrate and gives up more and more body fat to fuel the activity. So, the longer you go the more fat calories you burn. One needs only to look at the ultra-lean physiques of marathon runners to see this principle in action. So, to effectively lose weight, you need to adopt a marathon runner’s mentality. This means you need to exercise at moderate intensity for at least 20 to 60 minutes and perform that routine 5 to 6 days per week.
Choosing the Right Intensity Level
The best way to make sure that you’re exercising at a moderate intensity is to calculate and monitor your exercise target heart rate (THR). To do this just subtract your age from 220 and multiply that number by 70% to 80%. This will give you your exercise target heart rate in beats per minute (BPM). Keeping your heart rate in that range will ensure that you are exercising at a moderate intensity. For example, if you are 50 years old your calculation would look like this:
- 220 – 50 = 150
- 150 x .70 (70%) = 105 BPM
- 150 x .80 (80%) = 120 BPM
Therefore, to lose weight a 50 year old person would need to exercise 5 to 6 days per week for 20-60 minutes at a heart rate between 105 and 120 beats per minute.
So enjoy the holidays. Enjoy the wonderful foods without accepting the unwanted gift of extra holiday pounds. As you can see, a modest reduction in the amount of food you consume coupled with a modest increase in your activity level can make maintaining or even losing weight during the holiday season a reality.
Start your fitness journey at Cape Regional Miracles Fitness! Call (609) 886-7070 or visit miraclesfitness.com.
