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What is the secret of losing weight?
The secret of losing weight is simple to understand but difficult to execute. There are two simple and basic principles of weight loss
1. Burn the excess fat
2. Consume suboptimal calorie.
The process of weight loss should be slow and must address both the basic principals equally. Thus, anyone planning to lose weight only by modifying diet and lifestyle will end up in futile effort leading to frustrations. Similarly. trying to lose weight only by burning calories and ignoring dietary modifications never help well.
What is BMI? What should me my ideal body weight?
The ideal bodyweight on any individual irrespective of gender is calculated by following equation.
Minimum Body weight = (Height in meter)2 X 18
Maximum body weight = (Height in meters)2 X 22.9
In other words, the body mass index (BMI) of a person should range between 18 to 22.9 Kg/m2. Body Mass Index (BMI) is calculated by the formula
BMI = Weight in Kgs/ (Height in meters)2
A person weighing more than the maximum permissible weight is overweight. Thus, if BMI is
Between 23 to 24.9 Kg/m2 = Overweight
Between 25 to 29.9 Kg/m2 = Obese
Between 30 to 34.9 kg/m2 = Very Obese
Between 35 to 39.9 kg/m2 = Severely Obese
Above 40 kg/m2 = Morbid Obesity
Do I need to know about BMR? What is its role in losing weight?
BMR is elaborated as Basal Metabolic Rate. It is actually the amount of calorie needed by the body to sustain the functions of all the organs of the body when he or she is at complete rest. This energy is necessary for the brain to stay awake and do its functions in a resting state, the heart to keep beating in a normal rate, the lungs to continue breathing, the intestine to keep on the process of digesting etc.
The BMR is a dynamic value. The value increases when the activity level of a person increases. Thus, the energy required by a person who does normal day to day work is higher than when he is sleeping. Similarly, persons who are hard working such as labourers or athletes have significantly higher BMR than those who live a sedentary lifestyle without any significant physical activity.
In other words, BMR is the amount of calorie which is spent every day by a person and has to be consumed again to address the needs of the body the next day. If a person consumes more calorie than his calculated BMR, the excess calorie will not be spent and is very likely to be stored in the body unless it’s burnt further. Thus, a person gets obese. Similarly, if somebody consumes calories less than the calculated BMR, he or she is likely to lose weight over time as the body will burn the stored energy in an effort to meet its daily energy requirements.
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One of the important principals of losing weight is to consume calories lesser than the calculated BMR on a daily basis.
Thus, the first step in going for a weight loss plan is find out how much weight is excess in your body.
Example: Let’s find out how much weight does a 32 year old lady who is 5’2” tall and weighing around 62 Kgs needs to lose.
Step 1: Convert height into meters: 5’2” = 1.57 meters
Step 2: (Height in meters)2 = 2.47 meter2
Step 3: 22.9 X (Height in meter)2 = 56.8 Kg
Thus, this lady’s ideal maximum permissible body weight should have been 56.8Kgs. She is overweight by 5.2 Kg and that’s the amount of excess weight she needs to lose.
I want to lose 10 Kilograms in One month. How can I do that? I hardly can spare 30mins for myself.
Before planning a weight loss, one should remember that rapid weight loss has serious health consequences. One should not try to lose more than 3 Kilograms in a month. That amounts to 100grams of weight per day. Roughly, to lose 100gms of weight, one has to lose 777calories per day. I.e. 7.77calories/gram of body weight.
That’s a good amount of calorie. If somebody runs at a rate of 6 km/hour for 30 mins, the calorie lost is approximately 100. Yes, only 100 calories after 30 mins of brisk run. Thus try to run at a speed of 9km/hour for 30 mins and burn 150 calories. And curtail another 600 calories in diet per day. Here you will need the help of a nutritionist.
You will reach your desired goal in 3 months. You can use our calculator function to check how much you need to lose weight.
How would I know which food contains how much calorie?
There are numerous websites who have enlisted foods along with there caloric values. Here is a small chart consisting of common Indian foods with their caloric value. You can create your own food chart. Go through the following points for quick information.
Foods with lowest Caloric Value
Fruits: Cherries, Grape Fruit, Dried apricot, Pear & Apples
Vegetables: Asparagus, Avocado, Beet Greens, Bell Peppers and Chinese Cabbage.
Cereals: Oat Meal. Muesli, Wheat Bran, Cream of Wheat.
Pulses: Chick Peas, Lentils, Navy Beans, Split Peas, Pinto Beans.
Dairy: Skimmed Milk, Yoghurt
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