Your calorie intake has a direct impact on your body composition. Understanding the number of calories you burn everyday will allow you to adjust your calorie intake to prevent body fat gains. Once you have your daily burned calories calculated, monitor your intake. If you consume more than you estimated value, you will gain stored body fat.
Excess Calories
Every day, you burn calories, the exact number of which depends on your metabolic rate and any additional calories you use during physical activity. Your body fuels the processes that occur in your organs and tissues with these calories. When you consume more calories than you burn every day, your body converts those excess calories into body fat that is then stored on your body. Where the fat is stored depends on your genetic makeup and body type. According to a 2001 study by Chih-Hsing Wu in the journal "Age and Ageing," women have a tendency to store fat on their hips and males will typically have it stored near their abdomen.
Impact
How many excess calories you consume makes an impact on the amount of body fat you will gain. Every 3,500 caloric excess will equate to about 1 lb. of body fat. Every day that you consume more calories than you burn, the excess calories contribute to this total excess. To maintain your current body fat percentage, you would need to consume the same number of calories you burn. Those interested in losing body fat would need to consume fewer calories than they take in daily.
Estimating Metabolic Rate
You can use an equation to estimate your basal metabolic rate so that you know how many calories you burn in a day. According to registered dietitian Debra Wein, males find their metabolic rate as 66 + (13.7 X weight in kg) + (5 X height in cm) -- (6.8 X age in years). Women use the equation 655 + (9.6 X weight in kg) + (1.7 X height in cm) -- (4.7 X age in years). Find your weight in kg by dividing your weight in lbs. by 2.2. Your height in cm can be found by multiplying your height in inches by 2.54.
Physical Activity Impact
Once you find your estimated metabolic rate, multiply your value by a conversation factor based on your regular physical activity level to get a more accurate number. Those who are up on their feet during most of the day will burn more calories than those who are seated. If you're in bed rest and unable to get up, multiply your value by 1.2. If you're sedentary and don't participate in any additional physical activity, multiply your value by 1.3. Those who are active multiply their value by 1.4 and those very active multiply theirs by 1.5.
References
- National Strength and Conditioning Association Perform Journal: Calculating Your Daily Calories; Debra Wein, March 2005
- "Age and Ageing"; Sex Differences of Body Fat Distribution and Cardiovascular Dysmetabolic Factors in Old Age; Chih-Hsing Wu; 2001
- American Council on Exercise: Trimming Off the Fat
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