The secret to not gaining weight is to eat the same amount of calories you spend each day. On average, a 35-year-old woman, who weighs 60 kg, who does not practice any type of physical activity and who works sitting, needs about 2000 calories a day, and we call this total caloric expenditure.
This amount is what your body needs to ensure the function of all organs and systems. As long as she ingests a greater amount of calories, the excess will be stored in the organs and tissues, gaining weight, and if she consumes a lesser amount, she will lose weight and lose weight, because the weight variations are directly related to the amount of calories ingested daily. .
How to know my daily energy expenditure
To find out how many calories your body needs to maintain health, you can use the following mathematical formula:
Women :
- 18 to 30 years: (14.7 x weight) + 496 = X
- 31 to 60 years: (8.7 x weight) + 829 = X
Next you have to take into account the type of activity you practice daily and for this you must multiply the value found in the equation above by:
- 1, 5 - if you are sedentary or do light physical activity
- 1, 6 - if you practice physical activity or do moderate tasks
Men :
- 18 to 30 years: (15.3 x weight) + 679 = X
- 31 to 60 years: (11.6 x weight) + 879 = X
After finding the value of X you must multiply the value found by:
- 1, 6 - if you are sedentary or do light physical activity
- 1, 7 - if you practice physical activity or do moderate tasks
People who do not do any type of physical activity, who work in offices and who sit for a long time should be considered light physical activity. Moderate tasks are those that require greater physical effort such as dancers, painters, workers and bricklayers, for example.
How many calories should be burned to lose weight
To lose 1 kg of body weight it is necessary to burn around 7000 calories.
It is possible to spend more calories by increasing the level of physical activity. Some activities burn more calories than others, but that also depends on the effort that the person makes to carry out the activity perfectly.
For example: An aerobics class burns an average of 260 calories per hour, while 1 hour of zumba burns around 800 calories.
But there are little habits you can change so that your body burns or consumes more calories, such as: changing the television channel without using the remote control, washing the car and doing household activities such as vacuuming a carpet. Although it seems that they consume few calories, these activities are going to help the body burn more fat and therefore lose weight.
But in addition to this, if you need to lose weight, you should also decrease the calories you eat through food, so it is recommended to avoid fried foods and foods rich in fats and sugars because these are the most calorie-dense foods.
