- How many calories to consume per day
- Amount of calories expended in physical activity
- Because losing weight gets harder
To lose 1 kg a week it is necessary to reduce 1100 kcal to normal daily consumption, equivalent to about 2 dishes with 5 tablespoons of rice + 2 tablespoons of beans 150 g of meat + salad.
Reducing 1100 kcal per day for a week results in a total of 7700 kcal, a value that corresponds to the amount of calories stored in 1 kg of body fat.
However, reaching this level of caloric reduction in the diet is usually a big challenge, and so it is also necessary to practice physical activity to increase the burning of calories and speed up the metabolism.
How many calories to consume per day
To know how many calories you need to consume a day to be able to lose up to 1 kg a week, the first step is to calculate the basal energy expenditure, which is the amount of energy spent by the body just to maintain vital functions, such as the functioning of the lungs or the heartbeat, for example.
Then, one should add the calorie expenditure made by activities that are done during the day and by physical activity. The final value is the calories needed to keep your weight steady, without gaining or losing. Make your calculation by entering your data into the following calculator:
Based on the result of the calculator, 1100 kcal should be reduced, and the final result corresponds to the number of calories that must be consumed per day to achieve the desired weight loss.
Amount of calories expended in physical activity
To help burn calories and reduce weight, a good strategy is to increase the practice of physical activity, which speeds up the metabolism and stimulates the burning of fat.
On average, a person with 60 kg spends about 372 calories when practicing 1 hour of weight training, while a person with 100 kg spends about 600 kcal to do this same activity. This is because the greater the weight, the greater the body's effort to perform the same activity and ensure oxygen and nutrients for all cells.
Enter your data into the following calculator and see how many calories you expend to perform various physical activities:
It is also important to remember that the greater the amount of muscle in the body, the greater the individual's energy expenditure, as muscle mass consumes more calories than fat to keep in the body.
Because losing weight gets harder
Losing weight becomes more and more difficult because when losing weight, the body's energy expenditure also decreases, since the effort to maintain an 80 kg body is less than the effort to maintain a 100 kg body, for example.
In addition, metabolism also slows down with advancing age, so it is common to experience more difficulty losing weight as you get older. To overcome this difficulty, it is necessary to adjust the diet and increase the practice of physical activity, as this keeps the metabolism active and increases the amount of muscle mass in the body, helping with weight loss and control. To help with weight loss, learn about 7 foods that speed up metabolism.