It's the good old Harris Benedict Formula, it's over 100 years old now but calculates the amount of calories you require based on gender, age, height and weight. When I started to look at losing weight all those years ago I looked at several different weight loss organisations like weight watchers, Tesco Diets (no longer in existence), Rosemary Connolly, etc etc and they all use a formula very similar to the Harris Benedict formula which I've included below. It was a useful exercise for me because since moving in with my wife in 1989 I had broadly speaking avoided processed foods, especially after gaining 3 stones in the first 3 months of living with my wife who told me that I wasn't going to have the same old muck that I ate as a bachelor. We typically ate WW frozen meals to begin with because we both worked long hours and added vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, carrots etc. and when I visited my GP because of this sudden weight gain he maintained that it was the salt content of frozen meals, so all meals were prepared from scratch. I never felt that I ate that much although I enjoyed a few beers which is why I gave up when the Rosiglitazone started to affect my liver It wasn't the alcohol, I had a long discussion with my doctor about my alcohol consumption, even he couldn't see how it would have affected my liver, he knew it was the Rosiglitazone. No matter, I haven't touched a drop for 8 years or more. The formula assume you lie in bed all day:
English BMR Formula
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )
Metric BMR Formula
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in kilos ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) - ( 6.8 x age in years )
There are multipliers which depend on how much exercise you do.
To determine your total daily calorie needs, multiply your
BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:
- If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
- If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
- If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
- If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
- If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9
The interesting thing for me is that this is what medics use to calculate your BMR, god help me if I'm ever hospitalised and in a coma, because the formula says I should eat 2000 calories a day and I don't usually eat more than 1200. My GP did say that I didn't eat enough but if I eat more my weight goes up. so I'm not playing their game of try this and try that and see what happens. Sadly the medical profession don't have a clue and this is what worries me. So many overweight people are labelled as over eaters and some might be, eating too much will increase your weight but you have to continue eating too much to sustain that extra weight.
Dieting really isn't straight forward.
BTW, I agree, exercise helps, of course, but it's surprising how little fuel (calories) it burns. I've spent too long on the bike at the gym, set to difficulty 12 (out of 20) to know how little you burn. I believe the idea is that with more muscle you will burn more calories, not that the bike knows how many muscles I've got. LOL