Calories obviously are needed to make our bodies function.  Every body type and person vary in the quantity of calories they need to consume daily.  Calorie consumption is imperative when attempting to maintain, gain or lose weight.  In fact, there is not a single one of you that does not fit one of those three categories.

The three ways we ingest calories are from protein, carbohydrates, and fats.  Proteins and carbohydrates each provide 4 calories per gram.  Fats more than double that with 9 calories per gram.  This is very important to know when planning your diet and while monitoring your calorie intake.

Now you need to discover how many calories that you need on a daily basis.  The national average for females is 2000 calories per day. However, each woman has a different need.  To get a more personalized count use the formulas below, but remember this is only a guide:

The first is to determine your Basal Metabolic Rate.  This formula tells you how many calories you need based on your height, weight and age.

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 )

The next formula will help you take it a step further and give an even better estimate based on your activity level.  This requires the use of the Harris Benedict Equation.

Sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
Lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
Moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
Very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
Extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

Knowing what a calorie is and how many you need is only the beginning.  You now need to determine your goals of maintaining, gaining or losing weight.  Working your diet to meet your health and fitness goals will expedite your results.

I am certain my sweet grandmother never chased Native Americans from her land with a rifle.  I do believe older generations needed to work harder to get anything done.  They washed clothes in a washtub and scrubbed each article by hand.  Lawnmowers weren’t motorized.  My dad remembers shoveling snow from the street because there were no plows.

This probably explains why they never had to watch their caloric intake and obesity was not a major issue.  Just to make it each day burned thousands of calories without even climbing onto the elliptical.  Today with all of our fancy appliances and running water, we expend less energy to get by.

First off, I will cover the obvious stuff we have heard before, and then I will cover something which may be new to you.  Park farther away from the store.  Take the stairs each afternoon instead of the elevator.  Walk your dog once a day instead of letting him run loose in the fence.

All of those things are obvious ways to burn more calories, and you are going to  ignore each of them completely the first time you are running late.  It will start to become effort, and you will cave in to the inner peer pressure.

Here is a sure fire way to burn some extra calories without much of a commitment.  Pick an exercise you are good at because we like to do things are good at.  Then say you will do this exercise every time you do something common throughout your day.  For example, every time you get up from the couch, you do ten push-ups.  Get a chin-up bar for the bedroom, and do five each time you enter.

Adding small things like this will burn more energy.  Imagine your story…”I used to do five pullups just to get into bed!”