To maintain an excellent physical and mental state, we need to take in a fair amount of food, exercise daily, and have a sufficient amount of rest. In most everything that we do, whether it’s thinking, jogging, running, and even sleeping, our body will burn calories. Most of the time, if you’re underweight, your dietitian or doctor will tell you that you’ll need to eat more to have a more healthy body while also building up the right muscle mass.
On the other hand, if you are overweight, you’ll need to decrease your intake of calories and more intensive exercises. For the majority of our lives, consuming food and exercising are guaranteed ways of burning calories. Whether you’re installing garage panel doors, planting in your garden, or merely doing manual labour, we can’t deny that calories are a valuable resource in maintaining an active body.
However, there will be times that we won’t have the necessary time to exercise, especially when we’re busy with work or the circumstance does not permit it. Even though we’re not able to exercise, there are still several options to burn calories without the need for vigorous physical activities.
What’s a Calorie?
A calorie is the amount of energy that your body will use when you go through with your daily life. Usually, this is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of water by 1°C. In the same way, calories are what our body uses in maintaining stable body temperature.
Most of the time, calories are usually stored by our body through body fats until it’s used later. When most people want to burn weight, they have to be in a calorie deficiency. That means that they will need to burn more calories than the daily calories they have to take in. By doing so, the body will need to tap into its energy reserves by burning fat instead of the daily calories that we have to take in.
How Does Our Body Burn Calories?
But is it possible? Yes, burning calories without having to exercise is possible, although exercising is the best option when burning calories. However, calories aren’t just burned by exercising to keep our bodies warm. They are also needed to regulate critical bodily functions, including:
- Regulating your cardiovascular system and blood flow
- The effective digestion of food
- Eliminating waste from the body
- Repairing injuries and cell tissues that also helps muscle growth
- Regulating body temperature in cold climates
- Maintaining essential brain and nervous system functions
Technically our bodies are always burning calories to maintain primary functions. But there is a way of accelerating the burning of calories.
How Does It Work?
Again, we burn calories when we are burning more than what we take in. For instance, an individual who burns around 1,600 calories a day will need to consume the same amount to retain her weight. If she eats less than 1600 calories, then she will lose weight for that day. For her to gain weight, she will have to eat more.
If you’re confused about how weight is related to the amount of calories burned, here are some key points:
- For every 3,500 calories that you burn, that is equivalent to one pound of fat that is lost.
- For every ten pounds that you burn, that is 35,000 calories. That means that you will have to eat around 35,000 calories to regain the same amount of weight.
To effectively burn calories, you will need to know these first.
How Many Calories Does Your Body Burn?
Several factors affect how efficiently we can burn calories. But one of the guaranteed ways of gauging how a calorie is burned is through the Harris-Benedict Equation.
The following equation will need your sex, age, and weight. The formulas for calculation is:
- 66 + (6.2 x weight) + (12.7 x height) – (6.76 x age) = Formula for males
- 655.1 + (4.35 x weight) + (4.7 x height) – (4.7 x age) = Formula for females
After measuring your BMR, you might have to look at the frequency of activities you do:
- 1.2 (sedentary lifestyle) — virtually no exercise
- 1.375 (lightly active) — low-impact exercises once or thrice in a week
- 1.55 (moderately active) — three to five days in a week
- 1.725 (highly active) — six to seven days in a week
- 1.9 (extremely vigorous) — strenuous exercising
After calculating the BMR, multiply this with the level of activity, which will equal the number of calories needed to maintain good body weight.
Overall, our body will burn calories in almost everything that we do; even when we are doing mentally-taxing work at the office, our bodies will burn a fair amount of calories. If we want to change our appearance and figure, it’s best to adjust our lifestyle. By eating healthier food, working out more, and eating less, anything is achievable.
By understanding your body’s essential functions and having a precise and systematic way of weighing in the calories of your body, it’s easier to develop a plan to achieve a healthier version of you. When in doubt, you can always consult your doctor or dietitian regarding this matter. Having professional supervision can help with the process.
