Fit and fine: Losing weight the right way

We are in the midst of a Diabesity epidemic that is diabetes plus obesity. Here diabetes stands for all kinds of metabolic or lifestyle diseases like hypertension, heart disease etc. We know that losing the extra kilos go a long way in ameliorating if not fully eliminating these diseases, so much so that people are opting for drastic steps like bariatric surgery where the size of the stomach is surgically reduced, leading to weight loss..

But going under the surgeon’s knife is not really required if you know how to eat and exercise properly. It is a known fact that cutting down food intake and adding exercise to your daily routine is the best way to tackle weight gain and cut down chances of developing lifestyle diseases.

Finding your BMR

BMR or your basal metabolic rate is the number of calories needed to maintain your current body weight and accomplish basic life sustaining functions. BMR is dependent on gender as well as activity level. The formula I use with my clients for finding their BMR is the Mifflin-St Jeor formula. It is pretty convoluted but here goes:

•Take precise measurements of your weight and height – in kilograms and centimeters.

•Males: BMR = (10 x weight in kg) + (6.25 x height in cm) – (5 x age in years) + 5

•Females: BMR = (10 x weight in kg) + (6.25 x height in cm) – (5 x age in years) – 161

•Multiply the BMR obtained from either equation by the factor that best represents your level of activity.

•Sedentary (little to no activity) BMR x 1.2

•Light activity (exercise 1–3 days per week) BMR x 1.375

•Moderately active (exercise 3–5 days per week) BMR x 1.55

•Very active (exercise 6–7 days per week) BMR x 1.725

Let’s use an example to show you how to do this. My client R, is 30 years old, 170 cm tall and weighs 71 kgs. He works out 3-5 times in the gym. His BMR is (10 x 71) + (6.25 x 170) – (5 x 30) + 5 = 1628. Based on his activity levels his daily calorie intake should be 1628 x 1.55 = 2523.

If R wants to reduce his weight he needs to cut his calorie intake by about 250-300 per day and burn another 200-300 calories in the gym. By doing so he can lose about half a kg each week. Now I am sure people reading this will say that is too little but this rate of weight loss is sustainable over the long term. Thus over a year, it would lead to 20-24 kgs of weight loss.

There is a caveat here for the all the people wanting to lose weight and become healthy – you must do resistance training while cutting calories as this protects against muscle loss. Weight training also improves insulin sensitivity as does aerobic exercise. Thus combining resistance training and aerobic exercise is the way to go.

To summarise:

1.Find BMR and total daily calories required.

2.Reduce about 500 calories per day from the above number through a combination of diet and exercise.

3.Include both weight training and aerobic exercise to reap benefits of fat loss, muscle and strength improvements while gaining good health.

Now go do it.

Author bio: Kamal Singh is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist who has been coaching for 15 years

From HT Brunch, February 9, 2020

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