Project Exercise

A 4 mile run was on my marathon training schedule.  It was hot and humid today so I ran on the treadmill.  I usually try to do a tempo run or negative splits during my short runs, but since my body is in need for some recovery, I took a farily easy pace.  The worst part of running on the treadmill, of course, is boredom.  So I listened to an audio book on my iPhone using my wireless bluetooth headset.  I am listening to Brad Thor's "Apostle" which is one of those cloak and dagger novels.  This one is about a rescue mission in Afganistan.  Due to family, work and training I haven't been able to catch up on my reading so this is a great way to catch up on my books.  I would much rather sit down and read the book, but since time is tight, listening to it is the next best thing.  I find, though, that my mind sometimes wonders and I miss small sections.  I often have to rewind to listen to it again.

Anyway,  after my run I did some cable crunches, bicycle crunches, straight leg lifts and steering wheels.  Ok, so tomorrow is a rest day.  I like to have a rest day before and after my long runs.  

Take care and thanks for stopping by! 

If you want to lose weight, gain weight or simply maintain your weight, you need to figure out how many calories your body needs on a daily basis.  You can get a pretty good idea by getting your BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate and adding the amount of calories you expend beyond that.  Basically BMR is the number of you would burn if say, you laid in bed all day long.  To get an accurate figure would require a lab.  However, you can get a pretty good estimate using a simple equation.  We will get to that in a moment.

To find out how many calories we expend beyond our BMR we need to find our activity level using the Harris Benedict Formula.

Ok, so here we go.  To find out how many calories you burn, do the following…

Step 1 – Figure out your BMR

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 )

Step 2 – Figure out your activity factor and add it to your BMR

We will use the Harris Benedict Formula to determine your total caloric requirements

1. If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
2. If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
3. If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
4. If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
5. If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

Example

Ok, so let's figure out John Doe's total caloric requirements.  Joe, 35 years old, is a 6 ft, 175 pound male.  While Joe has a desk job he works out regularly using P90X.  So using the BMR formula we get this…

Step 1 – Get Joe's BMR

66 + ( 6.23 x 175 lbs ) + ( 12.7 x 72 inches ) – ( 6.8 x 35 years old)
Simplified… 66 + 1090.25 +914.4 – 238 = 1832.65
BMR = 2308.65

Step 2 – Add Joe's activity level to his BMR

According the Harris Benedict formula (see above), Joe's activity factor is 1.725 (P90X is an intense 6 day a week workout program).  So…
2308.65 x 1.725 = 3161.3
Joe burns over 3000 calories a day!  

So if Joe wants to lose weight, he could reduce his caloric intake by about 500.  So he could eat around 2661 calories a day.  Over a period of 7 days he could shave 3500 calories (7 x 500).  That is roughly a pound a week.