CALORIES! The word we will almost certainly come across in any health magazine and article. It is the word we always see at the back of the packaging of every food item. We think we know it so well. Well.. do we? To some unsuspecting exercise fanatics.. the word ‘calorie’ is sometimes thought of as a bad thing. Is it really? What is a calorie then?
Simply said, a calorie is a unit of energy in food, and food consists of carbohydrates, protein, and fat, with some drinks containing alcohol. Carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram, Proteins 4 calories per gram, and Alcohol has 7 calories per gram. Fat has 9 calories per gram. Calories are simply the amount of ’stored energy’, or a ‘measure of fuel’ in a food item. It is not something bad that we should avoid or something harmful to our body. In fact, we need calories to survive.
I’m not sure if you realise, but our body is burning calories all the time. Yes, even now, as you’re sitting there staring at your computer at my article. When we consume MORE calories than our body requires - we put on weight, and when we consume LESS calories than what we need - we lose weight. Its as simple as that, and thats the logic behind what weightloss and weight gain is all about and how it words.
So by this, we can conclude that it would do our body good if we are able to cause it to burn more calories.. especially when we’re on a weightloss plan. Well, what influences the number of calories we burn? It generally depends on our metabolism, body composition, and food intake. The more lean muscle mass and the lower amount of fat you possess, the more calories you will burn during physical activity.
What I love about muscle tissue is that the more muscle mass we have, the more calories we burn simply by sitting down, cooking, or even sleeping! Muscle tissue is very active–it burns a lot of calories. Every pound of muscle burns about 35 calories per day just on its own, without any exercise. A pound of fat however, burns nothing.
Sadly, when people diet, especially without the combination of exercise, though they still lose fat, they often also lose muscle mass. This is bad and will only be counterproductive in the long run, as this compounds the difficulties of losing weight and keeping it off!
Crash diets and severe calorie-restricted diets WILL reduce your metabolic rate too - another calorie-burning ally we don’t want to lose. Exercising/weight training especially, during a diet, helps prevent this from happening.
Losing muscle is always a bad thing. You shouldn’t strive just to burn as much calories as possible to lose weight and be a smaller version of yourself, but you should strive to build a more fitter, efficient and stronger body - which will cause you to naturally look good and be in excellent shape! In other words, we should strive for a physique transformation, and not a physique reduction. Carelessly overlooking the importance of calorie consumption will only bring more harm in the long run, and make it more difficult for you to keep your weight under control in the future. There.. now you know how calories affect you.
Your friend and coach,
DM
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Hmm…. I know nuts about calories but I know that 3,500kcal = 1 pound… :D
I went to gym today and managed to burn 700kcal…… I can’t manage to achieve that for the past 6 months. Haha…. I have a sense of achievement liao… :D
I’m targeting 1,000kcal per gym session in 2 months’ time… :D
Chong: Yes you’re right. In fact, I’m going to edit my write-up to include that fact. I always tell people, that an excess of 3500 cals will lead to 1lb of weight gain.. I cant believe I forgot to include it in my own writeup.
Also, why do you want to target 1000cals per session? As tempting as it sounds.. don’t overdo it. Firstly.. I think if you’re aiming for weightloss.. you’re better off burning 500 cals at the gym, and getting a deficit of 500 cals from your diet, for a total calorie deficit of 1000 per day. If you workout about 5 times a week (2500cals), diet 7 days a week (3500cals), you will lose just below 2lbs/week, which is a healthy rate of weightloss and won’t sacrifice your precious muscle tissue. Losing up to 1kg per week is a safe and healthy rate. Anything more than that (through extreme exercise, crash dieting, etc) would only bring more harm than good in the long run.*The Aamerican College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that weekly weight loss goals should not exceed 1 kg (about 2.2 Ib) a week.
DM, I have a question.
I currently do cardio 3-4X/week using either a treadmill and a cross-trainer(them ski-like things that work the arms and the legs) and I find that the calorie counter shows that I burn more calories using the cross-trainer rather than the treadmill.
I hear a lot of people who say that the treadmill is the best calorie burner.
My trainer says that the x-trainer is better as it works the upper and the lower body.
In your opinion, who is right?
Or could my technique be wrong?
DM: This is a long story. But if you want to know, read on.
Firstly, it is not easy to achieve 1000kcal per gym session. Even if I am at my fittest, I will still struggle. I need the help from food - Complex carbohydrate. However, I had consistently achieve 1000kcal per gym session 2 years ago. And, I was having 5 session per week. Meaning, I burned 5,000kcal per week. I was fit and well build.
That was 2 years ago and I’m working hard to get back to the condition I once had.
Let’s talk about my gym routine I am having for myself. 30% weight lifting and 70% cardio.
Gym visit per week = 4 to 5 times.
Workout sequence:
1. Warmup + high intensity cardio (Stepper: 18 to 20 mins, Level 6 to 10)
2. Weight lifthing (3 to 4 exercises, usually on compound, 3 sets & 10, 8, 6 reps)
3. Running on threadmill (3 to 5km, 9 - 9.5km/h)
This is my current workout routine.
Yup, I’m targeting weightloss and I want to look tone. Bulking up is not what I wanted. On average, I burned about 2,400kcal per week. But, with my workout programme, I don’t lose a lot of weight. I need proper food to complete my workout programme.
Oh I forgot. I lost 7kg in 2 years time after starting to workout at gym 4 years ago. Then, I got slack because of change of office from Menara Maxis to Cyberjaya. And, I put on 5kg after that. Now, I want to go back to what I had achieved.
Oh, there another thing I want to achieve. I want to run a complete marathon next year….. :D
Anyway, thank you for your advice. Really appreciate it… :D
amirfuadh: In my personal opinion, treadmill, cross-trainer, stepper and rower are all equally good. These cardio machines have different workout purpose. The key here, whenever you step on one of these machines, you need to challenge yourself. Have you ever increase the intensity level whenever you stepped on the x-trainer? Have you run a little faster each time you stepped on the treadmill?
Same goes to weight training. You can’t complain of having no progress if you haven’t increase lifting any weight at all.
amirfuadh: Sorry, I left out something.
What is the speed are you running? Are you running or are you walking on the treadmill? Did you increase the inclinition %? I haven’t seen people spending 30min on treadmill, walking at the speed of 3.5 to 5km/h. Not a single drop of sweat. I was thinking, hmm…. she had better go home, don’t waste the money and time.
amirfuadh: I’ve answered your question in my latest post here:
http://www.dailymuscle.com/2006/05/11/the-treadmill-the-best-calorie-burner/
Chong: Its all about the intensity. Well said.
Chong: Well, for the treadmill I run at 7.5km/h to 8km/h at an inclination of 2% for 30-45 minutes.
At the cross-trainer(the machine I use is a Life Fitness Total Body Stride-or something to that effect), at level 14 at at speeds of 7-9km/hour for a total of 45 mins to 1 hour.
I see the point now, it has to be about intensity. Even then, kinda like comparing apples and oranges, right?
Anyway, for variation sake, I’ll keep alternating between these two as I find these two most satisfying than other cardio machines.
There’s also a trend these days towards avoiding too much aerobic exercise because of the notion that it will make you lose muscle. Quite to the contrary, aerobic exercise –combined with weight training - is the only method of fat loss that allows you to create a calorie deficit and burn fat without slowing down the metabolism.
Here are the reasons why exercise - not dieting - is the superior method of losing body fat:
1. Exercise – aerobic and weight training - raises your metabolic rate. Dieting decreases your metabolic rate.
2. Exercise creates a caloric deficit without triggering the starvation response.
3. Exercise is good for your health. Dieting is harmful to your health.
4. Exercise, especially weight training, signals your body to keep your muscle and not burn it for energy. Dieting without exercise can result in up to 50% of the weight loss to come from lean body mass.
5. Exercise increases fat-burning enzymes and hormones. Dieting decreases fat burning hormones and increases fat storing hormones.
6. Exercise increases the cells sensitivity to insulin so that carbohydrates are burned for energy and stored as glycogen rather then being stored as fat.
If anyone ever tries to sell you a program for losing weight and it doesn’t include exercise (it’s just a “diet”), hold on to your wallet and run for cover. Even if you could get lean without exercise, you should be working out for your health anyway, not just for cosmetic reasons.
courtesy by Tom Venuto
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