All about Calories

New year resolution, lots of people prepare it. 99% included losing weight as one of their must-achieve near year resolution, but not many able to do it, that's why they keep putting it back and snowballing the percentage to 99%, amazing. Shame that I'm also contribute to the statistics.

Why people fail to lose weight? Reason is very simple. Consider this.
1kg of fat that you are carrying is equivalent to 7,700 calories.

It doesn't mean anything if you don't know what you are eating. Just to quote an example, I ran 8.24km yesterday within 56 minutes and I burned 612 calories. That's almost 1 hour of running workout and I need 10 hours to burn 1kg of fat in my body! That's scary if you ask me.

Burning it is damn hard, but gaining it is simple as ABC. A large fries from McDonald got 500 calories! That's 50 minutes of running. How to lose weight? Too bad our body is so efficient. Good news is, the more you know about your enemy, the easier it is to fight them. It's all about numbers, so let's go and kick the calories' ass.

Your body is what you eat minus what you work out for. You eat more than you work, weight gain. You eat less than you work, reduce weight. Simple philosophy. First step is to know how much you are allow to eat so can find a strategy to fight it.
How to calculate how much calories you need daily?
Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) - (6.8 x age in years)
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age in years)

Sedentary (little or no exercise) - your AMR = BMR x 1.2

Lightly active (light exercise/work 1-3 days per week) - your AMR = BMR x 1.375

Moderately active (moderate exercise/work 3-5 days per week) - your AMR = BMR x 1.55

Very active (hard exercise/work 6-7 days a week) - your AMR = BMR x 1.725

Extra active (very hard exercise/work 6-7 days a week) - your AMR = BMR x 1.9

For myself, my BMR calculation as following:

BMR = 66 + 1,260.4 + 895 - 197.2 = 2,024.20 calories
AMR = 2,024.20 x 1.2 = 2,429 calories

My dream ideal weight is 75kg and I'm currently 92kg. I need to lost 17kg, that's 130,900 calories. Scary number but let's break it down. I plan to lose 2kg each month and achieve my dream weight within 8.5 months.

In a month, lose 2kg = 15,400 calories
In a week, need to reduce 3,850 calories

With my AMR of 2,429calories, say I control my eating at 2,000 calories, I reduce 429 calories each day. Within a week, I lose 3,003 calories. I need to burn another 847 calories and that's approximately 1 hour & 30 minutes running, easily achievable! Problem is, how I control my eating to 2,000 calories per day??

Marvel of internet, check out the Cekodek. Special Malaysian portal for food calories counter. Nasi lemak, roti canai, teh tarik, fast food, and all kind of stuff. There are lots of function there and be a conscious eater from today onwards. That's what I plan to do.

With a game plan lay properly here, I will probably know what to do. Strategy is to minimize breakfast by drinking oat & bread, a proper lunch and a controlled dinner without carbs. and of course, occasional good lunch / dinner to continue to write food blog for you guys. Wish me luck =)

PS: another strategy recommended is by eating at your ideal weight calories. For my case, 2,196 calories but problem is, there is no timeline for me to track. So I prefer my way, your choice =)