How Many Calories Does Your Body Need?

There are three primary components that make up your body's energy expenditure. Adding these three components together, basal metabolic rate, energy expended during physical activity, and the thermic effect of food is the most accurate way of determining how many calories your body requires each day.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): Most of the body's energy, about 60-70%, goes to supporting the ongoing metabolic work of the body's cells. This includes such activities as heart beat, respiration and maintaining body temperature. To determine your BMR:

For adult males - Multiply the body weight by 10; add double the body weight to this value.
[i.e., for a 150 lb male, 1,500 + (2 x 150)=1,800 cal/day BMR]

For adult females - Multiply body weight by 10; add the body weight to this value.
[i.e., for a 120 lb female, 1,200 + 120=1,320 cal/day BMR]

Energy Expended During Physical Activity: The second component of the equation depends upon your level of physical activity. Physical activity has a profound effect on human energy expenditure and contributes 20-30% to the body's total energy output. One of the most reliable methods in calculating calories burned during physical activity is the Metabolic Energy (MET) Method. This is the method we have used for the Fitness Partner Connection's Activity Calculator for 158 different activities.

Thermic Effect of Food: The last component to calculate has to do with your body's management of food. The increase in energy required to digest food is referred to as the thermic effect of food (TEF) and it's simple to determine:

TEF = total kcals consumed x 10%
[i.e., 2,000 kcals consumed/day x 0.10 = 200 kcals expended for TEF]

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the best things in life are free

finally, a friday night to remember. a friend gave me a pass to the erykah badu concert at love nightclub tonight. i was hesitant to go since last trip to love, they attempted to charge me $20 for parking and another $20 for cover even though i was on the guest list. this, however, was amazing. i walked right past the one hundred or so people standing outside, handed the bouncer my "credentials", and was welcomed right in, like one of those guys you see climbing out of a wagon wheel rimmed [insert flashy car brand here], accompanied by some girl you just know has a 20 page image search result on google.

once inside, i quickly learned that dinner was on verizon wireless. i hopped in line for a plate of pasta and jerk chicken and then headed upstairs to get a good vantage for the badu show. erykah badu has a very down-to-earth vibe that made her show comfortable as well as entertaining. i didn't realize she was the artist responsible for the song "tyrone", but seeing the crowd's excited reaction to this and others from her catalogue captured my interest. while neo soul isn't a type of music i usually listen to, it was easy to become a fan of erykah's heartfelt live performance. not to mention the fact that the whole experience cost me less than one of those ridiculously expensive 41 cent postage stamps! what about you -- are you an erykah badu fan? get anything good for free lately?