How many calories can I burn Sitting on the couch?

I find that many people are unaware of their Basal Metabolic Rate aka BMR. Now don't get this mixed up with your Body Mass Index or BMI thats a whole other subject in relation to your level of health risk.

Now back to the BMR. Now we all have different metabolic rates. Unfortunately, the older you get the slower the metabolism. 

But, consistent exercise is the key to keeping your metabolic rate as high as possible.

There is also the issued of a damaged metabolism due to repeated bouts of dieting. This is  typically the result of FAD diets. 

Fad diets come and go and they leave behind thousands of people. People who rebound from their drastic weight loss by gaining  back what they lost and some. 

 Why? Because  FAD diets can't be sustained for long periods of time. In fact, it tends to create a bad relationship with food.  

I've personally been one of those people. I went on a low carb diet for approximately 12 weeks and ended up gaining 14 lbs in a matter of weeks. 

Why? Because I wasn't educated enough to know how to ease myself back into regular  balanced eating and I definitely didn't know what my BMR was at the beginning or end of my diet. And lets say my coach at the time didn't either.

So lets see how we can break this math session down.

First: your weight (lbs) x 10= equals your resting metabolic rate which is approx 70 % of the calories you would burn sitting on the couch. 

Example: 130 lb x 10 =1,300. Boom easy enough right? 

This represents  energy for your body to function at rest, on the couch, playing chess, whatever you do, that won't make you break a sweat.

But wait, how do you know what your total estimated daily calorie burn is? Like what if you don't want to sit on the couch? 

Oh well this changes things. 

Sooooooo. Now we need to figure out how active you are?

Be honest pick one of the activity factors below:

Very light: Nothing that will make me sweat, driving to work, sitting at work, standing at work.

Factor: 1.2-1.3

Low Active: I exercise for 30mins a day with moderate intensity, including driving to work, sitting, standing etc 

Factor:1.5-1.6

Active: I exercise 30 mins a day plus 3 hours of additional activity like cycling at a moderate speed or walking approx 4.5mph. 

Factor:1.6-1.7

Heavily Active: planned vigorous activities, physical labor, full time athletes, hard professions such as steel or road workers 

Factor:1.9-2.1

(Physical activity factors for various levels of activity for adults of Average size, 19 years or older- NASM  essentials of personal fitness training 4th edition revised)

Ok so your BMR x the Activity Factor = The estimated number of calories you burn including Your exercise.   

Example:1300 x 1.6 for a person in the active category =2,080 calories. This number represents total calories or energy used. 

Now is it reasonable to say that you can eat this amount of calories everyday? This depends on how consistent you are with your physical activity.

 It also depends on how many calories your eating right now. If your nowhere near 2,080 .. Don't run to chomp down on extra calories to get to 2,080. 

Why ? Because to your body right now, those are excess calories and you probably will gain weight from the sudden increase of calories. 

Rule of thumb First track your calories to see if your even eating enough to sit on the couch. 

For some of you, your BMR will be the number to work up to. A lot of people don't eat enough for daily body function and tend to cut even more calories and never lose weight. 

disclaimer:The number you come up with, is in no way my personal recommendation just a basic guideline to calculate your metabolic rate. Take it easy and use a calorie tracker app to be sure your eating enough to sit on your couch. 

Till Next time...