calorie intake
Estimating Daily Calorie Expenditure
Whether you’re trying to maintain your current bodyweight, gain muscle or lose fat, it is necessary to estimate daily calorie expenditure as a starting point for determining the calorie intake appropriate to your goals. The key words here are estimate and starting point. No formula or method of measurement is perfect. No matter how good something looks on paper, what ultimately matters is practical results. Whatever your initial estimate, you will need to keep records of calorie intake and goal-relevant measurements and adjust your intake accordingly. › Continue reading
Basic Guidelines for Fat Loss
This is meant as a set of basic guidelines for fat loss, and is nowhere near a complete discussion of the topic. More advanced, detailed guidelines will be posted in future articles as well as an upcoming book.
While numerous factors affect fat gain and loss, by far the most important is energy balance - calorie intake versus calorie expenditure. If you consume more calories than your body burns over a period of time, you will gain fat. If you want to lose fat, you must consume fewer calories than your body burns. There are three basic ways to accomplish this: › Continue reading
High Intensity Strength Training for Cardiovascular Conditioning and Fat Loss
Originally posted Sunday, April 26, 1998
Had a great workout today. Nauseous, dizzy and my heart is pounding. Usually, I couldn’t care less what my heart rate (HR) is. It’s not that important. Resting HR is not an indication of one’s state of health, and HR elevation during exercise is a secondary consideration, and not something one should use as an indication of an effective workout. But, as hard as it’s beating, it’s certainly got my attention. My average resting HR is in the low 50’s, so the approximately 120 BPM I’m experiencing right now (roughly 5 minutes after my workout) is over twice normal.
I spoke with Arthur Jones regarding the subject this morning. He stated, and I agree, “six weeks of proper strength training can improve one’s cardiovascular fitness to a degree that is impossible with any number of years of aerobics.” › Continue reading