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How Does Your Body Expend Calories
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How Does Your Body Expend Calories?
You're constantly expending calories, but a little knowledge can help you to burn more and be all the thinner and healthier for it.
By Michael Wood
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"The best way to burn calories when it comes to exercise is to perform circuit- based strength training and interval-based cardio three to four times a week. …"
You're constantly expending calories, but a little knowledge can help you to burn more and be all the thinner and healthier for it.
The human body is such an amazing organism that it's constantly utilizing calories for daily functions, some of which you may not even be aware of.
Expending Calories Through Doing Nothing
Functions such as breathing, changing hormone levels, blood circulation, growing and repairing of your cells and even the pumping of your heart, all require calories. The number of calories it takes to carry out these activities while resting is known as your basal metabolic rate (BMR).
About 60-65% of your daily calories are used for your BMR but there are also a few other ways your body expends calories.
Expending Calories Through Digestion
It takes calories for your body to process the food you eat. It takes calories to chew, absorb, digest and transport the calories you consume in the form of: carbohydrate, protein, fat and alcohol.
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Interval-based cardio training 3-4 times a week such as running along with circuit- based strength training are efficient ways for your body to burn maximum calories.
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It takes more energy (calories) to break-down protein than any other food source. About 10-15% of your daily calories are needed for thermogenesis to occur, also known as Thermic Effect of Food (TEF).
Expending Calories Through Physical Activity
The third way your body expends calories is through daily physical activity (or Thermic Effect of Exercise) (stair climbing, lifting, walking etc) and exercise (+). The more active and heavier you are = the higher the caloric expenditure will be.
You can expend about 15% of calories via Exercise Daily Physical Activity. This is where I also like to add in - NEAT or non-exercise activity thermogenesis (think fidgeting an tapping your foot) and EPOC or excess post oxygen consumption (the calories that some of us burn post exercise if the intensity is high enough).
The best way to burn calories when it comes to exercise is to perform circuit- based strength training and interval-based cardio three to four times a week.
Through strength training, you're able to build muscle over time (about 3 lbs. lean tissue in 12 weeks according to research). Muscle is more metabolically active compared to fat (adipose tissue) - 3 lbs. of muscle would burn about 18-21 calories/day while the same amount of fat would burn 6 calories/day.
In other words muscle burns three times more calories than fat and takes less space on your body because it's denser than fat.
About the Author
Michael Wood, CSCS, serves as Chief Fitness Officer at Koko FitClub, LLC, which develops interactive software and hardware for the $60B worldwide fitness and wellness industry. Koko FitClub is a national franchise that currently has more than 150 locations sold with 25 clubs open around the U.S. and Canada. Michael is also Founder of the Sports Performance Group, an award-winning fitness consulting company that was established in 1988. Read his blog at: http://michaelwoodspg.blogspot.com/
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