Top Tip to Energize your life

Burning Calories

The exact mechanism for losing weight is still unclear. However, the generally accepted view is to combine a reduced food intake with more exercise.

If you already eat good quality foods, pay attention to the amount that you eat. Then simply reduce the portion sizes of all that good food which you enjoy. For example, instead of two scoops of traditional ice-cream, savour one instead. If you are in the habit of drinking half a bottle of wine every day, switch to every other day, or consciously cut back. At the same time, aim to be more active. This can mean adding in some exercise, or simply not sitting around so much.

It is surprising how few calories are needed to use a computer or mobile phone.

This table shows the number of calories associated with specific tasks. These are in addition to the calories needed for your basal level. For adult men the basal requirement is around 1200, for women it is approximately 800. So, for a sedenatary man, a typical daily total calorie need would be about 2000; for women 1200. With so little calorie expenditure, and so many processed foods which are concentrated sources of calories, it is not surprising that many people are overweight.

Behaviour
Using TV remote control - less than 1 Calorie
Getting up to change the TV channel - 3 Calories
Sitting talking on the phone, 30 minutes - 4 Calories
Letting dog out of back door - 2 Calories
Walking the dog, 30 minutes - 125 Calories
Using pre-cut vegetables - 0 Calories
Washing, preparing vegetables, 15 minutes - 12 Calories
Using auto car wash - 18 Calories
Washing and waxing car, 1 hour - 300 Calories
Using a lift, 3 floors - less than 1 Calorie
Walking up 3 floors - 15 Calories
Sending email to a colleague, 4 minutes - 2 Calories
Walking and talking to a colleague, 4 minutes - 6 Calories
Shopping on-line, 1 hour - 30 Calories
Shopping, pushing trolley, 1 hour - 200 Calories

Source: May Clinic Proceedings (77), 2002.