Calories Burned Calculator

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Calories Burned

Since there are so many ways in which to burn calories, let's take a look at not only what a calorie is exactly, but how to use a calorie calculator with the purpose of being able to figure out the amount of calories burned depending on the type of physical activity performed.

What Exactly is a Calorie?

A calorie refers to the amount of heat that is required in order to raise the temperature of one liter of water one degree. Although this may trigger memories from high school science class, making you feel like you are entering a new world speaking in strange languages, it's really a simple standard unit used to measure the energy your body uses throughout the day.

*Know that there are 4 calories per gram of carbohydrates, 4 calories per gram of protein, and 9 calories per gram of fat.

Using a Calorie Burn Calculator

Standard Metabolic Equivalent.

The standard metabolic equivalent (MET) is a unit that is utilized when wanting to find an estimate of how much oxygen your body is using when engaging in a particular physical activity. When your body is resting, meaning that you are sitting quietly and there is very little movement, then you are using 1 MET of energy (oxygen). When you partake in an activity that demands more oxygen be used, then more MET's will also be used, which means you are burning more calories.

Using a calorie calculator is one of the best and most accurate ways in which you are able to track how many calories burned during a particular exercise. Different physical activities require different amounts of exertion. The more exertion you expend is directly related to more calories burned, as more oxygen is being utilized and in turn the more MET units your body will utilize.

Why it's Important.

Keeping track of the amount of calories you eat in a day is essential to your overall health, and using a calorie calculator will help you monitor the amount of calories expended during a particular exercise. This means that using a calorie burn calculator is a fantastic idea that will be of great use as you begin/continue to monitor calories burned so that you are able to understand exactly what is required in order to be/stay healthy.

REFERENCES

http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/healthieryou/html/chapter5.html
http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home_Page&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=7788
http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/caloricexp.html
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1479-5868-3-17.pdf

Matthew Johnson (Google+) is a certified personal trainer, nutrition expert and an on-line fitness consultant that started ChangingShape.com back in 2001.

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