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What Factors Affect How Many Calories You Burn?

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What Factors Affect How Many Calories You Burn?
What Factors Affect How Many Calories You Burn?

Weight loss happens when you burn more calories than you take in, creating a calorie deficit. For gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, and lap band surgery patients, maximizing this calorie deficit is important to maximize weight loss. To do that you would have to know how many calories you are taking in and how many you are burning each day. The problem with trying to figure out how many calories you burn in a day is that everyone burns calories at a different rate. That is why some people can follow a particular diet and exercise regime and experience different weight loss results.

Let’s explore the different factors that influence how your body burns calories:

Age- The older a person is, the fewer calories they burn. There is nothing you can do to change your age, but the earlier you start your weight loss journey the better.

Sex- Unfortunately for women, science shows men burn more calories.

Pregnancy and Breastfeeding- Both of these increase how many calories women burn each day.

Body Size- The larger you are, the more calories you will burn, even at rest.

Body Composition- The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn.

Amount and type of exercise- The more intense and the longer you exercise, the more calories you will burn.

Thermogenesis- This is the amount of energy your body uses to break down or metabolize the food you’ve eaten.

Some of these factors you can change and others you can not, so focus on maximizing what you can control. While larger body size does contribute to more calories burned, maintaining a larger body size does not allow for weight loss or the benefits associated with it, like improvements in blood pressure, blood sugar, mobility, and cholesterol levels.

The areas to focus on are body composition and amount and type of exercise.  By gaining muscle mass through exercise and strength training, you may not see your numerical weight decrease, but you will lose body fat and replace it with muscle, which will contribute to losing inches and allow your body to naturally burn more calories.  The amount and type of exercise is important to maximize your weight loss. An evening stroll is good for you, but more heart pumping exercise should be incorporated too.  The type of exercise is up to you (jogging, tennis, swimming, pilates, kickboxing, barre, etc) so make it something you can enjoy.

If you are trying to lose weight and haven’t been successful despite diet and exercise, bariatric surgery may be an option.  Dr. Shillingford, MD, PA has performed over 4,000 bariatric procedures, including gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, and lap band surgery.  His weight loss surgery patients come from all over Florida, including Boca Raton, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Naples, Orlando, and Jacksonville, to have their weight loss surgery performed by the Director of Bariatric Surgery at a hospital with a designated Bariatric Center of Excellence.  To find out if you are a candidate for gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, or gastric band surgery, call Dr. Shillingford at (561) 483-8840 today.