Your BMR is the estimated amount of calories your body burns when it is not moving, or at rest. This amount represents the minimum energy your body needs to function, from breathing to maintaining a heartbeat. You use about two-thirds of your daily calories to maintain your BMR, so the daily caloric intake needed to allow you to lose weight or gain weight (and still function as a person) will be based on your BMR. Your BMR is based on your age, height, weight, and gender. Most calorie calculators use the Harris-Benedict equation to determine how many calories you should be eating every day. For men, your BMR is equal to: 65 + (6.2 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) (6.8 x age in years) For women, your BMR is equal to: 655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.3 x height in inches) (4.7 x age in years) Calorie calculators also factor in your level of activity. If you are very active, for example, with hard exercise almost every day of the week, you may need to consume more calories than if you lead a more sedentary lifestyle, where you do little to no activity. Be honest with yourself about your level of activity; many people over-estimate their daily activity level. The five different levels of activity are: Sedentary: You have a desk job where you sit all day long and do little to no exercise every week. Lightly active: You do light exercise or play sports, one to three days a week. Moderately active: You do moderate exercise or play sports, three to five days a week. Very active: You do hard, intense exercise or play sports, six to seven days a week. Extremely active: You do intense daily exercise or sports twice a day, and have a physical labor job or are doing a training camp for football or another contact sport. You can put all of the above information in calorie counting tool that will estimate your required calories per a day, based on your BMR. Once you have your estimated calorie intake, consider how you will reduce or increase your calorie intake per a day based on your fitness goals. If you are trying to lose weight, reduce your estimated calorie intake by 500 per a day. Balance your fitness plan by eating 250 calories less a day and exercising enough to burn 250 calories. Try walking or running 2.5 miles a day. When planning your meals, cut back on portion sizes to reduce the amount of calories you consume by 250. Remember that a pound of body fat is comprised of 3,500 calories, thus subtracting 500 calories per day over seven days will result in one pound weight loss per week. If you are trying to gain weight, eat 500 calories more per day and limit your cardio exercises. Focus on strength training, involving free weights, to add lean muscle mass. You should also be eating at least one gram per pound of body weight of protein and get plenty of rest to recover after your workouts. Always start by reducing or increasing your calorie intake a little at a time, no more than 500 calories either way. This will prevent your body from going into shock and ensure you are consuming enough calories to allow your body to function.

Summary: Be aware of the science behind your Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR). Factor in your age, weight, and gender. Determine how active you are on a weekly basis. Use your BMR and your fitness goals to determine your calorie intake.

Music is a great way to motivate yourself to keep running and distract yourself from feeling tired. Studies show that music can reduce your perception of fatigue by up to 10%. So fire up some music that you like to keep yourself going! Try making playlists designed to motivate you while you're running. Be careful running through areas with high traffic while listening to music. that you run. Write down the distance you ran and the time it took you to run after every run you do so you can compare and track your progress. It can be helpful to have a time and a distance to beat to help motivate yourself to push further. Use a running app to track your distance and times for easy reference. Follow what's known as the "10 percent rule." It's just a little bit extra to tack on, but over time, you will dramatically improve your ability to run without getting tired. Slowly increasing your total distance allows your body to adjust and acclimate to the new challenge without risking injury. For example, if you run 5 metres (0.0050km) a week, increase the distance to 5.5 metres (0.0055km) the following week. Use the "hard-easy" rule to improve your endurance. The key is to really push yourself during the hard runs. Because you can't push yourself to the limit every time you run, the "hard-easy" rule allows you to keep running while also improving your endurance and giving your body time to recover and heal. It will also help keep you from overtraining and injuring yourself. into your routine to build up your cardio. Sprinting is a great way to ramp up your cardiovascular endurance so you can run without getting tired. Use sprints to build up your overall running endurance and to change up your routine so you don't get bored. Try a hill workout. Sprint for 10-20 seconds up a hill or on a treadmill with an incline. Repeat it 3-5 times. Use interval sprints by sprinting for 50 meters, then jogging for 50 meters. Repeat the process 5 times.

Summary: Listen to music when you run to improve your endurance. Keep track of the distances Increase the distance of your runs by 10% each week. Alternate difficult and challenging runs with easy ones. Add sprints

Caffeine is not just found in caffeinated beverages like teas and coffees. Certain foods, like chocolate, as well as many over-the-counter and prescription medications, may contain caffeine. You can also find caffeine in energy drinks, such as Monster Energy Drink and Five Hour Energy Shot, workout supplements, weight loss supplements, and over-the-counter stimulants, such as NoDoz and Vivarine. If you regularly consume caffeinated beverages, make a habit of reading the ingredients list on medications and foods. This way, you can make sure you're not getting too much caffeine. Chocolates may not list caffeine as an ingredient on labels. Try to monitor your caffeine from other sources and, if you've had a lot of caffeine on a particular day, avoid chocolate. Write down how much caffeine you consume each day. This can help you make sure you're not getting too much caffeine. Most healthy adults should have no more than 400 milligrams of caffeine a day, which is about how much is found in four cups of coffee. However, some types of coffee may have more or less caffeine than others, so shoot for a little less than four cups if you're a coffee drinker just to be safe. Keep in mind that some people are more sensitive to the effects of caffeine and adolescents should have no more than 100mg caffeine per day. If you find you need to cut back on caffeine, do so gradually. Caffeine is a stimulant to the central nervous system, so regular consumption can cause mild physical dependence. If you stop intake abruptly, you may experience mild withdrawal symptoms for a few days. Cutting back gradually can increase your likelihood of successfully and comfortably cutting back on caffeine. Start small. For example, strive to drink one less cup of coffee each day for a week. The next week, cut back by another cup. Eventually, you'll be at a healthy level of caffeine consumption. Remember, this is around 400 milligrams a day. If you love the taste of coffee, soda, or other caffeinated beverages, switch to decaf. You can still enjoy the taste you love but you won't run the risk of a caffeine overdose. You can order decaf coffee at your favorite coffee shop. You can also get decaffeinated soda at the supermarket, or see if they have it while you're eating out at a local restaurant. If you like tea, most herbal teas do not contain caffeine.
Summary: Monitor your caffeine intake from unexpected sources. Keep tabs on how much you're drinking. Cut back on caffeine gradually. Switch to decaf.