How to optimise your calorie consumption
An energy balance helps us stay as healthy as possible and maintain a normal weight. Five tips on how to keep your energy consumption and calorie intake in balance – without having to count calories.
28.09.2017
To keep our weight healthy and stable, it is important not to take in more calories than our body actually needs. This means that an energy balance must be maintained. Ideally, this involves a combination of nutrition and exercise – eating a balanced diet and keeping active in everyday life.
An active lifestyle already increases energy consumption. A minimum of 10,000 steps per day is the guideline. Did you know that muscle mass burns almost three times as much energy as fat tissue, even at rest?
Boost your energy consumption by jogging, swimming or hiking, for example. Are you a couch potato? Try out a new sport to burn unwanted calories: skateboarding, dancing, slacklining, boxing.
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Calculate your calorie consumption
You can calculate your rough energy consumption per day using the calorie calculator (in German and French) from the Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Ernährung (Swiss Society for Nutrition), for example. A calorie calculator is also offered by yazio.com, for example to calculate energy consumption when doing sport.
Five tips on how you can increase your calorie consumption in everyday situations without having to do sport:
Humans are not designed to lead sedentary lives. If we do not move, our muscles degenerate. Stand and walk whenever you can instead of using your car, going by bus or taking the lift. Perhaps your neighbour has a dog you can take for a walk?
Scrub the bathtub, vacuum the floors or mow the lawn – housework and gardening are great ways to break a sweat. Make chores like these your new sport.
Star jumps are a real all-rounder: they get your circulation moving properly, strengthen your legs and improve stamina. Try to do 10 to 20 per day. For a change, try skipping.
Instead of lounging on the sofa, try sitting upright on the floor as this consumes more energy. Incorporate a few exercises: lean against the wall as if you're sitting on an invisible chair or do knee lifts or crunches. You can find further suggestions and instructions in the Helsana Coach app.
Exercise while brushing your teeth or making phone calls: stand on tiptoe, hold for 20 seconds, repeat three times. Another exercise: multiple backward leg lifts followed by sideways leg lifts, one leg after the other.
Further information
Movement expert Evelyne Dürr Movement expert Evelyne Dürr
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