My story is that I graduated college and moved out on my own 7 years ago now and really got into some bad habits of eating all the wrong foods and not working out regularly. As a person with an advanced health care degree, I should know better. But, I am human. This put 20 pounds on me and now I am taking action. I went back to the basics of a few hard but well established truths see below.
Lesson #1: Whether you have 10 pounds or a 100 pounds to lose there is one basic principle that cannot be disputed. In order to lose wt you must burn more energy than you take in. Energy is measured in the form of calories. We take in calories every day when we eat and we burn calories every day in 3 main ways - resting metabolism, physical activity, and thermic effect of feeding (digestion). The trick is to take in less than you burn creating a "calorie deficit" for the day which translates into a calorie deficit for the week/month/ and year if someone sticks with it. This calorie deficit is what creates our goal of WT LOSS. Many people who try to lose wt fail or give up because they never master this first basic lesson.
So you ask how in the heck to figure all of that out??? Well, you may have watched "The Biggest Loser" and seen their notebooks. They all had notebooks and they literally wrote down what went in their mouth. You may say well I don't want to do that - I don't have time. Well, my response would be if you don't write it down you don't acknowledge it. And to quote Dr. Phil "You can't change what you don't acknowledge". Basically, you need to figure out what you burn and what you need to take in - in order to lose. While there are many things to watch with diet, one of the biggest things is calories when it comes to losing wt. I have found a great resource to help with this, and this is what I really wanted to share with you. It is www.calorie-count.com. This website is great because it helps you figure your average daily calories burned plus log any type of activity like running, walking, weight lifting, house work, etc. Then, it has a food log where you put in all of your calories that you eat. It will ask you your goal weight and help you get there by giving you the recommended number of calories you should have in a day. It has tons of food lists to pick from even restaurant foods. The home page summarizes calories in vs calories out showing you whether you have created a deficit for the day. It also has many other helpful tools and resources. The best thing about the resource it that it is free!!!
I know many people aren't big on counting calories. There are certainly a lot of other good resources. However, this one is working well for me and it is really built upon the number 1 weight loss truth "Burn more than you take in."
FYI: If you start working out like a mad man and gain wt quickly it is NOT likely to be Lean Body Mass (muscle). Most people that dive into hard workouts without watching calories eat more. So, they then wonder why they are working so hard but gaining??? Maybe if they wrote down calories in vs calories out they would have a 'Ah Hah' moment. The body generally likes things to stay the same. So, when you burn a lot it will trigger you to eat more. People can gain weight even on healthy foods if they overeat them. The best thing for your metabolism is to eat smaller frequent meals so your constantly digesting food - it helps you to fool your body into thinking it is getting more calories.
And remember - creating a 3500 calorie deficit = 1 lb of body weight lost! So eliminate 3500 calories a week.
From the American College of Sports Medicine:
Calorie Needs to lose weight
There are approximately 3500 calories in a pound of stored body fat. So, if you create a 3500-calorie deficit through diet, exercise or a combination of both, you will lose one pound of body weight. (On average 75% of this is fat, 25% lean tissue) If you create a 7000 calorie deficit you will lose two pounds and so on. The calorie deficit can be achieved either by calorie-restriction alone, or by a combination of fewer calories in (diet) and more calories out (exercise). This combination of diet and exercise is best for lasting weight loss. Indeed, sustained weight loss is difficult or impossible without increased regular exercise.
If you want to lose fat, a useful guideline for lowering your calorie intake is to reduce your calories by at least 500, but not more than 1000 below your maintenance level. For people with only a small amount of weight to lose, 1000 calories will be too much of a deficit. As a guide to minimum calorie intake, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that calorie levels never drop below 1200 calories per day for women or 1800 calories per day for men. Even these calorie levels are quite low.
An alternative way of calculating a safe minimum calorie-intake level is by reference to your body weight or current body weight. Reducing calories by 15-20% below your daily calorie maintenance needs is a useful start. You may increase this depending on your weight loss goals.
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