Lose Weight For Life: Nutrition Basics 1 - The Equation and Creating a Calorie Deficit
Nutrition Basics 1
The Equation and Creating a Calorie Deficit
There are many fad / crash diets to lose weight. We have all had the flu and dropped a few pounds which is the ultimate CRASH diet. But, how can you lose weight and keep it off?
In this series, we will show you not only how to lose weight in a healthy way but keep it off, for life!
To do this, you must start from the basics with this simple math equation:
If you are in a surplus you will gain weight, if you are in a deficit you will lose weight.
This is simple math and if you follow this equation you can lose weight. While there are some other factors that are unique to each individual the general equation always remains.
We would recommend to use a nutrition app such as myFitnessPal to track your calories, this will give you an accurate amount of the calories that you intake. Even if you do not use this forever it will give you a good estimate of how many calories are in foods going forward. This is how you set good habits that will last you for life.
Calorie Intake
Your calorie intake is how many calories you ingest in a day. This can be broken down further into macronutrients and micronutrients, which is very important but to keeps things simple we will just focus of total calories. You can use different guides, but it would be recommended to use a nutritional tracking app to see how many calories you are consuming in day.
Calorie Expenditure
Calorie Expenditure is how many calories your body uses in a day. This is a combination of two numbers:
Your Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR
Your BMR, is the amount of calories your body uses just to function in day to day life. Cell reproduction, breathing, thinking, etc. The main factors are of height, weight, and sex. But, there are unique factors such as hormones, metabolism, fat-to-muscle ratio, etc. that will make this slightly different for everyone.
Click here for a calculator that will give you a good idea of where you stand based on the main factors.
Physical Activity
Besides calories burned just to stay alive, there is a physical activity component that burns extra calories. Working out, walking to work, chasing after kids, etc. all burn extra calories in a day.
You can calculate your physical activity by adding up all your activities and finding the calories used or an easy and accurate way would be use a smart watch and it can track it all for you throughout the day.
Surplus or Deficit?
To calculate whether or not you will gain weight we go back the equation.
The goal is to create a deficit between your Calorie Intake and your Calorie Expenditure. You can create this deficit by either: Decreasing Calorie Intake OR Increasing Calorie Expenditure
To lose half a pound each week the goal would be to aim for a 250-300 daily calorie deficit, if your goal is to lose 1 pound a week this deficit should be 500-600 per day (about 3,500 calories total). It would not be recommended to go above this, at such a big deficit you may lose weight initially but this is not good for your body in the long run.
Example
A 35 year old female, that is 160 cm (5'4) in height and 143 lbs. That exercises 1-3 times per week.
Intake: 1,600 calories
BMR: 1,312 calories
Daily Physical Activity: 500 calories
Based on this deficit this person should lose just below half a pound a week.
If she wanted to lose one pound per week, she should aim for a 500 daily calorie deficit by either:
Increase physical activity by 300 calories per day
Decrease her intake by 300 calories per day
Combination of physical activity Increased by 150 calories and decrease intake by 150 calories per day
This will not work the same for everyone and in some cases some people will have a higher metabolism, different fitness levels, different hormones, different sleep, different stress levels, etc. but this a very good guide to start with.
If you are losing too much weight there may be factors at play and you need to increase calorie intake or decrease calorie expenditure, if you are losing too little weight you may need to decrease calorie intake or increase calorie expenditure. You should work in two week cycles and decide at the end of two weeks what changes to make.
Once you achieve your desired weight you can balance this equation to a neutral level. That is how you Lose Weight For LIFE!
Once you have mastered this or you want/need to take it up a level you can move on to Lose Weight For Life: Nutrition Basics 2 for even better results!
Lose weight for Life!
We will show you not only how to lose weight in a healthy way but keep it off, for life!
