Weight loss isn’t all that complicated, at least understanding it isn’t. As a matter of fact you can learn all you’d ever need to know about the basics of weight loss in a few posts. That’s what this series is going to be about I’m going to lay down all the basics of how weight loss works in one multi-part series that explains it all. A shocking, revealing, expose on all that is fat loss. So sit tight and get ready to soak it in as we go into part 1 of…
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About How to Lose Weight: Calories
Anyone can lose fat successfully but there is so much false and misleading information out there claiming to be the magic formula that it can be really hard and confusing. I’m here to tell you that yes anyone can lose weight you just need to understand the fundamentals of weight loss and how the foods we eat effect your body. Once you’ve gotten a good understanding of that then you can put those principles to work to slim down and look fabulous. I know that sounds pretty imposing but don’t worry because if you’re like me all that science can get confusing real fast. So to help out I’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand it all myself and breaking it all down to the simple facts that will be easy to learn and remember.
Calories Schmalories!
Today we’re going to talk about calories. As the old saying goes “A calorie is a calorie.” Calories are the most basic and fundamental thing you have to understand about weight loss because ultimately they determine how much energy is in the food we eat and the fat we burn. Think of your body and the fat in it as a cup that holds liquid, now each day you drain some of this liquid out by doing most anything from exercising to cooking or shopping because you are always burning calories it’s just that different activities will burn them at different rates. Now think of eating as putting more liquid into this cup, so imagine putting more liquid in than you drain out obviously at the end of the day the cup has more liquid in it than at the start of the day. This is the same for fat in your body, your body will burn some amount of calories each day just from being alive and also from any activities you do and eating foods is what provides the fuel for these activities but if you eat more calories than your body burns in a day your body won’t have anything else to do with that energy so it will store it as fat.
Now using that idea let’s think about how we can we lose weight. How can we drain the liquid from that cup? Obviously we should just take out more liquid each day than we put in. What that means is if you eat less calories than your body burns in a day you will have a calorie deficit and lose weight. This simple fact is the fundamental science behind weight loss, everything boils down to the old calories in versus calories out problem. Obviously there’s a bit more to it than that or there wouldn’t be so many different diet plans and many more less reputable schemes or fad diets claiming to help weight loss, but calories are the basis and if any diet you’re considering doesn’t make you take in less calories than your body will be burning then odds are it won’t work because it conflicts with the science.
Calories Huh? Can’t You Just Figure All This Out For Me Already?
Now that we understand this basic calorie formula you must be asking “Well that’s great but how do I make sure I take in less than I burn each day?” That’s exactly the right question we should be thinking about. You see each day our bodies burns some number of calories no matter what we do, if you were to sleep all day long your body would use some amount of energy to keep your body temperature up and keep your organs functioning and such. This is what is called your basal metabolic rate or BMR and it represents how many calories you’re body will burn each day if you sat around or laid around doing nothing. Now most of us don’t have the luxury of doing this so your actual metabolic rate will be a bit higher based on your general activity level and what type of job you perform. If you work in an office and don’t typically exercise your actual calories burnt for a day might be 1.2 times your basal metabolic rate. Calculating your actual BMR is a complicated procedure carried out in labs, but don’t worry about that because there’s a formula that can give a good estimate of what your metabolic rate should be using only your height, age and weight. And since I don’t want anyone to have to do complicated math I’ve provided a BMR calculator that can run this formula as well as estimate your actual metabolic rate for you just click the link and go ahead and calculate yours I’ll wait. Now you know how many calories your body should naturally burn each day and to find out your total calorie burn for a day just add the amount of calories you’ll burn doing any exercises or non typical activities that may burn extra calories as well.
So we now know how many calories we should be burning in a day which puts us half of the way to figuring out how many calories we should take in. To figure that out you need to know that one pound of body fat contains energy equivalent to 3500 calories, so if you want to burn one pound of fat generally you must burn away 3500 more calories than you take in through diet (eating less) and exercising. This means that if you want to lose a pound a week then you would reduce your calorie intake to 500 calories below your actual calorie burn rate you calculated above and for two pounds a week reduce it by 1000 calories (500 calories x 7 days = 3500 calories).
Maybe If I Only Eat Celery All Day! How About That?
Now here’s where you have to be careful, I know it might sounds tempting here to say well I’ll reduce it by 2000 calories and lose 4 or more pounds a week and be done in no time, trust me I’ve been there and believe me when I say it won’t work. First, it is generally advised by doctors that to achieve healthy weight loss you shouldn’t try to lose more than about 2 pounds a week because any more than this and your body will start eating away at your muscles and that’s definitely a bad thing. Secondly, if you cut your calories too much your metabolism will give out on you and go into starvation mode meaning it burns a lot less calories each day, you’ll be cold all the time and have very little energy as well. Worse still even if you do successfully lose more weight once your body has entered starvation mode much of this weight will be muscle which does not help you look or feel better at all. All of this happens because our bodies are exceptionally good at adapting to whatever situations arise. Your body stored that fat when it thought times were good and food was plentiful and now it thinks things are bad for us and we may not have access to a lot of food so it needs to keep that fat to last us as long as possible. So take my advice and keep your calories high enough to keep your body running well, typically this means a very minimum level of calorie consumption per day should be 1200 calories for women and 1500 for men and of course whatever you do talk to your doctor about it first.
Well there you have it. I know this has been a rather long post but calories really are one of the most important things to understand to lose weight so I really hope I’ve helped you understand them a little better. Keep an eye out for more in the series “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About How to Lose Weight” coming up soon and please remember to consult with your doctor before beginning any new diet and exercise program as you and your doctor will know what is best for you.
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