People tend to have the general perception that if you just start to exercise and eat a little bit better that weight is going to fly off, and that may be the case for some people who are extremely overweight, but they will plateau at some point in their journey. Weight loss is not easy; it takes a lot of focus, concentration, motivation, and restraint. At the end of the day, weight loss comes down to energy balance. We eat calories and we burn calories. And let me just say, it is a heck of a lot easier to eat calories than to burn them. So how do you lose weight you ask? You MUST burn more calories than you are consuming over a period of time to lose weight.
1 lb of fat =3500 calories
What that means is, for 7 consecutive days you have to burn 500 more calories than you consume, then you lose 1 lb of fat. Ideally we burn 500–1000 more calories a day than we consume. That would equate to 1–2 lbs per week (which is a healthy weight loss). Now I’m going to talk about Basil Metabolic Rate, or BMR. What is it? It’s not that complicated; an easy way to think about it is the amount of calories that your body burns just from being alive. So, if you don’t do anything all day, you will still burn X amount of calories. Why is it good to know your BMR? When looking at weight loss it can help you decide your caloric intake (in other words, how much you’re going to eat!). Let’s look at how to calculate it. See the equations below.
For women BMR = (height in centimeters x 6.25) + (weight in kilograms x 9.99) – (age x 4.92) – 161.
For men BMR = (height in centimeters x 6.25) + (weight in kilograms x 9.99) – (age x 4.92) + 5.
You can check out what your BMR is by clicking the link: Find out your BMR
Weight loss can be trickier than you think because people may think, “Oh, if I stop eating almost altogether for a few weeks the weight will melt off.” Doing this will cause your bodily functions to slow down, almost like a bear going into hibernation. Now there are a few things that should stand out when we tell you that: (1) You are not a bear! (2) If you are not giving your body the right amount of fuel your body will actually start to cannibalize itself and break down your own lean muscle to get the energy it needs. (3) Starving yourself can decrease the density of your bones, making you more prone to injuries. We could go on, but we think reason 1 should be enough to sway you from these kinds of diets.
So, what is a safe weight loss goal for a week? About 1–2 lbs of fat per week; anything more than that can be unhealthy. At the end of the day, you MUST burn more than you are consuming to lose weight! One of our favorite sayings is, “You can’t out exercise a bad diet.” It takes a healthy eating plan and an on-point workout routine (we got you covered with the workouts!) to reach your goals. Some of the tools we like to use to help track our calorie consumption are myfitnesspal or fitbit. If you think you’d like to give one of these apps a try, but need help setting them up, any of our staff here at Our Team Fitness would be more than happy to help set you up.
Till next time,
Ryan Howe
