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In my last blog, we tackled the most common question I get (other than "Mommy, can I have a glass of milk?"):
"How Many Calories Should I Be Eating?"
To review, there is a simple formula you can use that takes into account your gender, height, weight, age & activity level, and that will provide you with a reasonably accurate estimate of your calorie needs in an average day. This Total Daily Energy Expenditure is the number of calories you need to consume in a day to balance out what you've used; in other words, to maintain your weight.
But what if you want to lose weight?
In order to lose weight, you must consume fewer calories than your body actually requires at its current size. Sounds like starving yourself? It kind of is starving yourself. But if you're overweight or obese, you're usually cutting down from an excessive amount of calories which has landed you at that overweight condition to an appropriate number of calories that will land you at and mantain a healthy weight.
So let's go back to our drawing board.
A pound of fat consists of 3,500 calories. In other words, if you want to lose a pound of fat, you must cut 3,500 calories from your diet or burn 3,500 calories through exercise, or use a combination of calorie restriction and exercise.
It is generally accepted that a weight loss of 1 to 2.5 pounds per week is safe and easy to maintain in the long term. If you want to lose 1 pound of weight (equivalent to 3,500 calories) per week, you must create a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories per week, or 500 calories per day. If you want to lose 2 pounds of weight per week, you're looking at 7,000 calories per week or 1,000 calories per day.
Let's go back to our example from the last blog post on Total Daily Energy Expenditure. Our gal was 40 years old, 160 pounds and 5'5" tall. She was moderately active, and we determined that her TDEE (the calories she needs to maintain her weight) was 2,276 calories/day.
Now let's say our gal wants to lose 2 pounds per week. She needs to trim 1,000 calories from her daily budget.
2,276 (TDEE) - 1,000 = 1,276 calories/day
Our gal can either cut 1,000 calories out of her diet (YIKES!) and eat just 1,276 calories per day, or she could use a combination of exercise and diet to accumulate that 1,000 calorie deficit. If our gal jogs for one hour and burns approximately 500 extra calories, she can consume 1,776 calories instead of just 1,276 that day and stay on track for her 2-pound goal that week.
The most effective way to lose fat, by a landslide, is a combination of calorie restriction and exercise. Why? Trying to cut too many calories from your diet can leave you missing out on vital nutrients and feeling so hungry that you're likely to fall off the wagon and binge. Trying to burn off all of your calories through exercise can be tricky unless you've got a couple of hours each day to work out. A bit of moderation in your diet coupled with manageable bouts of exercise is the sanest method.
Let's recap!
To lose 1 pound per week > TDEE - 500 calories = your daily budget
To lose 2 pounds per week > TDEE - 1,000 calories = your daily budget
So you don't have to exist on just spinach and egg whites, use exercise to add extra calories to your daily budget. Find out how many calories your favourite fitness class is burning here, and use this extensive list of calories burned per activity to choose the workout that gives your the biggest burn for your time.
Finally, use a food journal to help you count calories while you work toward your goal weight, & to keep you mindful of where you might be going wrong. A food journal is one of the most effective weight loss tools, and coupled with an understanding of your caloric needs, makes for a foolproof weight loss plan. And it's all FREE! Hmmm... maybe I should have charged for access to this article...
Do you count calories? Use a food journal?
Need help determining your TDEE or calculating the number of calories you should eat to lose weight? Reply below!