Healthy Weight Loss
How many calories do you really need to eat each day? There is no set figure that applies to, say, men or women, or people over 40. The only way to get an accurate picture of how many calories you need to eat and how many you need to cut to lose weight is to calculate your BMR, or Basal Metabolic Rate.
What is The BMR?
The BMR is the number of calories that your body needs to function normally. It’s based on your gender, height, weight, age and bone structure. There are a number of MBR calculators on the internet that you can use for free and they’ll all give you basically the same figure. Bear in mind that the BMR is the number of calories you need for normal function, such as work, school, housework, personal care, watching TV and even sleeping. It does not take into effect any exercise you might get or a job that requires a good deal of physical activity.
There are some formulas you can find online or in books that will help you calculate your BMR yourself. These allow you to factor in your activity level. If you use them, or one of the online calculators that includes activity levels, be honest. It will only harm you to overestimate how much activity you’re actually getting each day.
Starting with your BMR
Getting your BMR is a starting place for launching a healthy weight loss plan. This is the number of calories that will allow you to maintain your current weight, without exercising. In order to lose weight, the number of calories you eat per day will have to go down, the number of calories you burn will have to go up, or a combination of the two. If you use any of these methods to cut 500 calories per day, you’ll lose one pound per week. (A pound is equal to 3,500 calories.) In order to lose two pounds per week, you’ll need to double those numbers. This is a good starting pace for healthy weight loss.
Does it Matter How You Cut the Calories?
The answer is a very loud “Yes!” Here’s why:
All of the various factors that go into your BMR (height, gender, age, etc) are calculated per pound. If you choose to cut calories without exercising, once you lose ten pounds, your BMR will go down. To continue losing weight, you’ll have to cut your calories even further, and so on, until they’re so low that you won’t be able to stick with the diet. This is not a recipe for healthy weight loss that will last.
On the other hand, if you choose to cut 250 calories per day from your diet and burn 250 calories through exercise, you’ll actually adjust your BMR. The more active you are, and the more lean muscle you add to your body, the higher your BMR. You’ll be able to take in a sane (and healthy) number of calories and still continue to lose weight. A healthy weight loss plan adjusts with you so that you can bypass plateaus and keep your motivation levels high.
The news gets even better. Once you reach your target weight, if you’ve added lean muscle while losing that fat, you’ll be able to eat more calories, without gaining weight, for the rest of your life. This frees you from that never ending cycle of yo-yo dieting that can be so discouraging, frustrating and unhealthy. You’ll also end up with a much better body than someone who lost weight through diet alone, yet looks flabby or lacks tone.
In choosing healthy weight loss over lazy weight loss, you’ll end up with a body you can be proud of and energy levels that will let you enjoy it.
Can you do it With Exercise Alone?
You can. However, it will take longer to burn 250 calories than it will to cut them out of your diet. You’re also very likely taking in a lot of empty or unhealthy calories that you can do without. Your weight problem is most likely due to a combination of inactivity and overeating, rather than unhealthy eating alone. By cutting out just 250 calories a day you can eliminate unhealthy habits and give your body the fuel it needs to do all that exercising.
Where do you Cut the Calories?
Cutting 250 or even 500 calories per day out of your diet isn’t as difficult as it probably sounds to you. Two cans of Coke equal 250 calories. One bowl of ice cream or three tablespoons of regular salad dressing can easily add up to 500. The best way to start cutting calories is to eliminate the ones that aren’t doing a thing for you. These are called empty calories. They have no nutritional value and are usually loaded with sugar or fat. In other words, they have no use in a healthy weight loss plan.
Soda, candy, cake, donuts and French fries would all be included in a list of empty calories. They may be some of your favorites, but they are not your friends. If you’re going to eat something, even if it’s a forbidden treat, at least make it something that has some nutrition in it. You’d be better off with a slice of cheese pizza than you would with an order of fries, if only because the pizza contains tomato sauce and calcium-rich cheese. You still might be getting too many calories and too much fat, but at least you’ll get some nutrition.
Another simple way to cut calories is to make substitutions for your downfalls. Healthy weight loss means making smart choices and finding new ways to enjoy the things you love. Try some new dressings that use canola or olive oil instead of saturated fats. Have iced green tea or fruit-flavored water instead of sodas. Indulge in a decadent sorbet or sherbet instead of full-fat ice cream. Try plain soy milk in your coffee instead of flavored (and fat-laden) creamers.
You Can Do This
By making just these few changes in your diet, you can easily cut between 250-500 calories without feeling it much at all. Then you can add 250-500 calories worth of exercise or other physical activity into your day to burn the rest of the calories you need to lose. This is a healthy weight loss plan that will get you where you want to go.
Lifestyle changes can be difficult in the beginning. You likely have bad habits that have formed over a period of years, and those habits will take some will to break. The good news is that it will be so worth it when you’re done.