LOSING WEIGHT IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE
Every New Year, you make a resolution to lose weight and live healthier. Like most people, you procrastinate and repeat the same resolution year after year but this time, you are ready and committed. You start reading articles and tips on how to lose weight from Social Medias and websites. Some of the most common tips you hear are a special concoction of fruits and vegetables to stimulate your metabolism to burn fats, do some special abs targeted exercise to reduce the belly size, high protein diet, low fat diet, vegan, vegetarian, miracle pills or water, and so forth. You try them out for a few weeks without any results and you feel disappointed and confused. There are too many misleading articles out there to lure people to believe that there is a short cut to losing weight, just to boost readership and visits to their website.
Losing weight is very straight forward. The only way to lose weight is to have a calorie deficit – no magic pills, special exercises or miracle food. In other words, you need to consume fewer calories and expense more calories to lose weight. Like accounting, any food you consume is considered as a deposit while calories burnt is counted as a withdrawal. The more calories you deposit, the more fats you keep. The more you withdraw, the more fats you get rid of.
Our body burns a certain amount of calories everyday even though you are not exercising. Your body needs calories to function – to breathe, to build new cells.. basically to survive. Every person burns at a different rate; depending on their gender, age, size, activity level and so forth. This is called the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).
Jeff is a 30 year old active male who is 6 feet tall. Let’s assume that his estimated BMR is 2000 kcal a day and has a goal to lose 2lbs in 30 days.
It takes 3500kcal to burn 1lb of fat. Hence, in order to lose 2lbs of fats, Jeff needs to burn a total of 7000kcal. However, it isn’t that straight forward. There are many other factors contributing to weight loss but most dieticians and personal trainers would use this as a general guideline to calculate weight loss. So, if Jeff wants to lose 2lbs in 30 days, he needs a calorie deficit of about 235kcal a day (7000kcal /30 days).
So how do we achieve a calorie deficit? There are 3 ways to lose weight naturally.
- DIET
As the title suggests, diet means reducing the amount of food you eat. You could either eat less fats, less carbs or less protein – It doesn’t really matter when it comes to weight loss. However, it can matter if you have a specific goal such as athletic performance, health issues and so forth. Today’s topic will be entirely on weight loss so I will not address this today. Cutting down your intake by 20%-25% will make you lose weight even without exercising. Eliminating a can of Coke means you consume 150kcal less already. Changing your food from fried to grilled reduces calories of up to 10% from your meal already. So let’s say Jeff cuts out a can of Coke and chooses grilled chicken instead of deep fried, and achieves a calorie deficit of about 250kcal a day, he would have a total deficit of 7500kcal in a month (30 days) (250kcal x 30 days), and achieve his goal of losing 2lbs within that period.
However, there are cons when it comes to dieting alone. People who are physically inactive can lose as much as 3% to 5% of their muscle mass per decade. So although you did not gain any weight for the past 10 years, you are losing muscle mass and gaining fats, which is not what we want. Dieting alone will make you lose weight for the short term but you will not enjoy the benefits of exercise, which is the next point.
- EXERCISE
Exercise is a planned and structured physical activity to achieve your goal in fitness and health. You can jog, lift weights and do other form of exercises to increase your calorie expenditure. Some of the physiological benefits of exercise are:
– Reduce cardiovascular disease
– Decrease risks of obesity related diseases such as hypertension, diabetes type 2, cholesterol, etc.
– Increase in musculoskeletal strength and health
– Improvement in cardiorespiratory system
– Better appearance and mood
– And many more..
So assuming if Jeff decides NOT to go on a diet and consumes 2000kcal a day but prefers to lose weight by exercising, Jeff WILL STILL lose weight because of the additional calorie burnt. Assuming Jeff jogs for 30 mins, 5 days a week, and burns 300kcal a session, Jeff would have burnt a total of 6000kcal from exercising alone within 30 days.
Based from the example above, in order for Jeff to achieve his goal of losing 2lbs, it would take him just a little longer than 30 days, and enjoy the benefits of exercise.
However, finding time to exercise can be difficult for some people and in order for Jeff to achieve his goal; he has to make time to jog at least 30mins a session, 5 days a week consistently. Therefore, relying entirely on exercising alone may not be the best solution. At times, we may also eat more than what we should unknowingly. This brings us to the 3rd Option.
- DIET & EXERCISE
The most effective and optimum way to lose weight is to diet and exercise. It may be difficult at first to watch your meal and exercise, but you will reap the benefits of both worlds. Your calorie expenditure will be at the highest, giving you rapid results. Jeff has committed himself to lose weight and stick to his goal. He decides to go on a diet by cutting down a can of Coke and make better food choices, plus jog for 30mins, 5 days a week. Doing so, he would have a total calorie expenditure of 13500kcal within 30 days. Therefore, he would have roughly lost a total of 3.8lbs within that period alone! (13500kcal / 3500kcal). He feels great, strong and fit at the same time.
WHAT IF I EXERCISE BUT I DON’T WATCH MY FOOD?
If you’ve been reading carefully, you should already know the answer. If you eat more than what you expense even with exercise, you WILL gain weight. Some people give themselves a reason to eat after they exercise. It’s like a reward system. Jog for 30mins, burn 300kcal, but consume a slice of cheesecake which is about 500kcal. This unhealthy trend goes on for 30 days and they end up seeing their scale go up and they get puzzled. They tell themselves, “I don’t get it. I’ve been exercising yet my weight is still going up”.
Exercising is NOT AN EXCUSE FOR YOU TO EAT. Although you’ve been exercising, you still need to watch your calorie intake in order not to gain weight. Sad, but unfortunately true.
SO DOES THIS MEAN THAT I CAN EAT JUNK FOOD, STAY UNDER MY CALORIES AND STILL LOSE WEIGHT?
The answer is YES. However, that does not mean that it will be good for you. Too much processed and junk food can cause unwanted health issues and diseases, even though your scale goes down. You may develop cancer from processed food, cholesterol from transfat laden junk food, hypertension from salty snacks and so forth. Basically, rubbish in, rubbish out. You may feel lethargic and moody from all the junk, which is not worth it.
IN SUMMARY
QUANTITY = WEIGHT LOSS
QUALITY = HEALTH
Choose which option suits you best because it is important for you to be at your healthy weight. The best option would be to exercise and diet, but if you can’t commit to something that big yet, you can always take a smaller step for a start. Don’t fall for gimmicks and tricks. Diet fads may work but not for your long term interest. Manage your portion and make better food choices for your body. Follow the basic guideline here and eat below your calorie requirements. Set a goal that is time bound and commit to it. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from a nutritionist or a certified Personal Trainer.
- Aim to consume 20%-25% lesser than what you usually eat.
- Exercise for at least 30mins, 3-5 days a week if possible.
IT IS THAT SIMPLE. Good luck! 🙂
PS: Here’s a cool App which I use that could help you with weight control: myfitnesspal (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/)