The top question I receive is : Shannon, I want to lose 10/15/20/25 pounds, how do I do it? Well, I am an exercise and wellness major, as well as a fitness obsessed person who researches for fun. So Ive become pretty in tune with this! Here is the lowdown.
You've heard the saying " To lose weight, have more calories go out then go in". Although simple, there is alot of truth to this sentence, but there is also ALOT more to it.
Here are some things to consider:
RMR
BMR
Exercise
Diet
Those 4 things will be your keys to weight and fat loss.
* Unofficial definitions, these are put in a way you can better understand them.
RMR- Resting Metabolic Rate - The calories you burn while existing and doing basic daily activities ( getting out of bed, walking around etc. )
BMR- Basal Metabolic Rate - The calories you burn if you were to do nothing but lie in a bed and breathe and digest.
So why are these important?
- These figures helps you to know where to set a calorie and exercise goal, as well as providing an equation to better help you reach your goals, and have a timeline.
We will come back to this :)
So! To return to the idea of more calories out than in, you can do this with diet and exercise. You can eat whatever you want, as long as you're willing to put in the work to make up for the excess calories with a workout ( easier said than done! ). Or you could just watch your calories and never step foot in a gym and reach your goals ( sloooooww results! ) OR you can do my favorite method and combine them. POWER DUO!
So how do you figure out how many calories and exercise you need?
- This amount will differ given your height, weight, age and other aspects.
I will use some figures from a recent client of mine as an example to show you some numbers that will hopefully make more sense.
This client is :
a female
age 22
height 5'4
weight 160
A healthier weight range for this client, is 125-140. So we set a goal of 130. That means she needs to lose 30 pounds.
( considerations for weight is the look you want to achieve. Muscle weighs alot, so alot of times you need to ignore the number on the scale if you are putting on muscle! If you simply want a healthier weight, but wont be doing alot of muscle building than bmi calculators are great! )
Her estimated BMR ( estimated because its a simple calculations and there are other considerations such as climate, genetics etc ) is : 1548
Her estimated RMR is: 1794
So how do you use these numbers to pick out a goal?
Well, you don't want to drop too far beneath your BMR. Your body will naturally think it is starving and slow down the digestion and metabolic processes to conserve energy, which will then back fire on your weight loss plan.
So my clients minimum was 1500 calories ( her BMR is 1548 ). She burns around 1800 (1794 RMR) by doing regular activities such as explained before. So this means, if she were to pay attention strictly to calories and eat 1500 calories daily, she would have a negative of around 300. This is only diet, no exercise.
One pound is 3500 calories. So if you do the math, my client would lose about a pound every 11-12 days. That is a very slow rate considering she has 30 pounds to lose.
Exercise is a great help here because of a few reasons.
1. More muscle = more cells to burn fats
2. Exercise burns calories
3. Exercise releases happy chemicals in your body to give you more energy, a better attitude and even better sleep quality.
So! Back to our math. My client has:
-300 calories per day from a calorie specific diet.
A healthy weight loss rate is 1-2 pounds per week, so she needs to have a negative of 500 - 1000 calories per day. If she is losing 300 from diet control, then the other 200-700 needs to be from exercise.
I hope you followed that! Obviously there is alot more to weight-loss than just a simple math equation, but this is a great place to start and have a better understanding. So once you know this, it gets complicated.
How can you control calories? "I'm always hungry!"? Are "healthy" Foods really healthy? How do you work out? Where do you begin?? Are macros important? Can I spot tone?? Can I eat what I want?
Resources to you to answer these questions:
1. The Internet is incredible and has so many resources for FREE! You can find recipes, meal ideas and workouts online!
2. If you don't have the time, or patience to do your own research, thats where a fitness coach like me comes in! I offer meal plans, and workout plans at a pretty cheap rate! I will have a separate post regarding that.
I love sharing knowledge, so I would love to give you free general advice. I only have to charge for personalized plans because of the amount of time and research I put into making sure it is a plan that will work for you. Feel free to message me with any questions!
