The Word on Weightloss

I recently started counting my calories, mostly for curiosity’s sake. I never really knew how many calories I was eating each day, and I’d be willing to guess that most people don’t realize it either. Having counted calories for a little over two weeks now, I realize that they add up quite fast.

Counting calories is a very effective way to lose weight because you’re able to monitor the exact number of calories you consume. Anyone on a weight loss plan knows that you have to consume fewer calories than you expend in order to lose weight.

But, if you’re like most people who read this blog looking for weight loss tips, you may be tempted to take drastic measures, like cutting calories, to see the weight drop more quickly. While it may seem logical, when it comes to calories, there is a tipping point.

Cutting Calories

When your fuel intake dips below what your body needs to support your daily functions, like breathing, your cells simply cannot function properly.

• When you eat too few calories your body slips into starvation mode, meaning your body comes to a standstill and your metabolism comes to a crawl. Since we know the basics about how your metabolism works, we know that you need to rev up your metabolism in order to lose weight. Letting it slow down to a crawl with too few calories is definitely not a good idea since it can cause frustration, stress, and even weight gain.

So, what’s the general rule of thumb when counting calories? Well, in order to meet your weight loss goal you need to curb excess calories to lose fat.

Here are three things to consider when counting calories:

1. What’s my calorie minimum?

This one is different depending on each individual person and their weight loss goal.

• To keep things simple: Take your goal weight, not your current weight, and multiply it by 10. That’s the minimum number of calories you need per day without physical activity. So, if you currently weight 145 but want to weight 135, aim for no less than 1,350 calories each day.

2. What does my day look like?

What do you do for a living? Are you active, standing up, walking around all day long, or do you sit at a desk for the majority of the day?

• If you have a physically active job, add another 3 calories per pound to your ideal body weight. From our example above, if the individual whose goal weight is 135 and they have an active job, add 405 calories to your daily minimum.
• If you don’t have an active job stick with the equation from the first example.

3.  Add some extra calories when planning to exercise.

Read that carefully, SOME! Just because you ran an extra 5 minutes on the treadmill doesn’t mean you can eat another hamburger.

• On the days you work out, add half the calories you burn to your allotted intake. This should help you push through the day with some extra energy but keep you on track towards your weight loss goal.