It’s that time of the year when we set out with our New Year’s resolutions and since the #1 New Year’s resolution is to lose weight, I thought we’d start there. Last year I wrote “How to Lose Weight in Four Steps” and while it still applies, for the month of January, I’m including a tip per week of something you might not know about weight loss.
Installments:
#1: Understand the Math Behind Weight Loss (below)
#2: What should I eat? A review of the current diet trends
#3: So…what do you eat?
#4: Exercise
#1: Understand the Math Behind Weight Loss
While there are hundreds of diets and food lifestyles, the fundamental math of weight loss is always the same: you need to consume fewer calories than you burn in order to lose weight. Since it is a mathematical equation, it’s useful to know the basics.
It takes a deficit of 3,436 to 3,752 calories to lose a pound of weight. Why such a big range? You can read about that here.
If you are trying to lose weight, you can use this handy calculator to help you understand how many calories you should be consuming daily. You will want to use this calculator often as you start your weight loss program. Why? Because the body “adapts” as you begin to lose weight and become leaner. Weight loss is not a linear process. This is why some people lose some weight quickly and then plateau and struggle to lose more. Your body adapts to running on fewer calories so you need to adjust your strategy as you lose weight.
For most, the struggle to lose weight centers around feeling hungry, so understanding the building blocks of food is important. Food is broken down into three “macros.” They are protein, fat and carbohydrates. What you eat is some combination of these three things. As the chart below illustrates, protein, followed by fat, makes you feel the fullest. Of the three building blocks of food, carbohydrates make you feel the least full. If you are eating a high carb diet and feeling hungry all the time, you might want to swap some of those carbs for protein.
Macro |
Calories per gram |
Ranking in “satiety” (makes you feel full) |
Fat |
9 |
Middle |
Protein |
4 |
Highest |
Carbohydrate |
4 |
Lowest |
In my own diet, I eat about 20% carbs, 30% protein and 50% fat. I’m not necessarily recommending this for you, but it works for me. If you don’t know your own macros, this is a great week to figure it out. 🙂 You can use an online tracking tool like MyFitnesspal.com to track your food for three or four days to start to understand how you are eating. I’m not a nutritionist but you can send your info in to me, and I’ll help you interpret the results. The math is simple.