Cleaning out my gym space, I found so many old pics, articles, manuals, etc. Interestingly enough, ALL the fad (over the past 4 decades) diets, were just that. I read articles I wrote in the 90s that I would write exactly the same way, today. While I have tried them all, and they all really do work for weight loss, I still believe the healthiest way to lose weight is based on simple math…
calories in vs calories out.
Many people say this doesn’t work for them, and I will try to explain why that is, without going into all the science. Firstly, unless you are under 120 pounds, I don’t think less than 1200 calories a day, (IN via food) is ever smart. Our bodies all require a certain amount of calories just to make sure all our organs are working properly.
Let’s, just for today, change the word calories to energy–because that is actually what they are. Any energy you don’t use, will get stored as fat. SIMPLE! So let’s say at 130 pounds (just for example) you need about 1300 units of energy to exist healthfully. Let’s also say, you are trying to lose 10 pounds. YOU NEED TO HAVE A DEFICIT of 3500 calories to lost ONE pound. So you set your energy intake to 1200 calories a day. Well, at that rate, you are only seeing a deficit of 100 calories a day. At that rate it will take over a month to lose ONE pound. So you get on the scale each week and nothing changes. You lose motivation and fall back off the wagon. This is why you don’t believe it works. We don’t see the reward quickly enough. So what do we do???
WE EXERCISE
Now, let’s say we add an hour of energy burning. We have a great workout and burn, let’s say 300 calories…plus there is an after burn effect from raising the metabolism. So let’s just say our workout cost us 400 calories. And we cut 100 from our nutrition. Now we are down 500 a day, and after a week, instead of over a month, we will lose that pound. These are very vague and general numbers, used to make it easy to do the math and see where I am going with this. Throw in an extra dose of exercise and the energy burn is obviously more and the weight loss will happen more rapidly.
I have probably tried almost every “diet” out there. ALL of them work and all of them have negatives! Keto is so effective for weight loss and to help lower blood sugar. It works because it puts your body in CRISIS mode. Without carbs it must find another way to function. By the way, cutting calories and moving more will also help manage your blood sugar, and you will sleep better and still be able to move your damn bowels!
Weight loss is hard work. There is no short cut. Healthy nutrition and exercise, however, will pay off in so many more ways that on the scale. From improved bone density to improved moods and everything in between, JUST DO IT!
TIP OF THE DAY for my sit all day at the computer, crowd. Set a timer for the last 5 minutes of each hour. GET UP. MOVE. March in place, (you can get in about 100 steps a minute) do some pushups off your desk…put on one song and dance your ass off…take a walk outside, if possible, inside if necessary…I am a huge advocate of a fitness tracker as it really helps us be accountable and takes some of the guess work out. For me, who always tracked between 15,000 and close to 20,000 steps a day, I realize I have to kick up my pandemic movement to stay at my comfortable weight–the recommended 10,000 a day does NOT do it for me.
If I just further confused you, if you need help with the numbers, personalizing a plan or some motivation, just ask.
