As we head into the new year many of us will set new goals and reflect on the progress we made on our goals this past year. Like many others, at the start of 2019 one of my health goals was to lose weight – and this year I actually did. I’m no health expert or guru by any means but I just thought I’d share what worked for me and hopefully it can be helpful or inspire someone else.
The 6 Keys
- I broke it down to simple math and focused on the numbers. It’s calorie math science.
- I logged my food consistently. Need to be woke about calories consumed.
- I made monthly goals for ‘times worked out’.
- I measured my progress consistently. What gets measured gets improved. I weighed in at least weekly.
- I did more cardio. I signed up for a 5k run which helped me stay on track.
- I made use of technology. Yeah, there’s an app for that. The apps I used most were MyFitnessPal for logging food and Fitbod for tracking workouts.
The Calorie Math Science – it’s simple.
Once I figured this out, I realized it’s just about numbers.
Caloric Deficit = Weight Loss= ‘Calories Burned’ exceeds ‘Calories Consumed’
Calories Burned = BMR + Exercise
- BMR– Your body burns a certain amount of calories just by you being alive. This is called your ‘BMR’ or Basal Metabolic Rate. You can figure out your personal BMR using one of many free online calculators. I linked to some at the end of this article.
Calories Consumed = what you eat and drink
- Once you know your BMR or how much you burn by just living you can set a calorie goal. If you exercise that day then you can eat some more. You can keep a food log using MyFitnessPal or some other app or journal to keep track of your calories.
- By logging your food consistently you will learn to gauge approximately how many calories each food item has. This will help you plan your meals throughout the days and weeks to meet your calorie goals.
So how much of a total caloric deficit do you need? Well…
3,500 calories = 1 pound of fat.
So to lose 1 pound of fat you need to burn 3,500 more calories than you consume. If your goal is to lose 1lb a week then you need a caloric deficit of 500 every day (3,500/7).
Example:
Weight Loss Goal: Lose 1lb/week.
This translates to a daily Calorie Deficit of 500 or weekly deficit of 3,500.
Daily BMR: 2,000 calories
Daily Calorie Goal: 1,500 (2,000-500)
How do I increase my BMR? METABOLISM
You want to help your body’s natural calorie burning engine do it’s job better.This is how you can keep the weight off.
- Build Muscle. Eat more protein and lift weights. Muscle burns more calories than fat.
- Drink more water.
- Exercise, just move more.
Why I set goals for “Times worked out a month.”
For me the hardest part about working out is just getting started. Once I get to the gym or start working out my blood starts flowing I get in the zone and get momentum. From there it’s easy, I just follow my workout and get more motivated as I sweat. It’s like a fire, once you get it started you just add stuff to it and the fire gets bigger and stays on. So it was more effective for me to set monthly goals for how many times I would workout in the month, and then try to beat that number the next month. This was also effective in making exercise a bigger habit for me.
The Cardio thing.
Doing more cardio helped me personally. I was always more of a weightlifter but this year I made it a point to get more cardio in as part of my workouts. I had also signed up for a 5k run and I wanted to beat my time from the previous year. I think the cardio made a big difference. I would be drenched in sweat after cardio sessions. Ultimately my workouts still consisted of more weightlifting. I would say if all you do is lift and aren’t getting where you want, try adding more cardio. The health experts usually suggest a mix of cardio and strength training for the best results.
The apps.
MyFitnessPal: I am not paid by them to say this but I will say MyFitnessPal is the #1 app I would recommend to help you stay on track in your weight loss journey. You just have to be consistent in using it. I used the app to track my calories and weight. It also can give you a break down of your macros-the amount of fat, carbs and protein your calories came from.
Fitbod: This is a pretty good app. Before using this app, I used Shortcut to Shred as my workout plan but I would literally log every rep and the weight I used in my Evernote app, it was pretty manual. Now with this app, it uses some some algorithm or AI to customize workouts for me and it tracks how many times a month I worked out and how long each workout session was. I found it to be worth what I paid, which amounts to about $5 a month.
Shortcut to Shred with Jim Stoppani (Not free anymore): This is a workout program. When I downloaded it, it was free. It is not free anymore so I can’t say it’s worth paying for but I did use it so I will mention it. I liked it because it incorporated cardio in between sets. If you follow it you can complete it in 6 weeks, that’s if you workout 6 times a week. Personally I did not exercise 6 times a week so I didn’t follow the timeline. I still used it as my workout program though and just picked up where I left off. I cycled through it about 2 times. I also did not follow the diet provided in the app. It’s a pretty popular program so you can find more reviews about it online.
Why are you doing this?
One more thing that helped me stay consistent and not fall off was to remember the outcome I wanted. I read somewhere to visualize the end goal as if you already achieved it. This sounds a bit corny and cliche but I’m mentioning it because it helped me. For me my goal is to get a six pack, and this year I got married and went on my honeymoon, so to stay motivated I would picture myself on the beach on my honeymoon with six pack abs. So whatever it is for you, think about why you want it and then set a milestone moment in which you can see yourself reaping the benefits of your self discipline.
As I said in the beginning, I’m not a health or fitness expert, just sharing what helped me. Feel free to reach out to chat about any other programs or methods that you use. I’m always curious to hear about what is working for other people.
Links and sources
BMR Calculators –
https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bmr_calculator.htm
https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html
Harvard article on calorie math-
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/simple-math-equals-easy-weight-loss
