Calories and Weight Loss – The Basics

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While many people have a main fitness goal of shedding a few pounds, few people are successful for a long period of time. This, I believe, is not due to the fact that it’s complicated to lose weight, but that people don’t realize how basic it really is. Weight loss is a matter of calories in – calories out. Essentially what this means is that you must burn more calories than you consume in a given time period. That’s it.

I’m not advocating that you starve yourself in order to lose weight. That is (obviously) a terrible idea! Our body requires a certain amount of calories to simply sustain vital functions throughout the day, without taking into account any physical activity. This is called your basal metabolic rate (BMR). For the average 30 year-old male, it is about 1600 calories. For the average 30 year-old female, it is about 1430. These are by no means 100% accurate for every person, as they vary depending on your metabolism.

Rather than starving yourself, it’s much more important to go for the proverbial “low-hanging fruit.” For example, if you’re used to drinking a soda at lunch, try drinking a zero calorie sports drink or water with a flavor pack. If you’re used to having a bag of fried potato chips with your lunch, try substituting the chips for something with fewer calories, such as baked chips or unsalted pretzels. It’s not about denying yourself all the foods you want to eat, it’s about substituting for healthier alternatives and eating in moderation! What I don’t advocate doing is counting every single calorie you eat. This, as mentioned in the previous post, is not enjoyable or sustainable. Rather, I am an advocate that you should be aware of what you are putting in your body. Get a general feel for how many calories are in the bread, meat, cheese, milk, etc. that you eat. If you write everything down, per the golden rule of healthy eating, you will be able to quickly estimate how many calories you consume in a given day. This estimate is more than sufficient.

With that said, it is much easier (and more fun!) to burn calories than it is to consume fewer calories. If you want to get a rough idea of how many calories you will burn, check out this website: http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc. The website may be a bit commercialized, but it has a wide variety of activities that you can choose from to see how many calories you burn.  Keep in mind that you will burn the number of BMR calories above just by existing; this calculator will give you additional calories burned. Much like your caloric estimate, this is not 100% accurate. If you develop a routine, over time you will be able to determine if your exercise is burning enough calories that you will lose weight. If not, keep at it! Walk a little longer or a little faster… just keep your goal in mind!

So how much of a deficit should you have? In order to lose 1 lb of fat, you need to burn 3500 calories more than you consume. While that may seem like a lot at first glance, think about this: If you burn only 200 more calories than you consume in a day (which can be done by walking for 30 minutes, not drinking 16 fluid ounces of Coca-Cola, or foregoing a Krispy Kreme doughnut), you will lose about 2 lbs each month! This may not sound like a lot, but a 200 calorie deficit is very sustainable!

I know this is a controversial topic for some, so let’s hear your thoughts! I know there are some naysayers out there!

Healthy Eating – The Golden Rule

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OK, so I want to start the Simple Fitness Blog with the most basic rule of all. It doesn’t even involve any changes to your diet or exercise. The golden rule of maintaining a fit and healthy lifestyle is to keep track of what you eat. It’s that simple!

When tracking what you eat, you don’t even need to be 100% precise. Don’t bother writing down the amount of carbs, protein, fat, etc. This will get way too complicated, and you will inevitably quickly lose the desire to check every food item for nutritional facts. This gets especially tricky if you eat out at a restaurant… are you really going to want to ask the waiter for nutritional facts or go to the restaurant’s website after the fact? Probably not. All you need to keep track of is the general food items you eat. For example, if you had eggs, toast, and milk for breakfast, all you need to write down is “2 eggs, 1 piece of wheat toast with jelly, 1 glass of skim milk.”

What real benefit does this have, you ask? Well, here are a few:

  1. It helps you determine what is or is not working for you. By keeping a track record of everything you’re eating every day, you can pinpoint bad eating habits as the culprit for a lack of improved fitness level. If you are seeing the losses (or gains) you want, then it will tell you that you’re eating the right amounts of the right kinds of foods… in general.
  2. You are essentially holding yourself accountable for what you put in your body. If you truly do write down everything, you can’t justify a cheat snack to yourself by saying, “It was small, so it doesn’t really count…” When added up over a long period of time, it does count!
  3. For me personally, writing everything down has helped me stay on the right path of healthy eating. Let’s say that I’m craving a cookie. I may want to eat it real bad, but I have found that having to write down that I ate a cookie was enough of a guilt trip to keep me from picking up the cookie in the first place.

Has anyone else done this before for an extended period of time with any success? Does anyone have any similar experiences to mine in #3 above?

The Simple Fitness Approach

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What exactly does simple fitness mean? Simple fitness is exactly that… simple! Keep in mind that “simple” does not mean “easy.” I subscribe to the theory that “fitness is a lifestyle, not a quick fix.” Unfortunately, many of the fitness programs, exercise regiments, and diet plans out there are are way too detailed and way too specific for most people to follow for any lengthy period of time.

No one wants to eat only broccoli and apples for every meal while foregoing bread, sweets, etc. forever… this is just not practical! People who start these routines usually fall off the bandwagon quickly and resort to their old ways. In addition, many of these healthy living guides try to convince consumers that if they follow their program to a “T” they will be able to quickly shed pounds, lift heavy weights, or run a marathon. I wish it were that easy, but it’s not.

I will provide you with general guidelines that are easy to follow and, more importantly, easy to keep following! We will discuss a wide range of topics, including healthy eating, exercise tips, general healthy living tips, reviews of the more common workout routines and diet plans out there, as well as some quick how-to instructions and videos to make your journey to a healthy and fit lifestyle that much easier! Notice I used the word “journey.” This blog will not give you instant gratification, so if that’s what you’re looking for, sorry. With that said, if you follow the rules I will give you, you WILL see results over time!

I am committed to helping others achieve their goals, one step at a time. Each post will build upon one another, and will give you the basic framework for changing your habits and transforming your life into one of health and fitness. There are other blogs out there that provide similar content, such as zenhabits.net and simplefitnessblog.tumblr.com, and I definitely recommend you check out their blogs. After all, the more good content you can get on this subject, the better!

Do you have any stories about your trials and tribulations with diets or exercise routines that seemed promising at first but you soon found out were too hard to follow for more than a few days or weeks?