Short Guide To Weight Loss: Calorie Restriction

The previous post was a more generalised guide to weight loss. If you are relatively slim already, or those tips aren't working then you may need to calorie restrict. Calories are the most commonly used units of energy in relation to humans, joules are the better but less used alternative. Your body needs energy for its physiological functions, not enough energy long term = you die. You get this energy from food and drink. If you eat more calories than your body needs, you store it, primarily as fat. If your body doesn't get enough calories, your body uses its own energy stores (primarily fat). Calorie restricting is simply reducing your calorie intake, below what your body requires. This forces your body to use its fat stores (though there may be some lean mass lost).

For some terminology and referencing points 1 Cal = 1000 cal or 1k cal. 1 cal = 4.2 joules. 1 kcal is the energy required to heat 1 kilogram of water, by 1 degrees Celsius. 100 grams of chicken leg = ~ 240 kcal, 100 grams of broccoli = ~34 kcal, 100 grams of butter = ~717 kcal.

When calorie restricting the first thing to do is work out how many calories you burn in a day, which is commonly referred to as basic metabolic rate (BMR) or total daily energy expentiture (TDEE). TDEE is a more accurate estimate as it takes into account the physical activity you do during the day. There are a variety of ways of working out your BMR or TDEE. You can figure it out manually, using formulas such as in this BodyBuilding.com thread. Alternatively you can use one of the many free applications on the internet, on sites such as FitDay. Its important to note that whatever figure you come up with, is an ESTIMATE only and should be used as such. If you want a more accurate figure then you'll need to go a physiology lab or medical facility.

My Weight History, Before and After Photos

So a few years ago I was fat. I've always been a sporty guy but around puberty I started eating like a fat ass. I would eat something between 600-1000 g of food, 3 times a day. Understandably I got fat, the exercise I was doing wasn't enough to compensate for my appetite. I become unhappy with the way I looked and being younger I was happy to believe "I'll just do 100 sit ups a day and I'll get rid of my belly!". Naturally that did nothing and for a few years I was fatter than I'd like. I don't have any photos of this time, suffice to say I had a nice beer belly, despite not drinking a sip of alcohol.

Eventually I started uni and decided eating "healthier" would be enough to shift the weight, cue me eating a sweet potato with half a stick of butter for lunch. Thankfully being forced to buy my own food, and being stingy with money meant I was eating less, and walking around campus meant I shifted a few pounds.

Short Guide To Weight Loss: The Basics

So you're overweight or fat. You want to get in better shape,"tone", or fit into a smaller pair of jeans, but how? There is a lot of bullshit out there, which aims to make a quick buck off your ignorance. So here is a short, basic guide to improving your situation and work towards weight loss.  If you are in decent shape and wants abs or to "tone", or some such, then you'll need to read the next entry. This guide will mainly serve people who are significantly overweight.

Now your aim should be to lose fat, not weight per se. If you lose muscle, that isn't helpful. If you lose water weight, that isn't helpful. Thus it is important to have a educated diet in order to maximise fat loss, while not at the expense of muscle or anything else.  You can go on some liquid vegetable diet for a week and lose 5 pounds. But some of that will be muscle, some of that will be water weight, and you may just put back on whatever fat you lose, if you go back to your old eating habits. It is extremely important to realise that this shouldn't be a temporary diet change. This should be a permanent lifestyle change, which also means it must be reasonable and sustainable.