Many have the misconception that eating fewer calories is best for weight loss.
When starting a weight loss journey no one should ever assume that the fewer calories you eat the better. It is actually the worse thing you can do. When eating fewer calories you may lose a few pounds immediately, but you will not be able to sustain it for the long term.
When not fueling your body properly, your body will deteriorate in different areas such as hair, nails, low vitamins, hormone imbalance, low blood sugars, etc. The best we can do is eat enough, lose weight slowly, and be healthy all around.
What you need to do is start by decreasing 250 calories from your maintenance calorie. The reason being is that you want to be able to decrease as you go. If you start too low there is no room to decrease your daily calorie intake. This is where many people give up. It is impossible to sustain long-term success with not enough calories.
To lose 1 pound you need to burn 3500 calories per week, and this is achieved by calorie deficit and increase physical activity.
Start calculating your calories
First, you want to know what your maintenance calories are:
Current weight x (14-16) this number depends on how active you are- the more active you are the higher the number.
For example, a female that weighs 150 and works out 3 times a week
Weight is 150 x 15 = 2250 calories (this is her maintenance calories)
Now to lose weight she would need to create a deficit, and you want to create a deficit with 250 calories and 250 calories through physical activity.
So now that we have her maintenance calories we need to create a 250-calorie deficit.
So we grab her maintenance calories and subtract them by 250
2250 – 250 = 2000
She will need to create an additional 250-calorie deficit in physical activity daily. So the total would be a 500-calorie deficit for weight loss without starvation.
The Goal
A weight-loss journey should never be a quick fix but a long-term success. Weight loss should be slow and steady. The recommended and healthy weight loss is 1 lb. per week. Your weight loss should be a lifestyle change and not a temporary fix.
