If person A is sedentary and weighs
lb, and person B (that's you) sedentary and weighs
lb, then the
lb person must eat %
more than the
lb person. After all,
lbs is %
more than lbs,
right?
You know what? That's wrong! It isn't even true if both thin person
A and you ( person B) both have "average" metabolic rates! In fact,
the answers to the questions I promised to answer are:
How many calories do I probably eat now? If you don't work out, you probably
eat cal/day.
How many calories should I eat to maintain my target weight once I reach
it? If you don't exercise, you probably need to eat cal/day.
Let's analyze this in detail! Let's look at the actual calories needs of these two people: person
A and you. For the time being, assume both have average metabolisms,
both are year
old ,
both work office jobs and neither works out on purpose. So, they are both
typical American's. Unlike you, person A weighs your target weight;
you weigh whatever you told me you weigh at the top of this page.
Let's examine the basal metabolism for the two people. (The basal
metabolism is the number of calories burned if you rest all day.)
Person A: cal/day.
You: cal/day.
Now, let's examine the number of calories each person needs to go about
their daily jobs. This is the amount each probably eats to maintain their
weight.
Person A: cal/day.
You: cal/day.
According to this analysis, if you weigh %
more than person A, you eat only %
more calories than person A! I bet the % difference seems small compared
to the weight difference, doesn't it?
So far, the calculation indicates that you eat more than the
person A, just not as much more as you might have thought!
But I eat less than a thin person!!!
I suspect some of you are convinced that you eat less
than most thin people. Well, that might be true!
How? Well, let's assume the thin person has a slightly different basal
metabolism and activity level than the you have. We'll now consider
these differences.
Thin person A may have a slightly more active job. Let's say the thin person
is a cleaning lady rather than an office worker.
Thin person A may be exercising intentionally and quite regularly. Let's
say the thin person walks 1 hour a day at 4 mph.
You may have reduced their metabolic rate 20% by dieting and losing muscle
mass. (Approximately 1/6 th of people fall in this category. The
low metabolism isn't usually due to heredity, illness or low thyroid.
The good news: You can fix it!)
Ok, now, let's see compare how many calories thin person A burns
compared to you.
Person A: cal/day.
You: cal/day.
That's right, you burn %
calories than
thin person A!
So, how important were each of the three factors listed above?
The thin person A burns an extra cal/day
because her job is more active than yours.
The thin person A burns an extra cal/day
by walking.
You burncal/day less
than person A of the same weight because of a low basal metabolism.
Can I become person A? Yes, absolutely. The only way to do it is through diet and exercise.
If you are currently sedentary, my recommendation for you is to develop
an exercise program consisting of:
Aerobic exercise to burn the equivalent of
cal/day. This is can be accomplished by walking at 4 mph for 1 hour
every day. You can exercise for a continuous hour or break this into as
many as four sessions. It's good to take short walks, but don't include
those calories in this number. Keep the pace brisk. Be sure
to measure the distance you walk. (You can get a pedometer, or figure
out the distance some other way. My sister walks to the train station
and back. She plotted her route out on mapquest to learn the distance.)
As you become more fit, you can chose to do more intense exercise and burn
the same number of calories in less time. (One warning, Newsweek magazine
reports that most exercise machines in gyms overestimate calories burned
by 20% to 40%. So, if the exercise doesn't seem as vigorous as walking
4 mph, but the calories burned seems higher than walking.... well, the
machine probably lies!)
Strength training using weights or rubber bands for 20 minutes 3 times
a week. This will increase your basal metabolism over time.
When I started my strength training, I did the 10 exercises in the book,
"Firm
For Life". You'll need dumb bells; Wallmart carries them.
Restricting calories to approximately
cal/day until you reach your goal. Stay within 10% of this value; do not
eat less! I use my nutrition log
to estimate the number of servings of various foods I can eat. I also tally
my calories using that tool. When you begin your diet, measure your food
portions! Learn to read food labels too.
How quickly will you lose weight? If you stick to this program, you will lose approximately 1
lb a week. The exact amount depends a little on your basal metabolism.
If you skip the strength training, your weight loss rate will slow down
as you lose weight. Otherwise, your weight loss rate should be fairly
steady. Still, I suggest that you visit my basal
metabolism page after you've lost 10 lbs. That way, you can refine
your weight loss plan to suit your preferences for the relative levels
of diet, and aerobic exericize.
One warning: You may not be able to tell you've lost weight for a month!
Why not? Well, my weight, your weight and most people's weight
fluctuates during the day and week. The fluctuations are water weight.
My weight fluctuates up and down 3 lbs. So, I can't be certain I've
lost 1 lb until I've lost at least 4 lbs! I minimize this problem by weighing
daily and then calculating my weekly average weight. To figure out
if I've lost weight, I compare weekly average weights. I advise you
do the same.
After you reach your weight loss goal, you must keep walking and
strength training. You will then be able to maintain your weight
eating between cal/day
and cal/day.
I provide a range because the exact amount you can eat does depend on your
basal metabolism. You will have increased your basal metabolism a
notch as a result of strength training, but I can't guess if your metabolism
started out low, average or high!
If you want to eat more, you'll need to exercise more!
Can I do something else? Sure. You may adjust the number of calories diet and amount of
exercise to fit your schedule constraints. When developing your own
diet and exercise program, keep in mind:
At your current activity level, you are probably eating approximately cal./day
more than you need to maintain your target weight. You can reduce this
by eating less, burning more calories through aerobics or increasing your
metabolism.
The purpose of aerobics is to burn calories today and to make you
start losing weight now. Aerobics only increase your calorie burn
rate on the day you exercise.
The purpose of calorie restriction is to make you lose some weight today.
You also need to monitor your calories make sure you don't "reward" yourself
for exercise by eating. It is very easy to eat a candy bar
and offset the calories burned during one exercise session.
The purposes of strength training are to increase your metabolism and make
you stronger. Building muscle can raise your metabolism from "low" to "average"
or from "average" to "high". The change will occur over time; you will
probably notice a difference in a month. After you build muscle, your basal
metabolism will increase as long as you keep the muscle. So
strength training helps you keep weight off forever.
The purposes of not eating less than recommended are to keep your
metabolism up and prevent food cravings. Both occur when your body
thinks it's starving. If you have tremendous will power, you can over come
food cravings and lose weight with a slow metabolism, but why plan to do
this the hard way?
Diet and exercise worked for me! It should work for you.