The Basic Math of Losing Weight
Losing weight is somewhat complicated because of metabolism issues, etc, but in the end, weight loss is basic math. Even though it is more complicated than this, basically, 3500 calories is equivalent to one pound of body fat. So, to lose a pound of body fat you must burn 3500 calories more than you eat over a given period of time. In other words, if one day you worked out really hard, let’s say you worked as a construction worker, followed by going to the Y in the evening, and burned 4500 calories, and only consumed 1000 calories that day, you would, in theory lose a pound (but because your calories were so low, your metabolism would soon slow and you would be in danger of burning muscle tissue).
Now, let’s apply this to weight gain. Let’s say you pig out at the all-you-can-eat buffet, and take in 5200 calories that day (this is high, but not impossible for people who go overboard at a buffet), yet you sit all day at work and at home, burning only 1700 calories. You have, in theory, just gained a pound. Trust me, it is far easier to gain the excess 3500 calories, than burn them.
This is where Fitday is helpful (or any other diet tracking software). Fitday has a cool feature that allows you to program in your weight loss goal, and the date for that goal. Then, it calculates how many pounds a week you have to lose to reach that goal. And here comes the cool part. It also tells you how many calories you must restrict each day to meet that goal. Right now for my goal (13 pounds by Labor Day, starting last week), I have to burn 875 more calories than I consume each day to meet my goal. Obviously, it is not just this easy because of other factors like muscle gain, etc, but I find this a very helpful tool for gauging how well I did for the day. This allows me to eat a little more on days when I exercise like crazy, because the goal is based on calorie restriction, not on a set number of calories per day, the latter which is more artificial, because some days we burn more calories and may need to consume a little extra. Below are screenshots of what I am talking about.
In the first image, you can see I have entered into step 5 of the Fitday weight assessment process, in which I can plan out my calorie restriction needed to lose weight. It does the math for me based on what I set as my weight goals in an earlier step. Click it to make it larger.
In this second image, you can see that I am over the calories Fitday estimates I need to meet my weight goal. However, because I am active, I have burned 1023 more calories than I consumed, which is over the 875 I need restricted to meet my weight goal on time. You can also see that Fitday allows for customized food, and that I even add my supplements. And by the way, yes I am a firm believer in Fitday, and I gladly paid 20 dollars for the software.
[Of note, you can also see some of my eating habits here...like adding cocoa to my coffee, drinking a lot of coffee, taking 1/2 a vitamin E softgel (it isn't always easy to do that), using fiber powder to make sure I get 30 grams of it a day, making tuna salad with light mayo and honey-roasted nuts, etc. Its not on here (because it is insignificant calorie-wise), but I put cayenne powder in the soup and tuna salad, and on the fries]
I know this is an old post, but here goes….
I use the original Fitday (V1) and it really is a fab program. The issues I have found that is if you don’t stick to tracking your energy intake and expenditure each day, you will find yourself restarting your weight goal a lot!
Additionally, if you work away from home and purchase your food from shops for lunch etc., then it is difficult to correlate what you are purchasing with what you are eating.
It really works best when you know exactly what you are eating when you make, or prepare, the food yourself. In this case the custom food feature allows you to input things you eat that are not in the Fitday database. A good time to enter this is when you are eating at home. Example: You pour a (measured!) bowl of Kellogs Sultana Bran which is 50grams in weight. You add 200ml of milk. While you sit down at the breakfast table take the time to add Sultana bran to the custom food list by reading the nutrition label from the box. If you don’t do it, you are (a) not going to remember how much you poured; or (b) not going to bother with it the next day when you are 3 meals beyond that time.
So it’s time intensive, but if you keep it up – its a great app to help you understand what foods will be pushing you into the 2500+ calories per day intake.
Thanks for the post.