Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Guide: How to lose weight

Losing weight is a challenge that many overweight people need to accept in order to live a longer and healthier life.  I am going to give you all a simple 5 step-by-step guide on how to lose weight in a healthy manner.  If you follow these steps, you should be expected to lose around 5 to15 pounds in the first week alone (the range varies on where you are on the obesity scale). As always, if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or contact me through the "ASK FS" page.

_________________________________________________________________________________

1.  Calculate how many calories you burn in a day 

First, you need to calculate how many calories you burn in one day,  you start out with your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), this is the number of how many calories your body would be burning if you were in a coma (not moving for the entire day).

Normally you would have to multiply that number by one of the 4 numbers below.

1.2 - Sedentary
1.3 to 1.4 - Lightly Active
1.5 to 1.7 - Moderately Active
1.7 to 2.0 - Very Active

Fortunately, there is a calculator that will do this step automatically for us, here is the link.

So what you would do is choose the best one that would fit your lifestyle, in my case that would be moderately active, so I would take my statistics which is male, 185 pounds, 72 inches, 21 years old and moderately active and input these into the calculator.  The number that it gives me is 2493 calories per day.  This is a BALLPARK estimate which may not reflect the true value of calories burned but is reasonably close.

__________________________________________________________________________________ 

2.  Set your target caloric intake needs to lose weight

Generally, you do not want to have a caloric deficit of 600 because if you do, you will be losing weight too fast and in some cases you might be losing some muscle.  What you will do is take the number which you calculated in step one and minus 500 to 600 calories from that number.  So, using the example, our target caloric intake will be around 2000 calories (2493 - 500 to 600 calories).

_________________________________________________________________________________ 
  
3.  Eat the appropriate amount of calories and be within range of your target intake

You do not HAVE to be at your target caloric intake but within plus or minus 200 calories should be a good standard.  So that means from around 1800-2200 calories for this individual.  To track calories, just simply read the food label and see how many calories are in one serving.

__________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
4.  Eat cleaner foods or try to incorporate "IIFYM" (Second blog post)

Try your best to eat 40% of your calories from protein, 40% of your calories from carbohydrates and 20% of your calories from fat.   This is a 40/40/20 ratio diet.  This is a target ratio and does not have to be followed exactly in order to obtain success.  In the beginners section of this blog, under nutrition, I have added a long list of "clean foods", so try to incorporate some of these foods in your diet.  If you do not like eating all clean foods or want to ease your way into changing your diet habits.  You can try the "IIFYM" approach which is incorporating some of the foods you love to eat in your diet (Link to second post).  If you do not want to even deal with protein, carbohydrates and fats, you can just solely calculate your calorie intake.  This is not recommended.

__________________________________________________________________________________ 

5.  Try to incorporate some form of cardiovascular and weight training exercise in your life

Although cardiovascular exercise is not needed in order to lose weight, it is a good way to burn extra calories and keep your cardiovascular system healthy.  If running on a treadmill or doing cardiovascular exercise on a machine is not for you, try running or playing a sport that you love.  Lifting weights tear down your muscle fibers and your body uses energy to repair them.

__________________________________________________________________________________ 

That is basically all you need to know on how to lose weight.  Following the steps in this will allow you to lose weight in a HEALTHY manner.  Sure you could eat less, exercise a lot and lose more weight faster but you will be more likely to put that weight back on.

Good luck!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

If it fits your macros (IIFYM)

The basic idea of "If it fits your macros" is that you can eat almost anything you want as long as at the end of the day you hit your target macro nutrient goal.  Let me explain, assume that we have a 150lb man and he wants to cut down (lose weight).  He figures that his total macro nutrient composition should look like:

160 grams of protein
200 grams of carbohydrates
75 grams of fats

Total of  2115 calories.

160/435 = 36.7% of the diet comes from protein
200/435 =  45.9% of the diet comes from carbohydrates
80/435 = 18.4% of the diet comes from fats

This is a 37/46/18 ratio (rounded) which is in the ballpark of our target 40/40/20 ratio we were aiming for (If you do not know what a 40/40/20 diet is check out the beginners tab).

So let's say he wakes up in the morning and decides to have two doughnuts with his usual eggs and toast.  For simplicity, all of that food totals up to 35 grams of protein, 60 grams of carbohydrates and 30 grams of fat.  The rest of the meals eaten are to to get those numbers up to AROUND 160 grams for protein, 200 grams for carbohydrates and 80 grams for fat.  Using this idea (IIFYM), there aren't really any "off limit foods" with the assumption that those foods do not go over their target macro nutrients.  If you think about it, eating 100% "clean" follows the "If it fits your macros" idea but with a high level of exclusivity. 

The whole idea of "If it fits your macros" is to be able to eat some of the foods you love while still consuming some "clean" foods.  I personally follow the "If it fits your macros" idea when I feel like eating some "bad" foods.  For the most part, I try to stick to a very clean diet, because those foods seem to make me feel better and give me more energy.  This idea is great because it works and gives you the flexibility to follow your diet while still enjoying your life.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Starting the journey

Beginning the journey towards a more fit you is a daunting task, this means a whole lifestyle change for many people.  Change does not come easy, it takes hard work and dedication to achieve fitness goals.  This whole website will be a guide, an aid and a personalized resource to any of you that are interested in transforming your body and your mind.     

I started lifting weights when I was 17 years old and have not stopped.  I started my journey at a height of 5'10 and a weight of 140 lbs.  Now, 4 years later, 6'0 @ 185lbs I stay at a body fat of around 9-11% year round.

If you're looking to lose weight, gain weight or get stronger or the combination of the three, you're in the right place.  I can be that person to help you for free.  You guys can post comments on the blog asking questions and I will be sure to answer them.

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More