Weight loss, it’s what so many people are currently looking for and what a big part of the gym-goers is looking to achieve by working out. Why? Besides overweight being bad for your health, it hinders you from enjoying life to the fullest. Although so many people are trying to achieve weight loss and at the same time, so many people claim to have the golden solution, why are so many people still struggling to lose weight? It’s the same thing when you ask anyone what their nutrition looks like and their response is either ”it’s pretty good” or ”I eat healthy. Well, if you’re eating ”pretty good” or ”healthy” then why are so many still not able to lose weight? Is it because you are not eating as healthy as you thought? Are you eating too much sugar? Are you not exercising enough? All of these questions are valid and should be answered honestly in order to find out what’s root cause of this stagnated weight loss.
What does health look like on a plate?
Let’s first talk about how you can figure out or measure how healthy your nutrition really is. The first thing I would recommend doing is to track your food, every single thing for at least a couple days in a row. Even if you think you know nutrition, you don’t really know until you have tracked at least a couple days’ worth. Remember, knowledge is power. Let’s be careful about assuming that we know what’s healthy or not because that is what got us here in the first place (most likely). If tracking makes you nervous, that’s okay, let’s just start you off by dividing your plate into ”healthy section”. For most people we would like protein and vegetables to dominate the majority of your plate. I would advise you to fill your plate for about 30-40% with veggies, 20-30% of protein, and the remaining percentage of healthy fat or carbohydrate sources.
Both of these options are good places to start for anyone trying to lose weight, I would definitely recommend tracking your food because it will give you a very precise picture of your intake.
Eating to lose weight
The meat and potatoes right here and it all start with your time line, goals and current situation. Let’s just get out of the mindset that you’re going to lose 60kg in the next 3 months, because it’s not going to happen. If it has taken you 10+ year to build up to a certain weight, it’s not just going to come off like that.
The first thing you should do when setting a weight loss goal for yourself, is thinking of a date or time frame you would like to achieve it by. Why is this so important? Because it gives you an understanding of how strict your nutrition has to be and how sustainable it’s going to be afterwards.
How much of a deficit should you be in?
When trying to lose weight for a special event that are coming up fast like a wedding, school reunion or athletic competition that involves weight classes, your approach has to be drastic. Drastic means you will have to cut calories down significantly more than if you have a longer time frame to work with. In turn, this means that your weight cut and way of eating is less sustainable at the end of it. The longer your time line is, the less significant your calorie deficit has to be, which will feel a lot better for most people because it’s not as restrictive.
If you have let’s say a goal of losing 10kg’s over 6 months, you can reach that by getting into a deficit of 10-15% of your calories. If you’re looking for a more drastic cut 20-35% is more what you’re looking for. I understand that it can be discouraging losing weight via the small deficit but if will pay off when you reach it, because you will actually be able to hold onto it. It will be especially tough for people who have a significant amount of weight to lose, it can get frustrating to see results come slowly.
So, let’s figure out what your baseline number of calories are and determine what your deficit should be. It’s very easy to go overboard but remember that smaller deficits will be more sustainable in the long run, which is what you want right? To help you out I will add a table that will show you a general rule of thumb for daily calorie intake, and you can do your own math from there.
| Below Average | Minimal exercise + normal daily activityBody Weight (lbs) x 12-14 cals |
| Average | 1 hour of exercise + normal daily activity, 4-5 times per weekBody Weight (lbs) x 14-16 cals |
| Above Average | 2-3 hours of exercise + normal daily activity, 4-5 times per weekBody Weight (lbs) x 16-18 cals |
| Anything Above | Body Weight (lbs) x 18-20 cals |
It matters where the calories come from
You might have heard this saying before: ”It doesn’t matter where calories come from as long as it fits your macro’s”. Okay, if that was true, then why are we not all eating ice cream to get our carbohydrates in? or eating a pound of bacon to get out fat intake up? Because it doesn’t work like that. If you’re on a caloric deficit (as we talked about above) but get a lot of your calories from processed and sugar heavy foods, you’re still not going to enjoy what your body looks and feels like. This is why whole foods are the number one priority for anyone trying to lose weight. Get nutritious foods that are low in sugar in to your body and you will be amazed with the transformation your body is going through.
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This blog was amazing and informative, thanks for sharing 👍🏻
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When it comes to losing weight, the best thing that you can do is eat healthily. Eating healthy involves watching the foods that you eat, not necessarily how much food you eat.
Of course, you may want to restrict the number of foods that you eat, when on a diet, but it is more important to focus on the foods that you do eat.
For instance, if you were to eat fruit instead of chips, you could have more fruit snacks with your meals than you would be able to if you were just to eat junk food.
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I have multiple blogs, on this specific topic. Agree with this
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Some informative tips, thanks!
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