How I came to understand and utilize the basics of weight loss
I hate working out.
I don't like the pressure I feel when I'm at the gym, nor the sweat and soreness that comes with it. I constantly feel like people stare at me when I'm running. I simply don't have the time.
However, over my college career I gained the "Freshman Fifteen" and her lesser known sibling the "Sophomore Ten." I tried to lose that extra fluff with crash diets and Chloe Ting workouts, but no matter what I did, I found that any weight I lost, I was gaining back and then some. I didn't understand what I was doing wrong. I felt uncomftable in my own skin - restrained by clothes that just barely fit me and the constant bloating as a result of my sub-par diet. My lifestyle was unhealthy.
And then the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
Students were sent home in droves, and I found myself trapped in my own house. I decided that it was as good a time as any to lose weight, but I knew I had been down this road before. If I was going to lose the weight and keep it off, I had to commit. So, I began googling and researching various diets and ways to lose weight. And then I came across a quote.
I was mystified. For most of my life, I had essentially been taught that weight loss is accomplished by lots of running and cutting out carbs and sweets from your diet. The more I researched, the less I found this to be true. The true secret to weight loss is being in a calorie deficit.
Before I share my weight loss secrets with you, I want to note that everybody's weight loss goal is different. You do not have to be 120 or 85 or 100 pounds to be beautiful, what's important is that you feel comfortable in your own skin. You are beautiful no matter your shape or size, so don't lose weight because you feel like society is telling you to, lose weight if you want to.
How to begin your weight loss journey.
The first step in weight loss is determining a goal. Do you want to lose 10 pounds or 50? In order to determine this we will implement a Body Mass Index Calculator to determine whether or not you are overweight or healthy, and how much weight you can lose before you are underweight, which is just as, or perhaps even more, unhealthy than being overweight. The goal is to be within 18.5 to 24.9 on the point scale. This means that your mass to height ratio is within healthy parameters. Anything below of above these points is unhealthy. However, an Internet BMI calculator does not take into account muscle mass, so, if you are an extremely muscular person, you could be perfectly healthy and still considered "overweight" by the BMI calculator. Therefore, use this information as a jumping-off point and not law in the universe.
Once I figured out I was bordering on being overweight, I concluded I should lose about 10-15 pounds to feel right with myself. I wanted to get an idea of what I would look like at my goal weight. I found a BMI simulator that, in my opinion, fairly accurately shows what you would look like at certain weights.
Credit to BMI Visualizer by Perceiving Systems
Now that I had determined what my goal weight was, I needed to find out my Basal Metabolic Rate. Your BMR is how many calories you burn by just existing. It is determined by your age, gender, height, weight, and how active you are. I found that this BMR Calculator most accurately described how many calories I burnt a day. As you can see below, I burn 1,761 calories a day when I am sedentary and doing little to no exercise.
Credit to Calculator.net
It Takes an Overall Calorie Deficit of 3,500 Calories to Lose 1 Pound of Fat
So, if we were to use my weight loss goal of 15 pounds and my BMR and do some simple math, we can discover how long it would take me to lose that weight.
But first, a couple basic health facts to know.
You should eat no less than 1,200 calories a day
You should not be in a deficit of more than 1,000 calories a day
Starving yourself will lower your metabolism and cause you to gain more weight once you start eating again.
A healthy lifestyle is the key component to weight loss. It's not about dieting for 30 days and then eating whatever you want, it's about educating yourself about what your body needs.
Back to math. If I was 160 pounds, with a BMR of 1,761 calories a day, and I wanted to lose 15 pounds - I would need to eat a healthy 1,300 calories a day to lose about a pound a week, equaling a weight loss of 15 pounds in three months without working out at all. Now that I have a calorie count for each day, I can move on to adjusting my diet to adhere to my calorie count.
Check in for my next post on October 8th to learn just how easy it is to stick to your calorie count and still eat delicious food!
But for now,
Zoe, I loved this article! There are so many weight-loss articles out there that advertise false information and fail to give extensive details and real advice. Right from the first paragraph, I could tell your article was taking a different route. You were so real with your audience and talked about why the journey was difficult for you, rather than how "easy" it was. I also valued that your article talked about the more technical aspects of weight loss, instead of just hopping on the fitness bandwagon and saying that cardio and eating vegetables is everything. Anyone who has ever lost weight knows it is more than that. Overall, I found your article super informative and based off real facts…
Zoe I know how you feel when it comes to working out. I played two varsity sports in high school and was in the best shape of my life. I played varsity soccer from august to November and varsity lacrosse from January to May. In the off season, I had training throughout the week to make sure I stayed in shape for the upcoming seasons. I was strong and healthy. Then I got to college and hated going to the gym. I was so used to having a sport to play to keep me in shape or a trainer to hold me accountable. This was the first time I was on my own, holding myself accountable to keep…