Weight Loss, Part 2: It's about the deficit

Yesterday, I talked about getting the data as a first step toward weight loss.  The next step is creating a plan.

For most of us, a healthy rate of weight loss is one to two pounds per week.  Again, for most of us, this translates into a daily calorie deficit of about 500 calories—we need to burn 500 calories more than we eat.  This deficit can be created by eating less, moving more, or some combination of the two.  (Please note:  deficits that are a lot greater than 500 calories per day tend to mess with metabolism, interfere with getting essential nutrients, and create crabbiness.  Certain medically supervised diets do have larger deficits, but that is why they are medically supervised.  Don’t try this at home!)

My preference is for the combination approach.  I like to see people focus on getting in the habit of doing cardio while cutting out the garbage calories.  Most of the weight loss is going to come from the dietary changes, but the cardio is going to help to keep mood positive while using calories.  However, just because it’s my preference does not mean that it is the right choice for any particular human.  Some of us find the whole idea of changing what we eat so stressful that we can’t change anything else at the same time.  Others of us may find that we need the spur of success from cardio before we can attack the food issues.

Tomorrow, I’ll talk about what weight lifting does to the whole equation.

Weight Loss, Part 1: Getting the Data

Many people become interested in fitness because they want to lose weight.  For about two thirds of us in the American population, this is a useful and worthy goal because that’s about how many of us are overweight.

The best approaches to weight loss are holistic (yes, I’m from Berkeley and I’m allowed to use that word).  We want to address what and how much we eat, as well as how much and what kind of exercise we get; we also probably need to figure out how to be motivated to keep going when things get tough, how to deal with setbacks, and what to do about our friends and family, whether they are supportive or not.

There are many places we can start the journey, but I think the first thing to do is get some information.  We can’t change what we don’t see.  That means logging what we eat and what we do.  The low-tech among us can play with pens and paper.  Those of us who like gizmos can use any number of devices and apps.  No matter what, the first goal is just to see where we are.

This is harder than it sounds.  How big was that cookie?  Did I use two or three cups of greens?  Did I walk for ten minutes or twelve?  How fast was I going?  We are terrible at remembering what we eat—like those two pieces of bread we snarfed down while waiting for our pasta or that handful of pretzels we swiped from our kid in the car on the way home from school.  Most of us underrepresent what we are eating and overrepresent the amount of exercise we get.  It’s like we know we need the benefit of the doubt, except in this case we don’t.

We can do two kinds on analysis on the data we get, quantitative and qualitative.  The quantitative stuff is a lot easier with technology than with pencil and paper because the gadgets’ brains do the math for us.  What we are looking to see is what our energy balance is.  If we eat more calories than we burn, we gain weight.  If we eat and burn the same amount, we stay the same.  If we eat fewer calories than we use, we lose weight.  When we do the math, we figure out what our situation is, although if we’ve already decided it is time to lose weight, we probably know the answer without even checking the numbers.

Qualitative data includes things like when we tend to snack—energy low in the afternoon anyone?  We might notice that we can pass on the candy with no problem, but the chips work like extremely seductive kryptonite.  We may find that we feel better on days with a big breakfast or even no breakfast.  We want to know what works for us.

Armed with all this information, we can make an initial plan.  Which I will write about in the next post!

Monday Workout: Back at it!

I’m back!!!!  Let’s get some stuff done!  We continue to emphasize balance along with our other skills by doing asymmetric clean and presses and single leg squats.  Three rounds.

woodchoppers	30
ball slams	20
rescues	10
1 arm clean and press	30
bench press	20
1 leg squats	10
Xiser	30
flies	20
brains	10