A regular question people ask me is “how do I lose weight”? When most people that ask this question they are ACTUALLY asking “how do I change shape or lose fat”?
Whether you’re vegan, Keto, a slimming world follower or trying Atkins… the common denominator to losing weight (and therefore changing shape) via your diet is being in a calorie deficit. Calorie deficit means using more calories than we consume (burning more than we eat is how some people like to think of it).
So, whatever diet plan or tracking you are on, start looking at your calories and how much you consume vs how much you are burning.
Start with your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) which is an estimate of how many calories you’d burn if you were to do nothing but rest for 24 hours. It gives a ballpark figure of the minimum amount of Kcals (energy) needed to keep your body functioning. Bear in mind, your BMR does not include the calories you burn from normal daily activities or exercise so you may need to add these to your allowance for the day.
An easy way of finding this and tracking Kcals is to use My Fitness Pal. Easily accessed from your phone, you can alter settings to achieve the rate of weight loss you would like. I’d recommend taking some body measurements too (e.g. waist, hips, chest) – weight isn’t always a good indicator of shape change!
On this note, I’d personally aim no higher than 1lb of fat loss per week. Any more, and you’ll probably find you won’t stick to it as it’s just too restrictive.
Start with Kcals in vs Kcals out.
My fitness pal app (also find it in your App Store) https://www.myfitnesspal.com/
My fitness pal BMR calculator
https://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator
Weight Loss – where to start?
LG Fitness 