I think people make this much more challenging than it should be. Fact is, losing weight is a mathematical formula. If you follow it then you will lose weight. The problems come in when you try to lose weight too fast, you give up before you reach your goal, or you try to lose weight by doing something that is not sustainable for the long term. It can take some trial and error to find the right lifestyle approach for you. You need to decide what is important to you in both the short term (weight loss) and the long term (your health, alcohol, dessert, carbs, sanity to find the best approach for you – the one you can stick to. I have recently adopted a ketogenic lifestyle and diet and I am LOVING the results so far – the food is yummy, I have more energy that ever before, I am experiencing something they call ‘keto calm’ and my body is burning its own fat!! Life is good!!
How to Lose Weight
There is a calorie sweet spot for long lasting weight loss. If you eat more calories than your Daily Calorie Target you will gain weight. If you eat less calories than your Daily Calorie Target then your body will go into starvation mode and you will not lose weight. Try to hit your goal each day. To find out exactly how many calories you need to eat in a day to lose weight you can plug your stats into an app called Carb Manager.
How to Calculate Calories Burned in Your Daily Workout
- Use the Calorie Burn Calculator. You put your height & weight in, select your activity and how many minutes you did that activity.
- Use a wearable fitness tracker like Fitbit or Polar
- Use the calorie count on the treadmill display
How to Track Calories so that you hit Your Daily Calorie Target
Track your daily calories with a Pencil & Paper
If you like to keep it old school you can keep track of your daily calories by using a small notebook as a food journal. You can find the calorie counts of just about any food on either the nutrition facts label or you can look up the calorie count of almost anything including fresh foods and raw vegetables on Calorie Count or using the Calorie Count app. In my opinion this is the hardest & most time consuming way to track your daily calories/macros.
Track your daily calories with an App
Here are some that I like:
- Carb Manager (free daily tracker)
- Eat This Much. Create a weekly keto meal plan in seconds.
- KetoDiet (great recipes with pics + daily macro tracker)
- My Fitness Pal – my LEAST favorite. I don’t know why but this app gets on my nerves by trying to ALSO be a social media platform (WUT) please don’t try to be my “friend” on an app that i am just using to track my macros – don’t we already get enough notifications?! Adding to the list because it is a good general daily macro tracker and its free.
Why you shouldn’t lose too quickly
We have all had that friend who lost a bunch of weight quickly only to later pack it back on plus more. Crash diets are not a long term solution and should be avoided at all costs. Making healthy lifestyle changes including positive changes in your diet and fitness will help you lose between 1-3 lbs of fat a week. If you have more to lose you may lose more than that in the beginning. I also highly recommend taking your measurements and recording your progress as well. If you are working out, you will be replacing fat with new muscle. Since muscle weighs more than fat it may look like the scale isn’t moving, when in fact you are making improvements to your body composition from the inside out!
Remember that FAT loss + WEIGHT loss are not the same. The scale does not show an accurate picture of the day to day fluctuations that are happening in your body. I recommend that you weigh yourself no more than once a week.
Don’t give up.
You didn’t gain the extra 20 lbs in one week and you won’t lose it in one week. A once a week tracking system is the best way to get a true picture of your progress and avoid frustration. DO NOT weigh yourself every single day – that is a worthless and often frustrating practice because there are many different factors that can cause your weight to fluctuate between 3-5 lbs DAILY. I have seen so many women who were more committed to weighing themselves daily than they were to actually losing weight. Those little body fluctuations caused them to either panic and overcorrect or feel satisfied that several bad days had not caught up to them. (It will) Trust in the process and make corrections/adjustments weekly as needed and you will have success.
Finding the Right Lifestyle Approach
This is so, so important for long term success. The internet is full of different diets & workouts and it can be frustrating to try to find the right solution that will work and fit into your life.
For me, the keto lifestyle was a no brainer – I love the way that I feel when I am in ketosis, the food is delicious, and there is new research that a keto diet is not only great in the short term but that it may help prevent against cancers and dementia – so I feel like I am doing something positive for my overall well being!
Want to lose weight faster? Supplement with Exogenous Ketones!!
Join our Keto Community on Facebook – The Fit Tribe! This online facebook group includes keto resources, a meal plan, recipes, and encouragement from other women on the same journey as you! My customers have had amazing results and love the way they look and feel. You can add yourself to our community by clicking HERE and learn more about Exogenous Ketones by clicking here.
