For me to drop from my high of 205 back to a working weight under 180 it took lots of travel for work where I was away from my munchies for 3 to 4 weeks. The first time I got down to 185 in Brazil and then a trip to India got me down to about 170. I quit drinking soda pop, and started eating more fiber and no sugar for breakfast other than the raisins and dates in my muesli and quit eating bagels for breakfast as much. A T-bone accident on my motorcycle 18 months ago left me with a bad leg/foot so I’m a lot less active and loss a lot of muscle weight. I’m down to 155 now. I was 145 when I got out of the Marines 40 years ago
Someone I look up to more convincingly said the same thing. I scoffed but he knows what he’s talking about.
I lost so much weight so fast—during the beginning of the pandemic no less—by only staying beneath the magical number everyday.
How do you calculate the calorie maintenance number¿?
The answer to your question is to calculate your BMR, or basal metabolic rate. It’s an approximate calculation based on your sex, age, height, and weight. Your BMR is the amount of calories you need to maintain life when completely sedentary. If you only eat that number of calories, and do ANY physical activity, you will begin to lose weight as your body taps into your reserves for energy.
There is more nuance, but the simple math is calories in vs calories out. If you have a deficit, your weight will decrease. People counting calories to lose weight generally target their BMR minus 200 to 500 calories daily, though 500 is a bit much in my experience.
Yeah, that makes sense. Basically, your BMR is just how many calories your body burns at rest and anything extra you eat or burn through activity changes your weight. The simple rule is still calories in vs calories out. Most people aim to eat a little less than their BMR so they can slowly lose weight without feeling starved. 200–500 calories under sounds about right depending on how aggressive you want to be.
You kind of can’t. Caloric intake from food varies by person, as does energy use. You can use a calculator for a ballpark measure and then see how it works out for your weight.
Type of food can also matter, because depending on your stomach bacteria, you will also get different energy value from different foods. I thought an easy way for me to lose weight would be to stop eating sweets (since i prob averaged around 500kcal nominal value per day), but nope I ended up gaining weight, probably from eating slightly more normal food. What I found works for me was delaying each meal for longer so I end up eating one large and one smaller meal per day. Going to bed slightly hungry then I usually wake up not hungry and it takes a few hours before I feel the need to eat something, etc.
I even once lost weight drinking about 2 liters of choccy milk per day but eating a lot less regular food, though I wouldn’t recommend that because that much sugar is terrible for you anyway. Far worse than being a bit overweight, probably.
Really relate to what you said about how different foods affect people differently. It’s not just about cutting sweets or calories, the timing of meals and how your body reacts plays such a big role. For me, having a simple way to track and compare intake helped a lot. I sometimes use https://easygradercalculator.com/ just to get a ballpark idea and then adjust based on how my body actually responds.
