Today’s topic is a very common goal that many of our members and personal training clients share: WEIGHT LOSS.  Nowadays, everybody out there has an opinion, whether it is the latest talk show, magazine, or their best friend on the “secret” to weight loss.  Well everybody, here is the real secret: it’s all about total CALORIES! 

A calorie is a unit of energy that is measureable, which means we use calories for daily activities, working out, and basic body functions.  We consume calories in what we eat and drink.  An analogy for this situation is comparing weight loss to a bank account.  In real life, we want to save money for a “rainy day.”  If our budgets are done correctly, after paying our bills and expenses, we would have enough for savings to keep building our accounts.  In the weight loss game, we tend to “save” whatever we don’t spend in the sense of calories. In other words, many people have really increased their savings account (weight gain) by not spending (energy expenditure) what they need to on a daily basis.  Here is a simple formula to show how a little “savings” each day can accumulate to an extra unwanted 10 pounds per year:  If you were to consume an extra 100 calories per day above what you are expending, and then multiply that times 365 days per year (100 x 365), this would equate to an extra 36,500 calories per year.  We can then divide this number by 3500 per pound of fat and we total just over 10 pounds per year!  One of the points of this story is that it doesn’t take much each day to put you in a position where you have gained weight and not feeling good.  The GREAT part of this story is that it doesn’t take much to REVERSE this process (100 calories reduced instead of increased) to start seeing the weight come off!  All you have to do is be more aware of what you are eating and drinking each day and add exercise to your lifestyle! 

To break this down, start keeping a daily food journal and write down everything you eat and drink for the next ten days.  Put down EVERYTHING, no matter how unhealthy you may think it is.  Next, take an average of what your caloric intake has been over that time period to determine how much of a caloric deficit you should be in.  For example, if you find that you are taking in 3000 calories per day, now take out 200-400 per day to bring your daily amount down to 2600-2800 per day.  If you continue to burn the same amount of calories as what you did before, you will now be in a 200-400 calorie deficit where your body will need to utilize your “stored” calories to fulfill these needs.  The keys are to eat small portions every couple of hours to maintain your energy and hunger levels with good food.  This is important to prevent you from becoming hungry, which can cause a bad food choice (one stop at a fast food restaurant and making the wrong choices can set you back 1000-3000 calories) and making sure you always have energy to do your daily tasks.

The other side of the equation on how you can double your caloric deficit is to exercise!  You will burn various amounts of calories performing exercise at different intensities, lengths of time, and different types.  To start, try 3 times a week, alternating days.  This will spread out your calorie expenditure throughout the week and the great thing about exercising, is that it will have you burning a higher amount of calories, even on the days that you are not working out!  Include some type of cardiovascular activity (20-30 minutes) and resistance training for your whole body, 3 times a week for an hour total and you will be on your way to your new body!  If you need help with any of this, please don’t hesitate to ask for your club’s Fitness Manager and we will be happy to get you started on the right track!

There are many ideas and concepts that we would like to share with you through this blog, but just as importantly we would love to answer any fitness questions you may have as well.  Please feel free to email me at: rob@therush247.com and I will post various questions with our answers every blog opportunity.

Thanks for your time and being a part of The Rush Family,