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Does Counting or Tracking Your Calories Help You Lose Weight?
There quite a few apps out there that can help you track your calories and therefore help you lose weight.
The most popular of these is MyFitness Pal and it is probably the most commonly used around the world.
These apps are helpful yes. But they can also be unhelpful in your pursuit of losing weight for a number of reasons.
This article will show you exactly how to set up MyFitness Pal for your success with weight loss, teaching you what to avoid and how to get around these common potholes that the app has which might hinder your ability to succeed.
MyFitness Pal (MYFP) is a wonderful tool for the vast majority of people and it is a phenomenal database of foods from all around the world to help you track your calories.
But…
Will it actually help you lose weight?
You have probably all seen all over the internet advocates of tracking your calories on My Fitness Pal. Followed by swathes of others who just don’t have success with it.
Like with anything in the Fitness Industry there are pros and cons and especially with My Fitness Pal, there are some potholes in there that they just hope you fall into, especially when it comes to weight loss.
Pros of MyFitness Pal (MYFP) are:
It has a Large Database of Food
The Barcode Scanning is quick and effective
Macro Breakdowns
Graphs for your weight, Macro Intake, and Calorie Intake over meals
You can Build Your Own Meals in a quick and easy manner
A lot of Take Out Food and restruants are in their database.
As you can see, there is a lot to like about MyFitness Pal and therefore it is worth figuring out how to make it work for you.
Cons of MyFitness Pal (MYFP):
It sets a vert aggressive calorie deficit.
It gives you back calories burned from exercise.
It can feel time-consuming when you start to use it.
Eating out in restaurants is hard to track,
It can appear that you are constantly failing,
The micro-messaging via the colors it uses in the App
It can get obsessive for some people.
As I mentioned above let’s work through this cons list and figure it all out to make sure that by the end of this article you will know exactly how to use MyFitness Pal to help you lose weight and make the Cons work a lot better for you and your success.
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR “DOES COUNTING OR TRACKING CALORIES HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT?”
Does Counting or Tracking Your Calories Help You Lose Weight?
My Fitness Pal Sets An Aggresive Calorie Deficit
When you log into MyFitness Pal (MYFP) and set yourself a goal.
It asks you a series of questions:
What is your Goal?
How Active Are You?
Personal Details
More Personal Details
What is your weekly goal? (with a recommendation to lose 0.5kgs per week)
Once you then go through some other legal selection boxes you are congratulated and it says:
You should lose: X kg by X Date
Alarm bells should now be ringing in your head.
This is now setting you up for failure…because in truth an App has no idea who you are, what your life looks like or your ability to actually lose weight.
Added to that…it has no idea if the Goal you have set yourself is actually possible for you.
At this point, I have worked with many many people who tell me that they have a lot more to lose than they really actually do.
In this world of Instagram and Social Media, people are being cheated and lied to, to a point where they will be very convinced that they need to lose a lot more weight than they actually need to or actually can.
When choosing a Goal Weight it is not a good idea to simply chose a number based on a friend or what you think you would like to weigh.
My best advice for this is to choose a weight that you have weighed before, maybe 5-10 years ago, and make sure it’s a weight you feel comfortable at. That being said, if you are a person who carries a lot more weight then you might be able to be a little more aggressive with your goal weight number. But please remember “carrying a lot more weight” is a term used in comparison to the whole of society…not your own personal opinion of yourself.
How Does My Fitness Pal Choose Your Calorie Deficit?
In a nutshell, it deducts 500kcal from your Maintenance Calories — no matter who you are but it is capped for Men at 1500kcal/day. and Females at 1200kcal/day.
In their words: “Our calculator uses the Mifflin-St. Jeor equations to estimate your BMR (Basal Metabolic Weight) which is believed to be more accurate than the more commonly used Harris-Benedict equation” [1]
This is a true statement based on being able to predict someone's RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) not actually their BMR. [2]
The difference isn’t that crucial but it's good to note there is a difference between RMR and BMR.
Once the equation has your vital statistics it then asks you for your activity level and uses that as a multiplier to figure out your Calorie Deficit.
For example, you have:
BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) = 1300
Activity Level is Sedentary = multiplier effect of 1.2
Maintenance Calories = 1300 x 1.2 = 1560kcal
Then to chose your Deficit it appears that MYFP just deducts 500kcal from your Maintenance Calorie number which would leave you trying to eat 1060kcal a day in this example.
Which is far too low for 99% of the population.
But MYFP does have a “lower cap” due to Government restrictions in the USA.
Let's now take a real-world example of someone. Meet Jacquie.
Let us say that Jacquie is 40 years old, she currently weighs 74kgs and is 5ft 8in tall, and has a BMI of 25.1 putting her in the overweight category but she does weight training 2x a week and works in an office.
Her Goal weight is 70kgs as that lowers her BMI to 23.4.
Her BMR is calculated at about 1600kcal/day.
Then we add her multiplier of 1.2 for her Lightly Exercise Level to get her Maintenance Calories.
1600 (BMR) x 1.2 (Activity Multiplier) = 1920kcal/day or “Maintenance Calories”.
MYFP dictates that we deduct an arbitrary 500kcal which equals = 1420kcal/day.
I actually put Jacquie into MYFP and this is what came up:
As you can see, the way I believe MYFP is working is pretty accurate.
Putting a human being into a straight caloric deficit below her BMR, without any rests or diet breaks scheduled into her plan is in short setting her up for failure.
Personally, I don’t advise any of my friends that I work with online to go below their Basal Metabolic Rate when working on their deficit. Basal Metabolic Rate is defined thus:
“Basal Metabolic Rate is the number of calories required to keep your body functioning at rest”
Keep your body functioning at rest.
This is literally the minimum amount of calories you need for your body to be able to function daily without any movement.
So if you eat less than this for a prolonged period of time what do you think might happen? You will of course gradually get tired, irritable, your performance in the Gym will suffer and all of this leads to one thing.
Giving up.
Which then makes you feel like a failure.
Which then makes you give up on your goals.
My suggestion is to manipulate the App so that you get a Calorie Allowance number that set to either your BMR or your Goal Body Weight in LBS x 12.
To do this on the app, you need to click on the three dots in the bottom corner called More> Goals > Nutrition Goals > Calorie, Carbs, Protein, and Fat Goals > Calories
Then you can set your Customised Calories based on my suggestions above.
If you need help setting your Calorie Targets then you can grab a Free Customised Calorie and Macro Calculator from my website by clicking here: https://www.thegymstarter.com/free-fat-loss-giveaways
By doing this it will ensure that your Calories are set to a level that will create enough adherence for you so that you can be consistent, still enjoy your favorite foods, and still reach your goals.
I am suggesting taking your Calories up so that you don’t continue on the cycle of overly restricting yourself, then binging and forever treading water with your success.
To find out more about how to set your Calorie Deficit watch this:
Does Counting or Tracking Your Calories Help You Lose Weight?
Calories Burned From Exercise Equation
This is my single biggest bugbear of the whole app. This combined with other Fitness Pros encouraging people to share photos of “Calories Burned from Exercise” on Social Media.
This is a practice that just has to stop.
Period.
Calories Burned from exercise is a near-impossible thing to calculate, and an Iowa State University study found that activity trackers can be up to 60% inaccurate in calculating Calories Burned from exercise [3].
A study by Standford University and The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences in 2017 took 60 participants and tested an Apple Watch, a Fitbit Surge, and a few other wearables.
The Apple watch was top of the class when it came to tracking Heart Rate during Exercise and all activity trackers were within the 5% error margin of acceptable.
However, when it came to energy expenditure or Calorie Burned the results were worryingly poor:
“In fact, the study claims that the Fitbit Surge was the most accurate with energy expenditure tracking, with an error rate of around 27 percent. The Microsoft Band came in at around 33 percent, while Apple Watch reported an error rate near 40 percent, though it was consistent” [4]
Added to all of that, the most inaccurate readings come out when Aerobic Exercise is performed — namely Cardio and HIIT workouts.
The one saving grace here is that they are consistently rubbish.
Why is this a problem in relation to MYFP?
MYFP tells you to basically “eat your calories burned from exercise back”.
It calculates the calories you have eaten.
It calculates the calories you have “burned from exercise”
and adds those back into how many calories you should be eating for the day.
So let’s say you can eat 1500kcal a day.
It’s now lunchtime and you have eaten 750kcal at this point giving you another 750kcal until you have hit your allowance for the rest of the day.
You then workout and “burn 350kcal”.
MYFP will then give you that 350kcal back…so you can now eat for the day a total of 1100kcal.
1500–750+350 = 1100kcal remaining for the day
This is what it looks like on the App using my numbers:
In truth, I don’t have 266kcal remaining. I have 261kcal remaining until I hit my target of 2860kcal.
You know that being in a Calorie Deficit is hard work combined with the fact that being able to eat to your Deficit Number or come in below that is hard as well.
You also know that exercise will help you get into your Calorie Deficit.
So why would you eat the calories back from the exercise you just performed?
This will just keep you spinning your wheels.
Personally, I am aware that exercise is more than a method to burn calories, and I would never promote someone going to the gym just to “earn their food”.
Exercise is worth so much more than just a tool to burn calories — it can build confidence, strength, and can give you so much more from life than you ever dreamt of.
But it does burn calories and that can’t be overlooked when trying to lose weight.
Unless you eat back the calories you have burned from exercise.
The other great failing in MYFP with this is that it also gives you calories back from all movement.
Including your Steps.
Now when it comes to a Calorie Deficit the second-biggest portion of your metabolism which will help you lose weight is called Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis or NEAT.
This is 15% of your Metabolism and other than calories in is the single greatest weapon in your toolbox to losing weight.
Unless you are on MYFP — because yes, MYFP gives you these Calories back as well.
You can fix this in two ways:
Just focus on your Goal Calories and your Food Calories when looking at the app and ignore everything else.
Disconnect MYFP from being able to read your Exercise Data. I only know how this works on IOS but you have to go to Health > Click on your Profile Photo opposite the word Summary >Privacy > Apps > MyFitnessPal
Then you can toggle what Data you want it to read and what data you don’t want it to read.
I recommend turning off Steps and Workouts.
Does Counting or Tracking Your Calories Help You Lose Weight?
MyFitness Pal Is Time Consuming
Tracking Calories is something that gets a lot easier over time and MYFP gets better and better at remembering what it is you eat so that it becomes more time-efficient for you to do it.
I can’t deny that inputting all the ingredients in your home-cooked meal into your phone doesn’t take up some time.
But it doesn’t take up A LOT of time either. Not really.
And scanning a Barcode does not take up any time at all.
When I cook and if I am tracking I will get the scales out, and just weigh as I go, and as I am doing that I am cooking and preparing the food.
MYFP becomes laborious when you try to reverse engineer the food that is on your plate.
MYFP also allows you to create Recipes which Bulk Imports your Ingredient List and then you just have to find the right measurement of your food (oz, grams, kilos, cups, ml, Large, Medium, Small) and then select the serving size and the number of servings.
My trick for this is to always try to find a food that is measured on the app in grams, choose a serving size of 1g and then the Number of Servings can equal how much the food actually weighs on the scale.
Stop trying to be perfect.
Your desire to make MYFP perfect is also draining your time.
If you are spending 10mins scrolling, trying to find the right selection of Carrot that you have in your house, you need to assess your priorities.
In truth, no one ever got fat from eating too many Fruits and Veggies so just pick a carrot, get the grams right and move on.
For my friends that I work with Online, they get access to over 250 recipes which all have MYFP Barcodes on them. So you literally just have to scan a barcode which takes less than 10 seconds.
If you have read this and you still feel like it takes up too much time you can adopt this policy with MYFP:
You must track anything you eat with a barcode on it by scanning it in at home or out and about.
You must track down the calories in restaurants you eat (or best guess them) and add 30% to that figure and track that.
Don’t track Home Cooked Meals as long as you have built your meal in this manner: Protein, then Veggies, and then Carbs.
Does Counting or Tracking Your Calories Help You Lose Weight?
Eating in Restaurants is hard to track
Yes. It is.
But that shouldn’t stop you trying.
Many popular chains actually do show up on MYFP, and if they don’t many restaurants publish their calories on their website.
So just head there, find out how many calories the meal you will have has in it, and then input it into MYFP.
If you still can’t find that information…you can only do the best you can do.
In truth, even a restaurant that has published its calories will still be a long way off depending mostly on the Chef they have on that day…and how much oil said Chef likes to use.
If you are eating out more than once a week…the simple reality is that your tracking will be inaccurate and your ability to adhere to a Calorie Deficit will be affected.
Throughout my career, I have come across people who I train that eat out most nights…and trying to get a result for them in terms of weight loss is very difficult, so we look elsewhere. We will work on performance-based goals, track their energy levels, try and improve their sleep and create habits throughout their day that will make them feel better, without them focusing on Weight Loss as a goal.
Does Counting or Tracking Your Calories Help You Lose Weight?
It Constantly Looks Like You Are Failing
MYFP has a lot of trackable stats.
Calories are one piece of the pie. When you look into your Macros you are given targets and a sliding bar of how close you are to hitting your target.
If you go over your target you get a big red minus number informing you that you failed.
These charts are literally impossible to get right.
But that's ok because you aren't trying to be perfect, you are trying to be consistent.
If you go over on your Macros…chill, because you will feel exactly the same about yourself if you go under on your Macros too: you literally can’t win.
So stop trying. Just do your best. And see it as a constant work in process.
When it comes to weight loss and building muscle these are your order of priority;
Calories In
Protein In
That is all you need to worry about. So if you want to play the “perfect” game then just try and do your best on those two markers.
Get as close you darn well can to your Calorie Allowance.
And if you go over by 50–100kcals — that's ok.
If you come in under by 50–100kcals — that's ok too.
Perfection is impossible with this App. I promise you.
The only day you fail at fitness is the day you give up. This isn’t a pass/fail situation. All you ever do in Fitness is learn and from that education, you develop and amend to move forward again.
In truth, we are all beginners.
Does Counting or Tracking Your Calories Help You Lose Weight?
The Apps Use of Colours
If you are “under” your calories MYFP makes the numbers Green.
For good.
If you are over your calories MYFP makes the numbers Red.
For bad.
I’m not sure who needs to hear this right now…but whatever happens with your nutrition it is neither Good nor Bad.
It's just fact.
And every day that passes you get a new opportunity to create a new fact.
But if you keep seeing Red on an App — you are going to believe you are failing. And that might be fine in isolation, but day in and day out it will slowly get to you and make you want to give up.
Added to that Green doesn’t mean good either.
As I laid out above your Calories are always the best guess and MYFP sets them really really low for someone. So for the App to then suggest that you are being Good for coming in under what is an already low number is going to equally lead you to a path of failure.
Because you can’t sustain a Calorie Deficit that aggressive and you will end up overeating pretty quickly.
There is no Good or Bad. And subliminal messaging to that degree is harmful to users of the App.
Try to ignore the colors and just understand that no matter what you log or what the App says you are always trying your best.
Does Counting or Tracking Your Calories Help You Lose Weight?
It Can Become Obsessive For Some People
A large argument I see against tracking your calories is that it can become obsessive for some.
But let me ask you this. Is checking your Bank Account obsessive? Is tracking your income and your outgoings obsessive? Is checking to see how much petrol you have in your car obsessive?
That is all Calorie Tracking should be for you.
It can become obsessive when you directly align it with the success or failure of your goal and don’t keep everything else that goes into a Calorie Deficit in perspective.
It feels like a good time to say this as well:
You don’t have to track your calories for the rest of your life…nor should you want to.
It’s a way of getting yourself educated on what you eat and how that impacts your weight. It's about spending some time understanding Energy Balance, the foods you eat, and how it impacts your life.
I recommend tracking for about 4–6 months.
That should give you enough data to be going on your merry way, and if you ever need to check in again with it in the future you will know exactly what to do and how to do it.
Tracking your calories is something you should use to empower you to be able to learn and manage your food intake no matter what your goals.
It’s not a life sentence. Nor should it be
Does Counting or Tracking Your Calories Help You Lose Weight?
Conclusion
MYFP has its uses and I truly believe it can help you lose weight. If you manage to use it in the manner I have laid out in the article.
MYFP is a business.
And it earns money from you logging in again, and again and again.
Therefore the further from your goals it keeps you the higher the chance it has of you continuing to use it.
The more money it makes.
Just remember the following when you use it:
Set your Calories to GBW in LBS x 12
Ignore Calories Burned from exercise
The more you do it the less time consuming it becomes
It will never be perfect nor should you want it to be
You aren’t failing despite the App trying to tell you that you are
Red doesn’t equal Bad and Green doesn’t equal Good
It’s not obsessive to want to learn more about something — just remember this isn’t a life sentence, this is an education to lead you to be more confident and empowered for the future.
And that’s it!
What’s Next?
I have plenty more articles about weight loss for females throughout this website.
Here is a selection I think would make great further reading for you:
You are also invited to get a bindle of Fat Loss Goodies from me including:
Get yourself a free month of workouts (Home and Gym-based options)
Get yourself a free copy of my e-book ”27 Ways To Faster Fast Loss”
Get yourself a free customized Calorie Calculator
Straight to your Inbox
All you have to do is put your email address in below:
References:
Myfitnesspal.com. 2020. BMR Calculator, Basal Metabolic Rate Calculator | Myfitnesspal.Com. [online] Available at: <https://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator#:~:text=Your%20BMR%20does%20not%20include,commonly%20used%20Harris%2DBenedict%20equation.> [Accessed 14 November 2020].
Amirkalali, B., Hosseini, S., Heshmat, R., & Larijani, B. (2008). Comparison of Harris-Benedict and Mifflin-ST Jeor equations with indirect calorimetry in evaluating resting energy expenditure. Indian journal of medical sciences, 62(7), 283–290. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5359.42024
News.iastate.edu. 2020. Activity Trackers Not As Accurate For Some Activities, ISU Study Finds • News Service • Iowa State University. [online] Available at: <https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2015/08/19/activitytrackers> [Accessed 14 November 2020].
Shcherbina A, Mattsson CM, Waggott D, Salisbury H, Christle JW, Hastie T, Wheeler MT, Ashley EA. Accuracy in Wrist-Worn, Sensor-Based Measurements of Heart Rate and Energy Expenditure in a Diverse Cohort. Journal of Personalized Medicine. 2017; 7(2):3. <https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4426/7/2/3>
5 Easy Ways To Do A Calorie Deficit Diet Without Working Out
I call these my Five Awesome Rules for Fat Loss Life.
They have been my guiding anchor for the entirety of my career.
And they haven’t ever let me down yet. Every single human that I have worked with has followed this plan and it is responsible for a lot of the results you see here.
Each and every one of the people that I work within my Online Coaching Program gets this as Lesson 1. It is a really simple, easy to follow set of actionable steps you can do every day that will ensure you start getting the results you truly want from your Weight Loss Journey.
But before we get started it would be wonderful if you got onto my email list.
I’ll email you things. Sometimes they will be educational, sometimes they will be inappropriate, sometimes I might just want to know how you are; either way…it means we can be friends.
So just fill in the form below and send me a friend request.
Oh, and I will also send you some free fitness goodies to help start our new friendship off on the best foot possible.
When it comes to the Calorie Deficit Diet there is one guiding principle that you must acknowledge before we go any further.
“A Calorie Deficit is simple, but its not easy”
I have written on the topic of what a Calorie Deficit is many times before.
Here in fact: What is a Calorie Deficit Diet Plan?
And you are welcome to read it…once you have finished with this story first.
I am sure I will write about a Calorie Deficit at least once a month for the rest of my life because it is that complex.
Now I need to cue some irony because I am going to try and make the Calorie Deficit as simple, as accessible, and as easy for you to follow as I possibly can.
But please remember this. When you get to the end of the article, you will be pumped, inspired, and excited to get started.
But this is still difficult to adhere to consistently and patiently to allow yourself the real-time that fat loss needs.
This is an amazing starting point, and this should be your constant solid foundation, your comfort blanket for Fat Loss results.
If you want the video version of, 5 Easy Ways To Do A Calorie Deficit Diet Without Working Out, you can grab that right here:
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Awesome Rule For Fat Loss Life #2 - Three Litres of Water A Day
Awesome Rule For Fat Loss Life #3 - Protein and Veggies At Every Meal
These are in no particular order of importance. They all require as much time and attention as the next one, and if you favor one over the other then you are very much cheating yourself out of success.
But first let me answer this:
Can You Lose Fat In A Calorie Deficit Without Exercise?
Yes.
In fact, whenever I work with a client online, and they have a weight loss goal, then I encourage them to not view their exercise as a tool to help make that happen.
When you only view exercise as a means to burn calories, you destroy your relationship with exercise, and it is a surefire way to lose all motivation for working out.
If you are trying to lose weight, please view the balance of exercise and diet his way:
You work out to get strong.
You eat to a calorie deficit
If you can do that, not only will your diet improve, but also your ability and desire to see movement for what it is in your life will improve dramatically too.
I don’t encourage clients to just lose weight without any movement, as there are drawbacks related to doing just that:
It could effect your metabolism.
You will lose strength.
You won’t feel empowered in your new body.
You will focus too much just on the scale.
You could effect your relationship with food negatively.
Exercise is a great tool to protect you from all of the above as well, and exercise does not often have to conform to the ideas you think it might to support your weight loss journey.
So please bear that in mind as well.
Now onto the Five Awesome Rules for Fat Loss Life:
Awesome Rule For Fat Loss Life #1
You need to be in a Caloric Deficit.
Every rule hereafter will help you be in a Calorie Deficit.
But you cannot lose body weight, burn body fat, and try to change that scale number if you are not being adherent to a Calorie Deficit.
So how do you know if you are indeed in said deficit?
The crucial understanding for this is the principle of Energy Balance.
This dictates the following:
Energy In = Energy Out = Calorie Maintence
Energy In < Energy Out = Weight Loss
Energy In > Energy Out = Weight Gain
Therefore by understanding this you can manipulate your Caloric Intake to make sure that you keep your calories where you want to achieve your goals.
Personally, I suggest tracking your calories each day using an app like MyFitness Pal.
However there a few considerations you need to have when using MyFitnessPal.
The Caloric Goal it will set you is too aggressive for long term sustainable weight loss. So please ignore it. Instead, use the following formula:
Goal Body Weight in LBS x 12 = Caloric Deficit
2. Calories are the most important for your goals.
3. Secondly its Protein, however, Protein doesn’t have to be your biggest Macro Nutrient. Yes, Protein is important, but that doesn’t mean it has to be the biggest part of your diet. Then your Carbohydrates and your Fats. These are all just targets. Not pass/fail markers. If you don’t manage to hit your targets, don’t worry as long as your Calories are still in the right place.
4. Ignore Calories Burned from exercise. MYFP will take into account the calories you are expending from exercise, and then it will encourage you to add that against your calorie targets. Please do not do this. The whole point of your movement is to help you get into a Caloric Deficit, if you eat it all back…then what are you gaining if you are after Fat Loss? Added to that MYFP pulls in that Data from your smartwatch and these have been proven time and time again not be very accurate at calculating calories burned from aerobic exercise.
5. Remember you will never get it right. It is quite literally your best guess. All the time. Breaking down your homemade meals is a pain and it can become time-consuming and frustrating. Bear in mind you are using it as best guess, that its never going to be perfect will help take the pressure off you.
6. You only have to do it for a month — six weeks. This isn’t, and nor should it be a lifelong sentence for you to track your calories. All you need is to get yourself more calorie educated in two departments: Portion Control and Calories in your favorite foods. Once you have spent time educating yourself on these things then you will have a much better idea of where your calories are at each day.
7. It will take time out of your day. But don’t forget the big picture. 10 minutes a day for 6 weeks is little time invested compared to years of half arsing it and struggling along because you haven’t taken a moment to get educated and understand the process enough.
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Awesome Rule For Fat Loss Life #2
3 Litres of Water A Day
Water has zero calories in it. As does Diet Soda.
The reason I am saying to you to drink more water is not because of the nonexistent calories in there.
It’s because Water will help you with a number of “negatives” that you might get when you start a Calorie Deficit.
Being in a Calorie can and will cause hunger as well as ever so slightly lowered energy levels.
Being hydrated will without a doubt help you curb your hunger, which in turn helps you stay adherent to a Calorie Deficit.
But it will also give you energy. The difference between you being hydrated and not being hydrated will become clear…when you become hydrated. A lot of people think that 3 litres is too much water, and can find it hard, to begin with. I understand that, so build up to it. Take it steady, and add 500ml of water each day as you build slowly until you hit your 3 litres.
I had a client once who told me she would drown if she drank 3 litres of water a day. She also told me that she would get water intoxication.
I bargained with her. It will feel like a huge change and a large amount of liquid. But you will always look for reasons to not do something. You will always fight drastic measures to a degree. And you are right to do so. But in my 5 years of working with people…I have never had anyone say to me that this is a negative aspect of their work.
I told my client to give it a go, build slowly, and see what happens. She went on to lose 10kgs working with me, and she drank her water.
It's not a magic number. Everybody is different, and everybody is different. But it’s a good baseline. It’s a number that is high enough to make you increase where you are currently at, it’s a good amount so you can get the benefits from it, and is achievable.
Here are some tips to help you get that water intake up:
Start early. Wake up and get 500ml into your system from the off.
Get a water bottle you enjoy drinking from and is at least 750ml big.
Build slowly.
Drink clear water on top of other liquids throughout the day. Don’t include Coffee, Tea, Juice as part of your 3L.
And here is the best bit.
You will be drinking more. Which means you will be going to the loo more.
When this happens and interrupts work etc…
Just remember Elmo…
Awesome Rule For Fat Loss Life #3
Protein and Veggies at every meal
In truth, I don’t care what you eat if you are working on a Calorie Deficit, as long as you are sticking to your numbers.
But…and this is a big wallopping Kim Kardashian “but”
What you eat will make your life on a Calorie Deficit either a lot easier…or a hell of a lot harder.
There’s a fantastically huge amount of people out there who will set your deficit too low, tell you to eat Mars Bars and Donuts, and still lose weight.
Sell you the perfect dream.
You will lose weight, and they will get some great Work In Process Pictures from you. But they quite simply are not caring for your needs, and if you are willing to submit yourself to such torture, then you aren’t caring for your needs either. All these trainers want is a great photo of you, so they can move onto someone else based on your hard work.
Then once it is all done, and the 12 weeks are over…well…they don’t care about how much you have binged, or how you feel mentally or physically. They got your photo that proves they got you a result.
Not quite such a perfect dream is it?
This is why I don’t ever dictate to clients what foods they should be eating…but ask them to stick to some guidelines. And one of these guidelines is the following: Protein and Veggies at every meal.
Build your plate wisely.
I want you to feel the best you can whilst trying to lose weight, both mentally and physically.
This means eating protein because protein is satiating, it will help you preserve muscle and is always a good thing to eat.
There are many theories out there on “how much” protein you need. With this, like everything, do your best.
Whether its 1g per lb of bodyweight. Or 2g per lg of bodyweight.
Don’t lose sleep over it. Just remember, a lot like getting in 3L of water a day, we need you to aim for something more than you are currently doing, and whatever you achieve will be great. The percentage of Protein in your Diet will very rarely be higher than your Carbohydrate intake — that's ok.
Then let's add Vegetables. A good solid source of Carbohydrates, they are extremely nutrient-dense and don’t carry with them lots of calories.
From there…I always say that Carbs can come long for the ride. You can sprinkle in some rice, bulgur wheat, couscous, pasta, bread, or whatever. Sprinkle it in once you have your plate built with Protein and Veggies first. This way you will really give yourself a big tick in terms of portion control.
Awesome Rule For Fat Loss Life #4
10,000 steps a day.
Good old FitBit. Good old activity trackers. Good old 10k steps a day.
I’m sure you are starting to see a theme here.
10k steps a day is not a magic number. If all you do right now is 1k steps a day…then getting you to 10x that is wholly unrealistic.
But the benefits of increasing that are still huge.
The technical reason this is in there is known as your NEAT; your Non-Exercise Thermogenesis. This basically means all movement you do which isn’t prescribed training. Which isn’t lifting weights.
This is the part of your Metabolism that you have the most control over…and is part of your Metabolism that many people don’t pay enough attention to.
For more information on your Metabolism and whether or not it is “broken”. Then read this article of mine that has helped 100s of people understand what to do in order to keep their metabolism burning body fat: https://www.thegymstarter.com/blog/is-your-metabolism-broken
I want you to move more. I want you to allow movement to become part of your life. Whether that means doing the gardening, climbing the stairs at work or parking further away at the Grocery Store…if you do all of them then you are well on your way to increasing your NEAT.
Don’t feel defeated if you don’t hit the magic 10k.
As long as you are increasing and building this up from the moment you started your Calorie Deficit from where it was before…you are winning.
Awesome Rule For Fat Loss Life #5
7–8 Hours Sleep A Night
Sleep. The final frontier.
If you fail to make Sleep something you are willing to focus on when trying to lose weight, then you are basically doing the following to your success:
I fully appreciate and understand that sleep is harder to come by for some people due to little children and young families.
And I empathize. I really do.
But if you want to make Fat Loss as easy as possible then you need to understand that making sleep a priority is really really important.
Without the re-charge. Without the deep NREM sleep that you can achieve you aren’t going to wake up with enough energy for the next day.
And that energy isn’t just to workout.
It comes down to your willpower.
A tired person is a hungry person.
A tired person is a caffeine reliant person.
A tired person is a more stressed person.
A tired person is a person who’s calories will increase.
That's the be-all and end-all.
If you are tired. Your calories will increase.
So how do we manage your tiredness? Well like most things, prevention is better than reaction, and improving your Sleep Hygiene will be a huge win in your column.
I am going to write a list of optimal behaviors for your sleep. You don’t have to follow them all…but again, that's up to you. If you do follow them all you will be in a much more advantageous position than if not. But I’m not here to tell you what to do. I’m here to empower you to make the best choices for yourself.
Electronics off at least 60mins before bedtime.
Dim the lights of an evening
No caffeine after midday.
Meditate Daily
Listen to a Sleep Story
Try to get to sleep before midnight
Don’t drink alcohol
Exercise during the day
Get the sun on the skin
To be able to sleep you need to inspire your body to send Melatonin through your body. This comes from the Pineal Gland and is sent through the bloodstream. Melatonin is released when the body realizes it is indeed bedtime, and there are many cues that can occur for that. Having a pattern of behavior really helps your body sense the signals to release Melatonin into your system.
This is why bedtime habits are really important, and in your day defining the difference between Night and Day really helps.
If you start implementing some better habits around your bedtime then you will start to sleep like a baby.
Conclusion
This is it. Five ways to make your Calorie Deficit Diet easy without working out.
And, just because you can lose weight without working out doesn’t mean you should.
The benefits of looking after yourself physically in this manner are far too plentiful for it to be ignored.
If you want the best results possible, then combine this list of Rules with a very well-thought-out Strength Programme.
Stick to what I have outlined in this article and you will do really well.
But remember these five rules aren’t really rules.
They’re more like guidelines…
Did You Find This Useful?
Well, I am an Online Coach who has helped thousands of people work through the challenges in this article.
And it would be my pleasure to help you too.
My program, which is personal one-to-one online training called the Strong & Confident Program.
If you have ever wanted to achieve the following:
✅ Escape the constant dread of dieting?
✅ Release the guilt you attach to eating certain types of food?
✅ Learn to stop worrying about “the pesky last few pounds” and focus on all your body can do?
✅ Become truly happy with what your body is and what is capable of?
✅ Enjoy the feeling of being stronger and fitter as opposed to trying to reduce your size all the time?
✅ Achieve all of this and still lose body fat at the same time without huge restrictions and slavery to a fitness regime?
✅ Do it all on your own schedule, in your own way, with a program specifically designed for you?
Then please click on the button below and fill out an application form to start working with me.
I have plenty more articles about weight loss for females on this website.
Here is a selection I think would make great further reading for you:
Thank you so much for reading my work, and good luck on your weight loss journey.
I cannot wait to see how you go!
Coach Adam
How To Find Your Calorie Maintenance Level
I always feel like Calorie Maintenance gets a bad rap in the Fitness Industry.
It’s the one that gets forgotten. The reason for this is that we cannot sell Calorie Maintenance.
Imagine if you saw an advert for The Fitness Collective (my coaching program) and it said:
“I will teach you to keep your weight exactly where it is, so you can saty exactly as you are”
You’re going to look at it like this:
And I understand why.
But if you think that maintaining body weight is not something you should be concerned with…then you need to read on…because in taking a moment, hitting the pause button and understanding the role that Calorie Maintenance can play in your fitness, health and above all your Fat Loss, is crucial.
Yes.
I did just say that Calorie Maintenance can be crucial in helping you to lose weight.
But don’t worry. I haven’t gone mad and abandoned my Calorie Deficit principles…so let me show you what I mean by this.
But before I do just that… it would be wonderful if you got onto my email list and we became friends.
I will email you things. Sometimes they will be educational, sometimes they will be inappropriate, sometimes I might just want to know how you are; either way…it would be delightful to connect with you.
Just send me a friend request by filling out the form below…
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Table of Contents for “How Do You Find Your Calorie Maintenace Level”
If you want to see this Article explained in Video Format then watch this YouTube Video:
What is Calorie Maintenance?
Time for a quick science lesson recap about your Metabolism.
I promise. It will be quick.
As you can see from the infographic your Metabolism is made up of four components:
Basal Metabolic Rate
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
Thermic Effect of Food
All combined these four things make up your Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE.
Simply put that means how many calories you burn each day.
Once we know your TDEE we know how many calories you need to eat to be in Calorie Maintenance.
If you want to understand your Metabolism so much more, and begin to understand why you can’t break your Metabolism then please do more reading and join 100s of other people by reading this: https://www.thegymstarter.com/articles/is-your-metabolism-broken
There you go.
I told you the lesson would be quick.
The issue we have with just looking at our TDEE, finding out the calculation and going from there is that the factors are variable.
For example, you may not exercise, you may not eat foods that have a good TEF like High Protein Foods, you may not keep your NEAT high enough each day.
So knowing your TDEE is one thing, and it’s a great starting point…but when figuring out Maintenance Calories we need to be a little bit cleverer than that.
I will come back to this point later.
How Do You Find Your Calorie Maintenace Level
When should you go into Calorie Maintenance?
At this point, it would be useful to tell you that there is another term out there for Calorie Maintenance…and it comes from Jordan Syatt (who is basically my Coaching Idol)
He calls Maintenance the following:
“Momentum Calories”
And this is important when we are figuring out when to move into a Calorie Maintenance phase.
In my experience with clients when we bring this topic up they think it is a comment of failure. When I say to them, I think we need to start considering a move into Maintenance, they look at me all puppy-eyed and plead me not to say it.
This is an actual photo of one of my clients
There are two overriding reasons this reaction occurs when talking to someone about Calorie Maintenance:
You think that because you aren’t at “Goal” weight I don’t believe, as your trainer, you will ever get there and therefore I want to just “try something different”
You are petrified you will “put it all back on”
Neither is true.
The truth is you cannot Calorie Deficit forever. It’s too stressful, it can be too restrictive and it’s just a downright pain in the backside.
If it’s not the hunger annoying you….
It might be a lack of energy…
Or the lack of improving strength you can build in the Gym…
Or the simple fact you want to enjoy the Holidays.
All perfectly valid reasons to get frustrated with something.
This is where Jordans “Momentum” term comes into its own.
Because you are simply taking a moment, giving yourself some time to pause, relax and gather up the energy you need before you go again.
The analogy I like to use in this situation for you is the following: Every professional Sport in the World has seasons. Off and On. The reason these are in place is that demanding certain things from your body creates stress and we all need a break from that stress.
It's perfectly normal. And if professional athletes need it, then we can bet your bottom dollar its probably a good idea for you as well.
As for being petrified, you will “put it all back on again” this is a very understandable worry.
But Calorie Maintenance isn’t a free pass. It isn’t an excuse to go and eat whatever the hell you want.
Yeah sorry about that.
Its a controlled break from the Calorie Deficit and Weight Loss, one upon which you slowly but surely figure out how to stabilize the scale and enjoy the benefits that brings to you before you decide what to do next.
Added to this is that we know Fat Loss isn’t linear and using Maintenance as a way to accept that more might be just what you need. By cycling in some Maintenance moments over a much longer time frame for your Fat Loss Goals then you are going to be able to be so much more consistent for a lot longer.
So truly at what point should you go into Calorie Maintenance/Momentum?
Well, you have to first earn the right to do it.
This isn’t an excuse for you to step away from your Deficit because you want cocktails with your friends each weekend. It’s not what the “Cheat Meal” has become where people just eat what they want and excuse their behavior not being congruent to their goals with two simple words.
If you want to truly lose weight you must be in a Calorie Deficit. You must also be truly consistent with that Calorie Deficit and give it the due care and attention it deserves.
You cannot simply move into Maintenance when the going just gets a little tough, and you’re finding it hard to figure out.
I personally would say this: You can move into Calorie Maintenance once you have been in a Calorie Deficit for at least three months, hitting your Calorie Deficit numbers at least 24-26 days out of 31 in each month.
That is a consistent Calorie Deficit following the 80/20 rule.
I do think many people can sustain a Calorie Deficit a lot longer than that…and you probably should if you are still not getting towards your Weight Loss Goals.
Others moments when you should go into Caloric Maintenance are:
You are truly exhausted of the Calorie Deficit, you are irritable and more and more you are noticing that you are really struggling to stay within your numbers.
When you have reached your Goal Weight and want to start figuring out how to get greater flexibility in your diet at that weight.
Your goals are changing and you want to focus more on strength and PBs on the Gym Floor
There is a high Social Calander on the horizon…like the Holiday Season…and you need more flexibility in your Calorie Allowances.
When you feel like you need a little more Brain Space for what life is throwing at you…for example times of higher stress.
When you want more energy on a day by day basis.
When you want to experience less hunger each day and you have noticed it increasing.
These are all perfectly good reasons to move into Calorie Maintenence and maybe a few of them have rung true for you.
This is also a wonderful path away from Yoyo Dieting.
How many times have you lost weight, and then put it all back on again, because you couldn’t figure out the flexibility and the parameters you needed to exist in since your body has changed so much?
Yeah. Me too.
How Do You Find Your Calorie Maintenace Level
What to expect when you do go into Calorie Maintenance
The first and most important thing here is that:
The Scale Will Go Up:
Now please don’t freak out.
You must keep in mind four things.
One, we know it's going to go up, we know the scale will increase and you are entering into this knowing that is the outcome you want.
Two, you aren’t stopping your fat loss journey. You are simply hitting pause to explore new options, and go back into a Calorie Deficit anytime you like.
Three, there is no time limit on when you need to lose weight and there is no rush. So taking a pause will be great, and allow you to move further forward in the future.
In a lot of technical things sometimes you must regress in order to progress.
Four, you aren’t increasing your calories by that much really. It’s going to be a slow build of adding in about 27kcal a day for a few weeks.
It’s hard to say how much the scale will go up, because we are looking for that moment on the scale where it stays true. It will always fluctuate up and down and that will probably be anywhere between 1lb-5lbs.
You Will Have More Energy:
You are eating more! That means more calories, which means more energy!
Obviously the extra calories should still come from foods congruent to your goals for health. So just helping yourself to an extra 200kcal a week of Haribos might not lead to more energy overall.
Your Strength In The Gym Will Increase:
You know that in order to gain muscle you have to be in a Caloric Surplus. Therefore any increase in calories will help you with the goal of gaining muscle.
You won’t look like Arnie.
But you should notice your workouts feeling a bit more full of energy and strength, and that progressive overload is a touch easier obtain.
You Will Have More Brain Space:
A calorie deficit is stressful and tiring. That takes up CPU power in the brain. But the truth is that by removing the pressure to lose weight for a small period of time, by renewing your focus and changing your goal for a brief period it will give you more vigor and motivation.
How Do You Find Your Calorie Maintenace Level
How Do You Go Into Calorie Maintenance?
The first and most important thing here is that I recommend you do this after a phase of being in a Calorie Deficit. It makes life easier once you know what you need to eat to lose weight, to then increase from there.
You will need to figure out your numbers. For which there are three methods I recommend. The first Method is the way you should do it…but its not the most simple or most effective.
Method One:
Once you have decided to go into Calorie Maintenance then, you need to start adding in 200kcal per week. From there, you will see the scale increase.
Don’t forget to weigh daily, because without that you will never know whether the weight has stabilized, dropped, or spiked for no reason.
If you want to improve your relationship with the scale then head right here to my article which has helped hundreds of people learn how to use the Scale Every Day: https://www.thegymstarter.com/articles/2020/5/2/your-scale-strategy
Then just keep building your calories up, until you have regular weigh-ins that hover around 1–5lbs above your starting Maintenance Weight: that is the window we are aiming for.
Method Two:
Download my Calorie Calculator right here: Free Calorie Calculator and other Weight Loss Goodies
Fill out all of your Data on there and then follow the guideline laid out for “Maintain Weight”. This is basically a Free TDEE Calculator for you.
Method Three:
Bodyweight in LBS x 14.
Just take your current body weight in pounds and times it by 14. You will get a fairly rough estimate of where you need to be.
In truth, its probably wise to do all three, and figure out your averages, and what sits best with you. That way you are keeping well educated and in touch with your body.
How Do You Find Your Calorie Maintenace Level
Conclusion
Remember if you decide to come away from your Calorie Deficit and come into a controlled period of Calorie Maintenance then it doesn’t mean any of these things:
That you have failed
That you can’t lose weight
That you aren’t focussed on your Goals
What it does mean is this:
You need a little rest
You are assessing new possibilities
Your goals have aligned differently
You are finding balance in the Calorie Deficit process
Calorie Maintenance is hard to get right because your Daily Activity will change from time to time. So it’s like an ongoing and fun experiment.
The scale will go up, but that's ok, as it’s part of the plan and its nothing to freak out about, plus you won’t lose all you lost again because you are putting your extra calories and extra energy into the Gym and what more the body can do.
I genuinely believe that Calorie Maintenance is the answer to “what now” once you hit your Goal Weight, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it as a tool to help you continue working towards your goal weight and your Fat Loss if you aren’t quite there yet.
Calorie Maintenance is where to go when you feel lost, confused and frustrated with the constant yoyo of what modern-day dieting has become.
It can help give you balance all the way along the journey.
And as we know, balance is the most important word in the English Dictionary and in Fitness it is important to exercise it at every opportunity you get…because that creates consistency.
And consistency leads to success.
With a healthy dose of balance too.
Did you find this useful?
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Here is a selection I think would make great further reading for you:
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7 Things Stopping Your Calorie Deficit
The epitome of Weight Loss.
The foundation of all that you need to lose weight.
Martin MacDonald once said:
“Weight Loss is as simple as “Calories In vs Calories Out” but “Calories In vs Calories Out” just isn’t that simple”
And he is right. He is as right as they come. We have all heard the saying to lose weight you just need to eat less and move more but if you have any concept of how hard weight loss can be you will realize that this phrase is just short-sighted and far too simplistic for someone who needs help.
Because eating less is a very difficult thing to do consistently enough when you want to lose weight.
So here are 7 Things Stopping Your Calorie Deficit:
1. Not Eating Protein and Veggies At Every Meal
Oh, golly. The first one is really about eating Vegetables.
COME ON ADAM
But this is hella important.
Protein is a truly wonderful Macro Nutrient for many reasons…but why I am always preaching about why you should have it in your diet is because it fills you up. Your body takes a much longer time to digest protein than any other Macronutrient. This basically means it will keep you fuller for longer [1]. The way in which this works is it helps keep Grehlin at bay. Grehlin is your hunger hormone that tells your brain you want food.
So keeping that happy is a good idea.
As you already know from my Article on your Metabolism that you have read haven’t you? Good. Great. Well as you know Protein has a higher Thermic Effect of Food as well and therefore will burn more calories when it is being digested than other Macronutrients.
I personally would suggest you aim for 2g per kg of bodyweight each day.
AIM FOR…
That's a lot of protein if you have never tried before, but it will inspire you to start eating more and trying to get it increased. Which is what we want.
Read My Article that has helped 100s of people understand more about their Metabolsm right here: Is Your Metabolism Broken
What about the V-word then? The dreaded Mushroom. Seriously…is there a vegetable worse than a Mushroom?
Vegetables are Calorie Friendly foods. They have far fewer Calories in them than other foods, and therefore you can eat far larger portions of them. Which again keeps you filled up for longer.
For example….
100g of Spinach contains 24kcal
100g of Oven Chips contains 202kcal
100g of Chicken Breast contains 165kcal
So as you can see…you can eat A LOT more Veggies as oppose to anything else at the same quantity.
2. YOUR DOING TOO MUCH HIIT
Let me be clear…I love running and Cardio Exercise. I love lifting weights.
I very rarely get less than 10k steps in a day and I promote walking and cardio work to everyone in The Fitness Collective.
And all my clients follow Strength Training protocol.
However…HIIT has been known to damage your ability to control your Calories. Studies have shown that those who participate in HIIT might burn a few more calories in the session, but they then have a much higher appetite after the exercise session will then consume up to 350kcals more than someone who has followed a traditional Strength Training Programme. You also think that you have worked so hard you are entitled to be more relaxed around your diet. [2, 3]
It can sound so enticing when you hear about the idea of High-Intensity Interval Training. The idea of burning more calories in less time in the Gym. Who wouldn’t want that?
But in truth…let's say you do one 30min HIIT Session. That’s all you will do because of how exhausting it is.
Whereas if you did a Strength Training you might spend an extra 10–15mins in the Gym…but you will end up burning more calories overall for your workout.
Added to this many of the headlines regarding HIIT relate to a comparison against Steady-State Aerobic Exercise eg Running a 5km. [4]
Not a Strength Training Workout.
3. YOUR FOCUS IS IN THE WRONG PLACE
If you have been looking at my work for a while I would fully hope that you're a true member of team Calorie Deficit.
And by that, you know the only way to create Fat Loss is understanding your Energy Balance.
Calories In vs Calories Out
Now if you are starting your weight loss journey, or have tried in the past I am almost certain your top priority was activity.
Get a Gym Membership
Get a Personal Trainer
What Workouts to do?
Go for a run
etc etc
Your focus was on Calories Out.
If you send the word focus to the other part of the equation so that you begin to address your Calories In…
The Calories Out will take care of themselves.
I’m sure you have heard the old adage…you can’t out-train a bad diet. But the truth is you can’t out out-train a calorie-dense diet.
There is no good or bad…but if you are making the Calories Out your priority and focus…you will find a Calorie Deficit very difficult to create.
I’m not saying don’t exercise. Training is very important for your Health and your global wellbeing…and it will help you burn some calories and improve your body composition so you begin insuring yourself against future fat gain. But you must pour your focus into your Calories In.
4. YOUR CALORIE DEFICIT IS TOO BIG
You have to trust me here.
Your Calorie Deficit is too big. As in…you are allowing yourself too few calories.
If you have been at this for a while and you see initial results and then they stop you have probably set your Deficit to too low. What then happens is you end up in a cycle. You have a deficit, you maintain that for a few weeks maybe a month, you have seen some good results, but its hard work. You get tired, grumpy, and sick of tracking all foods and you just run out of steam. You then stop thinking about your calories and they start creeping up. You start eyeballing your portions and the calories start sneaking in more and more before you know it…you are no longer in a Deficit.
And all this has happened because your initial experience in the Deficit was far too hard.
By beginning with a smaller Calorie Deficit and allowing yourself to eat more within that Deficit you will find it far less restrictive and far more sustainable.
Yes…the results might not be as fast as you honestly want. But they will last a lot longer and you will still be able to have a night out with the girls.
I call that a Win Win Win.
If you want to find out how to set your Calories in a sustainable way then watch this:
5. YOU WANT IT TO HAPPEN TOO QUICKLY
Quick question…
What do you think a decent amount of weight to lose each week is? Say you went to the gym two to three times, started eating a little more nutritiously and made health a little higher on your priority list…
What would you expect to lose each week?
Was your answer 2lbs a week? Maybe 3–4lbs a week?
No, I didn’t read your mind. I just know that you think 1lb a week for weight loss is too slow. Despite the fact that 1lb a week is incredibly realistic, incredibly sustainable, and would signify incredible progress.
By wanting more…you are damaging your chances of success. By wanting it to happen quicker you are damaging your chances of success.
Why the rush? Why the sudden it must happen in 3 months?
You need to take a long hard look at your health and you should want to incorporate it into a part of your life…just like work, finances, socializing and family. It should be part of what makes you up…not what defines you for three months and then not for another 6 years.
Look, it's perfectly OK to be in Year 7 of your 5 Year Plan.
Because really…if you have balance and have found a system that is working, even if it is slower than you initially wanted then what does that matter? Really?
And if you need proof of 1lb a week being normal weight loss…not slow weight loss…then watch this:
6. YOUR NIGHTS OUT
I’m not here to tell you to stop socializing. I really am not. Really.
Because you are a human being. And you have friends and family and you have to live your life right? And if I told you to not go out and enjoy your life you would just ignore me anyway…and rightly so.
The issue here really comes when you drink to excess. Although alcohol does pack a punch in terms of caloric value (about 9kcal per gram).
I will always allow my clients to do what the hell they want…but consider this little story of a night out and let me know if it resonates with you:
Night out with alcohol.
Get a kebab on the way home.
Eat toast when home…put kebab under bed
Eat kebab for breakfast because you are hungover.
Lay in bed all day feeling sorry for yourself.
Try to cheer yourself up with a Domino’s (other Pizza is available)
Eat half of that.
Still not moved all day.
Go to sleep
Wake up….eat the rest of your cold pizza
Feel a little better.
Get a text from a friend about going out.
Feel like you need to feel like you have actually done something this weekend.
Meet up with said friend…
Have a drink or five.
Get a kebab on the way home.
Eat toast when home…put kebab under bed,
Eat kebab for breakfast because you are hungover.
Spend all day in bed and get no steps in.
Take about 3–4 days to regain your energy levels from lost sleep and feeling groggy
Finally, get back on track maybe Friday.
Then its the weekend again…
I have done this. If I haven’t done all of this (like a Kebab for Breakfast) but I have definitely noticed the huge drop in discipline, activity and focus after a night out.
When you see Trainers on Instagram piling on the “Weekend Calories” bandwagon…its not because we don’t like fun.
Its because you see it as one night out.
We see the effect it has on everything for the next three to four days.
7. YOU SPEND TOO MUCH TIME LETTING THE SMALL THINGS STOP YOU DOING THE BIG THINGS
Here is a conversation I had on Instagram with someone this week. This was someone who is at the moment doing Keto. By her own admission, she knows it is unsustainable due to the extremely low carb intake it requires.
When I asked her what she would then move into this was her response:
Now her suggestions aren’t that far off.
Other than the fact Protein itself doesn’t increase muscle mass. You can’t just eat Protein and magically grow muscles. To magically grow muscles you need anabolic steroids…which I do not recommend.
However, she has a Fat Loss goal. She would prefer to spend time figuring out the new regime of Intermittent Fasting, counting her Carbs and Fats, and then making sure her protein has gone up proportionally as well.
Maybe it is just me…but I read that and thought…BLIMEY. That's a lot of words. A lot of figuring out. When really all she would need to do is operate a system like my Five Awesome Rules For Fat Loss Life and its all taken care of.
This girl has missed the point, and its not her fault. But she has got bogged down on the small things.
Other examples are things like:
Cardio or Weights?
Bike or Treadmill?
BCAAs or Protein Powders?
Keto or Intermittent Fasting?
Macro Splits?
What Vitamins to take?
Normal Potatoes vs Sweet Potatoes
I’m sure you get the point.
You could spend all day thinking about this…and not actually go to the Gym…or move.
Or track your calories.
There's a massive reason most of my message is always about the same few topics…because those are the big things that make the biggest changes.
If you really want to start getting results, and getting them fast…stop worrying about the small stuff that will give you 10% of the result.
And do the Big Stuff that will give you 90% of the result you want.
You will thank me.
Oh and if you want the Five Awesome Rules for Fat Loss Life…its right here:
Did you find this useful?
You can Join The Fitness Collective which is my Membership Group. In there I give Monthly Updates, Live Q and A’s, I provide you with new workouts each and every month, and write guidance on your fitness journey.
To find out more about The Fitness Collective you can click here: The Fitness Collective
Please share this with your friends and anyone else you may know who is worried about training in a gym, and feel free to follow me using the links below…
And if you want to get updates on when I publish new articles, publish new podcasts or anything else then please remember to sign up below
And above all remember this…for as long as you are trying your best no one can ask for more from you.
Coach Adam
Is Emotional Eating Your Biggest Problem For Fat Loss?
I normally start an Article like this with a funny meme.
You know, a picture of Joey from Friends eating Pizza with a humorous caption to the effect of: “It's not my fault I can’t lose weight…it's my emotions”
But actually I was quite surprised by what I saw when I typed into Google:
“Emotional Eating Memes” because what actually showed up was “Stress Eating Memes”
And I think that is really what is going on with a lot of Emotional Eating.
In this article we will discuss the following:
Is emotional eating something that affects only me?
What is emotional eating and why does it occur?
How do you begin to change your behaviour with emotional eating?
Can I lose weight whilst working on my emotional eating?
Conclusion
Before we go any further I need to run a few disclaimers. I’m a very experienced Personal Trainer in the field of Female Fat Loss.
I am not a Psychotherapist, Eating Disorder Clinician or Doctor of any kind. If you are currently suffering from an Eating Disorder or feel like you might have an Eating Disorder akin to anything like Bullemia, Purging, Anorexia Nervosa or any other kind of Disordered Eating then please contact your GP immediately, or contact the fantastic Charity BEAT: https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/
Is Emotional Eating something that affects only me?
Many of my clients think that their emotional eating is significant to them, that they are the only person who turns to a Glass of Wine or a Bar of Chocolate to help them feel better about themselves.
And I’m sure you think that about yourself too.
But here's a thought…what if it is more normal than you originally thought? What if more women than you knew were actually emotional eaters…it's comforting right? That you're not alone. That you're not broken. That it's not something that is only wrong with you.
People find a lot more comfort in the knowledge that there is a sense of “normality in numbers”. When a client first comes to my Gym and starts working with me, they are normally nervous as hell…until I tell them that actually everyone is nervous. Everyone in this building is nervous, which is why they are here in the first place. All my clients are scared their first time, but they got through it…and you will too. They then relax, they calm down. It's now not “just them”. They are now not singled out in their minds. Social Psychologist Robert Cialdini in his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion says the following:
“Whether the question is what to do with an empty popcorn box in a movie theater, how fast to drive on a certain stretch of highway, or how to eat the chicken at a dinner party, the actions of those around us will be important in defining the answer.”
We find great comfort in following the crowd. But we must always know that the crowd exists first. When you type “Emotional Eating” into Google you get About 397,000,000 results (0.44 seconds).
It's a popular topic. You aren’t alone and it's certainly not the case that you are broken.
In short, …it is a normal behaviour pattern [1].
What is emotional eating and why does it occur?
I couldn’t write a whole article without a meme now, could I?
Emotional Eating is closely related to Binge Eating, however, Binge Eating is classed as an Eating Disorder, and Emotional Eating is not classed as an Eating Disorder due to the fact that as discussed above, we all do it.
I’ve eaten chocolate to feel better, I’ve got horribly drunk after I split up with an Ex and I have also eaten Pizza until my heart is content because something wasn’t feeling right inside of me.
You are jumping straight to the “Eating”And not looking at the “Emotional” with enough scrutiny.
The Pizza didn’t help. Nor did the Alcohol. Nor did the Chocolate.
The reason? The eating wasn’t the reason I needed comfort. The emotion was.
You will go through an emotional moment and then move towards an item of highly palatable, calorific food or drink. We all do it.
How Do You Define Binge Eating? <<< Read my article on how to understand if you are Binge Eating…
What we don’t all do however is look at the reason why we went to the food. You jump straight to the food being the problem because it doesn't align with the physical goals you have set for ourself.
You are jumping straight to the “Eating”, and not looking at the “Emotional” with enough scrutiny.
As a Coach I’m guilty of this as well. In the past, I have only focussed on the “Eating”. Clients tell me that they want to lose weight, and I will jump straight to the calories, without thinking about their Emotional state soon enough, or putting in enough measures to help them make sure that they are working on their emotional environment and behaviour as much as their physical one.
According to HelpGuide.org [2], these are the triggers that cause Emotional Eating:
Stress
Stuffing emotions
Boredom or feelings of emptiness
Childhood habits
Social influences
Then these triggers work themselves into the following cycle:
Its a continuum. It's a cycle that you cannot work yourself away from because you keep returning to the places that the triggers exist, and then you reach out for the food that comforts you.
Emotional Eating also presents very differently physiologically. You get hungry far quicker than normal, it is associated with specific cravings, you then eat quite mindlessly (watching television or a film, flicking through Social Media etc), you are never satisfied once the moment is over, and you experience feelings of guilt, shame and powerlessness when you experience it.
These are all very different to the feeling of physical hunger, which you can be satiated from, it is controlled by hormones (Grehlin and Leptin), it can be held off, you will eat a wider variety of food and you don’t experience such intense or any self-loathing after a meal that is regulated and makes sense to you in the traditional sense.
Its not all negative either. We can also eat emotionally to reward ourselves. Ever gone out for a Cocktail because you got a promotion at work? Or landed a bonus and celebrated with a bottle of bubbly?
These are behaviours that also constitute Emotional Eating.
How do you begin to change your behaviour with emotional eating?
With emotional eating, you must start focussing more on the “Emotional”. You need to develop your ability and practice your ability to manage your Emotional Wellbeing and state.
The reason you Emotionally Eat is not because of your genetics, your physiology or the fact there is something wrong or unfixable about you.
Its because you are stressed and fearful of what is happening to you.
“Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.” — Bertrand Russell
Now there are times that Emotional Eating is totally understandable and you should treat yourself with empathy when it happens. Those moments will be subjective to you.
But you must also develop two other things to get a handle on it.
Emotional Resilience and better coping strategies for when you are stressed.
We can do this by [3]:
Selecting self-efficacy: take ownership of the problem that is causing disbalance in your life, don’t run from it, as you are likely to run towards a less favoured behaviour.
2. Emphasise Empathy: allow yourself to understand what is happening to you and treat yourself with compassion
3. Practising Patience: you can teach yourself to be mindful in difficult situations, and chose to move away from the stressful moment. Give yourself time and space to comprehend what you are going through.
4. Create Capacity: we can choose these moments to work upon our discipline and desired behaviours rather than turn to the destructive behaviour you are trying to move away from
5. Perceiving Possibilities: from all moments of stress and emotional upheaval, there is always an outcome that can be positive. It might be hard to find, but if you can visualise it, and think upon the positive then you will see the light at the end of the tunnel.
How Do You Deal with Stress?
There are many positive behaviours you can implement to help you cope with stress in a much more positive way…rather than returning to what you want to conquer.
There are many different types of stress, and each one and each person will need a different response to the stress they are feeling.
But we know the following will help you immensely:
Eat in a more nutritious manner
I’m not saying “eat better” or “eat good foods” or “avoid good foods”. I am saying eat nutritiously. Sometimes that will mean eat a Cookie, a Donut or have an Espresso Martini. But it also means building your plates with protein and vegetables, drinking 3 litres of water a day, make positive choices that align with your goals both physically, emotionally and mentally.
2. Exercise
Exercise is one very important aspect of dealing with stress. Whether that is hit the gym and follow a good Resistance Programme (Grab a Free Month of Workouts right here: Free Month of the Be Confident, Be Strong Programme) or go for a Swim, Jog, Yoga or even just a 10 minute walk. Exercise reduces levels of the body’s stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. It also stimulates the production of endorphins, chemicals in the brain that are the body’s natural painkillers and mood elevators. [4]
Find out why Resistance Training is great for Fat Loss right here: What is the most important thing for Fat Loss…Resistance Training or a Calorie Deficit?
3. Sleep
Sleep is the most powerful tool in your ability to control stress. You need to be getting 7–8 hours a night. When we sleep we allow our brain to process the day you have just experienced and it will give you much better willpower for the day ahead. Think of sleep not just as a restful time to recover from the day, but time to prepare yourself for the day ahead — like warming up before you exercise. Also, make sure you are creating a good sleep environment for yourself. For example, you should limit caffeine at least 8 hours before you sleep, you should reduce screen time as much as possible, and if you have to be on your phone then use your Night Shift Filter to limit your Blue Light exposure (I have mine on all day every day — and its great!)
If you need help sleeping try listening to one of my Sleep Stories:
4. Meditation
Meditation and deep breathing is also an extremely powerful way to manage your stress. A lot of people give up on Meditation as they believe that they should magically be able to quieten their mind naturally. But it takes practice and is something just like fitness that needs to be worked upon. Also by engaging in Deep Breathing you connect with your Parasympathetic Nervous system which produces a relaxing effect [5]. You can also Meditate anywhere in the world, at any time in your life. it doesn’t have to be at Sunrise on a Beach or listening to Birdsong. Although being in Nature is one of the most relaxing things as humans we can do. You can do it on the Tube, or as you are walking. Try some of my 10-minute walking meditations and see how you get on:
5. Connect with others
By connecting with others and talking things through with your friends will help you solve problems and find the answers you need to figure out what is stressing you out. Plus its comforting to talk to those you are close to. Don’t text them. Speak to them or see them in person. Texting is not an appropriate human connection to help with your stress levels.
6. Give to Charity
There are few things higher up that we can do to improve our sense of self-worth than give to charity. When you help someone else, it makes you feel good, really good, and it helps put your problems into perspective a little more.
Can I Lose Weight Whilst Working on my Emotional Eating?
Let me be clear from the off; anyone can lose weight — all you need is Calorie Deficit:
However, if you are aware that you struggle immensely with Emotional Eating, then a calorie deficit will be an extremely hard thing for you to stick to, as you will constantly be stressing yourself out.
Lets run this through an example:
You have started a new diet and exercise programme and are feeling good for the first few days. You have a little bit of a busy day at work, and feel a bit let down by your colleagues. They haven’t done anything wrong per se, but they just didn’t feel supported. Your boss has hit you with a deadline, and although achievable…in truth its the last thing you want to do right now.
You get home and try to talk to your husband or boyfriend about it. He's only half interested, can’t wrap his head around your point of view and just says something like:
“Well just work hard and you will get it all done. Don’t worry about it”
(Men? Am I rite?)
It brings back all the feelings from your day, from your Boss and your colleagues and you then think about dinner. Feeling a bit low, you notice the Pizza in the freezer rather than the Meal Prep you made.
Pizza it is. You indulge in it. You begin to realise what you did and how that behaviour doesn’t match your new “healthy” regime. However, its ok because you know you are allowed flexibility in what you eat — no ones should be that strict on their diet.
However, you still seem hungry after the pizza. It's not quite done its job. You're not satisfied because you need emotional satisfaction, not physical satisfaction.
There’s Ben and Jerry’s in the fridge…
You get to bed. Sleep not as well as you would like, due to the stress from work, and as you wake in the morning you realise the calories you ate last night exceeded your deficit for the whole week. You now start to feel down on yourself again, and despite knowing all you have to do is follow the Four Step F*** It Philosophy as detailed thus:
STEP 1: Acknowledge you went off plan and why.
STEP 2: Say F*** It.
STEP 3: Draw a line under it.
STEP 4: Move on.
You can’t shake the feeling that you have now let yourself down. You feel your stress levels rising again. Work is just as stressful as before and it's now Karens Birthday. There's Krispy Kremes in the office. One or two won’t hurt, and you need it. You’re feeling low again.
And then the stress increases again because you aren’t matching your Diet to your desired behaviours.
And it goes on and on and on. Until you eventually give up on your diet, give up on your exercise and your goals seem further away than ever.
My point here is that you can’t build a house on a foundation of sand and with three walls. A Calorie Deficit is really simple. But it doesn’t mean it is easy, and to attempt to achieve one in order to lose weight and get a bit “healthier” is going to be extremely hard if you aren’t willing to work first on improving your relationship with food.
You can’t build a house on a foundation of sand and with three walls. Your relationship with food must be postivie before attmepting a Calorie Deficit.
You need to first learn to be able to draw a line right under it and truly move on. When you can achieve that as a habit, without guilt attachment and without you feeling like you are a failure, then you will find being in a Calorie Deficit so much easier.
In the midst of all of this to you will have to learn how to balance your hormones to your expectations. I find that my clients eat a little more during certain times of their cycle and that they need more flexibility in those moments. This is another part of your diet you will need to fully comprehend and understand to help you manage your stress a lot better, and therefore your relationship with food.
How Does Your Menstrual Cycle Effect Fitness and Fat Loss? <<< Read my article on this topic right here
Conclusion
Emotional Eating is a normal, human thing to do. We all Eat Emotionally and this can be both in negative moments of our life and positive moments of our life. Understanding this is crucial because it shows that your behaviour of emotional eating is standard practice and that you aren’t “broken” or “need fixing”
A lot of negative Emotional Eating comes from being in as Stressed state. When the hormone Cortisol and Adrenaline are running rampant in your body, you are much more likely to indulge in foods that do not match the behaviours you want to have in order to reach your goals.
If Emotional Eating is a particularly prevalent behaviour in your relationship with food you need to focus your efforts in the Emotional part of the equation. Not the Eating part of the equation.
Look at the things in your life that are causing you high stress and learn better ways to manage that. Through better nutrition, Exercise, Meditation, Connection with others, giving to Charity and getting out into nature.
It is possible to lose weight whilst being an emotional eater. But it is making your journey a hell of a lot harder. Try and work on your relationship with food before you engage with a Calorie Deficit as fixing your relationship with food will make the weight loss journey more successful and more sustainable.
Above all remember the following: You are not alone, and although this all seems quite daunting, you can totally do it. I know you can. And I believe in you more than you probably believe in yourself. If you got this far through the article, this is clearly something you want to understand more and work upon…and you are already ahead of 90% of the people who have read this.
Stop worrying about the food. Start fixing your stress levels and you’ll do just fine.
Did you find this useful?
You can Join The Fitness Collective which is my Membership Group. In there I give Monthly Updates, Live Q and A’s, I provide you with new workouts each and every month, and write guidance on your fitness journey.
To find out more about The Fitness Collective you can click here: The Fitness Collective
Please share this with your friends and anyone else you may know who is worried about training in a gym, and feel free to follow me using the links below…
And if you want to get updates on when I publish new articles, publish new podcasts or anything else then please remember to sign up below
And above all remember this…for as long as you are trying your best no one can ask for more from you.
Coach Adam
References:
Medainc.org. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.medainc.org/binge-eating-vs-emotional-eating-whats-the-difference/> [Accessed 4 May 2020].
HelpGuide.org. 2020. Emotional Eating And How To Stop It. [online] Available at: <https://www.helpguide.org/articles/diets/emotional-eating.htm> [Accessed 4 May 2020].
Bogdanos, M., 2020. 5 Steps To Help Build Emotional Resilience. [online] World of Psychology. Available at: <https://psychcentral.com/blog/5-steps-to-help-build-emotional-resilience/> [Accessed 4 May 2020].
Publishing, H., 2020. Exercising To Relax — Harvard Health. [online] Harvard Health. Available at: <https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/exercising-to-relax> [Accessed 4 May 2020].
André, C., 2020. Proper Breathing Brings Better Health. [online] Scientific American. Available at: <https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/proper-breathing-brings-better-health/> [Accessed 4 May 2020].
How To Count Calories
How To Count Calories
There I was on Instagram doing my daily video asking my audience what I might be able to help them with…and I got this response:
“I don’t know how to count calories…can you help me?”
Well, of course, it's my pleasure to help anyone if I can. But with this message, I felt like the person sending it to me felt guilty that she didn’t know how to do this — which is absurd. Why would you know how to do this if it's not something you have looked into how to do it. In the fitness industry, we spend a lot of time talking about things which we know…and we don’t do a great job of informing people about actually how to do what we talk about. This is for one reason…many people in this industry want to make them seem like they have a secret you don’t have…thus you will part with your cash in order to get said secret. It's nonsense. Nothing makes someone actually want to invest in you more than you empowering them to solve problems themselves. Helping them when they think they will never be able to figure it out.
Therefore this article is here to:
Explain why you should count calories
Show you how to count calories
Make you aware of the positives and negatives of counting calories
and
4. Send you on your way feeling empowered to take control of this part of your Fitness Journey.
Why You Should Count Calories
Most Diets you have ever heard of, will in some way do two things.
Count your Calories
Get you into a Calorie Deficit or a Calorie Surplus
For the purposes of this article, let's just use the premise that you want a calorie deficit to lose weight. Whether you followed Slimming World, Weight Watchers or Atkins they all incorporate a “system” for counting your calories. The issue with these diets is they also encourage you to develop very questionable relationships with how you view your food which in the long run creates a very messy relationship between you and your diet. They also use this calorie counting system to restrict your intake of calories…hence getting you into a Calorie Deficit.
These companies have clearly realised that part of a successful Fat Loss diet is that you manage to get the dieter to learn how to restrict their food, and thus get results.
Have you ever heard the phrase “what is measured can be managed”?
Well, that is why you should count your calories if you want to lose weight. We need to keep track. And that's it. Keep track of the amount of energy you are eating.
That's all a calorie is: A unit of energy.
In the same way, a mile is a unit of distance. A calorie is a unit of energy.
And in the same way, you are tracking how far you are running or walking, or how much you are lifting…you must also track how much you are eating.
You wouldn’t step foot into the Gym and not take note of how heavy the dumbbell you are lifting is, would you? So why are you not treating your food the same?
Emotions. Which I empathise with…(and if you need help with that then please read my article titled: How Do You Define Binge Eating?)…but that's not for this article.
It is also my belief that counting calories is important as we habitually wildly underestimate how many calories we are eating. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (1) and an article published by Public Health England (2)both state that participants under-report their calorie consumption.
This is why I believe it is very important for you, if you want to begin to lose weight to start counting your calories as accurately as possible. In the Western World we are so poorly educated on this subject…it leads to a huge overconsumption of caloric intake. We just have very little idea on two things, how many calories we actually require each day (our Total Daily Energy Expenditure) and how many calories are in our foods.
There is:
97kcal in a Cappuccino from Starbucks (Tall)
130kcal in a bag of Salt and Vinegar Walkers Crisps
214kcal in a large glass of Red Wine
1064kcl in a 200g bar of Cadburys Dairy Milk
1720kcal in a medium Dominos Pepperoni Pizza
Now imagine you had some garlic bread with the pizza or a dash of syrup in your cappuccino. Maybe had two glasses of wine not just the one…you can see how the little bits here, the little bits there add up.
And if you don’t track that…you can begin to take away from all of your hard work in the gym.
That being said…
“All calories count, but you don’t have to count all calories” — Jordan Syatt
You can get into a Caloric Deficit without counting calories, but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t educate yourself on them. Learning how many calories are in the foods you eat is a simple and easy way to make sure you can keep track, even when you aren’t “tracking”.
How Do You Count Calories?
Great question.
Before we get into this…I want you to know that at times it's not easy to be very accurate. It used to drive me bonkers, the few times I have counted calories that it was never perfect. So right off the bat…i’m telling you this is NEVER an exact science.
In fact, even the calories published on packets are not 100% accurate. The FDA in the US allows up to 20% deviation on what the packet might actually contain either way…
So how do you get around this? Well, you give yourself a nice long time frame to lose weight…you experiment and keep making little changes until it starts to work for your goals.
Personally, I recommend to my clients to download the app “MyFitnessPal” although some clients have had great success with FitBit Tracking too.
With MyFitness Pal you set up your Goal Weight…and it will give you a Daily Amount of Calories that you can consume.
Then throughout the day you scan barcodes, type in and figure out what you are eating in order to find out how many calories you are eating. It has an extensive list of food stuffs in its library and there are few things in this world that aren’t on there. Including Restaurant Menus, Cocktails and your favourite Fast Foods.
But figuring out portion sizes can be difficult.
There's another catch with MyFitnessPal if you want to lose weight…and its this:
Image from @thegymstarter on Instagram
MyFitnessPal gives you back Calories burnt from exercise as per your exercise tracker (the red arrows on the illustration above). Fitness Trackers don’t accurately calculate the number of calories you have burned through exercise and therefore the number of calories MyFitnessPal says you can have back is not going to be accurate.
Added to that…if you have increased your movement…and burnt some calories…why would you then want to eat that back?
You are just undoing your hard work.
What If The Food I Eat Is Home Cooked and Doesn’t Have A Barcode?
Tracking Home Cooked food is terribly irritating on MyFitnessPal. As you will have to weigh all your food, every ingredient and figure out how you cooked it because how you cook food changes its calorie content…there becomes a lot of barriers in place which will stop you from tracking your calories.
And as you may well know…my number one rule for Fitness is enjoyment. As enjoyment leads to adherence. And if there are lots of barriers in place you simply will not remain adherent to what you are doing…because its no longer enjoyable…but onerous.
Luckily for you, I have a Fat Loss My Fitness Pal rule in place for this very problem.
If you are eating home cooked food, or whole foods nearly the whole of the time, that sticks to the rule of Protein and Veggies at every meal…and Carbs come along for the ride (one of my 5 AwesomeRules for life) then it is my belief you don’t have to track that food.
But…
And its a Big But…if you eat anything with a Barcode on it…you must scan and track that.
If you are finding you are getting to within 60% of your Calorie allowance (the Goal Number on the image above) from Barcoded Foods…then it is a fair statement to say that you are eating over your calorie allowance.
This means that if you have a calorie allowance of 1500kcals a day and you are eating 900kcals worth of Coffees from Costa, Wine, Crisps and Dip, Sodas, Chocolate or Sandwiches from Pret then I think we can assume you are going over your calories each day.
So the Big Food Number on your MyFitnesPal should read no more than 900kcals (60% of your Daily Caloric Allowance) in this example.
YOUR BMR or GOAL CALORIES — Know Your Numbers
I set all my clients up with a calorie target of two numbers.
A Lower Limit
An Upper Limit.
The lower limit is set to their BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) which is the number that dictates how many calories they burn just by being them. Their Digestion, Respiration, Minimal Daily Movement all leads us to this figure.
If you want to know your BMR then email me a request and I will tell you how to get a number (adam@thegymstarter.com)
The upper limit is normally their Goal B/W ins LBS x12.
This figure is always higher than we expect and scares a few people. But if you are consistent with your training and your NEAT especially, then it will work fine for you.
I ask all my clients to try and make sure that each day they will fall somewhere between these two numbers, and by doing so…they will over a course of time…lose weight, and keep it off.
One last important point…
I heard this from Susan Neibergall on my Podcast: The Fitness Solution (listen on iTunes here). Susan said that the aim of being in a Calorie Deficit isn’t to see how little you can eat…but to see how much you can eat within that number.
That's the challenge.
It's not about restriction.
It's about abundance within your limits. Imagine you driving a car, and you are coming onto a Motorway, you know that your limit is 70mph on the motorway…you are going to drive damn near to that number. You aren’t going to travel on the motorway at 40mph because you want to get your destination as quickly as possible, and you know that going that slow…when everything else around you is going that quick…is damn dangerous.
Yout might cruise at 60/65mph…but no slower.
What Are The Positives and Negatives of Counting Calories?
The positives are the following:
You can educate yourself on the calories you are eating each day and see how that is effecting your Fat Loss Journey
It gives you a way of looking at food as just energy. Not good or bad foods…it just is literally a combination of calories formatted in a certain way for you to consume.
It is time-restricted. This is not something you need to do for the rest of your life. Once you get a handle on the foods you like to enjoy…and learn how much energy is in them then you are free to roam the world and keep looser tabs on what you are doing. Then if things go array…you have a tried and tested format to help you get back on track.
It will lead to results. If you track accurately…it will lead to results for you.
It allows you to stop being a Dieter. You can finally walk away from Slimming World and Weight Watchers and actually learn that food is just food…and if it fits inside your number…then you can eat it. It basically gives you guilt-free freedom.
Read number five again.
I know I spoke about negatives a the top of this section…and there are a few. But what I really mean are pitfalls. There are common mistakes that people make when tracking calories which will drastically hinder their progress.
Again, let me call on Instagram:
Image from @thegymstarter on Instagram
As you can see there are plenty of ways that this method of tracking your consumption can let you down, and therefore will hinder your progress.
I can only suggest avoiding these mistakes and you will be able to remain accurate with what you are doing.
The other negatives associated with Calorie Tracking is thus:
People can become obsessed with it.
People don’t want to see the truth.
Point 1: They can be completely obsessed with their numbers and that can totally impact the way they view their food.
What I would say about this is the following. We may all know someone who is “obsessed” with their numbers. But in truth, that is one person out of many more that you are focusing on. You are looking for the anomaly to prove your point. Far more people casually track their calories in this world, than get obsessed with it. Don’t use one person to prove your already biased opinion.
Point 2: It can be scary. If this is something that you believe you have had a handle on your whole life, but know the scale has never actually told you what you want to hear…then being accountable for what you are putting in your mouth can be a very scary moment. Seeing it in black and white…is, without doubt, a bitter pill to swallow. But if you can make your peace with that right now, then it will pay dividends, compared to you regretting not being able to when you are 55 and need a hip replacement.
To Conclude
For me the answer is simple: Track Your Calories
Its not a life sentence. You don’t have to do this for the rest of your life. But if you can accurately track for a month or so…then you will learn so much about your food you will be able to take so much more control over what you are eating.
Numbers are King. You need to know your numbers to succeed. Your Upper Limit, Your Lower Limit and hit between those each day for a long period of time…and you will succeed.
Eat as much as you can within your numbers. That's the goal here. To eat as much as possible…not as little as possible.
Stick to the 60% rule don’t let MyFitness Pals annoyances stop you from succeeding. Learn to work with it, rather than against it, and you will find success.
Guilt-Free Freedom this is your goal. To learn to enjoy all foods so long as they work within your numbers. Foods are not good, or bad. They just are.
And thats it.
How To Track Calories by me,
The Gym Starter…
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Sources:
New England Journal of Medicine. 2020. Discrepancy Between Self-Reported And Actual Caloric Intake And Exercise In Obese Subjects | NEJM. [online] Available at: <https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199212313272701> [Accessed 9 April 2020].
Ons.gov.uk. 2020. A Government Statistical Service Perspective On Official Estimates Of Calorie Consumption — Office For National Statistics. [online] Available at: <https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/methodologies/agovernmentstatisticalserviceperspectiveonofficialestimatesofcalorieconsumption#toc> [Accessed 9 April 2020].
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And above all remember this…for as long as you are trying your best no one can ask for more from you.
Coach Adam