I hope you had a lovely evening and a good rest and are ready to work :).  Today I’ll show you the basic math of weight loss.  It’s so easy a child can figure it out and there’s only 5 numbers to remember.

1.  Your weight goal.  Healthy weight varies within a 15 pound window for a group of women the same age and same height.  The lower-mid-point for finding weight is to give yourself 100 lbs for being 5 feet tall and adding 5 lbs for every inch over 5 feet tall you are.  So a woman who is 5’6″ should weigh around 130 lbs.  At 130 pounds she’ll look great in a bikini though she may choose not to wear one.  But at 140 pounds she’ll be on the high end of healthy and still feel great.  If she is very small boned and has a super fast metabolism, she might find her ideal weight closer to 125.  These weight ranges all consider a healthy balance of muscle in the body.  It is possible to be at a healthy weight and still be overfat with too little muscle.    If you’d like more help figuring a healthy weight range, try this site.

2.  A pound of fat is worth 3,500 calories.  To lose a pound of fat you need to use 3,500 more calories than you eat.  If you want to lose a pound a week, you’ll need to create a 500 calorie deficit every day.  If you’d like to lose *2 pounds a week, then you need a 1,000 calorie daily deficit.

 3. Basal metabolic rate (BMR):  This is the number of calories you would burn if you stayed in bed all day.  You don’t want to eat fewer calories than your basal metabolic rate when dieting unless you are under the control of your doctor**.  It’s easy to find out what your BMR is, just click over to this site and plug in your numbers.

4.  Daily calorie needs:  This is the amount of calories you would need to maintain your weight at your current activity level.  It’s basically the number of calories you are eating each day right now.  Once you know your BMR, your daily calorie need is easy to figure out based on the Harris Benedict Scale. 

If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Multiply your BMR x 1.2

If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Multiply your BMR x 1.375

If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Multiply your BMR x 1.55

If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Multiply your BMR x 1.725

If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Multiply your  BMR x 1.9

5.  Fat loss calorie level: To find out how many calories you can eat a day and lose a pound of fat a week, take the number you found in step 4 and subtract 500.  To find out how many calories a day to lose *2 pounds of fat a week, subtract 1,000 calories a day.  Make sure these numbers don’t fall below your BMR.  If they do, you will have to create the additional calorie defecit through exercise.

If you have those 5 numbers you’ve done great today! Write them down in a small notebook that you can use to keep track of your progress.  We’ll come back and re-figure the numbers after we’ve lost 10 pounds.  That will make sure our weight loss progress continues.  All fat loss comes from a calorie consumption/use relationship, but if  you hate counting calories I will show you some ways  to get the same results without all the numbers.

Monday we’ll talk about how to use this information to make a delicious meal plan that will keep you eating nutritious food all day long.  And Tuesday we’ll discuss ways to stay motivated.

*Losing more than 2 pounds a week through calorie restriction alone after the first 2 weeks of a new fitness plan without the constant oversight of a doctor is not recommended.  The first 2 weeks additional weight loss can be attributed to excess water weight loss or toxin weight loss and is normal.

**Consuming too few calories can result in lowered metabolism, nutrient deficiencies, and heart problems and should not be undertaken without the close supervision of a physician.