People are under the assumption that there are certain foods that will help us to lose weight. Let’s clear this up. There are no exact foods that will help you to lose weight or even gain. Simply put if you are in a calorie deficit you will lose weight. If you want to lose weight, you need to drop your body fat overall. In order to do this, you will first need to work out your BMR ( Basal Metabolic Rate) using the following formulas: Women BMR = 655 + (9.6 X weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) – (4.7 x age in yrs) Men BMR = 66 + (13.7 X weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) – (6.8 x age in yrs) Once you have determined this, you will need to multiply your BMR by your levels of activity. This will then enable you to calculate your maintenance calories. The table below is what you would describe as your activity levels. Amount of Exercise/Activity- Description- Maintenance Sedentary- Little or no Exercise/ desk job 1.2 x BMR Lightly active- Light exercise/ sports 1 – 3 days/ week 1.375 x BMR Moderately active- Moderate Exercise, sports 3 – 5 days/ week 1.55 x BMR Very active-Heavy Exercise/ sports 6 – 7 days/ week 1.725 x BMR Extremely activeVery heavy exercise or physical job 1.9 x BMR Once you have found your maintenance calories, drop them a bit lower than that in order to be in a deficit while at the same time increasing your NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis). My tips for this are to: Do household tasks that enable you to get moving Take the stairs instead of the lift Take a 10 minute walk 2-3 times a day By following these steps you will increase the number of calories you burn and this will aid your weight loss journey. Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. |