Calorie Deficit And You

The author is really passionate about fitness, so much so that he found and joined a gym in Sukma, Chhattisgarh. Having a basic idea of nutrition and what we are eating, is much needed. Through this blog, he wants to motivate his co-fellows, alumni and all other readers with specific pointers that may help them in improving their own health and fitness.

Are you among the ones who have thought about reducing weight or cutting down that stubborn fat in the body but couldn’t do it? This might be helpful for you. Gaining weight is tricky and so is losing weight. It tests our patience and perseverance. However, anything is possible if you’re well-determined. There are a few questions one should ask oneself before beginning:

• Are you comfortable with your body?
• Does the thought of gaining or losing weight comes to your mind often?
• Are you facing any health issues because of your weight?

I am aware of the body positive movement and agree that one should love the way one looks. However, if losing or gaining weight makes you happier, you should try to do that. First of all, you should understand your body type. There are mainly three of them, in the context of weight:

1. Ectomorph: Generally long and lean, have a delicate frame. They are hard gainers and find it difficult to build muscles or grow fat. Fast metabolism.
   
2. Endomorph: Stocky build, wider body, stores both muscle and fat in the lower part of the body both of which come together. They have slow metabolism.
   
3. Mesomorph: Middle body type, lean and muscular. Naturally athletic built with well-defined muscles.

If you have an idea of your body type, then you can customize your nutrition intake accordingly. Knowing what to eat and what not to eat is one of the most important steps in gaining or losing weight. Diet has more stake in weight management than workout. It’s all about the art of balancing calories. One should know about macronutrients, micronutrients and their advantages. They act as fuel for our body and are needed in different quantities for its proper functioning. There are mainly 6 groups of essential macro and micro nutrients – carbohydrates, fats and proteins comprise of macros while vitamins, minerals and water are micros.

For this blog, I would focus on the weight reduction aspect primarily because I have more personal experience in that. There are many ways of reducing weight or shedding the fat. Some of the commonly known diets are Paleo diet, Keto diet, Vegan diet, Low carb diet, Intermittent fasting and so on. It’s a fact that our body needs energy for proper functioning and it receives that from food. When there is an imbalance of energy intake (the food you eat) and the energy you burn out through body metabolism and physical activity, the excess intake gets stored in our body. Over a period of time, it accumulates as fat. To not let that happen, we need to maintain calorie deficit. To lose a kilo in a week, we should burn 7000 calories. One can easily reduce 4 to 6 kilos in a month by having a deficit calorie diet. For that you can plan in this way:

• Set a weight target. For example, you are 65 and you want to reach 60.
• Tell your mind it takes time, let’s say 5 weeks.
• Plan your meals. Have 3 meals a day, and 2 snacks. Try having dinner before 9 pm.
• Target calories. For reducing 5 kilos in 5 weeks, I will restrict my calorie consumption to 1500 per day.
• Divide your calories according to your meals. For example, on Mondays, in breakfast, I have 3 eggs (either omelette or egg whites), 1 chapatti and 1 ripe banana. That comes to 480 calories. Now I have 1020 calories left for lunch, dinner and snacking. You can easily Google the amount of calories in your food. Do some math. It certainly helps.
• Drink plenty of water and get 7 hours of sleep.
• Initially, in the 1st week, aim for 500 calories deficit per day, then 750 calories deficit per day in the second week and later on, aim for 1000 calories deficit in a day.
• If you include cardio workout thrice a week, it will be helpful. Some people like to workout while some don’t but if you follow the calorie deficit diet and workout, the rate of losing weight will be faster.
• Instead of following restrictive dieting where you restrict certain type of food like oily food, junk food and hence, suppress your craving, I like to follow controlled dieting where I eat everything but match it in a way that my calorie expenditure is more than intake. In this case, if I feel like having a burger, I will have it and then figure out a way to burn it.

Finally, let me tell you about some food items you should really keep a check on, while trying to lose weight:

1. White rice and wheat flour (maida): Try to have rice only once a day. It is rich in carbs which are turned into blood sugar or glucose. Excess sugar is stored in your body and with the help of insulin, it is turned into fatty acids and gets stored as fat.
2. Sugar: One table spoon of sugar is 48 calories. If you put even that much and consume 3 cups of tea in a day, this alone becomes 150 calories and gets stored in your body as nothing but fat. For burning that 150 calories, you will have to sprint for 20 minutes.
3. Oil: 1 teaspoon of mustard oil has 124 calories and contains nothing but fat. Include more complex carbs in your diet like peas, legumes, whole grains and veggies. Consume more protein and good fat like avocados, peanut butter, almonds. Having sugarless coffee or green tea is also okay.

Above all these, enjoy the process. You can eat whatever you want but know your food and burn more than you eat. That’s the ultimate key to fat loss.