Step Two: Make a Plan

 I have mixed feelings about the show "The Biggest Loser". On the one hand, I like anything that motivates and encourages people to make healthier choices--the dramatic changes in these people is astonishing. On the other hand, I think the show gives people unrealistic expectations about how quickly they can make changes to their body.

When you aren't working out eight hours a day, have professional help constantly at your disposal, and a $250,000 incentive, it's simply unrealistic to expect such huge weight loss numbers. Not only that, I'm not convinced it's healthy or effective. Many of the contestants gain the weight back because I believe they haven't truly learned to deal with the issues that have lead to their weight gain.

Step Two: Set goals and a timetable for weight loss, then make a plan for how you will get there. 

A reasonable and safe weight loss is no more than 1-2 lbs per week. Half a lb weight loss a week is even a reasonable goal. If you lose weight slow and steady, you are much less likely to bounce back and gain the weight. Yo-yo dieting is a dangerous practice and results from diets that are too restrictive.

If you have a large amount of weight to lose, say over 20 lbs. It is helpful to break that weight loss down into periods, including break periods where you are trying to just maintain your new weight. This ensures that you are forming life-long healthy habits and aren't going to go back to old habits that got you in trouble the first place. Remember, we aren't trying to go on a diet, we're trying to make life-long changes.

Example:

Current Weight: 190 lbs
Ideal Body Weight/Goal Weight: 150 lbs

Goal:

Months 1-2: Lose 10 lbs
Month 3: Maintain weight
Month 4-5: Lose 10 lbs
Month 6: Maintain weight
Month 7-8: Lose 10 lbs
Month 9: Maintain weight
Month 10-11: Lose 10 lbs
Month 12 and forever: Maintain weight

Check your goal to see what your weekly weight loss would be. In the above example, it would be a weight loss of about 1.1 lbs per week. This isn't as dramatic as hopping on the scale and losing 10 lbs in a single week, but the end result is still losing the 40 lbs over the course of a year.

Using the magic number of 1lb of fat = 3500 calories, we can calculate how many calories deficit we need each day to lose this kind of weight.

Desired weight loss per week x 3500 calories = calories per week 

 Example:   1.1 lbs/week x 3500 calories = 3850 calories/week

Now divide that by 7 days to get the daily calorie deficit. 

Example:   3850 calories/week  ÷ 7 = 550 calories/day

In this example, a person would need to have a calorie deficit of 550 calories a day to lose 1.1 lbs per week.

The deficit can come from (1) burning more calories through exercise or (2) eating fewer calories or, my favorite, (3) a combination of both. Personally, restricting calories is much more difficult and less enjoyable than getting out and exercising. Using your baseline calorie needs you calculated in the last post, make a plan for how many calories you are going to eat each day and/or how many calories you are going to burn each day through exercise.


Example:

Baseline: 1920 calories
Daily deficit needed to lose 1 lb per week: 500
Plan: (1) burn 300 calories in exercise each day (this is about 45 min- 1 hour of exercise depending on the activity)
(2) eat 200 calories fewer or about 1720 calories each day

If your goal is to maintain your weight, use your baseline calories and then make sure to eat more calories if you've exercised.

Example:

Baseline calories: 1920
Ran 3 miles and burned 350 calories
Need to eat 2270 calories to maintain weight.


If you are pregnant and want to calculate your calorie needs, use your pre-pregnancy weight to calculate your baseline like we did in the last post. Then, depending on how far along you are, add the following amount of calories to your baseline.



1st trimester          0 extra calories
2nd trimester    340 extra calories
3rd trimester    452 extra calories 


Depending on how much exercise you are getting, you may need to eat even more--I'd check the scale first to see if you are gaining the recommended 1-2 lbs/week.

If you are nursing and want to factor that into weight loss or maintenance, add the following amount of calories to your baseline.

First 6 months              330 extra calories
Second 6 months          400 extra calories

In the next post, I'll talk about step 3: Coming up with a meal plan.