Lose 25 pounds easily

What if I told you it was possible to lose 25lbs relatively easily? Do you even need to lose that much weight, maybe 10lbs is your goal – even better. Here’s a simple formula for you

Weight loss x time = Big change

It is possible to achieve huge weight losses over long periods of time with relative ease

Simple enough... half a pound of weight loss per week for a whole year equals 25 lbs – a huge difference. Multiply that by 2 or more years and you have a massive, awe inspiring goal. 1/2 pound a week is not difficult to achieve either – with the right strategies it can be almost unnoticeable – this would allow the occasional slip up/diet break throughout the year and still achieve our goal. The problem most people have is they set silly goals such as lose 20 pounds in a month – which is very difficult to do and not sustainable, although possible. Wouldn’t it be better so set a more realistic goal and give yourself a longer time to achieve it? I’m sure no one would mind being 25 pounds lighter at the end of the year, but how many people do you know actually achieve that kind of success? Could it be that people are setting goals that are too lofty, with too small a timeframe within which to achieve it?

10 years from now, if you are like most people, there is a massive chance that you will be much heavier than you are now. Why? Because the formula works in reverse too. Small weight gains multiplied over time make massive weight gains. We don’t notice the 2 pounds we put on in a year; we quickly brush it aside as the heavy meal the night before. But sometimes, that 2 pounds stays with us and we get a little too comfortable with it – no one noticed so it can’t be that bad. The problem is, 10 years also passes very quickly and we can easily be 20 lbs heavier as a result. But imagine the type of weightloss you could achieve in 10 years as opposed to what the average person does. Whilst they are gaining weight, you could be achieving small, sustainable weight losses.

Why don’t we do this then? Most people see weight loss in the wrong light. Their experiences of it from magazines and previous attempts have been gruelling hours on the treadmill and nothing but rabbit food. Whilst this would provide results, our body will quickly go into metabolic decline slowing our results, and our mental state would be awful as we dread the next workout session. This combination of slowed results, horrible food and massive cravings leads us to quickly abandon the diet. The problem was that the diet was not sustainable for long enough to see lasting results.

Most people see dieting as only eating rabbit food, like above. If only they knew

Here are two very different dieters.

• Dieter A picks up the latest fad book and cuts out all their foods. They lose 10lbs in the first week, 3 lbs in the next week and 2lbs third totalling 15lbs weight loss. After 3 weeks, they can’t stick the diet anymore, come off it and instantly gain back 7 pounds water weight, get more depressed and stuff more food in their mouth. At the end of 2 months, they are back to where they have started.

• Dieter B makes a small change and loses 1lb per week. As it is not so drastic and they are not exercising so hard or cutting too much food out, they find it is easier to maintain for a long time. After a year, it has simply become a part of their life, and they are now 30lbs lighter. They came off the wagon a couple of times so didn’t achieve the full 50lb weight loss expected, but they found it easy to get back on again.

Which one do you want to be? The quick fix nation, or the actual success story?

So how do we do this? 

How much weight do you need to lose really? 20 pounds? Do yourself the biggest favour you can and see this as a one year plan rather than a 2 month plan. If you have a holiday coming up and you need the quick fix, - go ahead. Do the fad extreme diet and lose 10 lbs (of water) in a week, but don’t go expecting to keep it off. If you’re serious about getting yourself in shape for the long haul, be sensible about it. Set a BIG goal – something that inspires you, but give yourself a realistic time period to achieve it.

In the last article we talked about possible energy needs to maintain your weight. Our average, semi active woman may need 2,000 calories to maintain her weight - this equals 14,000 calories per week. In order to lose 4lbs of fat per week we would need to eat literally nothing all week. Even then, there is no guarantee we would lose all fat – some would be muscle loss and as our metabolism slows down we would see a less weight come off – not to mention this would be impossible to maintain for more than a few days. So don’t set yourself a silly goal like this.

If your goal is to lose 20lbs, aim for 30lbs spread over a year. This accounts to about 2,000 calories less per week than maintenance. Use the following formula;

(Goal weight loss *5000) / 52

This will give you a realistic target of calories to cut from your maintenance level in order to achieve your goals in a year. Multiply this by 2 to do that goal in 6 months – but then also see how much more difficult it is to achieve, and decide whether it is do-able. 

So, set yourself a goal, make it inspiring enough that it excites you (5 pounds weight loss is not inspiring enough) but give yourself a long enough time span to achieve it – 6 months to a year. Factor in a little ‘fudge’ room for mistakes and diet breaks and you will be laughing at the end of a year. Remember how quickly a year passes, you will be kicking yourself if you are at the same weight (or heavier) again 12 months from now. Make a commitment to make a positive change today. 

How many Calories do we need?

Last time we looked at the simple equation for weight loss; energy in vs energy out. So, how much energy do you need to sustain your weight? This is almost an impossible question to answer, as everyone is different. But there are a number of formula’s out there that can give you a very good estimate.

As a rough rule, the GDA recommends women consume 2,000 calories and men 2,500 per day to maintain their weight. Although a much larger male who is very active throughout the day (standing/walking for long periods or manual labour) could need upwards of 3,500 or more; small ladies who are inactive (sitting at desk all day) could need as little as 1,500 per day. You need to adjust this calorie amount based on your own situation (size, weight, age, activity levels etc) and keep re-adjusting until you find out what works for you.

How do you know if you are consuming too many calories? Easy, you gain weight. There are unusual situations where you can lose weight whilst consuming more calories than normal, and also situations where you can gain weight whilst on a calorie deficit. But these situations are rare and temporary – usually associated with water weight and not true fat/weight gain/losses. But over longer periods of time (a week/month) if you are eating more than you burn, you will put on weight.

How many extra calories do you need to create/burn fat?

A pound of fat is 3,600 calories - FACT, therefore 10 pounds is 36,000 calories. Not every extra calorie you consume will be stored as fat – some will become muscle and some will go into glycogen stores, so this is the minimum amount of calories needed to create 10 pounds of fat. If you have ever gained 10 pounds (or close to) in a week, it is unlikely that you consumed an extra 36,000 calories. More than likely, it is water weight re-gained, usually after coming off an extreme diet (like Atkins or any other low carb approach). This can be easily put on over the course of a year through a small 100 calorie a day surplus (100 calories times 365 is 36,500 calories extra).

                                                                                                    3,600 calories in a pound of this stuff

The reverse is also true, it would require a minimum of 36,000 calories less than what you take in to burn 10 pounds of fat. As not all of this energy would come from fat, so it would probably be a higher number than this. But once again, this could potentially mean as little as 100 calories a day less would lead to you being 10 pounds lighter in a year.

Control

Our body has a ‘normally’ very tight regulatory system that avoids overconsumption and under-consumption, although, due to our evolutionary past, it is much more biased towards avoiding under-consumption. Generally, once you feel satiated eating, you should stop. The Japanese have an ‘eat until you are 80% full rule’ and also enjoys the lowest rates of obesity and obesity related illnesses (along with long lifespans). Our problem is that we are cultured into having what we want when we want it – eating well past satiation and into ‘stuffed’. Do this a few times a month and you can easily put on weight. Even over-consuming by 10 calories a day could mean just one pound of fat in a year and 30 pounds in 30 years – that’s exactly how people get overweight. When the weight creeps on that slowly, it goes unnoticed until you suddenly ‘wake up’ 30 pounds overweight. 

Overeat a small amount every single day, and this will be the result after many years

Whilst it is very easy to over-consume small amounts of calories over time, leading to big weight gains, the reverse is not true. Eating less than your body needs was potentially life threatening when we were roaming the plains of Africa, so our body sends out alarm signals. Hormones such as Ghrelin raise, increasing hunger, and Thyroid and leptin drop. This puts us in an uncomfortable state mentally – this is where we start to get our cravings. Done over a couple of days is not normally a problem. But try to do it over a year and we will go mad as these hormones go out of control.

The bad news is, losing weight is not and never will be easy, there are just too many mechanisms in our body set up to avoid weight loss. The good news is, I know certain strategies that will make the journey much easier and still allow you to eat every food you eat now and lose weight in the most comfortable way possible. But for now, try to work out what your maintenance calorie intake would be, and start to become aware of how many calories are in certain foods.