Losing 50 lbs and Keeping it Off
Posted by Jeff The Jock on October 21, 2007
On the Fat 2 Fit Radio Podcast, we recently discussed your BMR, which is how many calories your body burns in a day to stay alive. If you were asleep for 24 hours, your BMR would be the amount of calories you would burn.
Here is an online BMR Calculator.
To get a realistic measure of the total calories that you burn in a day, you need to multiply your BMR by a number that represents how much activity that you do in a day.
- If you get little or no exercise, multiply your BMR by 1.2.
- If you exercise lightly or take part in easy sports one to three times a week, multiply your BMR by 1.375.
- If you are moderately active — three to five times a week — multiply your BMR by 1.55.
- If you are very active — hard exercise or sports six to seven times a week — multiply your BMR by 1.725.
- If you are extra active — very hard exercise or sports and a physical job — multiply your BMR by 1.9.
Here are some ballpark figures that I worked out.
5′5″ woman, 30 years old who exercises lightly (BMR x 1.375)
175 lbs – 2165 calories per day
125 lbs – 1850 calories per day
If this woman eats 300 calories per day less on a continuous basis, over time she will lose 50 lbs and maintain that weight.
5′10″ man, 30 years old who exercises lightly (BMR x 1.375)
225 lbs – 2950 calories per day
175 lbs – 2550 calories per day
If this man eats 400 calories per day less on a continuous basis, he will also have a 50 lbs weight loss.
This is how most people put on weight in the first place. They simply eat a few more calories per day on a continual basis and over time they store more and more fat. They eat the calories of a heavier person, and gradually become that heavier person.
It is clear that diets don’t work because as soon as people go off of a diet, they start eating like they did before the diet. The best approach is to know your goal weight and then figure out how many calories per day you will need to eat to maintain that goal weight.
Start to eat your “maintenance” calories at the start of your weight loss. If you eat like a thinner person, you become that thinner person. You will gradually lose the weight and never feel deprived along the way. It’s not a sexy weight loss plan, but it works in the long term.
Lindsey said
Hi Jeff! I have been listening to your podcast for a couple of weeks now, and it has been very helpful so far! I found the information on BMR and calorie intake especially interesting, but have a question about my situation. I am a 5′8″, 122 pound, 30 year old woman. I do not want to lose any more weight, but I do want to continue to replace fat with muscle. I am working out about 5 days a week doing cardio, and do 3-4 strength training sessions a week with light weights. The BMR calculator gave me a # of 1356.2, and multiplying that by 1.55 for my activity level gave me 2102. For me to continue to lose fat but not muscle, can you tell me approximately how many calories I should be consuming on a daily basis? 2102 seems like quite a lot. Thanks so much and keep up the good work with the podcast- I really enjoy it!
Jeff The Jock said
That does seem like a lot of calories, but you are very active. The 2102 calories is the number to maintain your weight when you are exercising that much. The activity multiplier is an approximation though, so you won’t really know exactly how accurate it is without doing some careful tracking. Your true maintenance level could even be plus or minus 200… Start at 2100 and gradually decrease the calories if you find that you start gaining weight. That’s how I eventually figured out what mine really was.
They key is to eat as clean as you can. You will be amazed at how much 2100 calories of “clean” food really is.