With my years of experience as a clinical dietitian, I often get asked by people if weight loss was easy. All it takes is to say" Eat less, Exercise more". The question is "how much less food and how much more exercise"? If one can understand the concept of energy balance, it becomes easier to understand weight loss process. It is about starving those fat cells!
Eating food is like fuelling up a car- the amount of fuel required is different from different car sizes to different car models. Likewise, is the concept of weight loss. I often explain clients " There is no one size fits all". Calorie is energy which we get from food. This depends on several factors like age, sex, height, body weight, physical activity levels and body's stress level to hormones etc. This in total accounts for our total metabolic rate. If we eat food at our metabolic rate, we will maintain our body weight- If you are struggling to lose that fat and unable to do so, it clearly states you are eating at your metabolic rate. Hence, in order to lose weight you have to reduce your calorie intake. Irrespective of exercise if you reduce 200 calories/day from your metabolic rate, one can expect to lose 1kg-1.2 kgs/month. If the calorie deficit is 500 calories/day, there is an estimated weight loss of 0.5kgs-0.75 kg/week. On an average woman require between 1000 calories - 1200 calories per day to lose weight and men need between 1500-1700 calories per day.
In next blog- How to check your metabolic rate
