23 Jun 2015 Creating a caloric deficit
by Karl Lenser
Trying to lose extra weight (fat) is difficult. I have worked with many clients throughout the past 20 years and have seen a great deal of success stories and, unfortunately, a greater number of stories that ended in failure.
So why do so many individuals have such a hard time losing weight? Is it the lack of motivation? Lack of time? Lack of knowledge? Lack of support from family or friends? Genetics? I suspect that it might be a combination of all of these factors and more.
Losing weight involves the mental, physical and emotional systems within the body, and they all need to be in sync for weight loss to happen. As with many things in life, nothing much can really happen without motivation, and that, I believe, is the first step in the weight loss journey. The motivational drivers can be internal (weight loss will help my blood pressure, cholesterol levels, etc.) and external (I will look better, have more energy, etc.).
No matter what serves as your motivational driver, the key point is that it has to come from within. YOU have to make the decision for this lifestyle change. The spark has to come from within you and not from someone else.
The physical part of the weight loss is probably the most difficult and the most critical part of the process. In simplest terms, it boils down to calories in versus calories out. Intake versus output/expenditure. Losing weight is a number crunching project that involves the management of calories or energy.
Calories are essentially energy. One important number to remember is 3,500 because there are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat tissue. Most health experts and nutritionists suggest that the most effective and safe plan for weight loss is to establish a goal of losing 1 to 2 pounds per week. In caloric terms, this translates to 3,500-7,000 calories per week.
If you focus on just a pound per week, this means that you have to negate 500 calories per day for seven days (500 x 7 = 3,500). This could potentially yield a loss of 4 pounds per month. Breaking this down further into the exercise and diet phases of a weight loss plan, you would need to exercise every day and burn at least 250 calories and reduce your daily calorie intake by 250 calories.
So, how can you burn 250 calories? It does not take that much time or effort to accomplish this task. And the good news is that you do not have to do this in one session. The total calories expended per day is what counts.
Examples of how to burn 250 calories:
Brisk walking for 30-40 minutes
Elliptical workout for 30 minutes
Jogging for two miles
Cycling for 30-40 minutes
Swimming for 30-40 minutes
Walk for 15 minutes and then lift weights for 30 minutes.
Group exercise classes that have motion and a lot of muscular movement involved (Zumba, HIIT, Body Toning, Jazzercize, etc.) will easily meet the 250 goal.
As far as the dietary cutbacks go, I have included a chart that suggests ideas that may help you rethink what you ingest if you want to lose weight. You will have to cut back on your caloric intake if you plan on losing weight. My feeling is that this is the more difficult part of the calorie reduction process because food and caloric-laden beverages are present 24/7. Temptation is everywhere!
A Conway resident, Karl Lenser is the director of wellness programs at Hendrix College. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. An accomplished runner, he can be reached at [email protected].
