calorie deficit : Forza Fitness | Performance Coaching

This is a question I hear a lot!

Usually it means the person asking the question is only focussing on the number on the scale and that is not something I’m a huge fan of (but you can read all about that in my next blog!).

Hopefully you know by now that to achieve fat loss you need to be in calorie deficit.

The number one reason people who are tracking their calorie intake don’t see movement on the scales is simple… They are under estimating the amount of calories they eat.

Whether they are tracking via an app such as My Fitness Pal or Chronometer… or keeping a manual diary, it is very common, and very easy to record less calories than you consume.

Main ways to wrongfully track:

Not weighing / measuring your food and estimating the amount.

Not tracking EVERYTHING you eat and drink – the snacks, that latte, that slice of cheese… it all adds up.

Eating out and not taking into account the added fat etc of restaurant meals.

Choosing similar meal options in your tracker app/calorie book which is less than the meal you actually eat.

The second reason is related to the first and again, really common… Over estimating the amount of calories burnt through exercise.

FitBit, Apple, Garmin… all the activity trackers, the machines at the gym… nearly all will over inflate your calorie burn. AND if you have your activity tracker linked to your My Fitness Pal, all this will encourage you to do is eat back the calories you burnt.

DO NOT link your activity tracker to your MFP account, or you chosen calorie tracker app of choice. Figure out what your calorie intake should be to achieve fat loss at a sensible rate (read about that here: Calorie Deficit) set that in your app and eat to that… do not make it more complicated than that!

Chris

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One of the first things I knew I had to do as part of my IM journey is lose a bit of fat and get as lean as possible.

I am by no means big but by making myself as lean as possible I give myself another key for success, alongside my training.

This was one of the things I discussed with my coach, Kerry, in that initial meeting. Literally the week before I had signed up for the IM I had set new goals for all of my lifts and was going to focus on improving all things barbell related. Funny how things can change so quickly! All that had to go out the window and the focus now has to be using lighter weights and moving faster.

Anyway, back to the fat loss bit. I had my daily macro targets, I had the different targets for different days depending on how active I was on each day so now it was time to invest in the paid version of MyFitnessPal and get to work.

In my first 6 weeks this is the change in my body composition:

Weight: -1.5kg
Fat %: – 2.8%
Muscle %: – +1.8%

And, this is the change in my measurements:

Bust: -1 inch
Back: -+/- 0
Waist: – 1.5 inch
Stomach: – 1 inch
Hips: – 1.5 inch

Not a bad start, I still need to lose about another 4kg in total but it’s careful and slow process as quick weight loss usually means muscle loss and my goal is fat loss and becoming lean. It isn’t just about the number on the scale, nor should it ever be.

Although it’s careful and slow, it isn’t complicated. Companies like Slimming World and Weight Watchers make it complicated but they are businesses and their main aim is to make money. They thrive on repeat business and sadly, their businesses are booming. We all know roughly what we should and shouldn’t eat. We are generally all aware of foods that are nutritionally good and those that bring us little or no benefit.

If you want to lose some fat and change your body composition for the better you just need to do the following… and it’s all free! It’s simple, you can have the things you want, nothing is off limits, you just can’t have everything you want. Then you can take that money you give to these crappy “weight loss” companies and use it for something good.

Figure out your calorie deficit (read my previous blog post for more info)
Download the MyFitnessPal app and set up a free account
Track your daily consumption and be honest about it
Keep your daily macros at roughly 50% carbs, 30% fat and 20% protein
Make sure that less than 10% of your daily calories come from junk food and things that have little or no nutritional benefit.
Give yourself a break if you have a day where it all goes wrong. Forget about it and make sure the next meal you have puts you back on track!

It really is that simple. No, it isn’t always easy but for the general population, it isn’t anymore complicated than this.

I’ll check back in in a month and update you with my progress 🙂