Heres a spoonfed step by step guide to lose weight (ive lost 25 lbs in the last 3 months)
1. Calculate your BMR. (base metabolic rate). This is the amount of calories you would need to consume to maintain your current weight, if you were in a coma.
2. Calculate your daily activities x your BMR. If you live a pretty sedentary life, you still multiply your BMR by 1.2. Barely active, 1.4 and so on up the sliding scale.
3. Take this number (mine is 2450) and subtract 1000 calories. This is the amount of net calories you need to put in you to lose 2 lbs of fat a week. The most you can lose without sacrificing muscle is 2.2 lbs. There are 3500 calories in 1 lb of fat. 1000 calorie deficit x 7 days = 7000 calories, = 2 lbs a week, 8 lbs a month.
This is how I personally go about it: I need to go to the gym everyday because it makes me mentally and emotionally feel my best and because I frankly just cant run for more than 30 minutes straight without going out of my mind with boredom/add whatever you want to call it. I do 30 minutes on the elliptical 7 days a week. well call it 300 calories burned off (even though its more). I set myself tha fuck up with my tablet and an episode of breaking bad ready to go every workout. Sometimes I will go longer; yesterday I did an hour and a half, but thats uncommon. that means i can eat 1750 calories a day, burn off 300 to get me to 1450, putting me at a 1000 cal deficit for the day and lose 2 lbs a week.
As far as eating goes... I get bored of food VERY very quickly..A meal has about a 3 week period with me before Im fucking sick of it. Here are some tips:
I personally wait as long as I can to eat my first meal (contrary to popular opinion about breakfast) because as soon as I eat my first meal, I start getting hungrier quicker. Zone bars are AWESOME. Theyre a dollar a pop, 200 calories and 15g of protein. Plus, the fudge grahams are amazing. Ive eaten every protein bar in existence, this is the best.. Ive had at least one a day for 4 months. Salads with tomato and mushroom are great snack meals when youre hungry but you dont want any calories. (GREEN veggies are as good as ZERO calories because every gram of fiber knocks of 4 calories. READ YOUR LABELS!!)
Protein shakes to keep your protein up. Eat as much protein as you can. <1.00$ a meal
Look for special wraps... when I was in cleveland a couple weeks ago, i noticed a fiber one wrap. I think theyre like 50calories after fiber is taken into consideration. In socal, we have tortillas and its a bit trickier but I found a good one with only 30 cal overall output. These are your new sandwiches. Ham is great. Find american cheese with protein in it; about half dont have any. Light miracle whip.. tastes exactly like mayo to me. GROUND TURKEY BREAST. tastes amazing and is easy to make for the week. put it in tupperware and then a wrap and youve got a 220 calorie meal ready to go every day for the week. about 1.50$ a meal.
ALWAYS. DRINK. DIET SODA. why the fuck would you drink your calories???? Water is also good, if you put Mio in it especially..
HERES HOW YOU DO EGGS THE RIGHT WAY:
2 full eggs. 4 egg whites. scrambled wtih 50 cal of shredded chedder. best eggs youll ever eat; 250 or so calories and 35 grams of protein. very filling. 1.50$ a meal.
Subway has good stuff if youre looking for meals, but you have to do it the right way. Never get cheese, get VINEGAR and if you have the willpower, go home to put your light miracle whip on it. Tell them to scoop out some of the bread and youve got 2 300 calorie meals. Those egg omelettes are incredible too.. the EGG WHITE only. no cheese, add lettuce green pepper onion, your own light miracle whip, tomato and salt and pepper. again, two meals at 350 or so calories a pop for 2.50$
Spinach is awesome. Buy a pack, eat 1 a day. 100 calories, with light butter substitute included. 1$ a pop.
apples... theyre mobile and fiber brings down the calories to barely anything noticable. bag for 3$
fit as much protein into your meals as possible. Dont want to lose your muscle, although thats pretty hard to do (in a permanent sense.. it comes back).
I personally do better eating as many small meals a day as I can. Not because it 'speeds up your metabolism' because frankly it doesnt. (also, any o.g. bodybuilders that would like to debate that, my personal opinion is that most nutritional science is horseshit and poplular opinion for a few years until its completely debunked. Glutamine is horse shit for the most part, zma is horse shit, the notion that anyone, regardless of if theyre Rocky Maivia or eric the midget can only digest 35 grams of protein per hour or whatever the number is is just insane). the reason for all the small meals is because theres less opportunity for overeating..i know exactly when Im hungry and I know exactly how many calories I need to fill me up. this is my own personal belief and im not sure its 100 percent accurate, but I feel like whether I eat 500 calories or 220, im going to be hungry in two to 3 hours.
just keep to the basics; try to remain feeling as full as you can as long as you can, watch your protein, count your calories and lose your weight. Also, have a cheat meal or two a week (i go pretty hard with 1500 calorie california burritos with everything you can imagine inside of them, as big as your arm) but remember that if you go crazy crazy with them, its going to ruin the work you did the rest of the week. Luckily with this meal plan, it shrinks your stomach to where these cheat meals will make you full for the majority of the day and you really come pretty close to your daily goal of 1000 calorie deficit anyways. And, if you go stupid for a day or so, just pick it up in the gym to even it out.
For drinkers, stay with clear booze.. and actually makers mark is the lowest calorie to abv ratio there is.. that and everclear.
happy nutritioning