Calories.
You’ll find them in 99.99% of everything you eat and drink. They can be your greatest friends or your worst enemies. Eat fewer than you need and you lose weight. Eat more than you need and you gain weight. Yes, it is that simple.
Since calories affect everyone everyday, it?s important to understand them: what they are, what they do, and how to make them work for you instead of against you.
Some basic facts about calories:
- They represent the amount of energy in the foods you eat and drink.
- They are not partial to certain types of foods. A calorie from a carrot is the same as a calorie from a doughnut (although the carrot calorie is much healthier, of course!).
- Different types of foods are automatically higher in calories. Take 1 gram each of protein, carbohydrate, and fat. The grams of protein and carbohydrate each contain 4 calories, while the gram of fat has 9. Yes, that?s more than double the calories gram per gram. Yikes!
- One pound of fat = 3500 calories.
So how do you get calories on your side in your weight loss battle? First of all you need to know your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is the number of calories your body needs every day just to function properly?to breathe, circulate blood, adjust hormone levels, digest food, grow and repair cells, and so on. While there are several formulas to figure out your BMR, here?s an easy one:
Current body weight x 12 = BMR
150 pounds x 12 = 1,800 calories (BMR)
Simply put, if you eat more than your daily BMR, your body stores those extra calories as fat and you gain weight. If you stay below your BMR, you create a calorie deficit and you lose weight. One caution: women should never eat less than 1,200 calories a day, and men should never go below 1,500. Consuming too few calories sends your body into a protective starvation mode and slows down your metabolism, and a slow metabolism doesn?t burn calories as fast and can cause other problems as well.
There are three basic ways to create a calorie deficit:
- Eat fewer calories than your BMR.
- Exercise, because it burns calories and builds muscle, and bigger muscles burn even more calories!
- A combination of #1 and #2?the best option by far.
Here?s how this works:
- If you create a daily 500-calorie deficit, you?ll lose 1 pound a week.
- If you create a daily 1,000-calorie deficit, you?ll lose 2 pounds a week (remember that cutting too many calories from your diet is not good).
I know, I hear you: ?But Heidi, I don?t like to count calories.? You?re not alone. Counting calories is so not fun. However, it?s really important to know what you?re taking into your body every time you open your mouth. Studies show that most people think they?ve eaten 20% fewer calories than they actually have, so trying to estimate your calorie intake is a recipe for disaster.
Until you have an opportunity to weigh and measure your food to figure what your “correct” portions look like, this simple graphic shows a safe and easy way to choose appropriate portion sizes without measuring cups or a scale. This should also help keep you from creating a calorie surplus:
Some final words of advice:
- It?s important to recalculate your BMR as you lose weight.
- Some calorie tracking apps add the calories you burn from exercise into your daily to-eat total, making it look like you can eat more than you actually can, and if you do eat all those calories, you won?t have a calorie deficit at the end of the day. Instead, eat the number of calories in your daily eating plan, and subtract the calories you burned to see your deficit. Remember: one pound of fat = 3500 calories, so work to eventually create a 3500 calorie deficit.
- You can eat calories much faster than you can burn them, so don?t use those exercise-burned calories as permission to eat more food??I burned 500 calories this morning, so I can eat this cupcake.? So not a good way to do it!
To learn more about our preferred and proven eating and exercise plan?Carb Cycling?check out our book, Choose More, Lose More for Life.
205 Responses
According to the formula posted above my BMR should be 3912. However I have had it tested and it was 2376. I had PCOS(not sure if I still technically do since I had complete hysterectomy in 2006 for uterine cancer), hypothyroidism, insulin resistance(A1c is 5.6 but high fasting insulin), estrogen dominance, low progesterone. I do water aerobics for 90 minutes/ day M-F and swim 1.5-2.5 miles daily. I eat 1600-1800 calories daily but am getting nowhere. I am sick and tired of this weight. I have tried every diet there is. I suffer from emotional and mindless eating. I go about 6 months of eating all the right foods before my mind rebels and the feelings of being punished take over. I have tried counseling. Nothing seems to work. I just can’t get my brain to stop the cravings and negative self talk. Any suggestions for me?
Yes, I do have a suggestion. Have you tried Chris and Heidi’s carb cycling program? You can find it in their book, “Choose More, Lose More for Life.” Their book contains their complete nutrition and exercise program, and it’s the same one they use on the show. It will teach you everything you need to know and do to achieve your own transformation! Learn about the nutrition basics here: https://heidipowell.net/2713/carb-cycling-101/. And please discuss this, or any nutrition and exercise program, with your healthcare team first. And another tool Chris and Heidi use with every client is to make and keep a simple daily promise to yourself. You can learn about the process here: https://heidipowell.net/8679/it-really-is-all-about-promises-2/. This tool could help you with your emotional and mindless eating. It might be worth a try!
Give your heart to Jesus Christ and allow Him to work in your life. Once we acknowledge that we need Jesus Christ and accept Him as Our Lord and Savior His sweet Holy Spirit comes to dwell inside of us and we become children of God and partakers in the Kingdom of Heaven. God is wonderful!! He delivered me from a 13 year long Bulimic disorder that literally have control over me and almost took my life. Allow God to move in your life…I still wrestle with body image. My whole life I thought that to be something meant being thin and pretty..but really I was vain and dark on the inside. I put my identity in my outer appearance. Now i m learning what God says about me now that I am a child of His and not the lies and insecurities of the world.
Specialty coffee?? like Dunkin Doughnuts coffee you buy in the stores I don’t put any creamer just sweetener, also I use a lot of flavor extract in my day along with parkay no calorie butter spray. What’s your opinion on that?
Straight black coffee is the only type that’s approved for carb cycling, and you can use flavorings and butter spray. Check the list on page 199 for more info on these.
Hi! I have a quick question. What is the difference between your BMR and your RMR? I had a metobolic assessment done and my RMR came back at only 1250 calories per day! I weigh about 320 pounds and have lost 75 pounds using Chris’ program and working out. I have believed that my thyroid has been giving me issues and that RMR seemed kinda low but I may not understand what im reading! Thanks!
What I am frustrated with the inconsistency of weight loss. I have a deficit every day of 1000 or more calories. When I started on July 16 about 8 pounds came off quick, but I haven’t lost anything in the past two weeks. I log EVERY calories.. I have a fitbit and have walked over 5 miles every day and I’ve added weight lifting and elliptical. Any ideas on what to do during a plateau. I’ve done this before and it’s usually when I give up. I don’t want to give up, but I want to see results. Weigh loss doesn’t seem as simple is out vs in.
Check out this post about weight loss plateaus – I hope it helps! https://heidipowell.net/5889/avoiding-and-conquering-that-weight-loss-plateau/. 🙂
Can you still lose weight with this method without carb-cycling? Thanks.
Yes, you can, as long as you have a calorie deficit. Of course, it will always be easier if you’re following a plan of some type.
I have a question about burning calories. My BMR is 2,604, I am on an eating plan to lose 2 pounds per week consuming 1,360 calories. So I am being very discipline with my daily allowance. However, I am walking 10,000 steps a day and on the elliptical 1 hour, burning approximately 1,200 calories. Therefore, I am consuming a net of 113. Is this the way to go? Am I doing it right?
It sounds like you’re on the right track. As an example, in Chris and Heidi’s carb cycling program, women eat 1200 calories/day on low carb days, and 1500 calories/day on high carb days, and they don’t eat back the calories they burn through exercising. Good luck! 🙂
I was wondering how we should calculate the total calories we have to eat each day. Do we have to count the veggies and fruits’ calories ??? Because it seems that 1200 calories (low carb day) is easily ingested.
Thanks
Yes – you count every calorie you put into your mouth. On low carb days, your meals (except for your high carb breakfast) are made up of proteins, healthy fats, and veggies (the non-root/non-starchy type). If you watch your portion sizes, it can totally be done!
Hi Powell pack! I just wanted to say first that I’m a HUGE fan of you both and I love your show and books! Second, I was wondering if you guys do every mud run in colorado? I live in Fort Collins and would love to join sometime! Thank you for the inspiration!
I need help. I am 44 and female and started to lose weight back in may. I have lost 53 pounds so far but have over 150 to go. I am stuck and I do not know what to do. So total my fitness and eating tracker says per week to lose 2 pounds a week I need to eat 1950 calories per day or 13650 per week. This week I ate 12580 but burned 4771 calories which would be a net calories of 7809. If you average that out it would be 1116 calories per day. Am I not eating enough? Am I just in a stall? I do not want to quit exercising because that has always been the hardest thing for me and I am kind of enjoying it but I need to figure this out…HELP PLEASE!!
Hi Jennifer: Congratulations on the 53 pounds you’ve lost – that’s awesome! Are you familiar with Chris and Heidi’s carb cycling program? It’s their complete nutrition and exercise program, and it’s in their book, “Choose More, Lose More for Life.” It’s the same program they use on the show, and the book will outline everything you need to know and do to reach your goals! Learn about the nutrition basics here: https://heidipowell.net/2713/carb-cycling-101/. Give it a try – you can do this!
A calorie deficit should be created from your TDEE(total daily energy expenditure.) Like you mentioned above, your BMR is the least amount of calories your body needs to function on a daily basis….so why are you telling people to eat less than their BMR? Hardly anyone should crash diet on 1200 calories. When you eat less than your BMR for an extended period of time with excessive intense exercise there will be hormonal disturbances, loss of muscle, and massive weight gain once the diet is over and you are so starved and restricted you can’t control yourself around food. A calorie deficit is made from what someone burns with activity. It saddens me that you are encouraging people to crash diet and it’s no wonder why one of your past contestants posted in an IIFYM group about the massive weight gain she experienced after the show was over because she was starved and over trained.
In Chris and Heidi’s carb cycling program, women eat 1200 calories on a low carb day, and 1500 calories on a high carb day. For men, it’s 1500 calories on a low carb day, and 2000 calories on a high carb day.
This is all your interpretation. It is rather judge mental. How could you ever know what a past contestant chose to do behind closed doors? Also accusing Heidi of incouraging crash dieting is complete opinion with no facts to back it up. Heidi and Chris’s intention is clear to the rest of the world…. Pure love and encouragement of others. What’s yours? This comment is condescending. If you wanted to contribute to the conversation you could have easily expanded on the topic instead of looking for what is wrong. If you don’t agree with something in the diet or fitness world(which happens everyday) what about being a contribution rather than ridiculing another human being who is trying to make a difference. Peace Love and Health.