It's Not Sexy to Lose Fat

October 22, 2019

7 am

I think the most common asked question when diving into the fitness industry is “how do I lose weight?”.

There are so many tips, tricks, diets, he said/she said ideas, that it can be extremely overwhelming...

But what if I told you that the answer is simple?

To lose body fat, you need to…

...drum roll please…

Burn more calories than you consume.

Let’s say it louder for those in the back.

To lose body fat, you need to burn more calories than you consume.

Yeppers, that is it! (And for those who’d like to gain weight, you need to consume more calories than you’re burning.)

If it were that easy, though, we’d all be where we want to be, right?

Right!

The conundrum lies with not knowing exactly how many calories we are burning to be able to determine how many to consume.

"The conundrum lies with not knowing exactly how many calories we are burning to be able to determine how many to consume."

Fun fact, we are burning calories ALL THE TIME. Right now, as you’re reading this, you’re burning calories. I’m burning calories typing. Susie Q over there is burning calories while chomping on a croissant. You get it; we’re always burning calories.

So.

What's the How?

The burning of calories while you are NOT moving is what we call our BMR or Beta Metabolic Rate. If you do decide to move today, you are increasing what we call your TDEE or your Total Daily Energy Expenditure.

BMR: Energy burned when you’re not moving.

TDEE: Energy burned moving + BMR

Your BMR and TDEE are based off your height, weight, and body fat percentage. If the goal is fat loss, you need to eat an amount of calories between your BMR and your TDEE.

Going under your BMR can result in your body going into starvation mode.

Going over your TDEE results in an increase in body fat.

Because I am not nutrition certified, I do recommend doing some research to attain a coach or a nutrition plan that can calculate these numbers for you.

"Don’t just use some willy-nilly calculator off Google."

Word of caution! Don’t just use some willy-nilly calculator off Google. Actually do the research because these numbers are what your entire fitness journey will be based off, ok?

Bowmar Nutrition has an excellent nutrition plan: https://bowmarfitness.com/nutrition-plans/

I wish that the answer to fat loss was something a little more...for lack of a better word...sexier. Like the keto diet...man, fats are sexy right now, no? But that’s a topic for another time.

So raise your mug, loves…

...Here’s to health. Cheers...