20 Feb Losing Weight As Beginner
We at The 5 AM Mommy have been running a theme of Losing Weight. There have been many theories about how we gain weight and what are the ways to reduce the same. But the real thing is every body’s weight loss journey is unique. It starts only when someone wants to come out of their comfort zone, do something for themselves. None of the diet or food habits are “ One Size Fits All”. But there are many guidelines which you can look at before embarking on this journey. We are already in the second month of the year and we still have 10 months to make a difference.
What happens in the process of Losing Weight?
Weight loss is a simple calculation which happens inside the body. The formula is
Calories in – Calories out = Negative Calories
For example, if you are eating 1600 calories a day and expending 2000 calories then you care creating a deficit of 400 calories which is good for weight loss. The answer to Calories in – Calories out should be in negative calories for weight loss.
What is a healthy weight?
Well, here attaching an ideal weight chart as per the height. It also has Body Mass Index which has the following formula
BMI = (Weight/ Height2)
Your Body Mass Index brings you in the category of Healthy/ Overweight/ Obese. This is one specific measure where you can understand what your body requires, whether it needs to lose the weight, or it needs maintenance. Body weight maintenance has the following formula
Calories in – Calories out = 0
If you eat as much as you expend, you will maintain your body weight.
What maintenance and workouts does to the body?
I was a chubby child after 3-4 months of birth as everybody recalls. Born into an orthodox brahmin family, my comfort was food. All ladies in my home were great cooks. As I grew up, I kept dropping some kilos and then putting on when life was easy. I am a fussy eater and do not like to eat many vegetables per se. I was also reluctant to workouts but around 2008 I started training myself seriously into the gym. Since, then as the body changes happened according to age, I have been putting on and then shedding weight at regular intervals. Around 2017 when I was bitten by the bug of developing some muscles, I worked out and ate equally, which incidentally put on 20 kgs. I was regular in my work outs and was eating at the maintenance threshold.
What calorie deficit does to the body?
As the muscles started developing, I was looking all big without losing the fat which was already there. I still could pull off a grueling 60 min HIIT session with ease, that was the plus point, I knew my endurance is great and so is the stamina. But, unless I lower my BMI, my efforts were not showing up. Slowly, I started eating in the calorie deficit window to shed some weight and now, to this date I have lost around 15 kgs of weight. It just takes that one feeling of not enough. One feeling of “this is not done” and you are off to a great trajectory.
What helped losing weight ?
As I always say, there is no substitute for work out and breaking a sweat. 30 mins a day is the mantra, no matter what. Also, though it sounds cliché but ABS ARE MADE IN THE KITCHEN, no matter how many crunches you do, if you eat unhealthy, it would show up.
- Increased intensity and lowering the pace of the workouts helped immensely for weight loss
- Switching from simple carbs to complex carbs was a game changer
- Refraining from refined sugar also helped.
- Going gluten free also reduces inflammation and gives boost to weight loss
- Reducing dairy was a major breakthrough too.
Little more information on Complex Carbs in the next post 😊
Check out our Workout Post:
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