A few years ago, never would I ever have imagined that my weight was something I could control.
The operative word in this instance — control! By control I mean I realized that I could tune my weight either up or down.
The story is long and the details are aplenty, but if we were to cut to the chase, it simply comes down to a basic understanding of what needs to go down. Literally, what is it that needs to go down? Calories!
To the one thing you should know..
Calories are units of energy and you either have an excess of it or a deficit of it. There are two components that contribute to your energy excess or deficit.
Input calories and output calories.
This simple little equation is something you have to be aware of.
Calory Excess or Deficit = Calory Intake — Calory Output
- Excess of Calories — If your calory intake is greater than your calory output
- Deficit of Calories — If your calory output is greater than your calory intake
You guessed it — to lose weight, you need to maintain a calory deficit. When there is a deficit, the body naturally taps in to the stored fat to use some of it to bridge the gap and burn as colories. This results in you losing fat and looking thinner and consequently, losing weight. It is just as simple as that. And to do that, since there are two components in the equation, there are two things that can be tuned to alter the energy position to drive it towards a deficit.
- Reduce the calory intake
- Increase the calory output
Personally for me, the following actions did it!
- Cutting down on carbs in the form of portion control to reduce the calory intake
- Increased exercises like more frequent, longer runs/walks and jump rope
You might take a different approach, but as long as it is effective, you will succeed.
Worth noting here is that it is almost nearly impossible to lose weight by just exercising more. The effort to save a calory by not eating it, is much less than the effort to burn it. As an example, the amount of exercise you will have to do just to overcome taking a burger in to the system is so high — that you are much better off not eating it and doing a light workout — the gains would be that much higher.
To the one thing you should do..
If possible, track your weight — on the daily. For me, daily measurements supported me in my quest. If my weight was trending upwards, I knew I was off track and needed to take remedial action. If I was losing weight as expected, I knew I was doing fine. Although not spoken of very much, this is very vital in staying the course and also for course correction — that way you don’t get frustrated and lose interest after a certain point.
For me it was as simple as maintaining a calory deficit. Everything else is basically just details. I lost over 10 kilos in a couple of months and I have never looked back.
