Low Calorie Diet - Does It Work?

Looking for a quick and uncomplicated solution to drop a few pounds so that you can fit into that little black dress of your desires or just to attain your pre-pregnancy figure? Many diets out there are boasting ultra quick weight loss results.
From a dietitian's perspective, that is total rubbish. In order to lose the fats in a controlled manner the low calorie diet plan would be recommended. There has been proof that this diet works and you don't need to be a rocket scientist to carry it out.
Before I elaborate in depth about the low calorie diet, lets get the basic terminology right. The term calorie(kcal) refers to a unit of measurement for energy, and more commonly applies to the measurement of energy in food. So what's the big deal about calories? We need food to give us the energy to carry out our daily tasks. And our body uses these calories to carry out its daily activities or to fuel our workouts.
The problem with most people is they are eating way more calories than they actually need.
Calorie in > Calorie out = Weight gain
Okay now that you understand what causes us to gain weight, follow me though a 3-step plan to help you embark on a low calorie diet plan effectively.

Step 1: Find out what your daily calorie requirement
The amount of calories your body needs is a combination of your basic metabolic rate (BMR) and activity level. So basically anyone can calculate their BMR following the equation below.

Women:
BMR = 655 + (9.6 X weight in kilos) + (1.8 X height in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)

Men:
BMR = 66 + (13.7 X weight in kilos) + (5 X height in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)

To estimate your daily calorie requirement, multiply your BMR using the following table:

Activity Level Total Daily Calorie Requirement
Sedentary (BMR x 20 percent) + BMR
Lightly active (You exercise 1-3 times a week) (BMR x 30 percent) + BMR
Moderately active (You exercise 3-5 times a week) (BMR x 40 percent) + BMR
very active (You exercise intensely on a daily basis) (BMR x 50 percent) + BMR
Extra active (You do hard labor or are in athletic training) (BMR x 60 percent) + BMR
I would assume many of us would be classified as 'lightly active'. Most of us will fall into the category of sedentary of lightly active. So let me give you an example on how it works. The estimated calorie requirment for a 47 year old sedentary woman who is 68kg and 163cm tall will be:
BMR = 655 + (9.6 X 68) + (1.8 X 163) - (4.7 X 47) = 1380 kcal
Total daily calorie requirement = (1380 x 0.2) + 1380 = 1656 kcal

Just to give you an idea, a typical western diet provides 3000-3500 kcal a day which is twice the amount that an average woman needs. This is not surprising given the number of overweight and obese people.

Step 2: Decide on how much you need to cut out from your diet, create a calorie deficit
To lose weight, you need to eat less than what you body needs. If you cut out about 500 calories from your daily diet, that would mean 3500 calories less in a week.
So to put it in simple terms, the lady who requires 1656 kcal will lose approximately 1 pound after a week if she consumes approximately 1150 kcal per day. This is in theory. I would not suggest anyone consuming less than 1200 kcals per day as this will cause your body to lose it's effectiveness in burning fats.
3500kcal deficit = 1 pound of weight loss
If you need to lose 10 pounds, you will need to create a deficit of 35000 kcal. One thing to rememeber is to slowly cut your calories. Don't start jumping on the wagon and starve yourself for the entire week to create a 35000kcal deficit.
A healthy weight loss diet is one that helps you lose 1-3 pounds per week
There is no STATIC DIET. What it means is that if same lady who consumes 3000 kcal per day makes a conscious effort to cut down her calorie intake to 2500kcal daily, She will shed those unwanted pounds. This is because even though she is still consuming more than her actual calorie requirement, her body is reacting favorably to her decreased food intake. Sounds easy in theory? Think again. The hardest part is in the execution.

Step 3: Take note of what you eat
By taking down what you consume you will have a better understanding of your eating habits. You may discover that you are taking in more calories than needed. Okay I admit it is a chore but I guarantee you won't regret it!
Write down all the food and drinks you consume and the estimated amount (in household measurements e.g. cups or tablespoons etc) over a period of 3 days. Try to be as detailed as possible. Do include condiments you may consume e.g. salad dressing, sugar). Remember, keep your diet as normal as possible.
There are many online tools that can assist in calculating your daily calorie intake.
By doing this, you can easily know where the unwanted calories are coming from. You can then decide what to remove from your diet to create the calorie deficit.
As with all dietitians, I love to write meal plans. Here is a sample nutritionally balanced low-calorie meal plan.

Breakfast:
a wholegrain bagel with a thin spread of light cream cheese (300kcal)
1 glass of low fat milk (90kcal)

Mid-morning snack:
1 cup of Low-fat yoghurt (130kcal)

Lunch:
Wholegrain sandwich bread, with a spread of mustard, salad veggies and lean meat (chicken/beef) (350kcal)
1 serving Minestrone soup (150 kcal)

Afternoon snack:
1 serving of fresh fruit (70 kcal)

Dinner:
cup of pasta with tomato sauce + 1 palm size grilled meat/fish or chicken OR cup of lean mince (400kcal)

Side salad with fat-free dressing (70 kcal)
1 serving of fresh fruit (70 kcal)
Total Calories: 1630 kcal

This is just an example and not a definite eating plan. If you follow through with the food diary activity and get yourself familiarized with the general calorie content of foods, you would have already known by now what are the high calorie foods that you need to reduce your intake of.

Here are some easy ways by which you can reduce your calories
1) Go for a diet soda instead of a normal soda
2) Use fat-free salad dressing and low fat mayonnaise
3) Have 2 servings of fresh fruit instead of 2 cups of processed fruit juice
4) Use less oil in your cooking
5) Always choose lean cuts of meat
6) Reducing your portion sizes by a quarter
7) Sharing a dessert instead of having the whole thing by yourself
8) Cut down on the amount of fried stuff you consume
9) Switching to low fat dairy products
10) Drink less alcohol

The key to a successful low calorie diet plan is consistency. Treat yourself to a little something 'sinful' at every milestone. Just don't end up eating a whole chocolate cake and regret it later. Do not be hard on yourself in you exceed your daily calorie intake. It is a collective effort over a period of time that will help you get to the weight you want.

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How to Rebuild Your Workout

Starting over. Whether you’ve had a layoff from exercise or have been doing it consistently but not seeing results, it might be time to change things up, but in some surprising ways.
Here’s what you need to know:
-Do what you do the least of a little bit more often.
-Never do anything that is boring or unappealing.
-Make movement the foundation for exercise.
-A “plane” workout is a good workout.

Do a Bit More Of…
…whatever you do less of. Why? In general, life gets easier if you can handle heavy objects and move quickly when life makes you. When we aren’t exercising or our workouts feel stale, we tend to do what we have always done out of habit. And this means we will be less likely to do the things we don’t do as often. Heavy is relative to each individual, so try lifting heavier in a way that makes you pay attention to the weight, as this will engage your mind.
Or maybe it’s better to move quickly on some exercises while using less weight. Again, speed and complexity are relative to each individual, so lifting heavy or moving quickly does not equal dangerous.
All you need is a couple days per week each of moving quickly and lifting heavy things. In a short time you will feel more capable and confident as you move your body.

Never Be Bored
Never do exercise if you don’t feel like it. And if that feeling never leaves, then find a type of exercise you are drawn to. If all else fails, it might be time to adjust your mindset.
I don’t want anyone doing any form of exercise they don’t enjoy because they feel like they should. This is a terrible approach and destined to fail. Think about anything you do only because you “should.” You never enjoy it because it carries the weight of obligation. If you hate it, you’ll never work hard enough to have success with it.
There is enough variety in the various forms of physical activity to find something you enjoy. No human is born to hate physical activity—all kids like to move to some degree or another—so there’s something out there for you. If you’re feeling stuck doing stuff you don’t like, stop. Keep trying until you find something you really enjoy.

Exercise Like You Move
Humans sit, stand, walk, pick things up, put them down and do it all over again many times a day. Sitting is moving in a relatively parallel foot stance, walking is an asymmetrical and single-leg activity, and all day long we push, pull and rotate things in our world with our upper body and torso.
These five primary movements, when used to also form the foundation of your exercise choice, mean that the exercises you do in a workout program will make you better at life. And when you start to notice how the movements in your exercise program carry over into your daily life, it makes you pay more attention to your body as it moves all the time—and this makes your workouts better. Why? Because as you move more mindfully, your movements get better and you also get more “practice” doing the same movements you do in your workout.
Fitness is what happens when you take high-quality, efficient movement and turn it up to an intensity that causes the body to make itself fitter.

Plane is Good
We move in three planes. Everything in the physical world moves in some combinations of three possible directions. Walking forward is one plane (sagittal), walking sideways like a crab is another (frontal), and rotating or twisting is another (transverse).
Most common exercises require us to move in the direction we are most familiar with—the sagittal plane. But life is a 360-degree experience, often requiring you to move in many different directions. When you’re doing housework, playing with your kids, walking your dog or just trying to not fall if you slip on something, you’re going to have to be good at moving in all directions, not just the ones that the machines and most common exercises train.
Here’s a helpful table you can fill in to make sure you’re including your movements in all directions, with different ways of challenging yourself. A single exercise might have motion in more than one plane and might qualify for more than one movement category.

For any workout, pick six to eight exercises and perform two to four sets based on your available time, goals and current fitness level. In general, with the “Heavy” sets, keep the reps lower (below 10); for the “Fast” sets, keep the reps between 10 and 20.
There is no need to mark every single box with an “X” in the table. Just fill in most of the columns with at least one exercise and your workout will likely be well rounded. And with the mix of fast/light and slow/heavy movements, the pace of the exercises will keep you engaged.
Exercise is too much fun—and far too valuable—to let it be boring and not deliver results. Rebuild your workout to ensure you do all the things humans do in all the ways humans do them.

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