If you’ve read my last post, The
#1 Rule of Weight Loss, you know that creating a calorie
deficit over time is the universal law of all weight loss. In this post, I’m
going to explain the #2 rule of weight loss which is knowing your Basal
Metabolic Rate (BMR). Once you know this key number, you will eliminate all
confusion on how to lose weight and you will have the power to burn fat
virtually on command.
We all have our own specific and unique Basal Metabolic Rate.
Your BMR is the amount of calories that your body needs to keep you alive and
functioning properly each day. It does not include any physical activity nor
does it account for the thermic effect from the food you eat. Knowing your BMR
is the first step to creating a true calorie deficit.
Now, what happens with most people is that when they decide to
go on a diet, they follow the generally accepted (and very generic) advice of
the mainstream medical community that says to lose weight all you need to do is
“eat less and exercise more.” So, we often turn to a reduced calorie diet (eat
less) and/or a vigorous workout program (exercise more) in an effort to slim
down.
But what happens all too often is that even though you are
religiously eating less and exercising more, you still aren’t losing weight.
And to be perfectly honest with you, it’s not your fault!
The reason why so many people struggle with weight loss is
because they simply don’t know their own BMR nor do they understand the concept
so that it can be properly applied to creating a true calorie deficit.
Here’s what I mean…
Let’s say your BMR is 1500. That means your body needs 1500
calories every day to keep your body alive and working properly. If you do not
eat a single thing today, your body is going to burn 1500 calories from your
fat stores to ensure it gets the calories that it needs. This will happen no
matter what.
But because most of us do not know what our BMR actually is,
we often struggle to effectively put this generic plan into place.
Here’s why…
Let’s say you regularly consume a diet that consists of 2000
calories a day but again, your BMR is only 1500. What this means is that those
500 “extra” calories that you are eating above your 1500 BMR, are being stored
by your body for later use…in the form of body fat. In other words, your body
needs just 1500 calories, but you are feeding it 2000 calories, which means you
have “leftover” calories that your body doesn’t need. Because you have overfed
yourself for the day, your body needs to store those calories in your fat
cells, which makes you fatter.
Now, let’s say we cut out 400 calories from your diet because you are following mainstream advice that says, “eat less and exercise more.”
Now, let’s say we cut out 400 calories from your diet because you are following mainstream advice that says, “eat less and exercise more.”
Now, even though you’ve eliminated 400 calories from your diet
(2000 – 400 =1600 calories), you are still eating 100 calories more than your
1500 BMR. So, even though you cut out a bunch of calories, you are still eating
100 more calories a day than your body needs.
So, while you are sacrificing these 400 calories each day, you
find yourself not losing any weight at all. In fact, you are still gaining
weight—just at a slower pace than you were before.
Talk about frustration!
Now, because you are eating less and not losing weight, you
decide to exercise more. In
doing so, you start hitting the gym 3 days a week and while you’re there, you
burn 300 calories (about average). Now, you have already cut out calories by
eating less:
2000 – 400 = 1600 calories.
And now you have cut out more calories through exercise
1600 – 300 = 1300 calories.
Since your BMR is 1500 and you have a deficit of 200 calories (1500 – 1300), you are now losing weight!
And now you have cut out more calories through exercise
1600 – 300 = 1300 calories.
Since your BMR is 1500 and you have a deficit of 200 calories (1500 – 1300), you are now losing weight!
But hold on…
Your diet and exercise effort has a combined deficit of just
600 calories per week. Considering you would need to create a deficit of 3500
calories just to lose one pound of body fat, at a rate of 600 calories per week,
it’s going to take you nearly 6 full weeks to lose a single pound!
So, even though you are now “eating less” & “exercising
more” you find that the weight is simply not going away…despite all of your
efforts to make it happen.
And this, my friend, is what leads to diet frustration… and
it’s why so many people struggle to lose weight and end up jumping from one
diet to the next… or eventually giving up altogether.
Calculating your BMR
So, your first step is to calculate your BMR.
Below is the formula for getting a rough idea of your BMR:
Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) -‐ ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) -‐ ( 6.8 x age in year )
Below is the formula for getting a rough idea of your BMR:
Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) -‐ ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) -‐ ( 6.8 x age in year )
Once you know your BMR and put it into place, you can easily
put a solid plan in motion that absolutely guarantees that you will lose body
fat.
The easiest way to do this is to take your BMR and multiply
that number by 7 (for seven days of the week). Once you have that weekly BMR
number, decide how many pounds of fat you would like to drop during the week
and multiply that number by 3500.
From there, subtract the number of calories you need to burn
from your weekly BMR. If you stick to eating that amount of calories, you are
absolutely guaranteed to lose that amount of weight (yes, 100% guaranteed!). I
have tested and tweaked this method for over two years. It is a no-fail method
for guaranteed fat loss. And keep in mind that body fat takes up 3x the space
that lean mass does. So, when you drop 5 pounds of body fat, you effectively
look about 15 pounds leaner!
One thing I should mention is the fact that we are basing this
weight loss method on your BMR. Obviously, you won’t be lying in bed all day
long so you will, in fact, burn more calories every day through physical
activity be it brushing your teeth, mowing the lawn, walking up stairs, washing
dishes, etc. The reason I base this on your BMR is because we tend to
overestimate the amount of calories we burn during physical activity, while
underestimating the amount of calories we consume through our meals. I’ve found
that using the BMR gives us a very safe place to start.
Now, when using your BMR, what often happens here is that you
wind up with a very low number of calories you can eat. For many, cutting out
7000 calories (dropping 2 pounds) from their weekly BMR leaves nothing left.
To combat this, I suggest you start by simply cutting your BMR
in half, engage in a few of my short, but intense 15-minute workouts each week,
take a few very specific supplements, increase your NEPA and institute some of
my intermittent fasting techniques. By doing so, you’ll actually lose more
weight (a lot more!) every single week. This is due to the increased
catecholamine levels and GH production which are the primary drivers of fat
oxidation (breaking down fat into fatty acids and getting them out of your fat
cells). When you combine a calorie deficit with a few other “x-factors,” the
fat melts off your body very, very rapidly.
As mentioned in my #1 Rule of Fat Loss post, creating a
calorie deficit over time is the only scientifically proven method for weight
loss. It is a universal law no matter what is said otherwise. By knowing your
BMR you will be able to create a true calorie deficit where you can finally
take control of your weight loss efforts for good—without fail.
Source : http://www.loseweightandbehealthy.net/
