Life in a Calorie Deficit
To keep it really simple, the main priority when working toward a weight loss goal is to be in a calorie deficit. A calorie deficit is consuming fewer calories than you burn in a day. If you are able to simply track your calories consumed and your calories burned you should be able to execute a consistent calorie deficit relatively easy.
My goal for the $250K Challenge is fat loss. I will be in a calorie deficit for 12 weeks and yesterday was my “official” Day #1 of that. Nobody talks too in depth about what life is like in a calorie deficit. We love to celebrate the glory of the body transformation that occurs due to a calorie deficit but the details in between Day #1 and Day #84 aren’t always as glorious. I would like to help someone thinking of embarking on a transformation journey by being transparent about how it really is to “diet”.
Of course yesterday was my first day participating in the challenge so it wasn’t near as hard as it might be in the coming weeks. My intermittent fast style diet was great yesterday. Here was my eating schedule:
9:00am: Espresso + Premade Protein
9:30am: 20 minute treadmill walk @ home
11:30am: Train
1:30pm: Protein shake w/almond milk + frozen strawberries
4:00-8:00pm: “Feeding window”
As I discussed in a previous post I am not practicing true intermittent fasting because I do break my fast in the AM. I started eating my regular meals at 4:00pm and was done eating for the day at 8:00pm. That is really atypical of me but I rolled with it. I usually like to eat more at night which is why this is the method I am choosing to contribute to my calorie deficit for each day.
I will try to leave my blog posts during the challenge with my calorie deficit information for the day so we can see over time how it is contributing to my progress. My plan is to eventually share progress photos but I am not quite ready to share the “before” images from yesterday. Stay tuned for that!
1/1/1018
Calories Burned (via Fitbit): 2933
Calories Consumed (via MFP): 1880
NOTE: I do track macros and practice flexible dieting but for the sake of simplicity I will just talk about calories for now as that is the most basic thing one needs to do to lose weight. No need to over complicate the process yet!