#caloriescount

How to Calculate your BMR for Weight Loss?

If you’ve been hitting the gym and eating clean but the scale isn’t budging, it’s time to meet your new best friend: BMR. 🤝✨

BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate. Essentially, it’s the number of calories your body burns just by existing—even if you spent the entire day binge-watching your favorite show! 📺🍎

Introduction:

Weight loss is a complex process influenced by various factors, but at its core, it boils down to the balance between calories consumed and calories expended. In this post, we'll delve into the science behind weight loss, focusing on the role of calories and metabolism in shaping our body composition.

Calories:

The Basics of Energy Balance At its simplest level, weight loss occurs when you consume fewer calories than you burn. This creates a calorie deficit, prompting your body to tap into its fat stores for energy. Conversely, weight gain occurs when you consume more calories than you burn, leading to a calorie surplus, which is stored as fat.

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Understanding Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the number of calories your body needs to maintain basic physiological functions at rest. Factors such as age, gender, weight, height, and body composition influence your BMR. While you can't change your age or gender, you can increase your BMR by building lean muscle mass through strength training and staying active.

The Role of Physical Activity in Weight Loss In addition to your BMR, physical activity plays a crucial role in determining your overall calorie expenditure. Activities such as walking, running, cycling, and strength training not only burn calories during exercise but also elevate your metabolism, leading to continued calorie burning even at rest.

Balancing Macronutrients for Optimal Weight Loss While calories are king when it comes to weight loss, the quality of those calories also matters. Balancing macronutrients – carbohydrates, proteins, and fats – in your diet can help you feel satisfied, maintain muscle mass, and support overall health. Aim for a diet rich in whole foods, including lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats.

The Importance of Consistency and Sustainability Consistency is key when it comes to weight loss. Rather than focusing on drastic short-term measures, aim for sustainable lifestyle changes that you can maintain over the long term. This might include meal planning, regular exercise, mindful eating practices, and finding healthier alternatives to your favorite foods.

Conclusion:

This year I made it my objective to focus more on my health and mainly on my weight. For the past 7 years I gained weight constantly. I reached a point where I feel that if I don't do something about it there is going to be no return. No clothes fit anymore and each year I am increasing in size. I buy clothes each summer and by the next summer the clothes already don't fit anymore. I lose a couple of kg in the first part of the year and then gain it all back and more in the last part.

In 2022 I reached out to a nutritionist who made me a meal plan based on calorie counting and intermittent fasting. I've started looking into calorie counting and intermittent fasting to have a better understanding of what is going to be my lifestyle.

Calorie Counting

Calorie counting is the method of recording the calorie (or kilojoule) amount of each and every food and drink you consume every day. It can be done using a food journal, an app, or by simply recording the information on a spreadsheet. Alternately calorie-based meal plans can be prepared in advance and then followed exactly.

This guy made me a meal plan where I have to focus on eating 1500 - 1800 calories with the suggestion of eating around 1800 so that when I plateau for more than 2 weeks we can decrease the number of calories.

Each meal has everything calculated (carbs, protein, fats, calories). I only have to focus on buying the foods, measuring it, preparing it and counting it.

I also can follow a 80/20 rule where I can indulge into something I crave within the calories counted and within the timeframe set for fasting.

What I worry about is that I am an emotional eater, addicted to snacking, binging episodes. The question is how am I going to be able to overcome these hurdles?

1. Emotional Eating

Emotional eating is using food to make yourself feel better—to fill emotional needs, rather than your stomach. Unfortunately, emotional eating doesn’t fix emotional problems. In fact, it usually makes you feel worse. Afterward, not only does the original emotional issue remain, but you also feel guilty for overeating.

I always then do fall into eating unhealthy after a episode of some kind happens. Drama in the family, stress from work, disappointment in myself - all of these and more trigger in me emotional eating. Unhealthy food is so addictive - fat, processed, salty, sweet, crunchy unhealthy freaking food.

2. Binge Eating

Binge eating disorder typically begins in late adolescence or early adulthood, often after a major diet. During a binge, you may eat even when you’re not hungry and continue eating long after you’re full. You may also binge so fast you barely register what you’re eating or tasting.

I was reading the symptoms of binge eating. I don't think I ever read those before.

Inability to stop eating or control what you’re eating.

There have been so many times when if I get into my head that I want chips then I need to have chips. It always happens when I am alone. If I sit in the house with my boyfriend then I am fine. If for some reason I end up alone, then I will do anything in my power to get either some kind of junk fun - like really bad junky junk food or some kind of snacks that I've been craving.

Rapidly eating large amounts of food.

Once I get it I eat it all in one sitting. It's all gone. Fast

Eating even when you’re full.

I don't even have time to think about what I am doing to myself. I just need to finish everything I got.

Hiding or stockpiling food to eat later in secret.

If there is something I cannot finish, then I hide it. I've hid so many snacks. I don't want my boyfriend to know. I don't want anybody to know. I just need my fix and nobody has to know.

Eating normally around others, but gorging when you’re alone.

I eat normally when I am in a group of people but I stuff my face when I am alone or with my boyfriend.

Feeling stress or tension that is only relieved by eating.

Yes! Been there. Done that. I am starting to feel anxious and upset to the point of physical pain because I don't get chips. I know I can have chips anytime but at that moment there is nothing I can do to switch my mindset. I keep obsessing over it

Feeling numb while bingeing—like you’re not really there or you’re on auto-pilot.

Decorporealization - my body is just doing the actions. I am not there.

Feeling guilty, disgusted, or depressed after overeating.

Never once I felt good afterwards. Just felt like a blob.