TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR NUTRITION – No.2

"Is it the calories or the exercises?"

BOTH!!!

1 pound of fat contains about 3,500 calories.  This means if you maintain a 2,000 calorie daily plan with limited to no exercise, you would need to consume an additional 350 calories per day for 10 days to gain 1 pound.  No idea what 350 calories looks like?  Imagine 1 ½ cups of cooked white rice, approximately.  So, on the flip side, to lose 1 pound in 10 days you need to create a caloric deficit of 350 calories per day for 10 days, through a blend of nutritional changes and exercise.

“So how do you lose 2 LBS per week?”

3,500 Cal = 1 LB --> x2 --> 7,000 Cal = 2 LBS

 7,000 Cal / 7 days = 1,000 Cal deficit per day

“That’s a lot of calories to cut out of my daily meals, what is the best way to create a deficit that size?”

To put it simply,exercise and proper nutrition.  With most High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) programs you can expect to burn about 750-1200 calories per hour depending on your size, weight, gender, intensity level applied and maintained, and personal muscular endurance.  If you combine that with alterations in nutrition, for instance, instead of 1 ½ cups of rice, try ½ cup of rice and 1 cup of Kale greens (only 33 calories) you would have created about 170 caloric deficit in this one meal, plus the ~750 calories from your workout = 920 calories reduction in one day.

***These are all approximations.  Results above are under the best circumstances, for an athletically advanced individual. Individual results will vary***