Understanding the basics of weight loss and gain

 

Understanding the basics of weight loss and weight gain for beginners:

(READ THE FULL ARTICLE TWICE FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING)

"Your body weight does not depend on what you eat. It depends on how much you eat."

Basics:

1) Concept of Calorie: 

-Calorie is a unit of measurement of energy (like kilometer is a unit of measurement of distance).

Now,

1 kg weight means approx. 7000 calorie. So if you want to lose 1 kg weight, you should lose 7000 calories and if you want to gain 1 kg weight, you should eat 7000 calories.

For example,

if you want to gain 5 kg weight, you should eat

7000 × 5 = 35000 calorie.

if you want to gain 10 kgs weight, you should eat

7000 × 10= 70000 calorie.

Similarly, if you want to lose 5 kgs, you should lose 7000*5= 35000 calories.

2) Concept of Macro-nutrients:

Whatever we eat, those items can be mainly divided into 3 parts:

1) Protein

2) Carbs

3) Fats.

   These 3 are called macronutrients.

Now,

1 gm of protein has 1 calorie.

1 gm of carbs has 4 calories.

1 gm of fat has 9 calories.

So suppose you ate 1 banana, so it has approx.100 calories. For all foods that we eat, the approx. amount of calories can be found on google. Suppose you are eating dal and rice, so just google the amount of calories in 1 cup of COOKED dal and 1 cup of COOKED rice and you will get approx. amount of calories in it. 

Now, whatever activities we do, it burns a certain amount of calories. When you take bath, it burns some calories, when you run, it burns some calories. Anything that you do, burns a certain amount of calories.

For example, Cycling for 1-hour burns approx. 200 calorie.

A final thing to understand:

3) Concept of TDEE:

TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure. It is the number of calories that your body uses daily to live the lifestyle that you live. It is calculated on 4 things:

Your age,

Your height,

Your weight,

Your daily routine.

Just google the TDEE calculator and put your stats like age, height, weight, and daily physical activity. Suppose you are a man who has a moderate amount of physical work daily. Your height is 5’5, your age is 45 and your weight is 65 kgs.

So your TDEE calculator will give you approx. 1500 calories daily. This 1500-calorie is what you need to eat to MAINTAIN your body weight as it is. 

If you want to increase your body weight, eat more than 1500 calories daily, and if you want to reduce your weight, eat less than 1500 calories daily. You burn 1500 calories daily with your daily activities. If you eat more, your body will have more calories, but the extra calories will not be burnt. It will be saved in your body and this will increase weight. So, if you eat 2000 calories but your TDEE is 1500 calories, you will burn 1500 calories out of 2000 calories. 500 remaining calories will be stored in the body and this will slowly increase weight. When this remaining calorie reaches from 500 to 7000, you will gain approx. 1 kg weight.

TDEE is the number of calories required to maintain your weight. 

IF YOU EAT CALORIES AS MUCH AS YOUR TDEE, IT WILL MAINTAIN YOUR WEIGHT. IF YOU EAT MORE THAN YOUR TDEE, YOU WILL GAIN WEIGHT. IF YOU EAT LESS THAN YOUR TDEE, YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT.

Now suppose, you are 25 years old man with little physical activity daily. Your height is 5’4 and your weight is 45 kgs. And you want to increase your weight by 5 kgs.

Your TDEE will come around 1400 calorie daily. Use TDEE Calculator on google.

 Now suppose your aim is to gain 5 kgs. So you need to eat:

5× 7000=35000 calories in total to gain 5 kgs.

And your TDEE is 1400 calories which means you need 1400 calories daily to maintain your current weight.

So if you start eating 2000 calories daily, you will burn 1400 calories as per your TDEE and save 600 calories in your body daily. So,

The required calorie to gain the target weight is 35000.

The saved calorie per day is 600.

So, how many days to cover 35000 calories?

35000÷ 600= 58 days.

So, if you eat 2000 calories daily, you will take 58 days to gain 5 kgs weight.

Similarly, if you double the calorie intake to 4000 calories daily, you will take 27 days to gain 5 kgs weight.

Similarly, if you are 25 years old man with little physical activity daily. Your height is 5’4 and your weight is 45 kgs. And you want to lose your weight by 5 kgs.

Your TDEE will come around 1400 calories daily.

 Now suppose your aim is to lose 5 kgs. So you need to lose

5× 7000=35000 calories in total to lose 5 kgs.

And your TDEE is 1400 calories which means you should eat 1400 calories daily to maintain weight.

So, you will have to eat 35000 calories less to decrease 5 kg weight. Suppose you eat 1400 calories now. To lose weight, you start eating 900 calories daily (decrease by 500 calories daily).

So to lose 35000 calories, it will take 35000/500= 70 days. 

You can eat pizza, cake, sweets, etc. also, just make sure you do not cross your weekly calorie limit. Suppose you are on a daily 900 calories diet, so the weekly calorie limit is 900*7=6300 calories. Suppose on Saturday, you ate 500 calorie pizza, so, on the next day, just reduce some amount of food from your diet and the calories will balance out. 

You have to be in calorie surplus from your TDEE to gain weight. You have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight.

Steps to follow to gain weight:

1) Calculate your approx. TDEE by TDEE calculator in google (very easy).

2) Decide how many kgs you want to increase.

3) Then make a chart of foods that you want to eat at your convenience. Anything you want to eat can be added to it. You just have to make sure you eat more calories than your TDEE.

4) The more you eat above your TDEE, the sooner you will gain weight.

   

Steps to follow to lose weight:

   Calculate your approx. TDEE by TDEE calculator in google.

1. Decide how many kgs you want to lose.
2. Then make a chart of foods that you want to eat at your convenience. Anything you want to eat can be added to it. You just have to make sure you eat fewer calories than your TDEE.
3. The less you eat below your TDEE, the sooner you will lose weight.

   

   POINTS TO REMEMBER:

1. Do not increase or decrease calories by more than 400. You might fall sick. Be consistent, do not hurry.
2. Try to eat protein items more and unhealthy items less (Soyabean is a very good and cheap protein source, eat it regularly).
3. There is NO restriction on any food whether you want to gain weight or lose weight. Just follow as per your TDEE. No need to eat salad and boiled soup veggies for weight loss. You can eat pastries, sweets, and ice cream also on some days and still lose weight. Just follow the TDEE science. Once in a while, outside food is fine, no issue.
4. Eat whole foods like egg, milk, vegetables, fruits, mutton, ghee, chicken, and fish regularly. Whether you want to lose weight or gain weight, these foods should be added to your daily diet. These are not unhealthy. Humans have been eating these food items for thousands of years, so our body has nicely adopted these items and their digestion. So always eat those foods which humans have been eating since ancient times. 
5. Some people say that we should not eat fatty meat or red meat as these are unhealthy. These are not unhealthy. Our lifestyle makes this food unhealthy. For example, fruits are very healthy. But if a person has diabetes, the doctor will restrict his fruit intake as fruits contain sugar. So will u say that fruit is unhealthy? No, fruits are healthy but since the lifestyle of the diabetic person demands less fruit, it does not make fruits an unhealthy item, it is just that his lifestyle does not suit fruit intake. Similarly, if you do not take exercise and have a very lazy lifestyle, then red meat, etc will harm you. But if your lifestyle is active, red meat is also healthy. Avoid those foods which humans started eating in recent years like fast food, fried items, etc. 

Take exercise daily.

Even if you cannot go out to a park or gym, take these exercises daily for 30 minutes:

Set 1: choose any one of these basic warm-ups and do them for 15 minutes:

Stretching, running, rope skipping, stairs climbing.

Set 2: Choose any one of these exercises and do them for 15 minutes:

Push up, chin up, sit-ups, plank.

These 2 sets are the basic and easiest exercise that will keep you healthy and fit and can be done anywhere.

Health and fitness are simple science. Do not complicate it by adding fancy colorful veggies like yellow capsicum and fruits like avocados. Eat as per your Calorie and TDEE requirement, take exercise daily and be fit.

Subhav Samarth

+91-9015661671.

gcsubhavsamarth@gmail.com

 

 

Understanding basics of Stock market

 Understanding Stocks investment basics for beginners (I am not an expert, so this analysis is not for experts 😉 )

*What is Share and share market?

-Suppose you want to open a shop and you are lacking 5000 rs to open it. So you ask two friends of yours to give you some money. The first friend gave you 3000 rs and the second friend gave you 2000 rs. You successfully started your shop. Now they both ask you:

“We helped you in starting the shop, but what do we get in return?”

You say- “I will give you both partnership in this shop. The profit that I earn, I will share with you both too, and in case I suffer loss in business, your 5000 rs money will be also in danger. So do you want to take the risk?

Both friends know that you are a very good businessman, so they know that you will run the business properly. And there will be profit in future. So they agree to this. They tell you that whatever profit or loss happens, we will share it because we trust your business.

So you give them a paper with your signature saying the first friend gave 3000 rs and the second friend gave 2000 rs. Then, in the future, maybe after 10 years, when they both come, they will show this paper and at that time, whatever profit the shop has made, they will get profit in the same percentage. So the first friend has ‘shares’ worth 3000 rs and the second friend has ‘shares’ worth 2000 rs in this shop.

This is what a share is. We also call it stocks or equity.

Similarly, all big companies give their shares to people who want to invest in their companies. The place where this buying of stocks happens, we call the Share market/Stock exchange. The companies sell their shares to people who want to buy the shares.

Now let us understand the STRATEGY:

The stock exchange (share market) is a body where all companies who want to sell their stocks are listed. First, the company lists itself on the stock exchange, and then, the selling or buying of stocks happens. There are 2 stock exchanges in India:

National Stock Exchange and Bombay stock exchange.

In the stock market, there are 3 types of companies:

Large-cap companies: the big giant companies with a huge market and turnover like tata, reliance, HDFC. etc. are called large-cap companies.

Mid-cap companies: the medium size companies that are smaller than large-cap companies but growing nicely.

Small cap companies: the new companies in the market with a smaller market and smaller turnover etc.

Now, if you invest in large-cap companies, your money is SAFE. Your money will grow at an annual rate of 10-12% which is almost double than fixed deposit. The return percentage is not very high, but the risk is also less. As these are established companies, it is very unlikely that they will go bankrupt in the coming years. They are likely to grow for many years, though, as they have already achieved huge status, they might not grow a lot in the future but they will certainly not suffer big losses. They will continue to grow at 10-12% and if you invest your money in these companies, you will not suffer loss and your invested money will grow at a 10-12% rate per year. Chances of average growth and very less chances of loss are there.

If you invest in mid-cap companies, they have the potential to achieve good growth as they are still on their way to becoming large cap companies but they are not yet as big. So they are likely to grow faster and might give you 15-25% returns per year on your invested amount. But since they are not as established as large-cap companies, they also come with a bit of risk. They are still in the growing phase and they might grow or they might fail. So, if you invest in these companies, they might give you good returns or they might incur loss and might even fail. Chances of good growth and chances of a big loss, both are there.

If you invest in small-cap companies, they are still in their initial phase. So, they might grow very fast as Amazon grew from a small cap company in 1997 to a large cap company within 20-25 years. So, suppose someone invested 1000 rs in Amazon in 1997, today, within 25 years, that 1000 rs would have become 10 crore rs. But, as with the majority of startups, the small-cap companies are just in their initial days, so they might grow rapidly and they might fail. They might give you 25-30% annual returns or they might fail. Changes of huge growth and changes of complete loss, both are there.

What are monopoly stocks?

Monopoly stocks are companies that are leaders in their respective fields and do not face much competition in their respective fields. Like Nestle (Maggi) is a monopoly stock in the field of noodles. Pidilite (Fevicol) is a monopoly stock in the field of glue. These are generally large-cap companies and enjoy very good status.

What are sin stocks?

Sin stocks are industries considered immoral by some groups of people. Industries like cigarettes, alcohol, etc. come under this category. These stocks earn good returns every year but some people feel that investing in these stocks means promoting alcohol or cigarettes and thus, despite good returns, they do not buy them. These industries give good returns always.

Now, you have 2 options for growing your money in the stock market.

1. Low risk, low gain - Investing in large-cap companies generally gives 10-12% returns every year which is a good return but not very high. The good point in investing in large-cap companies is that they have very low chances of loss in the future. Your money might not grow at high speed but it will not go into loss. And 10-12% return is any way you will be getting.
2. High risk, high gain - Investing in mid and small-cap companies generally gives 15-25% returns every year which is a very good percentage. The bad point with mid and small-cap companies is that these are not very well established in the market and might incur a loss. They might even go bankrupt. They might grow tremendously like Amazon grew in 25 years or they may end like a lot of small companies end up.

If you want to make average money returns with very less risk, you can invest in large-cap companies. You can directly buy stocks of big companies, leave them for 10-15 years and the value of stocks will grow every year at 10-12% compound interest. So if you invest 10,000 rs in a large company for 10 years, and the interest is generally 12% every year, after 10 years, you will have 31,000 rs. There is no risk and this is good growth. If you increase the invested money, the returns will also be higher.

If you want to make more money at a better rate of interest, you will have to take the risk of investing in small and mid-cap companies. So if you invest 10,000 rs in a small cap company for 10 years, and the interest is generally 20% every year, after 10 years, you will have 61,000 rs. But these high returns come with a high risk of loss too, as these are not well-established companies.

Now you have to make a decision based on your risk-taking appetite. Are you ready to take more risks or are you happy with playing safe?

If playing safe is your choice, just buy stocks of big companies regularly and hold them for 15-20 years.

If you are ready to take the risk, you will have to buy small and mid-cap stocks.

The problem lies in identifying the small-cap companies which have growth potential. It is easy to identify large-cap companies with growth potential. Almost all large-cap companies will give you 10-12% growth. But to choose small cap stocks which should perform well in the future, we need to do research. We need to read the balance sheets and finances of hundreds of companies to identify them. Or we can rely on tips from other people who are good in this field. We can also view Youtube and google answers to get the answer of which stocks should we buy that might give us a good return. But these all options are not very trustworthy. Or maybe 1 or 2 companies can be found by this method, but can we rely on these methods for long-term and big amount investments?

I do not think so.

Here comes the option of mutual funds.

A mutual fund is a wonderful thing.

Suppose you and your 4 friends want to invest 1000 rs each in the stock market, but you all are not sure which share to buy for profit. So you all go to a person in your city who is an expert in the stock market. He tells give me your money and I will invest your money in stocks as per my expertise and all profits will go to you 5 people. He will just be investing on your behalf. So he takes your money and invests in the stock market on your behalf. This is what a mutual fund is.

A mutual fund is basically when a lot of people give their money to an expert who invests that money in stocks as per his expertise. This expert is called a mutual fund manager.

Now 2 questions will arise:

1. Can that person be trusted? Can he do fraud or run away with our money?

-Mutual funds are run by big financial institutions like HDFC, ICICI, SBI, etc. Fund managers are like employees of these banks who are experts in the finance and stocks market with years of experience.. Just like you keep your money in the bank with the trust, similarly, you give your money in mutual funds to these banks who then assign that money to fund managers who will manage the investments of that money as per their own expertise. These managers work under these banks, not independently. So, if you trust these institutions, you can trust their fund managers too.

 

      2. What if the fund managers make wrong investments and our money is lost? He can also make wrong decisions or lose our money in the wrong stocks.

-Suppose you invested 1000 rs in a mutual fund. The fund manager then divided 1000 rs into 200 rs and purchased shares in 5 different small companies. Now suppose 2 of those companies start making a loss. The fund manager will immediately take out your money from those 2 bad companies and invest in some other company that is performing well. Fund managers are experts in finances and they work on the stock market 24*7. Their duty is to manage the investments. So, it is possible that he might invest in the wrong stocks, but he is constantly managing the money and keeping eye on the stock market. He will take your money out in case something bad happens.

The investments in mutual funds are not by 8-10 people but thousands of people and the money runs into thousands of crores in all mutual funds. These are trustworthy.

I guess the concept of a mutual fund is clear now.

Main types of mutual funds:

*Large cap mutual funds- mutual funds where the money will be invested in large-cap companies only.

*Small and mid-cap mutual funds- mutual funds where the money will be invested in small or medium cap companies.

*Index mutual fund- It is a type of mutual fund in which the investment is done only in the top companies of India, all of them large-cap companies. Out of all large-cap companies, only top companies are used for this investment. If you are investing in an index fund, you are investing in the future of the Indian economy and your money is bound to grow at a minimum 10-12% rate. Nifty 50 and Sensex are examples of an Index. Nifty is a group of top 50 companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India. Sensex is the group of top 30 companies listed on the Bombay stock exchange.

Now, if you want to grow your money nicely, as discussed earlier, we need to invest some amount in small and mid-cap companies too, for potential growth. So, the best way to invest in these small and mid-cap companies is through small and mid-cap mutual funds where your money is invested in these high-potential companies for growth. And if the companies start falling, the fund manager as per his expertise takes your money out and invests in some other company. You get the expert help of a fund manager and all his management and handling of the investments at a very nominal price of less than 1%. So suppose you invest ten thousand rs every month in a mutual fund, so the fund manager’s fees will be maybe 50 rs only or even less.

This is the reason most people opt for mutual funds.

In my opinion, the best strategy for someone who does not have expertise in the stock market should follow the below strategy for the first 3-5 years:

1) 50% amount in index mutual fund through monthly SIP.

2) 25% amount in small and mid-cap mutual funds through monthly SIP.

3) 25% amount in direct buying of top/blue chip companies' stocks just to learn the process if desired, but only from top 10-15 companies.

SIP means Systematic Investment Plan. You pay every month on a fixed date for the mutual funds instead of buying at one time. This gives much better returns than one-time buys in long term. In a mutual fund, always prefer monthly SIP and hold your mutual funds for the long term.

2nd of June, 2021.

-Subhav Samarth

+91-9015661671.

gcsubhavsamarth@gmail.com

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