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