There’s a lot of information and misinformation out there about how to lose weight. It can be very confusing! Should you do the keto diet? Should you try intermittent fasting? Should you just eat a bunch of salads?
Although there are many different diets and methods that people have come up with to lose weight, it all really comes down to one simple weight loss equation.
Calories In – Calories Out (CICO)
Every day we consume calories (calories in) and we burn calories (calories out). If you can burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. It’s as simple as that!
Let’s break it down with an example.
We’ll use the example of Bob, a 30 year old male who is 5 foot 9 inches tall and weighs 210 pounds. We’ll assume he has a desk job and is usually sedentary. I’ll use https://tdeecalculator.net/ to figure out how many calories this person needs to consume to maintain his current weight. This is called Total Daily Energy Expenditure (or TDEE).
According to this site, Bob will need to consume a little over 2,280 calories per day to maintain weight.
In order to lose weight, Bob needs to create a calorie deficit – he needs to consume fewer than 2,280 calories per day.
Roughly speaking, to lose 1 pound of weight you need to create a 3500 calorie deficit. This is a good rule of thumb for weight loss but it will vary from person to person.
So if Bob wants to lose 1 pound per week, he’ll have to create a daily calorie deficit of 500 calories (3500 / 7). In general: for every pound you want to lose per week, you’ll need to create a 500 calorie per day deficit.
Bob can lose the weight in several ways. He can decide to lose all the weight through portion control – eating 2,280 – 500 = 1,780 calories per day. Or he can combine portion control with exercise. If Bob exercises for 30 minutes a day (burning about 250 calories) he can then eat 1,780 + 250 = 2,030 calories per day.
Whew that’s enough math for now!
Once you’ve figured out your weight loss calorie plan you’ll need to act on your plan. There are many strategies for how to keep within a calorie budget. There are apps like MyFitnessPal or LoseIt which help you keep track of the calories you consume.
However, these apps leave the meal planning up to you. If you want custom meal plans that scale to your calorie needs, try the Chop Meal Plans app.
Chop Meal Plans will help you figure out how many calories you need to consume to lose or maintain weight. After that you can use the app to pick pre-built plans or create your own.
Each meal plan generates a shopping list for you. Then just follow the step by step instructions for each recipe.
Remember, to lose weight all you really need to remember is Calories In and Calories Out (CICO). There’s a lot of misinformation out there about diets and weight loss, but there are also some amazing tools.
Check out the Chop Meal Plans app today – the first week is completely free so you can try out your first custom meal plan.
Chop Meal Plans 