How to Create a Calorie Deficit

The second reason people fail is that they underestimate the calories they eat. This is so easy to do. You must add all the calories you take in – beverages, snacks, a candy bar, coffee and Danish at work, etc… You might be surprised to find your taking in at least a few hundred calories more than you think.

Watch out for the hidden calories – especially in snacks and drinks. These are where people really get more than they need.

If you do accidentally overeat one day, try to cut the calories in the next few days to make up for it. Say, for old times sake, you decide to Supersize it at the McDonalds and get an extra 1,000 calories – bad news, but no reason to ashcan your program – just cut back 200 calories for the next five days and you’ve got it. Or, you can add two extra 40 minute sessions of cardio – all the while thinking how much easier it would have been to NOT eat that deep fried pie and large fries in the first place.

Once you see just how hard it is to burn off calories or spend a few hungry afternoons, your food selection process should immediately improve.

Number three on the list of why people fail is lack of exercise. Skipping a workout once a month won’t kill you, but once a week and that’s at least 1,600 less calories per month than your goal. If you do miss a workout, try to make it up the next week. Missing more than one per week and you are seriously affecting your program and may consider a revision – not a problem, just know that you will be losing less fat and it will take that much longer to get lean.

Some people, and this in not as effective, automatically adjust for bad behavior by adding an extra cardio session per week and lowering their caloric intake by and extra 100 to 200 calories per day. This has the added benefit of causing you to burn fat faster, but runs the risk of damaging your program because it’s “too hard”.

Better it’s too easy and something you can manage over the long term than too hard causing you to fall out early. Remember: lifestyle change, not fashion fad.

Let’s say you are really overweight and too out of shape to do hard cardio or even work out for more than 30 minutes. Not a problem – go slow at first, but do more cardio. Try doing one session for 20 minutes every day for the first week. The second week, bump to 30 minutes – all the while keeping the intensity relatively low. The third week go to 2 x 20 minute sessions per day and so on until you can do two to three 30 to 40 minute sessions daily at low intensity. Since the intensity is low, you need to do more. Don’t forget to really restrict your calories, too, or you will be exercising for nothing. As you get stronger and start losing fat, go for more intense workouts and do less of them – this will give you some free time to relax and enjoy the new thinner you.

This may sound like a lot of time to devote to losing fat, but remember, it’s your health and, as you get thinner, you can cut back to fewer sessions until its just 3 x 30 to 40 minute sessions per week.

One advantage to being seriously overweight is exercise is more difficult and so burns more calories – you should be able to shed 4 pounds of fat per month – not a lot, but that’s a respectable 48 pounds per year. Overweight people also have larger food reserves to draw from making it safer to be a bit more restrictive on calories. Since weight is also a factor in BMR calculations, you can cut 200 to 300 calories from that total to help speed the process.

In people with morbid obesity, the underlying problem might be psychological. This means some counseling sessions would be a good idea, too.

Whatever you do, don’t think some magic pill, TV fitness machine, new diet or supplement will make one bit of difference. You’ll be wasting your money and short circuiting your fat burning program.

Here’s some helpful links to get your program going:

Calorie contents in foods:
TheCalorieCounter
CalorieCounting

What does 200 calories look like?

Calories burned in common sports

Calculator for calories burned in various activities

Fat Burning Foods

The Ten Worst Foods

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