Using Isawall And Caloric Intake For Weight Loss Success

When it comes to losing weight, there are two primary means you can utilize in order to be successful.  Exercise is a great way to bring about weight loss and should be a part of any weight loss program (with the exception of people with severe physical limitations).  The other means to help start shedding pounds is to create a caloric deficit in your diet.

 

 

Using Isawall in combination with a caloric deficit in your diet is a fantastic means of getting unwanted excess weight off.  In this two part series we’ll take an in depth look at how both of these powerful tools can be utilized to ensure success.

 

 

The Caloric Deficit

Creating a caloric deficit in your diet is not that difficult or complicated, but it does take a little bit of work, particularly up front.  A caloric deficit created through diet basically means that your body is burning more calories than it is taking in.

 

 

Even if you are resting in a chair or stay in bed all day, your body needs calories in order to maintain respiration, digestion, circulation, and a myriad of other bodily activities in order to sustain life.  Basal Metabolic Rate or Resting Metabolic Rate is sometimes used by people as a baseline to get an idea of just how many calories a day their body requires in order to be sustained.  There are numerous free websites and apps you can use to get an estimate of your BMR or RMR.  Using the calculations won’t give you the exact number for you as a unique individual, but it will be accurate enough for you to get a good starting point of where to begin.

 

 

Once you have entered in your personal info into the calculator, you will get the estimate of your BMR/RMR.  Once you have this number you are ready to make a small calculation.  This calculation will be a huge part of your weight loss success.

 

 

Obviously the more you restrict your caloric intake, the more weight you will lose.  Despite what you may see on some television shows, there are guidelines to consider in terms of what is both safe and reasonable for weight loss.

 

 

One percent of weight loss per week is considered both safe and reasonable.  Too much more than this per week is not great on the body, and you are more likely to put the weight back on anyway.  So if you weigh 240 pounds, generally speaking a goal of 2.4 pounds of weight loss a week is considered both safe and reasonable.

 

Over the years I have found that most people need to conservatively begin their implementation of caloric restriction.  This is simply because if a person tries to do too much too fast they are very likely to get frustrated and fail.  Being constantly hungry is no formula for success when it comes to weight loss.  Because of this, it’s not a bad idea to keep a food diary for a week or more.

 

 

A food diary entails keeping track of every food item you eat.  In the past people usually wrote this down on a notebook and kept it with them.  Today however there are many free websites and apps that will greatly help you keep track of your food intake, and consequently your caloric intake.  What’s even better is that these sites and apps are free.  These great tools can help you track your caloric intake, and they will also keep track of your protein, carbohydrate, and fat intake, as well as other nutritional info.

 

 

If after recording your food intake for a week or so you notice that your average daily caloric intake is considerably higher than your BMR/RMR, consider lowering your caloric intake from your average daily intake, rather than your BMR/RMR.  This will feel like much less of a shock to you, and you should start losing weight right away anyway.  For some people, when they start tracking their caloric intake, they notice it is much higher than their BMR/RMR.  Don’t get frustrated if this is the case.  Just consider it your starting point and move forward.

 

 

Getting Down To Specifics

Whether you go off of your BMR/RMR or you average daily caloric intake over a weeks’ time, caloric reduction will be the key to your weight loss.  Here I want to give you a formula that is both realistic and will also help to initiate weight loss.

 

 

Take whatever number you are going off of whether it is your BMR/RMR or your average daily caloric intake and subtract 250 calories from this.  This is a general guide but it works well for most people.  One pound of fat is equal to about 3500 calories.  By implementing a caloric deficit of 250 a day, you should create a total caloric deficit of about 1750 calories per week, or a half pound of fat loss per week.

 

 

If your caloric intake is already low, talk to your doctor before proceeding with any weight loss program.  Also, never go below 1000 calories a day unless under the supervision of a doctor.

 

 

In part two I will go over how implementing Isawall along with your caloric deficit through diet will be the perfect formula for success.

 

 

Paul Owens is a personal trainer in the Cleveland area.  He is a Certified Personal Trainer through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and the National Council on Strength and fitness.  He is also a Corrective Exercise Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine.  He can be reached at http://www.clevelandpersonaltraining.com