How to Lose Weight

So over Christmas this year I hit the Tim-Tams heavy! Perhaps the worst thing about living overseas is meeting Australians and learning how to bite off both ends of a Tim-Tam to suck your tea through the biscuit. If you have never tried this, don't! Basically, this left me with a layer of extra fat that I wanted to get rid of. Due to a back injury hitting the gym was not an option so I took to the kitchen. 

There is a saying in bodybuilding circles, "A Six-pack is not built in the gym but in the kitchen". This is very true. The vast majority of the following information I have learned from Kevin McGarry, a friend and one of the best personal trainers I have ever met. He basically taught me that by putting your body into caloric deficit for a period of time fat will burn off. Our bodies need a certain number of calories each day to provide the energy we need. Caloric deficit means that we aim to provide slightly less than the body requires, thus requiring the body to burn excess fat, for a period of time. 

In order to learn how many calories your body needs each day you need to use a calory calculator like this one or this one. The following information needs to be inserted:

• age
• height
• weight
• sex
• exercise level

This will then give you the number
of calories you need each day in order to maintain your current weight. If you want to get bigger add more calories, if you want to lose weight (get shredded) take slightly less calories each day. The Bodybuilding.com calory counter will actually go that bit further and tell you exactly how many calories to take according to your goal. 

So as can be seen in the image above I need to reduce my calories to about 1900 in order to burn off some fat. I advise you to give yourself about three months. This is the start of my third month and I have lost about 9 lbs. You can lose weight faster using diets but this is a lifestyle that does not restrict what you eat. I was on 10 days holiday recently and very much enjoyed the buffets at breakfast and dinner. I maintained my weight at the amount I lost by not exceeding 2300 calories a day. 

A Day of Food at 1900 Calories

Here is a day of eating for me. On this day I knew that I would be going out for a staff appreciation dinner that evening to a great burger joint. I watched my calories carefully at breakfast and lunch so I could go wild in the evening! 

Breakfast
Oats 300 + Peanut Butter 100 + Rasins 150 = 550
Lunch
Taco Salad 300 + Slice of Bread 100 = 400
Dinner
Burger 600 + Fries 350 = 950

Total = 550 + 400 + 950 = 1900

As for how to know how many calories are in the food you eat. Currently, I just Google and have been keeping a list of everything. Another great way to do this is to download the My Fitness Pal app developed by Under Armour. After a while, you will be able to tell about how many calories are in your meal by looking at it, as you most likely eat the same things over and over again. 

I hope this helps somebody to meet their weight goal while enjoying life!