So what have we covered so far?
-That your activity level is crucial to
fat loss
-That just a small change in a daily routine can occur for serious change in
body composition
-That
fat loss is a collection of
calories burnt overtime, not just during a workout.
Now the real important part. Now for the big question. Leigh, how do I rate my daily activity? How can I full proof my
calories?
I am going to tell you but first let me make something clear.
You remember watching Back to the Future where the Doc tells Marty and Jennifer that the future isn't written, that it's whatever you want it to be? Well so is your metabolism! Oh and this goes for you unhealthy people as well. I have taken a dead, no good for nothing metabolism and turned it into what you thought would be an ectomporph AND without the aid of
drugs. It takes patience, time, smart training, and most importantly lots of eating, but it can happen. So remember that metabolism is just a starting off point for negotiations.
Now the full proof/idiot proof plan on figuring out your activity level. You ready?
Eat until you gain
fat performing roughly the same daily activity day in and out or as you would during a normal week, not altering anything. Keep the training at minimum. I personally recommend only light walking and light resistance work a few times a week.
I know what you are thinking, that I am nuts. Yeah well just wait, all will show itself and also remember that I said FULL PROOF, this can't fail, period.
The trick is to do it slowly. Slowly raise your
calories, 50 here, 100 there until you are maintaining your weight for at least 3-4 weeks. This could take a month or even two depending on how long you have been
dieting. If you are an extreme case possibly more. If you start to gain really fast then add for a week, stay for a week, add/stay, repeat. Account for obvious fluctuations and don't stop until you are one hundred percent sure that where you are at is maintenance. You aren't losing and you aren't gaining really, it could lean one way or the other by a small amount but basically you are at a stand still.
Now let's say your stand still in weight is 2000
calories daily and your BMR calculation is 1450
calories. Then the activity level you are at is roughly 1.4.
1450 x 1.4 = 2030.
This means that with whatever daily activity you have been performing has an overall average of roughly 550
calories burned. Congratulations! You just solved a really big puzzle, no seriously you just solved your
fat loss problems. Here comes the beauty part!
From this point on your have a much better handle on your activity level and how your calorie in and calorie out works. All you have to do now is subtract a few
calories and add some activity and bam! you are going to start to lose
fat. If you stop losing
fat either calculate where you should be again based on your weight, especially if you are losing a large amount of
fat or re-feed and give your
body a break for a bit and start back over. If you ever really get stuck build back up to maintenance all over again and restart. If your maintenance is lower than it was before you should keep feeding and slowly upping food until its back to where it was.
See this is what usually happens.
You know 2000 is your maintenance now.
You take and raise activity level by 1.5, now making your daily burn roughly 2175
calories a day. You start taking in 1400
calories a day giving you a negative 775. How long do you think your
body is going to stand for this? Not long. It will make you lower your daily activity (making you sit more, laze about, etc even if you are training you CAN sit more still than before, you can become more lazy in other areas!). It will also slow your metabolic rate,
body desires, etc. Now that BMR is 1250 (yes it can drop that low) and your activity level is 1.4 again (even though you still think its 1.5) and now look at this...
1250 x 1.4 = 1750
And...being at 1400 has caused a few cheats here and there but not quite enough to make your hormones happy so somedays you are negative 300, some days negative 0. You throw in a 2000 re-feed day thinking you are doing good, but one day doesn't cut it and now 2000 is a surplus, oh crap before you know it, STUCK AGAIN and blaming your thyroid when really its you, your stubborn need to drain and train your
body, not judging your activity level and underfeeding!
*Breathes*
So see folks, me telling you to POSSIBLY gain 1-3lbs of
fat to make sure you never find yourself in the above place again...not so crazy anymore is it? If you have been spending a long time stuck, if you are constantly bouncing back and forth never really landing on the right side of where you need to be you may want to think twice.
You could spend years and cause a lot of injury doing it your stubborn way of burning out OR you can use the full proof plan and just know.
