Congratulations on acting on your health and taking a step to a healthy lifestyle. First of all, let me stress how important your diet is, it is just as, if not more important than your exercise, without an effective diet, you are going nowhere. Not to put you down, but 20kg is a long goal, it will take dedication, but the results will make you feel
great.
Secondly, start small, don't jump right in to heavy duty exercise and then convince yourself that you don't want to continue, ease yourself in.
Ok, we need to calculate your BMR, this tells us how many calories you need daily to keep you going, and we're going to take 500 away from this, because
you won't lose weight without being in caloric deficit.
SECTION ONE - CALORIES
The first step is establish how many calories you need to maintain your weight while resting. This is called your BMR. The following equations can be used to figure out your BMR:
“English BMR Formula”
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )
“Metric BMR Formula”
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in kilos ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) - ( 6.8 x age in years )
This is just a general estimation, some may be above or below this, but this is a good place to start.
Multiply this number by your activity level factor:
1.0 - Sedentary (doing nothing all day)
1.2 - Very light activity (Working a desk job or on a computer and not performing any type of physical activity during your day.)
1.4 - Light activity (having a non-physical job (desk, computer, etc.) but performing some sort of physical activity during the day (e.g. above average walking) but no hard training.)
1.6 - Moderate activity (having a non-physical job, performing some sort of physical activity during the day, and including a daily workout session in your routine. This is where most of you are at.)
1.8 - High activity (either training plus a physical job or non-physical job and twice-a-day training sessions)
2.0 - Extreme activity (a very physical job and daily hard training.)
Now you have your daily maintenance calories.
Now that you know how many calories it takes to maintain your weight - how many should you eat to achieve your goals?
Well, the general rule of thumb is +/- 500. Plus 500 to gain, minus 500 to lose. However, it can be a better idea to go by percentages, +/- 20% of your maintenance. Remember, if you’re trying to bulk and eat too much - you will gain fat instead of muscle. If you’re trying to lose fat and eat too little, your body will hold on to the fat you have for dear life. Moderation, dear readers, moderation.
Eat 5-6 small meals a day
This will:
A. Reduce total and LDL (bad) cholesterol and reduces resistance to insulin.
B. Give you a a lower energy (calorie) intake compared to those who eat irregularly – crucial if you’re looking to maintain or lose weight.
C. Keep your blood sugar levels stable. This will help prevent strong feelings of hunger.
These meals should contain
clean,
fresh and homemade.
Your diet is
VITAL, and is just as, if not
more important than the exercise you do. For more advice on nutrition and what to eat visit the Nutrition section of these forums, and LV's grocery list in particular. Your diet should be around 40% protein, 30% fats, 30% carbs. Your protein should be fresh, lean cuts, (steak and chicken breast), fats should be fish/olive oils and nuts, stay away from saturated fat, your carbs should be wholemeal and fibrous, (Quinoa (high in protein), wholemeal pasta/bread/brown rice etc.)
Exercise wise, you should be doing some type of cardiovascular training 3 times a week, (running/swimming/cycling), for at least 30 minutes at a time, and interchanging muscle groups with weight training twice a week.
Rest every Sunday, eat homemade, small, drink lots of water, and be determined. Good luck!
