What is a calorie deficit?
To lose weight, your body needs to draw on its fat energy stores. You need to consume fewer calories in your food and drink than your body uses in the day for this to happen. This can be achieved by eating less calories, burning more calories through moving more, or a combination of both.
How is a calorie deficit calculated?
Everybody's energy requirements depend on your height, weight, gender, and how active you are. Using these personal details enables us to calculate how many calories we need to lose weight. One pound of fat tissue stores 3,500 calories. So, reducing your daily calorie intake by 500 calories a day equates to a deficit of 3,500 calories a week – enough to lose 1lb. Therefore, to lose up to 1.5lbs a week, your calorie deficit needs to be increased to 750 calories each day. If you are looking to lose up to 2lbs a week, a deficit of 1,000 calories per day is required.
Managing your expectations!
If you want to lose weight at a quicker rate, your deficit needs to be bigger, but if you're happy to take things gradually and lose a little less each week, you'll have more calories to play with. We advocate healthy and realistic weight loss, therefore we don’t recommend aiming to lose weight any faster than 2lbs per week. When we put too much pressure on ourselves or try to follow a weight loss plan that doesn't fit in with real life then achieving weight loss success becomes more difficult.
Weigh with Janet is an official brand ambassador for Nutracheck. Our approach is based on a healthy balanced calorie counting diet, were you decide the food choices you make.
There is no need to cut out certain foods, drinks or food groups and we try not to label foods as good or bad. Yes, we know that there are some foods or drinks that we should consume less of and others we should increase when trying to eat healthier and lose weight.
We believe that all foods can be factored in, ensuring that your weight loss journey will be liveable, enjoyable and ultimately successful.
Keeping in control of our calories and being accountable for the choices we make is crucial for success. Calorie counting tools such as the Nutracheck App allows us to make informed choices and stay on track! We talk about food a lot in our meetings, so there will always be new discoveries for you to try when exploring calories to fit in with your daily allowance.
A healthy balanced diet is essential not only for weight loss and weight maintenance but also for our general health and wellbeing. Some of us have more personal nutritional preferences and needs than others and this allows you to eat well for you! This means if you are watching your sugar intake or trying to increase your protein or fibre, you can keep check of your nutritional requirements.
A great way of simplifying calorie counting in our busy day to day routines is to use an app. For example, the Nutracheck App will give you access to the nutritional information for over 430,00 products just by scanning the barcode. The barcode scanner is easy to use and is regularly updated , you can even save your favourites! You will hear our members discussing their latest finds in our meeting discussions, so there is always new inspiration for the week ahead.
You may have noticed that calories can now be found on many menus. However, if you have the Nutracheck App you will find all your favourite high street brands and eating out places at your finger tips when out and about. From sandwich and coffee shops, fast food outlets, restaurants and takeaways, you'll find all the information you need! There is nothing better than hearing members share their success whilst still eating out and enjoying their social life.
You will find hundreds of recipes to inspire you, many of which have been calorie counted for you. Variety is important when trying to lose weight, so there is no need to get bored with the same food choices. We are always sharing new recipe ideas in meetings and love it when members showcase their culinary skills on our social media too. So whether you are a beginner in the kitchen or class yourself as a bit of a master chef, there will be something for everyone.
Our members have varied levels of fitness, and we take this into account when discussing activity and moving more. When it comes to activity, we encourage everyone to move more but mindful of your limitations and preferences. You can discover fitness and activity motivation to suit you and you can even connect fitness trackers (if you use one) to your calorie counting app to support you on your weight loss journey.
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