After I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app, I jumped right in! My calorie goal was 2,040 calories. When I first started this adventure, I understood that a person needed a certain number of calories a day. Thanks to nutrition labels and PSAs (that have both upsides and downsides), I knew men needed 2,500 calories per day whereas women needed 2,000. But that was pretty much all I knew and I suspect I’m not alone here.
And so, the number of calories I needed to lose weight was the same number the average woman needs to achieve weight equilibrium. I had been consuming thousands more calories in food than I needed. A pound is roughly equivalent to 3,500 calories. If you can cut 500 calories a day for a week, you can lose a pound a week. In my case, I was cutting 1,000 calories per day.
Like a foot is a measurement of length, a calorie is a measure of energy. One calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of water by one degree Celsius. Is that confusing? Yup! I find it helpful to think about calories to a body in the same fashion as I think about gallons of gas to a car.
A simple equation for this is:
Energy consumed – energy expended = energy balance
Furthering the car analogy, if I put too little gas in my car, I’ll run out before I reach my destination. Too much and I’ll have excess in my tank. In the body, this works out to weight loss and weight gain; therefore, practicing weight management is like practicing how much fuel you put into your car. Like cars, not all people are the same. Some are larger than others, some more efficient. These details matter to the individual but they do not change the basic equation.
I did not know any of this when I first started losing weight. Research over the last two years revealed this information to me in bits and pieces. Counting calories is like counting anything else. When you take medicine, you’re careful to take just the right amount. It follows that you should do the same with what you’re eating. And this is not just for weight management either. Knowing what and how much you’re eating helps you track the nutrients you’re taking in which may help reveal common issues such as too little iron or vitamin D.
For me, losing 2 pounds a week was a great goal. But losing 3 or 4 or even 5 seemed like a much better idea. I could get the extra weight off quicker, which would make physical activity easier. I started this process because I wanted to be happier and getting out there running, skating, hiking, and doing all the things I missed out on was the goal more so than the weight loss itself. To use a cliché, weight loss was a means to an end.
As it turns out, though, losing weight that quickly is dangerous. My lack of knowledge took another bite out of me and in my early weight loss days, I brushed up against compulsive exercise and anorexia, which I’ll discuss more in my next post.
A short but informative video detailing calories and how they work that I wish I had seen early in life: