First thing.. a big disclaimer: I am, in no shape or form, a dietician, exercise expert, fitness guru, licensed physical therapist, certified anything, or even a personal trainer. I do like to keep my own weight around 200 lbs and have managed to do so for the past 15 years. (I've been as big as 240 lbs, and as small as 160 lbs when I was in college) Everything I say here has been based on what I have learned through my own research (mostly ebooks and watching vids) or learned through many years of actual doing and endless trial and error.. basically it's what works for me and my body. I also try to explain things in a simple way, using some real-life examples. So, with that said, please join me as I talk about some basic nutrition and diet info..
Wikipedia says, “In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism.[1] The word diet often implies the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management reasons (with the two often being related). “ we'll use that definition. So, in simple stupid terms, a diet is whatever you eat. It often implies that there is a restriction of food eaten, or some limitations being enforced on what a person can or cannot eat, but at its base meaning, diet doesn't have to be considered such a torturous thing. All food has a calorie value to it.. or the amount of energy it gives after being consumed. (I found it interesting that the scientists and nutrition experts actually burn a little amount of every food in order to see how long it can burn, thus determining its 'calorie' or energy value)
Every person is different in the amount of calories he or she needs to function. (just to live, like for basic survival functions, not counting any physical activity they do also) This is know as their BMR, or Basal Metabolic Rate. There are many online calculators and other ways to determine one's BMR. The simple stupid method we will use here is just to take everything you eat and do, like a regular week's diet and activity, and then you either lose weight, gain weight, or stay exactly the same weight according to the scale. (I usually weigh myself on Fridays, after my workout, and then go pig out.. er, re-feed my body) So, to try and sum it all up for you and to keep it ultra stupid simple, we will remove BMR from the equation since that is always gonna remain the same pretty much. I did want to mention BMR cuz I think it's a pretty important thing to know. I like to think of it like this..
If your diet of X calories + activities (like exercise, sports, etc) is greater = weight gain
If your diet of X calories + activities is less = weight loss
*in my 16 years of continuously monitoring my weight, I have never remained the exact same weight, although theoretically, it is possible.. so I didn't even bother including it here.
This ends part 1 of 2. I'll post part 2 tomorrow..
