CHANGE #13
Aim for a 500-Calorie Deficit Every Day
SIMPLY PUT… I want you to either eat 500 calories fewer than usual each day or burn an extra 500 calories each day. You can also reach a happy medium by doing a combination of both—eating fewer calories and exercising—until you hit that 500-calorie deficit.
I know.
I know.
That sounds daunting, doesn’t it? Five hundred of anything sounds daunting. But 500 actual calories? Think about this though. If you can achieve a 500-calorie deficit every day for a week (either by eating 500 fewer calories a day, burning 500 more calories a day, or a combination of both), you’ll lose a pound. Yes, just one in a whole week, because as I told you in Change #3, one pound equals 3,500 calories.
Losing just a pound a week may not sound like much, but it gives you ammunition for those who insist on rushing the process. The next time someone tells you they’re going on some crazy diet to lose fifteen pounds for a wedding next week, explain the caloric math to them: To shave fifteen pounds in a week, they’ll have to burn 52,500 calories—fifty-two thousand!!! Then watch how quickly they readjust that number.
But here’s the good news: Because of the changes you’ve incorporated into your lifestyle since starting this plan, you’re probably already creating that 500-calorie deficit. That means that what seems like the hardest Change to make in this book may be the easiest one in the bunch.
According to experts, the best way to create that 500-calorie deficit is by doing a combination of cardiovascular exercise to burn calories, strength training to build lean muscle and boost your metabolism, and modifying your diet. You know, pretty much what you’re doing already, now that you’re twelve Changes into this program. In fact, just a few of the Changes that are helping you hit well over that 500-calorie mark right now include:
• Change #3 (Walking 10k steps a day): This alone can burn roughly 250 calories.
• Change #4 (No carbs after 6:00 p.m.): I can’t see what you’ve been eating, but it has to be fewer calories through smarter choices. I’ll be conservative and say you’re eating about 300 fewer calories every night.
• Change #6 (Redo how you chew): By chewing your food at least twenty times, you’re most likely doubling the number of chews you used to take before starting this program. If that’s the case, you’re eating (on average) 112 fewer calories per meal (or 15 percent less food) according to research published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.1
• Change #10: (Adding a 20-minute workout three times a week): Depending on how much you weigh, you’re burning anywhere from 150 to 250 additional calories each day you perform this high-intensity routine.
DON’T STOP THERE…
As a result of the Changes you’ve already mastered—and the Changes you’re about to experience—you’re going to continue to reach that 500-calorie deficit and lose weight as you build lean muscle. But eventually, depending on how much weight you have to lose, you may hit a point where your weight loss results may peak. That’s when making a few tweaks to either your exercise or eating plan can keep your weight loss efforts moving along.
If You Choose Exercise…
There are obviously certain activities that burn more calories than others—running, hill sprinting, swimming, stair climbing, strength training, cross-country skiing, and skipping rope. But when people ask me what is the “best” exercise they should do to burn calories, my answer is always the same: whatever you love to do. Because if you love doing it, you’ll keep doing it, and if you keep doing it, you’ll burn those calories right off.
So if you love to swim, swim. Love heading out on your bike? Then hop on a bike and go. Big fan of hitting a step class when the mood strikes? Then step away. How you choose to get your heart pumping is up to you, so long as it gets your heart rate up for the length of time you’re doing it (and occasionally mix it up).
No matter what you pick, here’s how many extra calories you’ll burn in just ten minutes (based on a 140-pound person):
• Aerobics, general: 63 calories
• Aerobics, high-impact: 74 calories
• Aerobics, low-impact: 53 calories
• Backpacking: 74 calories
• Basketball (just shooting baskets): 48 calories
• Bicycling at a light pace (10 to 11.9 mph): 64 calories
• Bicycling at a moderate pace (12 to 13.9 mph): 84 calories
• Bicycling at a vigorous pace (14 to 15.9 mph): 106 calories
• Dancing (general): 48 calories
• Running (5 mph, or a 12-minute mile): 84 calories
• Running (6 mph, or a 10-minute mile): 106 calories
• Running (7 mph, or a 8.5-minute mile): 121 calories
• Running (8 mph, or a 7.5-minute mile): 143 calories
• Running (9 mph, or a 6.5-minute mile): 159 calories
• Running up stairs: 159 calories
• Skipping rope (slow pace): 84 calories
• Skipping rope (moderate pace): 106 calories
• Skipping rope (rapid pace): 127 calories
• Swimming laps (light to moderate effort): 97 calories
• Swimming laps (fast to vigorous effort): 121 calories
If You Choose Diet…
Most of the day, we are creatures of habit. Even though you’ve been adjusting what, when, and how you eat through the Changes in this book, odds are, you’re probably still eating many of the foods you’ve always eaten.
Maybe it’s that large coffee and whole bagel you usually have for breakfast. Or that special sandwich you buy every Tuesday. Whatever it is, I won’t be asking you to count calories. Instead, I’m just going to suggest a few tricks that can help you dial them back even further. Stick with some of the following tips, and when combined with the calorie-reducing Changes you’re already making, I guarantee you’ll be secretly stripping calories from your diet and creating a 500-calorie deficit without making any major sacrifices—or needing to add them up.
Just a few subtle suggestions:
Eat one less bite at every meal. Many say you could save around 75 calories a day using this trick—so long as you don’t make up that missing bite by sneaking in an unscheduled snack later.
Chill, skim, reheat, then eat. You can reduce the fat from many foods (from anything fried to stews and soups) by not eating them on the same day that you cook them. Instead, let them cool in the fridge overnight after cooking them. The next day, just skim off the fat, heat the food back up, and the same meal now has fewer calories.
Make certain meals in reverse. Instead of topping your cereal or ice cream with a few berries or slices of fruit, put the fruit into your bowl first, and then add the rest. You’ll end up adding in more fruit and leaving less room for everything else.
Add some volume to your cheese. Instead of adding a slice of cheese to whatever you’re eating, shave or grate the cheese on top. When grated, it takes up roughly twice the volume, so you’ll end up eating half the amount without noticing the difference.
Put more thought into your toppings. Replace your butter, sour cream, or dressing with salsa, lemon juice, a fruit spread, low-fat or nonfat Greek yogurt, or just use half to one-fourth of what you normally use.
If it’s an effort to spread, skip it. If you can’t live without your butter or cream cheese, stick with whipped or softer versions rather than the solid or hard variety. Hard-packed butter can have 20-plus more calories per tablespoon (and hard-packed cream cheese has about 30 more calories per ounce).
Eat the same meats, but cook them differently. If a food you usually enjoy is something fried or sautéed, bake or broil it instead. If you usually eat something that’s baked or broiled, then try having it steamed or smoked.
Choose the next healthiest cut. For beef and pork, opt for less fatty cuts. Anything with the word rib in it (rib eye or prime rib, for example) is generally higher in fat. Instead, switch to a cut of meat that either ends in -loin (such as top loin, tenderloin, or sirloin) or has the word round in it (round steak, top or bottom round, for example).
The “So You Know” Science
The average person burns about 65 to 70 percent of their total daily calories to maintain their body’s essential life functions. In other words, your body actually blasts through two-thirds of the calories you eat each day just to keep you upright and alive. (It’s like getting 800 free points for simply writing your name down on the SAT test!!)
On top of that, your body spends another 10 percent of the calories you eat just consuming, digesting, and metabolizing your food (otherwise known as the “thermic effect of feeding”). So for every 100 calories you eat, your body has to spend about 10 calories just to process that food.
Surprisingly, your body uses only about 20 to 25 percent of the calories you eat to pull off physical activity (more if you’re extremely active, and much less if you’re sedentary). And even then, your body burns a few extra calories as a bonus after you’ve finished an activity and boosted its metabolism. For every 100 calories you burn doing something physical (exercise, sports, chores, etc.), your body burns an additional 15 calories (give or take) afterward.