Do You Have to Cut Calories to Lose Weight?

It’s true.  You do have to reduce the number of calories you consume to lose weight. It doesn’t make sense that you can consume a surplus of energy and not gain some weight.

Reducing calories doesn’t have to be torture. It doesn’t have to mean doom and gloom for your social plans.  It just means you should be a little smarter about how you go about it. You need to learn about your body type, your nutrition, and your exercise regime.  Getting these three things in line will help you lose weight.

First, losing weight depends on your body type.  You’re body is unique to you.  It’s imperative you learn how your body works.  Let’s start by using a guideline for your body type.  There are three basic body types: Ectomorph, Mesomorph, and Endomorph.

Ectomorph. An ectomorph tends to be thin and has a hard time gaining either fat or muscle. They tend to be long and lean people.  An ectomorph can eat huge quantities of food and not gain much weight.

Mesomorph. Mesomorphs are usually muscular with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. They have a natural tendency to be fit.  They can’t eat anything they want however.  They can gain fat.  They just tend to burn energy more readily.

Endomorph. Endomorphs tend to have a wide build with shorter limbs and wider hips. They have more muscle but tend to have more fat as well. They typically gain fat weight very easily.

The body types can be combined to find a type that fits you.  There are endomesomorphs and ectomesomorphs, for example.

If you are more endomorphic, you already know you gain fat weight easily.  If you are more mesomorphic you know you can lose weight more easily.

Determine your body type so you know what you’re facing.

Next, look at the type of foods you like to eat daily.  Do you tend to eat fatty foods? Are you a regular user of butter, oils, and dressings?  Or, do you have a sweet tooth?  Do you like desserts and sweet snacks between meals?

Sugary foods can greatly contribute to a weight problem if you’re not careful.  Desserts, candy, ice cream and other sugar-filled foods can add a tremendous number of calories to your daily intake.  And worse, these foods aren’t providing any nutritional value in the form of vitamins and minerals.

If you like fatty foods like potato chips, muffins, and pot pies, you’re adding a lot more calories to your diet. A gram of protein or carbohydrate has 4 calories.  A gram of fat has 9 calories.

Write down what you eat daily for one week.  Review the foods you choose.  Are they high in fat and processed sugar?  Target some of these foods and replace them with better alternatives.  Choose fruits and vegetables to replace fats and sugars.  It’s quite easy to do.  Don’t grab the chips and grab a carrot.  Not a hard thing to do unless you think you can’t.

Lastly, take a good look at your activity.  How active are you?  Are you making it to the gym 3 to 4 days a week?  Are you walking regularly?

You need to be active to lose weight.  Activity not only burns more calories, it maintains a solid metabolism so your body is burning energy all the time. You don’t have to kill yourself in the gym but guidelines say you do need to be active three to five days a week.

Just like you write down your food intake, write down your activity each day.  Review it after a week.  How active are you?  Where can you do more?

If you learn more about your body type, eat better foods and get more exercise, you’re going to burn more calories and lose more weight.  Keep reducing your food intake and upping your activity and you will feel your body losing weight.

It’s a SHIFT, but it’s certainly worth it.