How to lose weight fast

Losing weight and burning fat can be as simple as eating fewer calories than your body burns in a normal state. Yes, it’s that simple, but not always easy.

There are 4 different categories that make up every human’s daily energy requirement which is a fancy way of saying the number of calories each person needs on a daily basis to survive.

· BMR- how much energy is needed during a rested state like sleeping

· NEAT- energy used during non-exercise related activities like walking the dog or taking the stairs to work

· EAT- energy used during strictly exercise related activities like weightlifting, doing a CrossFit class, or going for a run

· TEF- energy used to breakdown the food that you eat

I’ll do a different article on how to calculate each of these categories but for the simplest example of calories in vs out, let’s take a 30-year-old male that is 6’3, weighs 200 lbs. and does CrossFit 3 times a week:

· BMR- 1,953 calories/day

· NEAT and TEF- 390 calories/day

· EAT- 684 calories/workout

The total calories needed for this person to maintain their weight would be roughly 3,027 per day. If this person wanted to lose weight, burn fat, and get in better shape, all they would need to do is eat less than 3,027 calories each day which is called a calorie deficit. Depending on the rate at which this person wanted to lose the weight would dictate how drastic their caloric deficit should be.

Obviously every person is different, but based on the example of the male above, the safest and most sustainable strategy to losing weight and keeping it off is to aim at losing roughly 1 lbs. per week which would equate to a calorie deficit of about 300-500 calories/day.

There are no quick fixes or magic pills that will help you lose weight and keep the weight off. The absolute best way to lose weight is to take in fewer calories than you burn every day. You can accomplish this but eating less, eating the same and working out more, or a combination of both. It’s just that simple. Simple, but not always easy.