Negative Calorie Balance and Starvation Mode
To lose weight, basically, you need to run a negative calorie balance
. What that means is this: every day, just by being alive, your body burns a certain number of calories. That number can fluctuate from person-to-person, based upon lifestyle, etc. (e.g. - a construction worker will have a higher "lifestyle" calorie burn than an office worker). Fitday (www.fitday.com) is a great, and free, program to help you determine what your "lifestyle" calorie burn is. Then, on top of that, you'd figure out what your approximate calorie burn is per workout, each day.
Share:Adding those together, you'd have a total calorie burn for the entire day. Then, you'd figure out what your calorie intake per day is (Fitday can also help you track that as well). After that, weight loss is just mathematics, really. Every time you reach a negative -3,500 calorie balance, basically, you lose one pound. I was surprised how accurate this formula was throughout my 90 days, many times to within a few tenths of a pound. Typically, I averaged about 2,400 calories per day during my ninety days, and burned approximately 3,800 per day, for an average, daily calorie balance of -1,400. When I multiply that by 90 days I get -126,000, and then when I divide that by -3,500 (to lose one pound) I get -36.0. I lost exactly 35.5 pounds in my 90 days, so you can see this formula is extremely accurate.
Many people who diet think losing weight is about eating less and less; I thought this for most of my life as well. In reality, these people are depriving themselves of nutrition that their body vitally needs. As a result, for self-preservation, their bodies go into "starvation mode" and actually hold onto all stored body fat as a means of survival - your body thinks it's being starved, so it won't give up body fat; this can go on for many weeks and when people don't see immediate results they eventually quit their diet and give up. In reality, the best way to lose body fat is to eat, eat, eat continually throughout the day in small, well-balanced meals. In doing this, your body will expect to be fed regularly, and will in turn be much more likely to burn stored body fat as energy. I ate a minimum of five meals per day, sometimes six, and aimed for between 400 - 600 calories and 40 - 60 grams of protein per meal.
More about the P90X.
Watch his amazing P90X Results.
Negative Calorie Balance and Starvation Mode
By: Joel Sydanmaa