Calories per week and LISS

calories per week

Let’s face it, we could all use a little self-improvement. When you commit to improving and working on yourself, you are making a decision to be proud of. One of the best ways to improve yourself is to limit the amount of calories that you consume on a weekly basis. If you want to go the extra mile, exercising regularly is extremely beneficial to your health.

What Is a Caloric Deficit and Why Should You Want One?

One of the most efficient ways to lose weight is to sustain a calorie deficit of 3,500-7000 calories per week. When you commit to a weekly caloric deficit of this size you should lose 1-2 pounds of fat each and every week.

Think 1lb of fat=3500 calories

 When determining how many calories you should consume per week you’ll need to calculate your BMR. Here is a simple formula for calculating your BMR.

Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age in years)

Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) - (6.8 x age in years)

Once you have your BMR take that number and use it to figure out an appropriate number of calories to consume per week.

As a general rule if you want to lose at least one pound per week you should aim to consume no more than 1500 calories a day which would come out to 10,500 calories per week.

What Is LISS Cardio?

LISS cardio is an abbreviation for low-impact steady state cardio which refers to a form of cardiovascular exercise. While there are countless exercise related abbreviations out there LISS cardio is one of the ones that you should really care about and pay attention to. That’s because LISS cardio is one of the most helpful and effective forms of exercise when it comes to losing weight. 

It’s also a lot easier to commit to because it is not particularly tiring or taxing on the body it also does not trigger a hunger response. This form of exercise has been around for years and is known by several different names. 

●      steady-state training (SST)

●      low-intensity exercise

●      long slow distance (LSD) training

●      continuous cardiovascular exercise

Knowing these names will help you avoid losing precious time reading up on what appear to be different exercise techniques when they are in fact very much the same.

LISS including all of the other various names associated with it involve a series of low-impact aerobics. This form of exercise contrasts very sharply with HIIT, which is a much more intensive exercise regimen. 

Unless you are an athlete or someone who is extremely serious about fitness, HIIT can be advantageous. For most people however, LISS is a more comfortable option that can be used to achieve similar results with comparably less effort.

What Are the Advantages of LISS?

There are many advantages associated with LISS cardio, especially in terms of weight loss. People practicing LISS cardio will have improved brain function, optimized blood flow, and will burn through fat at a much faster rate.

LISS cardio typically consists of 45 minute to hour-long sessions. On the other hand, HIIT sessions are generally much shorter, but markedly more intense.

Burning Calories to Lose Weight

Calories are units of energy that must be burned up or otherwise lost in order to lose weight. When you have an excess of calories you will gain weight. When you have a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. 

One of the things that you should know about calories is the concept of TDEE which stands for total daily energy expenditure. Having a relatively high TDEE means that you will lose weight. The key to weight loss and fitness more generally is to burn more calories than you take in. By burning more calories than you take in on a weekly basis, you will become fit and thin. 

Excess calories are stored in your body as fat. People gain weight by maintaining an excessive amount of calories and consuming more calories than what is necessary to sustain their current weight. 

The fewer calories you consume, the less weight you will gain. By maintaining a caloric deficit each week, you will lose weight at a fairly predictable rate.

How to Maintain a Caloric Deficit

If you want to maintain a weekly caloric deficit, you will need to combine moderate exercise like LISS cardio with proper dieting. This combination is of utmost importance because one is not particularly useful or effective without the other.

If for example, you eat very little every week, you may lose a little weight over time over the course of many weeks but it will take a very long time and progress will be relatively slow. If on the other hand, you exercise regularly and eat heavily, you will have a higher chance of gaining weight than losing it. At best you may be able to keep weight gain at bay and maintain the same weight more or less, but losing weight will be nearly impossible unless you combine your exercise regimen with an effective diet. 

People who both diet and exercise regularly become fit and lose weight at a relatively rapid pace. It should be noted however that you do not have to perform particularly strenuous or intensive exercises in order to stay fit and lose weight.

LISS cardio is a perfectly sufficient form of exercise to use in combination with dieting to achieve a satisfactory rate of weight loss.

Feel Good About Yourself

After a few weeks of limiting your caloric intake and exercising regularly, you should feel good about yourself. Not only will you be feeling good about looking trimmer and slimmer, but you should also feel proud of yourself. 

Sustaining a caloric deficit of 3,500 a week while exercising takes a lot of dedication. Although feeling good about yourself is its own reward in a sense, you should also do something nice for yourself every few weeks to keep yourself motivated. Remember, there’s only one you, so be the best you that you can be and don’t be afraid to invest in yourself to make yourself happy.