Counting calories weekly and cheat day math

Counting calories. It’s one of those things no one wants to do but once you get going it’s not too bad. Like Laundry or vacuum cleaning. Those things aren’t that bad right?

The good news is, it’s not that difficult with some of these tips in mind. i will do my best to simplify and concisify the complex and ONLY proven method to actually lose weight.

Calories in calories out.

if you eat 10,000 calories and burn 10,000 calories, you will maintain your current weight right? Kind of. There is a lot of science behind NEAT (Non exercise activity thermogenesis) and the TEF (thermic effects of food) and the etc etc. But for the sake of simplification, let’s just say, net zero calories means net zero weight gain/loss.

Using that logic, in order to lose 1lb of fat (yes, you ONLY want to lose fat), you would need to be at a caloric deficit of …. 3500 calories. To do that in a day and NOT burn muscle is very difficult. So let’s look at it from a weekly lens. There are 7 days in a week. So a caloric deficit of 500/day will yield 3500 calories/week. Not enough to get you excited? Think in 10 weeks, you can lose this much fat off your body!

That is definitely enough to get me excited. If you’re at a caloric deficit of twice that amount, you can take that off in 5 weeks!!! Pretty incredible.

Now, fat mobilization science says, you don’t lose it from one region, but everywhere in your body (starting with the visceral fat) so you may not see results right away. This tends to discourage a lot of people. You have to have some faith and give it at least one month.

Another thing that can mess you up is the infamous CHEAT DAY. If you work hard all week to be at a -3500 calorie deficit and you binge ALL out on Sunday, you can easily undo all the work from the entire week. More on that at the end

OKay, so now a little bit more math.

How many calories do you need?

YOUR WEIGHT x 14

So if you weigh 150 lbs, your maintenance calories would be 2100 calories. Which means, if you want to lose 1lb of fat a week, you need to eat 1600 calories per day. Seems pretty simple. Now here is the pro tip from someone who has been counting calories on and off forever. Flexibility is the key on a daily and weekly level.

Example weekly schedule

Monday

Excited, I keep it tight, 400 calories per meal, 4 meals spread out, Hit my goal for the day.

Net calories daily/weekly -500/-500

Tuesday

I start getting sweet cravings. It’s okay. i’ll skip lunch and have a bag of peanut mms (200calories) so I wont go crazy and binge. Hit my goal for the day

Net calories daily/weekly -500/-1000

Wednesday

I have have dinner plans to go to Chipotle with some buddies. its going to be difficult to eat 500 calories there, so I am going to “save up my calories”. Light lunch like a 400 calorie salad. Maybe a 200 calorie protein bar for a snack. I am able to eat 1000 calories at chipotle!

Net calories daily/weekly -500/-1500

Thursday

I have a massive craving. My housemate made fried chicken. Went off the deep end and consumed 3000 calories. OKay, DONT PANIC…. you are at a 1500 caloric deficit for the week. On a daily level, you are at a net positive of 900 since maintenance calories is 2100. Easy to fall off the track here. Let’s be mindful of that and take it logically step by step. Let’s try to off set some of those calories with some extra activity. I suggest walking. Super easy to do.
Here’s how to count it. 2000 steps = 1 mile= 100 calories (+/- 30 calories depending on body type)

We all have pedometers on our phone these days. Get 10,000 steps throughout the day for an additional -500 calories

Net calories daily/weekly +400/-1100

Friday

Eat 1500 calories, get 10,000 steps. We are back on track!

Net calories daily/weekly -1100/-2200

Saturday

Eat 1500 calories, get 10,000 steps.

Net calories daily/weekly -1100/-3300

Sunday

REFEED Day!!!!

Cheat day

Okay, it’s time to take this word out of your vocabulary. Let’s start calling it a maintenance or refeed day. You still need to count calories here. What you want to do is eat your maintenance calories or slight above. The reason for this is to keep your metabolism up and hot. It helps with sustainability of your new lifestyle. If you want to do a blow out day, you should squeeze extra two days before and two days. after. Flexibility is the key.

Some tips to help

-Don’t drink your calories. I like seltzer to offset this

-Add walking into your regimen to be able to eat extra calories

-Buy a measuring cup

-Google is your friend

-Buy a food scale

-Be flexible!