How To Calculate Your Calories To Lose Weight & Eat In a Calorie Deficit
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I am a recovering sugar addict. I would eat sweets every day, never denying myself, for years. But even when I tried to make reductions, like -Okay, I am only going to have 3 cookies out of the box and that's it for today, - I would still end up eating the whole box and probably buying another box too and finishing that off as well. My craving for sweets only intensified after I ate a sweet, never becoming satisfied. It was like if your hunger only got worse after eating rather than the hunger subsiding. So this addiction really fueled my constant cycle of overeating sweet treats on a daily basis.
To me, you know you have a food addiction if you can't stop yourself from eating something even if you yourself want to stop. No matter how much you try to force yourself to cut back even a little, you can't seem to control yourself.
I kicked my sugar addiction by stopping eating added sugar and sweeteners entirely. I did not cheat at all, because I knew from experience that even having the tiniest bite of a sweet was enough to trigger my intense cravings and make me have to start the process all over again. So this time, I went entirely cold turkey with no cheating. It's the first time I had never done that in my life.
The first two months were absolutely miserable, really terrible withdrawal and overwhelmingly strong cravings. I used non-sweet foods to pacify myself when the cravings got unbearable. It's probably different for everyone, but the treats I used for me were bacon, peanuts, and Buble (unsweeted flavored carbonated water.
But after those awful first two months, I stopped craving sweets entirely and felt entirely normal again. No more withdrawal. And no longer having cravings for sweets has been a game changer. It's had a huge positive impact on my life. I have so far been sugar/sweetener-free for nearly 3 years. Now that I am not constantly battling an addiction, it is so much easier to manage my eating habits.
To be clear, I think most people do not need to go to the extremes I went to. Generally speaking, most people can -cheat- and eat a few sweets here and there without going overboard. They can have a few cookies and be satisfied.
But for those of you who are like me, who are dealing with food addiction, just want you to know that it doesn't have to control your life. It's ridiculously difficult to overcome, but if I can do it, so can you. You got this. -
(Also, to anyone wanting to try cutting sugar cold turkey, I definitely recommend starting at a time of year when there's not a lot of holidays. That's what messed me up the first time I tried it, lol)
Date: 2022-04-14
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Comments and reviews: 9
Rachel
I've watched probably hundreds of videos like this one, but I'm subbed and you're so pleasant and soothing, so I still clicked to watch even though I've been at this weightloss thing on and off since 2016. SO tell me why I've done the TDEE math once again and it's Finally clicked that the 30% deficit I've had success with in the past might be too agressive for the training I do now, and the reason I keep breaking down with seemingly no control over the amounts of food I eat over the weekends isn't because there's something wrong with me (although I guess you can never truly rule that out LOL. Just goes to show that you can know something in theory and still struggle to apply it in practice. Anyway, I'm done with sharing this epiphany. I guess I just wanted to say thank you for doing what you do!
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I've watched probably hundreds of videos like this one, but I'm subbed and you're so pleasant and soothing, so I still clicked to watch even though I've been at this weightloss thing on and off since 2016. SO tell me why I've done the TDEE math once again and it's Finally clicked that the 30% deficit I've had success with in the past might be too agressive for the training I do now, and the reason I keep breaking down with seemingly no control over the amounts of food I eat over the weekends isn't because there's something wrong with me (although I guess you can never truly rule that out LOL. Just goes to show that you can know something in theory and still struggle to apply it in practice. Anyway, I'm done with sharing this epiphany. I guess I just wanted to say thank you for doing what you do!
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tashateacup
Im doing the calorie tracking right now (only started 2 days ago) and I never used to pay attention to nutrition labels (australia) but it really suprised me how much excess calories are in all the snacks! So far what I have learnt is just eat more vegetables, fruit, lean meat, LESS snacks (if i can resist) or make them a healthy snack like hummus with carrots instead of a salted cracker. . I'm trying to have 1500 calories a day (500 below what is said for me to maintain my weight) so I can go from 70kg to 65kg-ish, I've just noticed I am alot 'flabbier' everywhere. So while I'm not going to get obsessed with the tracking, like you said to not to! I do want to try consume smaller portions, without the exercise so much.
reply
Im doing the calorie tracking right now (only started 2 days ago) and I never used to pay attention to nutrition labels (australia) but it really suprised me how much excess calories are in all the snacks! So far what I have learnt is just eat more vegetables, fruit, lean meat, LESS snacks (if i can resist) or make them a healthy snack like hummus with carrots instead of a salted cracker. . I'm trying to have 1500 calories a day (500 below what is said for me to maintain my weight) so I can go from 70kg to 65kg-ish, I've just noticed I am alot 'flabbier' everywhere. So while I'm not going to get obsessed with the tracking, like you said to not to! I do want to try consume smaller portions, without the exercise so much.
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InFlamE
I am always suprised that people know that calorie deficit works and you can do it in such a way that it does not impede on your life (aka 15-20%), yet people either skip it completely or go for these extreme varients because they show short term results, such as fasting or 1200< calorie deficit. And like Lucy said in the video its not substainable at all. I have a friend who been battling obesity for years, he has PT friends who keep telling him what to do, but he makes excuses that - As long as I am working out, I can have a chocolate here and an energy drink there-. It never works out. Ever.
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I am always suprised that people know that calorie deficit works and you can do it in such a way that it does not impede on your life (aka 15-20%), yet people either skip it completely or go for these extreme varients because they show short term results, such as fasting or 1200< calorie deficit. And like Lucy said in the video its not substainable at all. I have a friend who been battling obesity for years, he has PT friends who keep telling him what to do, but he makes excuses that - As long as I am working out, I can have a chocolate here and an energy drink there-. It never works out. Ever.
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AA
Petite ladies - don't use online TDEE calculators! They often use a basic equation which, when you lower the height, you end up with quite a low amount e. g. 1200-1400 calories. The NHS say that 1400 is the lowest you should go and below 1200 calories your body is in starvation mode.
I ate around this range for a long time and it's miserable, unhealthy and unsustainable.
Look up April Whitney/Smalletics, she has a great video on TDEE/calories for petite women and advises to track how much you are currently eating for a few days and then drop your calories accordingly so you don't undereat.
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Petite ladies - don't use online TDEE calculators! They often use a basic equation which, when you lower the height, you end up with quite a low amount e. g. 1200-1400 calories. The NHS say that 1400 is the lowest you should go and below 1200 calories your body is in starvation mode.
I ate around this range for a long time and it's miserable, unhealthy and unsustainable.
Look up April Whitney/Smalletics, she has a great video on TDEE/calories for petite women and advises to track how much you are currently eating for a few days and then drop your calories accordingly so you don't undereat.
reply
Lena
I-ve been using calorie counting for about 3 months now and I can tell everyone that it does work! I-ve already lost 9kg! Yes I did start to exercise more too, 3 runs a week to follow a start to run program. Now that I can run 30 minutes straight (around 4, 5km) I have toned the exercising down to 2 runs a week as this fits my lifestyle more. I really recommend calorie counting to everyone who wants to lose, maintain or gain weight!
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I-ve been using calorie counting for about 3 months now and I can tell everyone that it does work! I-ve already lost 9kg! Yes I did start to exercise more too, 3 runs a week to follow a start to run program. Now that I can run 30 minutes straight (around 4, 5km) I have toned the exercising down to 2 runs a week as this fits my lifestyle more. I really recommend calorie counting to everyone who wants to lose, maintain or gain weight!
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Ashley
What if the online calculators tell you to eat less than 1, 200 calories? I have an injury that prevents me from moving much or working out, and all the calculators suggest about 1, 100 calories a day to lose weight. But at the same time I feel like this might be too low a calorie count in order to safely lose weight, and I want to avoid going into -starvation mode-. How do I reconcile this?
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What if the online calculators tell you to eat less than 1, 200 calories? I have an injury that prevents me from moving much or working out, and all the calculators suggest about 1, 100 calories a day to lose weight. But at the same time I feel like this might be too low a calorie count in order to safely lose weight, and I want to avoid going into -starvation mode-. How do I reconcile this?
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Diane
Great video. I was doing really well but I gained some weight (The good life. I-m in a new relationship and we-ve been eating a bit more and drinking quite some wine which I normally don-t --) Want to get back on it.
So back to tracking calories ( that works really well for me. I don-t feel restricted at all ) and intermittent fasting also works really really for me.
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Great video. I was doing really well but I gained some weight (The good life. I-m in a new relationship and we-ve been eating a bit more and drinking quite some wine which I normally don-t --) Want to get back on it.
So back to tracking calories ( that works really well for me. I don-t feel restricted at all ) and intermittent fasting also works really really for me.
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Joelma
Hi Lucy, thank you for your new video! It is really good! How can I calculate the ideal amount of each macro for me? What would be the ideal percentage of each macro for weight loss. I am 40 years old and I am finding very difficult to lose weight lately. Can you indicate what would be a good ratio for my personal need? Thank you very much.
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Hi Lucy, thank you for your new video! It is really good! How can I calculate the ideal amount of each macro for me? What would be the ideal percentage of each macro for weight loss. I am 40 years old and I am finding very difficult to lose weight lately. Can you indicate what would be a good ratio for my personal need? Thank you very much.
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Akshat
Visit website called -Agoge Diet- and get complete guide for your transformation. I got personalized meal plan for 28 days which contains ONLY food that I have chosen. They provided me with complete DIET PLAN for 30 days with TRAINING PLAN included and I finally started seeing results.
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Visit website called -Agoge Diet- and get complete guide for your transformation. I got personalized meal plan for 28 days which contains ONLY food that I have chosen. They provided me with complete DIET PLAN for 30 days with TRAINING PLAN included and I finally started seeing results.
reply
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