Weight by Numbers or How to Tip the Bathroom Scale in Your Favor

If you are struggling to lose weight, join the crowd, you are not alone. Of all the complaints I hear in my practice, frustration about how to lose weight is absolutely at the top of the list.

Many of my patients believe their metabolism or their thyroid is to blame. While possible, I rarely – in fact, almost never – find that this is the case. The reason people don’t lose weight is because they take in more calories than they burn up. It really is that simple.

Weight in the human body is determined by an irrevocable, non-negotiable equation:

Calories in: Calories out = Pounds gained or pounds lost.

If you take in more calories than you burn up – you will gain weight.
If you burn up more calories than you take in – you will lose weight.
If you take in the same number of calories that you burn up – your weight will not change.

Your body burns up calories in two ways:

1. Bodily Functions – like breathing, digesting, heart beating, etc. (this is called your Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR)
2. Physical Activity – the number of calories you burn depends on the type of exercise, the number of minutes you sustain it, and your level of exertion (this is also called your Physical Activity Level, PAL, or your Activity Factor.).

If you want to lose weight you must to know:

1. Calories Out: How many total calories a day do you burn up?
2. Calories In: How many calories do you take in?

Step One: Calculating Your Calories Out

First, find out your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). You can use this online calculator.

Write this number down. This is the number of calories you burn just by existing. This is your daily calorie need without any activity, it is what your body burns if you are still. It keeps your weight where it is right now. If you eat any more than this number of calories and you don’t exercise – you will gain weight.

Next, estimate your Physical Activity Level (PAL) and determine how many extra calories you burn up each day with activity.

Pick the category below that best describes your activity level most days:

• I am a couch potato, but ambulatory, I’m not bed-ridden or wheelchair bound: 1.2
• I am mildly active, but don’t exert myself (i.e. leisurely dog walking, standing a lot): 1.3
• I am moderately active, a regular exerciser, 3-4 days a week, 30 to 60 minutes per session: 1.6
• I am heavily active (daily exercise, minimum 5 hours or more per week, high exertion): 1.9

Tip: If you will always underestimate your activity level and overestimate the number of calories you consume – you will experience less frustration as you try to tip the scale.

Now, multiply your BMR X PAL. This is the total number of calories per day, including exercise, it takes to keep your weight the same.

Two Examples: A Man, A Woman & Four Scenario’s for Each

A 61 year old man, 6’1” tall, weight 242 lbs. His BMR is 2090. Multipying that times his PAL gives the total number of calories per day it takes to keep his weight the same.

1. He’s a couch potato (PAL 1.2): 2090 X 1.2 = 2508 calories/day.
2. He gets a little activity, but doesn’t exert himself (PAL 1.4): 2090 X 1.4 = 2926 calories/day.
3. He’s a regular exerciser (PAL 1.6): 2090 X 1.6 = 3344 calories/day.
4. He is very active, 5 hours or more exercise per week, high exertion (PAL 1.9): 2090 X 1.9 = 3971 calories/day. (Note: This is just an example to demonstrate the role physical activity plays in daily calorie needs – in real life, it’s not likely a man this size who is this active would weigh as much as 242 lbs.)

A 58 year old woman, 5’5’ tall, weighing 160 lbs. Using the online calculator her BMR is 1384. Multiplying that times her PAL gives the total number of calories per day it takes to keep her weight the same.

1. She’s a couch potato (PAL 1.2): 1384 X 1.2 = 1661 calories/day.
2. She gets a little activity, but doesn’t exert herself (PAL 1.4): 1384 X 1.4 = 1938 calories/day.
3. She’s a regular exerciser (PAL 1.6): 1384 X 1.6 = 2214 calories/day.
4. She is very active, 5 hours or more exercise per week, high exertion (PAL 1.9): 1384 X 1.9 = 2630 calories/day. (Again, not likely a woman this size and this active would weigh as much as 160 lbs.)

Step Two: Counting Your Calories In

The only way I know to determine how many calories you take in each day is to keep a strict food diary to measure your portion sizes and count the calories of every single thing you eat and drink.

Tip: Under-reporting one’s actual food intake is the biggest downfall to successful weight loss. Restaurant food has more calories than you would ever imagine and it may be hard for you to get accurate counts on meals you eat out. So overestimate, overestimate, overestimate!

Benefits of the Food Diary

• What you will learn by keeping a detailed food diary for 2 to 4 weeks will stay with you forever. (Tip: Don’t change anything in your regular diet for the first few days to a week so you can get an accurate calorie count of what you actually eat and drink most days without restricting or editing your food intake.)
• Just the process of writing everything down will tend to “down-regulate” how much you eat just because you are counting. (That’s why I go back to keeping one for a few weeks every year – usually after holidays and vacations when I’ve over-indulged and want to drop the few extra pounds I’ve gained.)
• A food diary can count anything you want – carbs, sodium, fat grams, potassium, fiber, etc. You can record the times you eat, feelings that prompt you to eat, what makes you overeat, and anything else you want to observe – but the critical thing we want to find out in this exercise is how many calories a day you consume!

Supplies You Will Need

• Somewhere to record your calorie counts – a notebook, spreadsheet, or online program.
• A food scale and a measuring cup.
• A calculator.
• A food calorie guide (either a book or an online resource).

Online Food Diary/Calorie Counting Resources

Calorie Checkbook
Calorie King.com
Fit Day.com
My Food Diary.com
USDA Nutrient Database

Step Three: Tips for Tipping the Scale

Adjust your calorie intake to lose, gain or keep your weight the same depending on which way you want to tip the bathroom scale.

To lose one pound a week you must take in 3500 calories less than you burn up. You can do this if you:

• Reduce your calorie intake by 500 calories each day of the week. (500 calories X 7 days = 3500 calories).
• Increase your physical activity so that you burn up an additional 500 calories each day above what you are doing now without eating any more calories (500 calories X 7 days = 3500 calories).
  Here’s a link to a list of exercises and the calories each burns up.

Tip: The people who have the most success losing weight are those who employ both of the strategies above – calorie reduction AND increased physical activity.

5 Tips to Successfully Lose Weight

1. Everybody will have a different style in how they approach it, so go with whatever works for you.
2. Accuracy and completeness with your food diary is really the only way to find out how many calories you take in. Your measurements don’t need to be so precise that you could split an atom with them, but they do need to be accurate enough so as not to be bogus.
3. Beware of under-reporting what you eat – either by omitting foods or underestimating portion sizes! If you will be meticulous for a just few weeks, you will learn a lot about food and a lot about yourself.
4. Exercise is an inefficient way to burn calories. It takes a lot of exercise to burn even a small amount of food. For example, you have to walk one football field to burn up the calories in a single M&M. Avoid the , “I exercise so I can eat whatever I want” trap. That is where most people get tripped up and that is why accurate food recording is so important.
5. Your goal is find a comfortable and satisfying balance between calories in and calories out. That is what will finally give you control over the bathroom scale.

Losing weight is tough, but people do find ways to reach their goals. Do you have tips you can share about what works – or what doesn’t?

Also on the subject of food, see my post 10 Ways to Tell If You Are a Normal Eater

This information is offered for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, prescribe or treat. For that please seek direct care from a health professional.

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