Welcome back #fitfam! We are in the early stages of summer and this is the perfect time to make tweaks to our exercise regimens, diets, and to calibrate our focus based on life change such as kids being home from school and even changes to our commute to and from work. The smallest changes can make a world of difference and today we will explore the impact of calories on weight maintenance to include losses, gains, and leveling. We’ll use our time this week to explore how to burn calories effectively and use a surplus or deficit to your advantage.

Let’s get started with how calories impact your diet. The first place to start is with your smart watch or fitness tracker and begin to understand that the numbers on your tracker are not an exact measurement of how many steps or calories you have actually burned in a given day. This information is always considered more of a ballpark figure due to factors such as the distance of your steps, for example 2 feet between steps versus 2.5 feet between steps. The numbers you see will often reflect a general range of activity in a day and can assist you in setting an average. The step range will then estimate the calories burned strictly based on those steps. Here’s the rub, you will literally burn calories doing anything including brushing your teeth, washing your face, or even laughing. Which brings us to total calories burned and how that number impacts your waistline.

In an average day of moderate activity, an adult male or female can burn anywhere from 1600-2000 calories without actually working out. If you were to add around 300-500 calories burned during a focused workout, then you could elevate that total to 1900-2500 calories in a day. Based on your goal, weight gain or weight loss, the amount of calories you consume will place you into a surplus or deficit. During my training program, to get into the proper weight class for competitive boxing, I needed to work into a deficit. What I already knew is that I burned 2700 calories per day at a minimum, so I understood that if I consumed 2000 calories or less per day, I could safely lose weight while consuming the necessary amount of food that I could convert to energy and not burn out. 

Once I reached my weight goal, I needed to adjust to maintain my weight or gain as little as possible before cutting to the exact weight at my weigh-in. It was as simple as adding around 200-300 calories per day while also lifting more light weights to maintain my strength while not get bigger.

My advice to my readers is to decide what your goal is and be prepared to tweak and the process along the way!

Health & Wellness: Week 1

Health & Wellness: Exercise Staples For A Fit Bod

Health & Wellness: How to Reward Yourself While Maintaining Fitness Focus

If you are interested in following along with my journey or contacting my company, I can be found on social media platforms:

Website – Total Camo Fitness

Facebook – Total Camo Fitness

YouTube – Total Camo Fitness