Weight Loss - Part 1: The Magic Number
- Chris Vacek
- Mar 24, 2020
- 8 min read
Updated: May 21, 2020
The truth is simple... All you need to know is your magic number.
I'm a big fan of data - always have been. And I'm a behaviorist, which means I think talk is cheap and actions matter more than words. Look to the data, that's my motto. I've been overweight almost all of my life, since I was eight years old. And I've tried virtually every diet on the planet. But it wasn't until the fall of 2017, at the age of 52, when I figured out the magic number for successful weight loss. Hint: It's NOT your target weight number.
Numbers matter. It sucks, but that's the truth of it. You see, it's not just about tracking what you eat, exercising, making good decisions....it's also about math, and a good deal of psychology. In this series of posts, I'll walk you through WHAT REALLY WORKS. You can finally ditch all the schlock diets, all the subscriptions to weight loss programs, the cards, the goofy eating routines, the chemistry kits, and all the other fad diet sell-ups everyone else is making money on.
RELAX. This is actually going to work, and I promise you, I'm not full of B.S. There is a successful way to steadily, and consistently lose weight. But first, let's talk about getting prepared for the journey.
First of all, I really recommend you think of it as a journey, not as a way to get from here to there. It's fine if you just have 10-15 pounds to lose and you want to fit into your skinny jeans again...but this is about healthy living, not just fitting into your jeans. It's about lifestyle change, and finally becoming healthy with longevity in mind. It's about the long run, not the short run. There is no actual "end" to this journey...you'll be on it for the rest of your life, hopefully. My aim here is to make that journey possible, to set it up, and to hand over the reins and let you run with it. I'm just looking to share what's worked for me, explain it, and let you decide if it's right for you. But trust me...if you're like me and have tried and tried and tried...and failed and failed and failed...you'll want to read on and listen up. I'm not selling anything, there's nothing to buy. This works. Every time. If you do it right.
You've heard the saying, "You can't lose weight without exercising"? Well, that's not entirely true. Actually you can, but it's kind of secret in the exercise industry, because it's their main selling point...."exercise to lose weight". Exercise DOES matter. The truth is, EXERCISE HELPS YOU MAINTAIN YOUR WEIGHT...and by doing so, it helps prevent you from gaining weight...so, technically, when you're losing weight, preventing weight gain simultaneously actually does help and aid you in losing weight. Plus exercise does actually burn calories, so it can lower your DAILY NET CALORIES. LOSING WEIGHT is therefore a function of calories. WEIGHT LOSS IS A FUNCTION OF CALORIES. More specifically, Weight Loss is a function of how many calories you consume and use (burn).
Yes, with dieting, this often means putting less food in your mouth...BUT NOT ALWAYS. It's also about which foods you put in your mouth, and how your body processes those foods. Everyone is different, and through the first couple of months on this journey you'll likely learn about which foods your body prefers, and which one's it really has issues with. For instance, I have discovered that some of my favorite foods, like Grains, Dairy, and Red Meat are actually things my body has a hard time digesting. How do I know? Well, they don't exactly pass through me quickly, they stop me up, or they make me crave more of the same...let's just leave it at that. You learn things about yourself on this journey. And that tells you it's working...it should be about discovery. All of our bodies are different....is it surprising, then, that our bodies process different foods differently? No, not really. I tend to think of this as confirmation that we're on the right track....
All this is to say, yes, dieting will mean adjusting what and how much you eat, and also when you eat....and yes, you will have to exercise, to condition your metabolism to play along, to help burn calories...you'll learn there are better ways to work out, when to work out, how to work out....it's likely not what you thought, what you've been told, or even what you personally believe. There is much to learn, but it's not complicated. The most difficult thing is actually getting up in the morning to do it. That's the hard part. The rest is relatively simple and straight forward. Trust me.
So buckle up, buttercup...let's get to the number that matters.
The magic number IS NOT your target weight loss number. Let's say you want to lose 30 pounds. You could kill yourself exercising, starve yourself, do that fad intermittent fasting thing that's all the rage right now, lose the weight, and then what...return to the way you used to eat and live? Getting to your desired weight feels good, but it lasts a short time only, usually. Soon you pack on the pounds again, one by one, because you fall into your old eating habits. I've tried that. It doesn't work. I'm guessing if you're reading this you've tried it, too,...and failed.
Nope. The magic number has a name. It is called your RMR. Or more specifically, your Resting Metabolic Rate. Simply put, this number is the amount of calories you burn sitting on your ass all day on the couch watching television, doing absolutely nothing, just existing. It varies greatly between men and women (it's higher for men, and lower for women - i.e. between groups), and it varies from individual to individual (i.e. within groups). So why is the RMR so important? Why is it the magic number?
Let me explain. This is how it all works. One pound is equal to 3000 calories. That's a constant. That's a fact. That never changes. So if you eat 3000 calories less than the week before, even if you don't exercise, you'll lose a pound. That's the math. It's THAT simple. Your RMR is your "baseline" number from which you can do the math to plan your weight loss. So, for instance...If my RMR is 2500 calories per day, and I only eat 1500 calories per day, then I eat 7000 calories less per week, and I'll lose 2 and 1/3 pounds per week. If my RMR is 1700 calories per day, and I only eat 1200 calories per day, then I will eat 3500 calories less per week, and I'll lose a little over one pound per week. Get it? It's that simple. So knowing your RMR is the first step in successful dieting...because it gives you your baseline, the number you need to work from to make your weight loss successful...to turn weight loss into a PLAN. You can see how this works out in the long run, right? Eating just 500 calories less per day means you lose a pound per week, or 52 pounds per year...regardless of exercise. But you can increase those numbers, and increase your metabolism and your daily RMR, if you add exercise to your routine.
So, to summarize, weight loss is actually a function of the amount of calories you consume and burn (also known as your DAILY NET CALORIES), and your relative RMR. If your DAILY NET CALORIES are less than your RMR, then you will lose weight. That's how it works.
So how do you figure out your RMR? Well, there's a lot of online information available. There are even online calculators, but they're very crude, and not necessarily very accurate. I don't actually endorse any of these, but they're not so bad as an introduction, and in the absence of hiring a dietitian or nutritionist who can measure your RMR much more accurately.
Try one of these:
Compared to a nutritionist's measurements, online RMR calculators tend to score you much lower than your actual RMR (up to 300 calories lower than actual). That's actually a pretty big variance when you're trying to lose weight and counting calories. The good news about this scoring error is that it usually errs on the side of being conservative. BUT - my advice is to find a licensed dietician in your area who has the equipment to measure more precisely your individual RMR. Relax, it's not painful or stressful...it involves breathing into a little gizmo for eight minutes and then it just comes up with a number on a readout....totally easy and painless. BUT ITS THE SINGLE MOST VALUABLE PIECE OF INFORMATION TO STAY HEALTHY. Your RMR is, simply put, the MAGIC NUMBER. Do this first, and do it right...you'll thank me later.
That's it for the math (other than counting and adding calories). This is where the psychology comes in. You ever start a new project, fail almost immediately, and then say, "Screw this," and chuck it all in the corner? Yeah, that's because failure isn't particularly rewarding. It turns out we learn more by being successful at what we do. Lots of people like to insist that failure is important, that's it's our most valuable teacher, that we need it to learn. Don't you believe that, not even for an instant. Centuries of science, and thousands of years of human survival, say otherwise.
We learn more from our successes than from our failures. Why? Because success leads to the increased likelihood of repeating the same behavior....repeating the same behavior leads to competence....repeating competent behavior leads to mastery....repeating mastered behavior leads to routine...and routine leads to habit, which frees up our bodies and minds to think about and do new and different things. It's how we've survived on this planet as a species. Habits keep us alive. So success....early on...is really important. EARLY SUCCESS LEADS TO LONG TERM SUCCESS. Doing this right, and seeing measurable results after your first week, will "reward" you (the psychological term is, "positively reinforce") for your behavior, which means you'll be more likely to engage in that behavior (in this case, "weight loss behavior") again. And that's the cycle we want to keep going for a successful weight loss program, right? Make sense? So, yeah, the psychology matters.
Let's recap:
LOSING WEIGHT IS A FUNCTION OF CALORIES AND YOUR RMR.
EXERCISE HELPS YOU MAINTAIN WEIGHT, NOT LOSE IT
PSYCHOLOGY MATTERS - EARLY SUCCESS FUELS LONG TERM SUCCESS
YOUR RESTING METABOLIC RATE DETERMINES YOUR WEIGHT LOSS PLAN
So, yeah. Really. It's that easy.
But you know what? Don't just believe me. Put this information to the test, and believe your own results. Let's make a deal.
Find a local nutritionist and get your RMR. Give me an honest week. I'm going to share with you a blank version of my own food log data sheet for you to download and customize and use - so you can easily track the amount of calories you eat per day. I'll also furnish you with a tutorial sheet on how to use it and fill out the various data sections. That's the easy part of the deal. The hard part is you have to actually print it out, and use it. Record everything and fill everything out. And then do it again. And again. Do it for a whole week, seven days. If at the end of the week you haven't lost some weight, chuck it all in a corner and call it a day. But if you do see progress...and you will, if you give me an honest week....then, do it again....and join me on this journey. Because you deserve to be healthy. You deserve to be well.
Remember....in life as in food...Flavor is Free!
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