Eat To Live

In the past 48 hours, I have lifted weights, done yoga, played in a full soccer match, played a walking round of golf, played volleyball, tennis, and pickleball, and today I’m going to the beach to run around more.

How much food do I need to eat to keep this up?

It’s not how many people trying to lose weight eat.

Some food for thought on how to eat to live - and not to die:

1. The Big Picture 🖼

2. Explain It To Me It Like I’m 5 🧒

3. My BMR 📈

4. Proper Caloric Framework 🥗

5. Parting Zen 🧘‍♂️

The Big Picture 🖼

If you have a digital body fat scale, it estimates your BMR.

BMR = Basal Metabolic Rate = the calories your vital organs need to function daily.

But that’s just your vital organ function and no other movement or activity included - as if you were sedentary, lying in bed all day.

That’s not living.

However, I know many people are walking around and eating their BMR as a total average number of calories per day.

How can that be?

I’ll explain below.

Explain It To Me Like I’m 5 👦

Today’s topic, as simply as possible:

“Food is energy for life.”

My BMR📈

Here you can see my average BMR is around 1440 calories:

But as I’ve written before, some days I eat 3,000 calories or more.

Proper Caloric Framework 🥗

Lots of women who are shorter and lighter than me have BMRs of about 1100.

When trying to ‘lose those last five pounds, ’ they often go around eating about 1,000 calories per day after having already been on a diet of some sort…

… and then they sometimes get into trouble.

They can’t lose the weight, they start to feel worse, low on energy, perhaps sick, perhaps they even gain weight.

This is because a medium or long-term caloric deficit of this type is not a weight-loss diet … it’s a starvation diet.

Your body doesn’t like starvation. It will fight against it.

The hypothetical person above probably has a caloric baseline closer to 2,200 calories per day, and a ‘safer’ caloric deficit amount of about 1,800 calories per day.

• Your caloric baseline is the average amount you need to eat daily to keep your body weight steady.

• A caloric surplus, maintained over time, will lead you to gain weight (or muscle, if it’s part of a muscle-building program.)

• A caloric deficit, safely done at about 10-20% below your baseline, will help you lose body fat (and some muscle, too) and can be done for a few weeks or months, but not forever.

It’s when you go too far outside of those guidelines for too long that trouble begins.

• Yes, you can fast for a day or two and not die.

• Yes, you can eat your BMR for a week (or even more) and not die.

• Yes, the amount you need to eat daily can vary and does not have to be exactly the same.

I’ve written a few other posts about calories.

If you’re still confused, click here to book a call with me, and I’ll help as best I can :)

Parting Zen 🧘‍♂️

A simple word, phrase, or thought to take with you:

Be well,

Coach Matt

PS: Here are some other newsletters I recommend:

PPS: My common-sense disclaimer …

The advice I offer is not medical advice. If you have any medical issues, please consult your doctor first. The advice I offer should be personalized to your needs. I can help you make those personalizations or refer you out. Reply to this email if you need help.