Should you keep score ? & What should you keep score of ??
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There is an old business phrase,
” what gets measured, gets managed ”
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For decades now we have as an industry had limited success in controlling obesity, diabetes and helping people keep weight off once it has been lost !!
There are many factors to this and one of them is most certainly the act of keeping score and recording important metrics !!
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In studies on obesity we know that people who struggle with weight and report the inablity to lose weight underestimate the amounts of food / calories consumed daily,
on the flip side people underweight people overestimate the amount of calories consumed !!
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So to take our own bias out of the equation and how do we accurately measure calories ??
2 apps which are simple and easy to use
1. cronometer ( best one )
2. myfitnesspal ( super easy but allow 10% variance )
Both these apps allow you to simply enter what you have eaten / drank and it adds up total calories and macros so you get a score at the end of each day and you know if you are on track
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What are the key metrics to measure ?
1. calories
2. protein
we obvs need fibre and water and micronutrients and fats but for weight loss purposes the main 2 are total calories and protein as they are linked with both weight loss and the long term success of maintaining the weight loss.
Based on current evidence there is a guide of taking bodyweight in pounds and x 10 -12 for weight loss. If BMI is way over 30 it may even mean x 8-9 for weight loss.
Protein is interesting and there is a big variance in recommendations for daily consumption which can range from 0.7g per kg bodyweight to 2g per kg of bodyweight daily. As with any sprectrum like this for most it will fall in the middle and in my opinion 1.25g – 1.75g per kg bodyweight will work perfectly for most.
If someone is lifting weights heavily and even more than once per day moving to 1.8g -2g might work better.
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What else should i track if i want to ?
1. water
2. fibre
3. essential fats
We know having enough water daily can reduce appetite and snacking so having adequate intake is essential. 2 liters per day is a great starting point
Fibre intake can easily be met by having veggies with each meal and 1/2 servings of fruit per day.
Having a serving of oily fish / avocado / raw nuts per day can help meet these needs.
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Remember to keep score over the week !!
for example if you can have 2000 calories per day which is 14k per week
you may be over by 500 calories one day so simply reduce by 500 to 1500 another day to balance this out !!
This process of keeping score will help you remove the guesswork and help you with sustainable and healthy weight loss over the long term
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What about exercise ???
This should be factored in to help create your energy deficit for sure !!
Firstly look at how active you are every day outside of specified gym / exercise
Tracking steps is a really simple way of doing this, aim for over 10k steps per day as a great place to start.
Plan a week of exercise, weights, outdoor walking, yoga, spin class etc if you can do ideally 4 sessions per week of specified exercise as well as higher activity levels each day that will help massively in long term success