I am losing Weight while doing insanity. But There is a Problem. Help!?

Don't worry, it's normal to weigh more after breakfast. Don't weigh yourself after eating anymore. Stick to weighing yourself once a week, same day, same time, before eating.

Why losing weight is so hard

and gaining weight is so easy

You just went away for the weekend and you came back to find that you

gained 5 pounds over the course of 3 days. In your disbelief, you

quickly curse the Weight Gods for being so cruel. Sound familiar? This

was me last weekend. A little jaunt to Montreal, eating at decadent

cafes, packed it on quick. This inspired me to discuss the seemingly

unbalanced equation of weight gain vs. weight loss, the facts that

surround the issue and how losing the 5 pounds feels so much harder

than gaining them:

FACT 1 - It is Simple Math: To maintain your ideal weight, you need

to eat as many calories as you burn in one day. The balanced equation

looks like this:

Calories Eaten = Basal Metabolic Rate + Physical Activity

If what you eat equals more than what your body uses, you will gain

weight. In the situation of a vacation, it is likely that you eat more

unhealthy food than normal and possibly get less exercise, resulting

in an imbalanced equation, with a higher number of calories on the

eaten side than on the burned side. That imbalance over the course of

a few days can easily represent a few pounds.

FACT 2 - A Pound is a Pound is a Pound: One pound of body mass

represents 3,500 calories. Regardless, if you are trying to lose a

pound or gain a pound, the pound will always represent 3,500 calories.

So, if you eat 3,500 calories more than your body requires, you will

gain 1 pound. Similarly, if you eat 3,500 calories less than your body

requires, you will lose 1 pound.

FACT 3 - Exercise is Weight Discriminating: Whether you are 120

pounds or 175 pounds, you will gain one pound from eating 3,500

calories more than you need. Unfortunately, this doesn't hold true for

burning calories. How much you weigh actually dictates how many

calories you burn per hour. The more you weigh, the more you burn, and

as a result, the easier it is to lose the pound...sound crazy? It is

true.

FACT 4 - Aging Contributes to Weight Gain: As if aging doesn't

contribute enough to unfavorable things, it also contributes to weight

gain. As we get older, our metabolism slows down, requiring us to need

less food and calories. If you don't modify your caloric intake as you

get older to reflect this change in metabolism, you will start to see

weight gain.

The Bad News: Unfortunately, eating an extra couple of unhealthy

snacks or drinking a few extra glasses of wine can happen in a blink

of an eye. However, the time and energy required to burn off those

calories takes a lot more effort. We have provided a chart on what

1,000 calories looks like on both sides in the chart below (remember,

it is 3,500 calories that make up a pound).

1000 calories consumed from food - 1000 calories burned through

exercise

2 servings of ice cream (8 oz each) - 2,5 hours of High Impact

Aerobics

8 glasses of wine (6 oz each) - 1,5 hors running at 7 mph

3 margaritas (6.6 oz each) - 4.5 hours walking at 4 mph

5 slices of domino pizza (12'' pizza) - 4 hours of Hatha Yoga

The Good News: Whether it is rapid or slow weight gain that you have

experienced, losing the extra weight can be tackled through two

avenues (and should be): calorie reduction and exercise . Choosing to

lose weight through both calorie reduction and exercise will

accelerate the process. If for seven days you burn 200 extra calories

through exercise and reduce your food intake by 300 calories each day,

you will lose that extra pound. Further, it is a lot easier than

trying to either reduce your caloric intake by 3,500 calories (which

is physically impossible) or burning an extra 3,500 calories during

exercise (which takes a ridiculous amount of time and energy).

What you Can Do: Assess whether your weight gain was a rapid gain due

to atypical behavior (E.g., vacationing) or a longer-term gain. If it

was a rapid gain, there is a good chance you will lose the weight by

returning to your normal habits. You might have to be a little strict

for a day or two, but you shouldn't feel like a major overhaul is in

order. If, however, you have gained the weight over a period of time,

assess your habits and think about what has changed in your life. Have

you stopped exercising? Have you let your eating habits go? Have you

hit a milestone birthday? Once you can assess the reality of your

situation, remember the equation: to maintain balance, burn the

calories you eat.