Hello Stefan and welcome to the forum.
If you’ve not already done so, research BMR calculators since they’re largely accurate in determining your calorific needs, based upon your measurements (age/weight/height) and level of activity.
Upon obtaining the calories needed to satisfy both your resting and active BMR, you’ll have a greater idea of the kind of daily calorie deficit you’re able to introduce, allowing you to lose weight in the process.
For example, if your active BMR is 2300Kcal and your resting BMR is 1800Kcal, you can afford to introduce a daily deficit of 500Kcal. Over the course of 7 days, a saving of 3500Kcal should net you a lb in weight loss on its own. When you throw exercise into the equation, the level of weekly loss increases, as your body is utilising fat (stored as energy) to fuel your endeavour. The higher the intensity of the cardio, the greater the utilisation of fat.
Additionally, so long as you’re consuming sufficient calories to satisfy your BMR, your metabolism will continue to fire, meaning that weight loss remains sustained towards the goal you may have set yourself.
However, as you lose weight, you need to re-calculate both your resting and active BMR, adjusting your daily calorie deficit as you near your goal weight, to ensure that the deficit doesn’t take you lower than your resting BMR.
Each stone lost roughly equates to around 100 fewer calories needed each day. As a result, both your resting and active BMR will reduce accordingly upon the assumption that your activity level remains the same.
Calorie restriction doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to sacrifice some of the foods that you enjoy. Provided you’re not exceeding your resting BMR whilst exercising portion control, you can still eat the vast majority of what you may currently consume. By all means, eliminate the intake of as much simple/refined carbohydrates and saturated fat (with the exception of coconut oil) from your diet as you can, but you certainly don’t need to live upon salads in order to achieve your goal.
Protein should be consumed from sources such as white meat, eggs, oily fish, whey powder and nuts, while carbohydrate should be obtained from wholegrain bread and other grains, pulses and legumes, whereas fat should be obtained from the likes of oily fish, seeds, nuts and coconut oil.
Again, don’t deny yourself the odd treat, such as pizza or a sweet pastry. Provided you factor the calorific values of those treats into your daily calorie total, you’ll come to appreciate that they can still be enjoyed alongside a wholesome diet.
As for measuring certain foods, I’d suggest that it’s something that you adhere towards, so that you can see what 100g of a particular product looks like in the bowl upon the scales, Stefan. Despite my many years’ experience of exercise, nutrition and weight management, it’s still something I’ll do when weighing out rice or certain cereals, for example, to ensure that I’m not consuming more calories than my body needs.
You don’t necessarily have to be a scientist, but you do have to be aware of the quantity and quality of the food you’re consuming in order to maintain successful weight management.
!!!!
