For most of my life, I have struggled with my weight. In 2007, I lost 66lbs — only to regain it like most dieters. It took almost 10 years for me to finally lose weight again and it was after I realized this one simple thing.

With that being said, I wanted to give you quick math lesson on weight loss and management and break it down for you!

First, your body is ALWAYS using energy.

You need energy to live —- you get this energy from your food.

If you’re not getting enough energy from food, your body then switches to your stored reserves and burns that for energy —- leading to weight loss.

If you’re consuming too much energy, your body doesn’t really have a way to “reject” it so it stores it —- usually as excess fat (aka weight gain).

Yes, weight loss is really this simple. It has nothing to do with the “best foods for weight loss”, “worst foods for weight loss”, eating by a certain time or any of that other 🗑️ they try to sell you on.

Knowing the numbers INITIALLY helped me rebuild my confidence and understand what I was doing just wasn’t adding up.

Years ago, I started to believe the lie that I couldn’t lose weight.

I was exercising everyday and the scale was going UP 😡

Clearly, something was wrong with me, right?

Wrong!

I just didn’t know my numbers. I didn’t fully understand weight loss, weight gain or management. But I do now 😏

Currently, it takes me about 1800 calories per day to live.

This is on my most active days and includes breathing, walking up and down the stairs 10x, letting the dogs out, my daily walk, etc.

Now let’s use 1800 as an example:

A pound of fat is about 3,500 calories.

If I do not increase my daily activity (more walks/exercising) but I CONTINUE to eat 2300 calories per day for weeks and months, I will gain weight.

Why?

I’m constantly eating MORE than what my body actually needs. No, one day doesn’t lead to weight gain but if I do this consistently, at least for a week, I will gain about a lb.

The math:

2300 (how many calories I consume)- 1800(how many calories I need) = 500.

00 x 7 (days in the week) equals 3,500 calories or approximately 1lb.

Yes, I’m breaking it down in the most basic math equation because honestly, a lot of 💩 you see has absolutely nothing to do with weight loss. A lot of it is marketing gimmicks perpetuated by the dieting industry and influencers who are trying to sell you products they have absolutely no idea about.

Going back to this basic math helped me rebuild my confidence and understand the most crucial thing about weight loss and weight management:

It’s no wonder I gained weight when I was eating and drinking 3,500-4000 calories per day. I was literally consuming at least twice as much as my body actually needed!

Nothing was wrong with me.

Yes, I was exercising everyday.

But the truth was I just wasn’t nearly as active as I needed to be for the amount of calories I was consuming. Simple 🤷🏽‍♀️

If I was more active, I’d need more calories (energy).

If I’m less active, I need less energy.

Think about it: do you really need a ton of energy to lay in the bed ALL day? Or do you need more energy to garden, take the kids to the museum AND ride a bike?

So no, I don’t count calories but I am mindful. I know that if I decide to consume 3,500 calories everyday and I continue to do it, the scale is going to go up.

The good news here is I realize this is something I can now control instead of feeling defeated, like I’ve tried everything and nothing works.

And I also don’t have to sit up here and blame food like it was the reason I was overweight 🗑️

The one realization that helped me lose 88lbs: I was just simply consuming too much energy for my lifestyle.

Yep, that was the most eye-opening revelation I had. I was just simply consuming too much energy for my lifestyle. Once I realized that, I was able to make some slight adjustments to my daily routine and lose 88lbs. Click here for my top 6 tips on how to minimize loose skin after losing a significant amount of weight.

PS are you ready to ditch the diet and lose weight without giving up your favorite foods? Sign up for my free 30-minute training where I walk you through how to eat for weight loss and my simple 4-step formula that helped me lose and keep off 88lbs.

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