Five Steps to Figuring Out How Many Calories You Can Eat and Still Lose Weight
Beachbody gives you tools you can understand to help you lose weight and get into shape. Most people think they have to eat 1200 calories or less to lose weight. Then, they put the weight back on even faster than they took it off. Most people actually need to eat more than 1200 calories per day to continue to lose weight. That’s right. Eat more!
Eating less than 1200 calories in a day may lead to nutrient deficiencies and affect your health. You can follow a 1200 calorie per day diet for about a week, but after that, you need a smarter eating plan. Follow this short formula to determine how many calories you can eat each day and still lose weight: RMR + DAB + DE – CD.
RMR stands for resting metabolic rate. This represents approxiamately how many calories your body burns naturally while you are at rest to maintain body functions such as breathing, circulation, and digestion. To calculate your RMR, multiply your body weight times ten. So, if you are a 160 pound woman, your RMR is 160 x 10 which is 1600.
Next determine your daily activity burn or DAB. This number depends on whether you consider yourself sedentary, moderately active, or very active in your daily routine outside of an exercising program. Now, most of us probably project too high here, so let us assume we are the sedentary type. To get your DAB, multiply your RMR by ten percent. 1600 x 10% is 160.
The third step is to calculate the calories you will burn in your daily exercise or DE. According to Beachbody, an average TurboFire workout burns about 650 calories. So, if this same person used the TurboFire program, her DE would be 650.
The fourth step is to determine your caloric deficit or CD. Since one pound is 3500 calories, you need to have a CD of 500 calories per day to lose one pound per week. If you wanted to lose two pounds, you would need a deficit of 7000 calories per week or 1000 calories per day. This number depends somewhat on your current weight. Again, you do not want go below 1200 calories per day nor do you want to stay on a 1200 calorie per day diet more than one week.
Finally, plug all the numbers into the formula RMR + DAB + DE – CD to determine the number of calories to eat each day and still lose weight. Let’s plug in the numbers for our example of a 160 pound woman using the TurboFire program and having a goal of losing one pound per week. RMR (1600) + DAB (160) + DE (650) – CD (500) = 1910 calories per day to lose one pound per week. Nice!
While you are trying to lose weight, you should periodically go through this formula again to adjust your caloric needs. Let’s say this woman has lost ten pounds and is recalculating her eating plan. She now needs 1800 calories per day to continue to lose one pound per week. (RMR 1500 + DAB 150 + DE 650 – CD 500 = 1800)
If you do not know how many calories you are burning with an exercise program, you may be able to find a chart online or in a book to help you estimate how many calories per hour you burn with a particular activity. You can also get a calorie monitoring device based on your heartrate such as the Bodybugg from 24 Hour Fitness (retails at $199). Or, you can use the free tools from your free Beachbody account.
The Caloric Needs calculator is easy to use and will estimate the number of calories you will burn with various Beachbody workout programs. It also has a few other exercising activities such as aerobics and cycling. All you do is answer a few basic questions such as how many times a week you will be exercising and what activity you plan on doing.
The cool thing about this calculator is it will tell you not only how many calories you should eat to lose weight but also how many you should eat each day to maintain your current weight. To use this caluculator as well as a few other helpful weight loss tools, all you need to do is sign up for a free Beachbody account.
Once you have your account, go to the Eat Smart tab of the Teambeachbody website. Click on Nutrition Tools. Then, click on Caloric Needs and fill in your answers. Ok, so you can do the math with the five steps above or just answer a few questions and let the online caloric needs calculator work for you! I hope you have found this article useful. Keep pressing play!
TurboFire’s 5-Day Inferno Plan
The subtitle reads “Get hot for the weekend.” We’re not talking about the heat wave we’ve had here on the east coast over the last few weeks. We’re talking about burning calories, melting fat, losing flab, tightening up…with a five day kickoff to the TurboFire program.
The Inferno Plan has preplanned menus of about 1200 calories per day. They can be adjusted either up if you are already a fitness buff with a lower body fat percentage. If you’re like me though, the 1200 target is perfect for the 5 day fat loss plan.
Along with a preplanned menu, each day has scheduled Turbo Fire classes (workouts). You will also start getting in the habit of planning out your meals and workouts in your personal tracker.
I started the Inferno Plan yesterday. I was so impressed with the meal plans that I decided to follow this week as closely as I could to the preplanned menus. Hey, what’s not to love about grilled chicken, marinated salmon, and steak?
The first TurboFire class was called EZ55. It wasn’t too “easy” in my opinion, but it was 55 minutes long. It felt great actually making it to the end. I felt like the winner of Survivor after making it through my first class. I know it was because of Chalene’s energy.
The moves are similar to the kickboxing style Chalene uses in Turbo Jam and Chalene Extreme. You can tell that her routines are a culmination or should I say an evolution of her training techniques over the course of the twenty years she’s been in the fitness business.
I really got a good workout in my hip flexors, upper back, and core. There is a lot of kicking, punching and rotations. I thought I would be sore this morning, but I actually feel like I’ve had a good stretch and massage. Hmmmm. I wonder if it will kick in a day late.
Tonight, I have Fire 45, HIIT 20, and Stretch 10. I am a little intimidated with the thought of twenty minutes of High Intensity Interval Training, but I know I will make it through the workout if I keep my positive self talk going when I am out of breath.
While I’m thinking of it….when you get a prompt in the menu for music, select “no” the first couple of times you do the workout. I selected “yes” when I was previewing the workout, and I couldn’t hear Chalene’s prompts very well because the music was so dominant. Once you know the routine, and you don’t need Chalene’s prompts, you can select that option. Selecting “no” will give you a more balanced sound system between trainer and the music. It will feel more like a regular workout class. I think you’ll be more comfortable starting there.
TurboFire…Enroute
My Turbo Fire shipped! How exciting is that? It should arrive at my house by June 25th. Here’ my plan in case you decide to join me. I am expecting both the basic TurboFire dvd package and the advanced dvds and tracker journal. I already own and love ChaLean Extreme, so I am planning on doing the marathon one year program.
I plan on reviewing all the materials and previewing some of the dvds the first week after receiving my dvds. I think the preparation stage is important. It will be time to take before pictures, review nutrition guidelines, and commit to a schedule. I like previewing fitness workouts before actually doing them, so I have a sense of what is coming. I will definitely be reviewing the dvd that shows you the basic exercises. Chalene is good about taking the time to do this one extra step, so everyone feels comfortable with the workouts from the beginning.
On July 2nd, 3rd, and 4th (the weekend right before the first Monday in July) I plan on doing a Shakeology 3-day cleanse. I will write more on that process in a later post. The purpose of it is basically to get any buildup in my digestive system passing through and to boost my nutrient levels in preparation for some tough workouts. I then plan to use Shakeology to supplement my nutrition.
I plan on starting my Turbo Fire home fitness workout dvd program on Monday, July 5th. I will not know what the schedule looks like from there until I can review my package. I do know that the basic TurboFire is 12 weeks long, and if you add the deluxe workouts it goes 20 weeks. Adding ChaLean Extreme into the mix pushes the full schedule out one year. That is a lofty goal and a heck of a commitment, but I think I am up for the challenge.
My personal goals are to lose 15 pounds, keep that weight off and take my fitness to the next level. I want to show other women that they can get in shape and stay in shape…and, they can do it in the comfort and privacy of their own homes.
If you have not placed your order, get your Turbo Fire as soon as you can so you can join me on my journey. I would love to encourage you and help you find answers to questions as they arise. Sign up for a free Beachbody account and I will coach you for nothing. Click on the 10% tab in the top menu bar and learn how you can get discounts on all your Beachbody purchases, including Turbo Fire. It is time to prepare. Turbo has arrived!
Turbo Jam: Cardio Party
Where did that 45 minutes go? Once again, Chalene kept my mind off working out and just having fun. I’m sitting here dripping in sweat after completing my first Cardio Party workout in the Turbo Jam program. I’m not a dancer, so trying to move like some of the gals wasn’t pretty. The important thing is to keep moving. Afterall, you are in your living room not under a spinning ball on the dance floor!
I noticed that in this routine, the Wheel reminded me of the low side crunches in Slim in 6. The difference here is the Wheel is a much wider and flowing exercise. It stretches the whole body while working the oblique abdominal muscles.
The kicking and punching in Cardio Party remind me of Tony Horton’s P90X Kenpo X workout. I was already familiar with the basic moves from P90X, so I was really comfortable with them. If you haven’t done kicks or punches, you’ll probably have a similar experience as I did when I first did the Kenpo X DVD. I was elated. Somehow, it was empowering and didn’t feel at all like exercising. Kicking, punching, and blocking help me focus my mind and relieve stress.
I think this workout is absolutely an ab ripping routine. Well, I’m beginning to think that all the Turbo Jam routines work the abs. Hmmm. Maybe that’s why Chalene has hard abs. Come to the party. Are you ready to lose weight, boost your metabolism, burn fat, increase your energy…and have fun doing it?
Turbo Jam: Turbo Sculpt
Do you know what I really love about Beachbody workouts? Each one is different. Variety is the spice of life and what some of us need to stay motivated to keep exercising regularly. I also like the seemingly endless supply of abdominal exercises. I learn new ab moves everytime I try a new workout. Chalene Johnson’s Turbo Sculpt routine exceeded my expectations.
The Turbo Sculpt workout is about 40 minutes long and focuses both on strength training and keeping your heart rate up. I was amazed that I could work up a sweat and get my shoulders burning with only two five pound weights. Chalene tells you that you don’t have to use hand weights, but you can increase the effectiveness and intensity of the workout if you increase the amount of weight you’re using over time.
A lot of the ab work is done standing up with Chalene’s signature moves. She does have a small section at the end of the workout for floor work that focuses on abs, but it is minimal. This is where I picked up a new ab move that works the obliques very effectively. You’re laying on your side and basically doing oblique side crunches like the ones Debbie Siebers does standing up in Slim in 6.
If you are new to strength training with weights, listen to Chalene’s instruction. For example, she does an excellent job talking about keeping the weight of your body on the heels of your feet while in a squat position and how to properly pull back your arms to work your posterior shoulder muscles.
Turbo Sculpt uses light weight with high repetitions which results in toned lean muscles. This is the look that many women seek. You’re not going to bulk up your muscle mass doing this routine, but you will burn fat and rev up your matabolism.
This is definitely a fun workout. I’d recommend it for anyone who new to fitness or who needs to lose weight. I think it would be fun to do this one with my sisters or a friend. You almost forget you’re working out. That seems to be the theme for Turbo Jam – have fun and forget you’re that you’re actually doing something good for yourself by working out.
Raising the Intensity of Slim in 6 & Other Beachbody Workouts
After doing 90 days of Tony Horton’s P90X Extreme Home Training System, you’d think that I’d be ready to take a break. The fact of the matter is that once you start seeing your own results, you get hooked on Beachbody workouts. I’m in the middle of Debbie Sieber’s Slim in 6 slim training workout program for weight loss at the time of this writing.
Each new workout in the Slim in 6 program challenged me in the beginning, but I knew that if I wanted to continue seeing the results I wanted that I had to raise my intensity level. It’s important to keep your heart rate in a working zone throughout your workout. That’s where you burn fat and calories. So what did I do? I put on some kickboxing type of hand weights. You can get a pair right from the Beachbody store. Chalene Johnsons’s Turbo Jam workout comes with a pair of these weighted gloves. You’ve probably seen her use them in the Turbo Jam infomercial. The gloves help increase the intensity and increase the burn.
Other things you can do to increase the intensity of a workout if you have extra energy on a particular day or if you don’t feel like you’re working hard enough to get the results you want include adding movements that raise your legs or knees higher, going deeper into lunges and squats, and/or raising your arms above your head. You can also do more reps than they are doing on the video. For example, I can do far more push ups from my P90X experience than the number Debbie’s team does in Slim in 6.
What’s my point? Every workout program has to be personalized. And, you’re the only one who can do that. If you’ve read any of my articles on P90X, you’ll notice that I often had to modify the other way. Heck, I still can’t do even on pull up, but I’m still working on it. I did what I could with each P90X workout and kept it as intense as I could. I often had to modify until I got stronger or had more endurance. As I look back, it must’ve been a pitiful sight to watch me do my first couple of rounds with P90X Yoga X!
I like the intensity of the P90X training program and the personality of Mr. Tony Horton who is the fitness expert, trainer, and author of the program. To stay in touch with that energy, I subscribed to Tony Horton’s One on One program which allows me to get a new P90X level training program every month. Each workout focuses on one area such as cardio or abs or delts. The workouts are shorter (20-40 minutes on average) than they were in P90X. The P90X workouts were about an hour long….unless you did the Yoga X…a grueling 92 minutes!
If you’re a graduate of P90X, here are a few options for keeping your workouts new and challenging. Try the One on One automatic shipment or try P90X+ which was developed for P90X grads who just couldn’t get enough of the X. You can also try Tony’s 10 Minute Trainers which are intense short workouts that you can fit into those tight schedules. But, if you want to try an intense workout, and you’re up for a 60 day cardio challenge, you might be ready for Shaun T’s Insanity.
I’m not ready for a cardio program that intense, yet. My personal coach is doing this program and loving it though. I’m ok with not being right there at the starting line as Insanity takes its hold on the world. It was just released this month, so extreme fitness fanatics everywhere are ordering this program. Shaun T’s program has a unique offer with the program if you’re one of the few, the proud…oh, wait a minute – that’s the Marines…if you’re one of the insane, crazy people who think they can do this heart pumping, sweat pouring 60 day program. If you graduate the program, you’ll get a cool Insanity T-shirt if you send in your before and after pictures. How cool is that?
You know what’s really cool about Beachbody workouts? You’ve heard me say this before. There is a Beachbody workout that is right for everyone, every body, every fitness level. Beachbody’s philosophy is to get you moving and help you live a healthy and fit life. So, what are you waiting for? “Change your body. Change your life.”
One on One: Cardio Intervals
I’m really hooked on Tony Horton and the P90X Extreme Training System. After going through this grueling 90 day program, I decided to take a break from building muscle and focus on losing a little weight. To accomplish this task, I turned to Debbie Siebers and her Slim in 6 workouts to burn fat.
I still have the P90X bug though, so when Beachbody offered the July DVD of Tony Horton’s One on One: Cardio Intervals for one penny, I had to get it! I figured that it was a cardio program so it would support my current fitness goal of dropping 15 pounds. I knew it would be good because it was Tony’s workout…read more
