At Sworkit, we believe in moderation. We love donuts occasionally, too! There isn’t one specific diet plan that works for everyone and we like to keep things realistic. Which is good news because that means you have options! For weight loss I recommend tracking your calories, that is the best way to accurately know how many you should be eating per day to get the best results. MyFitnessPal is a great, free app that syncs with Sworkit so you can have your calories burned and intake all in the same place! Watch my tutorial below on how to track your meals with MyFitnessPal.

To get started you should track what you eat for a full week with your regular diet without making adjustments. Then from there, you can decrease the number of calories you consume depending on your goals. A good rule of thumb is to decrease that by about 150-200 calories per day to start seeing results. 

Pro tip: Being mindful of serving sizes and cutting out empty snacking calories throughout the day. If your a snacker try replacing chips/fries with veggies/fruits and replace any high-calorie beverage with water. Small changes can make a big difference!

Let’s recap what we learned in the video👇

What are Calories?

• 1 pound is equal to 3500 calories. 
• In order to lose 1 pound per week, you must be in a calorie deficit of 3500 calories per week. In order to gain 1 pound per week, you must be in a calorie surplus of 3500 calories per week. That’s 250 calories a day. 
• We don’t recommend losing more than 1-2 lbs per week. So, at most, you’d be in a calorie deficit of 7,000 calories a week or 500 calories a day. 
• We recommend tracking your meals for an entire week without making any changes to see where you should start. Track EVERY food you put into your mouth (yes, even the bites, licks, and tastes) for a whole week! This will help you find an accurate starting point. After a full week of tracking your food, you will be able to find your average daily calorie intake and then make changes. For example, if you’re currently averaging 3,000 calories a day, work towards cutting down 250 calories a day to start losing weight!

Macros (protein, fats, and carbs, oh my!):

• In your MyFitnessPal app go to more > goals > calories, carbs, protein and fat goals. There you will be able to click on protein and a screen will popup that’ll ask you to portion your proteins, fats, and carbs until you reach 100%. Below is how to properly portion your percentages. 
• Protein daily intake can be based on your fitness level. Multiply your body weight in pounds by the number of grams provided for your fitness level with the chart below. When finding the right percentage, try to get as close to the number of grams as possible. You most likely will need to estimate the closest number you can get. This is just an estimate of where your protein intake should be. Always consult with a nutritionist for your body’s needs.

In the video, we use an active person at 115 pounds for our example weight and activity level which brings us to 92 grams of protein per day. As another example, if you are very active (1 gram of protein) and you weigh 170 pounds, you’ll aim for 170 grams of protein per day. ​​

• Fats are typically between 20-30% based on your body. If you know that carbs give you more energy, keep your fats lower to 20%. If you find that carbs make you tired and you love avocados and nuts, maybe you prefer 30%. 
• Carbs will make up the remaining portion of your daily intake.

 Overnight success is not realistic or sustainable. These tips are designed to help you live a healthier life. Need a workout to enhance your weight loss? try a Sworkit workout.