Calories in vs Calories Out – Guest Blog from Annalise at TrueFitness

Over the next few weeks there will be a new guest blogger at YSC! The trainers at TrueFitness in San Diego, CA  will be sharing a rugby focused training post each week on Wednesdays. We would like to formally welcome Annalise to YSC!

So if you are training properly, using the principles of Overload and Specificity, respectively, and also using the correct amount of reps for your goal, then you are definitely on the right track to achieving your goal and for TrueFitness that means increasing sports performance.

As an athlete, we must be concerned with performance first and “look” second.  Our body fat % does not play as an important a role as quickness, power, strength and speed.  However, if our weight and body fat slow us down and hinder our performance then we need to fix that.  It is under that situation in which we would focus on a weight goal of either losing weight or gaining weight.  First priority is always performance.  Body weight and body fat matter only when they affect performance.

I will mainly be focusing on weight loss in this blog with the discussion focusing on a player trying to drop weight in order to be in better shape for their sport.  The reason for this is that this is generally the case (weight loss) rather than an athlete who is too skinny and needs to add weight.  The rule for gaining weight or losing weight is the same, just on opposite side of the equation.

Losing or gaining weight is as simple matter of either eating more (or less) calories than you burn in a day depending on your goal.

If you want to lose weight then you need to take in (eat) less calories than you burn.  Everyone burns a total amount of calories everyday.  This is known as our Total Daily Need (TDN) Your TDN is a cumulative caloric expenditure from; all our body’s systems while resting (cardiovascular, muscular, hormonal, etc.).  Our TDN also includes the calories burned because we are active, and how many calories are needed to digest the foods we eat (10% of the total calories of the food we eat.  If you add all these together you get your TDN.

If you eat fewer calories than you burn then you will lose weight.  In this simplified explanation it doesn’t matter what you eat, just did your total amount of calories equal less or more than your Total Daily Need. Your health and cholesterol levels and all other associated risk factors with a “bad” diet is a discussion for a later day.  For today, we are merely discussing the simplified rule of gaining or losing weight.  If you need 3000 calories a day and you take in 2500 calories then you are at a caloric deficit of 500 calories.  Over 7 days you would lose 1 pound (3500 calories in a pound of fat, 500 calories a day times 7 days = 3500 calories).  It is that simple.

When losing weight your goal should be a daily deficit between 500-700 calories.  The reason for this is that anything greater than 700 calories a day tends to burn muscle as well.  We want to keep all of our muscle and burn/lose only fat.

It really is that simple.  Are you eating more calories than you are burning?  If you eat more than you burning than you will gain weight.  If you eat less than you burn, then you will lose weight. There it is the secret to weight loss and weight gain.

In future blogs we will discuss healthy calorie consumption and how to maximize sports performance through proper nutrition.

Anyone in the San Diego area is welcome to drop in at our studio at 2949 Garnet Ave.  3rd floor, Pacific Beach, CA.  We would love to put you through our workout.   Please feel free to call or email Annalise Evans of TrueFitness with any questions: (760) 809 1848 annalise@truefitness.biz and join her fan page on Facebook: TrueFitness Annalise Evans.