Foreword/ Disclaimer: I’ll start off this post by saying I don’t give nutrition or weight loss advice. I could claim I know everything about the topic and am here to help you like a doctor, but I won’t. It seems like everyone on TikTok and Instagram are doing that anyways. Obviously, this seems counterintuitive from the title but I’m going somewhere with this.

Whether it be the internet, your family, or a friend giving you advice – there is a lot of crap out there. I tried my best to scrounge the internet for the best advice. I can’t say for certain that this is THE guide, but I can say that I did my research. I fact checked every myth, every scam, and anything in between to only give you medically accepted advice. And wouldn’t you know it, everything starts with YOU. Not some miracle drug, not some 30 minute workout. Your choices. That’s it.

So it starts with you. That sounds easy to follow. If you know anything about yourself, or humans in general… it’s not. No one can sit here and tell you that you need to stop eating crap all the time, that’s really only up for you to decide. The literal ONLY way is to eat better and have an active lifestyle. I’m not going to rant about Ozempic because honestly, we all know that’s not a long-term solution for most people.

So how do you do all this? Calorie Deficit. You need to burn more calories than you’re eating in a day to lose weight. No shit. The average person already burns about 2,000 calories a day from doing nothing. Literally sitting in bed you’ll burn about 2,000 calories. This is different for everyone but that’s why the recommended advice for an adult is to eat 2,000 calories a day to maintain the same weight (2,000 intake – 2,000 burned = 0 weight difference).

You can go ahead and calculate how much you already burn in a day. It’s called your Basal Metabolic Rate, and there’s a load of BMR calculators on the ‘net. Or you can just stick around here, let your lazy self read a little more, and we will automatically calculate everything for you. I didn’t claim to be a doctor, but I can do math. Everything weight loss is a formula.

But wait, there’s more! (I sound like an infomercial, don’t I?). Knowing your BMR is just step one. You also need to factor in your daily activity level – and no, walking from your couch to the fridge doesn’t count as “lightly active.” Are you actually moving your body during the day, or are you basically a professional couch ornament? Most of this all comes back to one thing. That soul-crushing 8 hours that takes up every weekday. That’s right! A job. Bu- but how is a job going to make me lose weight 🥺. It’s not. It’s usually where the hardest part comes in. Now I am particularly thinking about office jobs when I write this, so this could definitely be different for you. But if you DO have an office job, you sit for at least 8 hours of your day. Include your commute and more than half your day is spent not burning any precious calories! Construction worker? Different story. But this can all be calculated based on your daily activity level. So… construction job and you spend time in the gym? Super high activity level. Secretary during the day and binging Netflix at night? Lowwww activity level.

Here’s where it gets fun – and by fun, I mean slightly less soul-crushing than you thought. A safe calorie deficit is usually around 500-750 calories per day, which translates to losing about 1-2 pounds per week. Yeah, I know, not as exciting as those “lose 10 pounds in a week” promises you see everywhere, but guess what? Those are usually just you losing water weight and then gaining it all back the second you look at a slice of pizza. Speaking of pizza? You wanna eat pizza? Eat pizza! Just calculate it into your daily total of calories. No, eating a whole Little Ceasers pizza for breakfast and then nothing for the rest of the day is NOT healthy, but if it doesn’t go over your calorie limit more power to you. (Somewhat joking, you need to calculate how many carbs and protein you’re eating. Remember, higher protein foods will keep you fuller for longer, so less calories consumed by snacking).

The math is actually pretty straightforward: Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) minus your target deficit equals your daily calorie goal. Sounds simple, right? Well, it is simple. It’s just not easy. There’s a difference, and your brain will remind you of that difference every time you walk past a donut shop. My trick is just drinking diet soda throughout the day. Remember, I’m not a doctor so I don’t have anything bad to say! Plus, the studies show very little risk of any zero sugar or diet drink, in moderation. It keeps me full for longer and helps my oh so terrible sugar craving.

You don’t need to become a gym rat overnight. Start with something you actually enjoy, or at least something you don’t completely hate. Walking counts. Dancing in your living room counts. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator counts. The best exercise is the one you’ll actually do consistently, not the one that looks impressive on Instagram. I’ll admit I started of with Just Dance on the Wii for my workouts…

Here’s where our calculator comes in handy – instead of playing guessing games with random numbers you found on some fitness blog (probably written by someone who thinks kale smoothies are a food group), you can get a personalized plan based on your actual stats. We’ll calculate your BMR, factor in your activity level, set up your deficit, and even break down your macros. It IS a lot of math but we make it easy.

OK cool, this whole post was just a giant ad for your crappy calculator! Well, OK… but this really is going to help. If you’re mad that I wrote a whole article just for it to be a “self promotion”, that’s fine. There are plenty of other calculators on the internet for all your dieting needs. However, and not to brag, this calculator kinda does it all for you. And it really is made for you to get better, not for us to benefit off of you. The only thing that’s added in is a couple of shopping links from urbans.studio to help you reach your goals, like scale to weigh out your food. I WAS going to use this space to explain the calculator, but it so easy to use you literally just follow the steps. And if you DO somehow get lost, reach out to us on social media @urbans.studio or email us below. I’m happy to help you anytime. BUT I’M NOT A DOCTOR!!! So no nutrition advice 🙁 Maybe one day you’ll see a guest speaker on here… urbans out.