On Sunday I completed five straight weeks of adhering to a calorie deficit diet. For folks who are unaware of what that involves, a calorie deficit involves eating fewer calories than it takes to maintain a person’s current weight. Over time, a consistent calorie deficit will result in your body using up its stored fat as fuel, which was/is my goal.
You can calculate your daily maintenance calorie level via a calculator at this link here. Be honest about the activity level when punching your answers into the calculator – you only cheat yourself by cheating on the calculator 
When I punched in all of my information into the calorie calculator, I put in two different levels for ‘activity’ because the descriptions of each are subjective. I was 180 pounds when I started the diet, and for my age, height, and other information, my maintenance calorie level was 2,400-2,700 calories per day.
Based on my research, people need to reduce their daily calorie intake by at least 500 calories below their maintenance calorie level for an extended time to make meaningful progress in reducing the amount of stored fat that they have on their body. Additionally, based on an informational interview that I watched of legendary bodybuilder Mike Mentzer, people should not go below 1,500 calories a day, otherwise they run the risk of their body metabolizing muscle for fuel.
With all of that in mind, I aimed for consuming 1,500-1,600 calories per day and one gram of lean protein for every pound that I weigh per day for my calorie deficit diet, surmising that Mike Mentzer weighed more than I did, and if it was good enough for him to lose 1-2 pounds of stored fat a week, that it would work for me too.
I am happy to report that after 5 solid weeks of sticking to the calorie deficit diet without any missteps, I am down 11 pounds. Below is a fairly standard eating schedule for me during the last 5 weeks:
- 8 am – four servings of egg whites, one serving of mini sweet peppers, one apple (220 calories, 21 grams of protein)
- 10 am – one baked, skinless chicken breast and a grapefruit (162 calories, 23 grams of protein)
- 12 pm – one baked, skinless chicken breast, one serving of dates, one serving of mini sweet peppers (255 calories, 24 grams of protein)
- 2 pm – one carton of Muscle Milk (160 calories, 25 grams of protein)
- 5 pm (post workout meal) – one serving of Optimal Nutrition protein powder, one baked sweet potato, one baked, skinless chicken breast (342 calories, 48 grams of protein)
- 7 pm – one serving of Wilde-brand protein chips, one baked, skinless chicken breast, a half a cup of blueberries (322 calories, 33 grams of protein)
I also consume a daily regimen of vitamins (omega-3, glucosamine) and dietary fiber powder that adds 90 calories to my daily caloric intake, bringing the grand daily total to about 1,551 calories and 174 grams of protein. I stuck entirely to drinking straight water or zero calorie sparkling water during the last five weeks to ensure that I wasn’t ‘drinking my calories,’ aiming for at least 100 ounces of straight water every day.
Sometimes I would eat less carbs during the daytime in order to be able to eat things like homemade low-calorie pizza, healthy burritos, or healthy BLTs at night and still be under my 1,600 daily calorie limit goal.
As with many fitness journey pursuits, the beginning was the hardest part. Part of it was getting used to eating less calories and refraining from eating things that I love (like Oaxaca cheese!), and part of it was how my digestive system reacted to the calorie deficit diet. In the first couple of weeks, the frequency of ‘the train leaving the station’ slowed down a lot, if that makes sense 😉 But, as the days went on and I made sure to include tasteless dietary fiber powder in my water, my digestive system got back on track.
Ultimately, the calorie deficit diet was worth it, as demonstrated by me getting on the scale after five weeks and seeing that I weighed in the 160s for the first time in over a decade. I can visually see a significant improvement in my midsection and in my chin region, which are two areas of my body that store stubborn fat that has historically proven to be very hard to get rid of.
I still have some lovehandle fat to vanquish into the abyss, so I am staying on the calorie deficit diet for a bit longer until I get exactly where I want to be, but I can say from firsthand experience that, if you truly stay disciplined and put in the sacrifice, that a calorie deficit diet combined with regular cardio and weightlifting works. If I can do it then so can you!
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