Paul Plakas Answers Your Questions

Dear Paul,

I can't work out what my proper calorie intake should be. I am 5 foot 2 and weigh 155 pounds. How much should I be eating?

Use the metabolic equation that we have in the toolkit. Input all your details and the calculator will give you a rough estimate. Then you need to add to that, depending on your activity level. You need to work out how much exercise you did and how many calories that burns, and then you can add those calories to it.

The calculator will give you a basic minimum number of calories that you should be eating if you were to do no exercise at all and wanted to maintain your current weight. If you want to lose weight you need to increase the amount of activity rather than cutting back on the number of calories.

Dear Paul,

Is any kind of bread good or bad? Can people eat bread on a diet? I've also heard that sprouted grain breads are better for you, are they?

I would say that most people have a gluten intolerance, so they should try to avoid bread. Some 60% of people have a gluten intolerance, if you are one of those 40% for whom bread is totally fine just be sure to stick to whole wheat bread or multigrain varieties. Sprouted grain breads are even better for you, because they sprouted grain is easier for us to absorb and so is your best bet. If you aren't gluten intolerant you don't need to avoid bread completely, just make better choices when you eat it.

Dear Paul,

I have not been losing any weight but I have lost a lot of inches. I have lost 4.5 inches from my chest, 1 from my waist and 2 from my hips. I assumed that meant I was gaining muscle or replacing fat with muscle, but somebody commented on my blog that I can't have gained any weight from muscle in such a short time. But if that's true, why am I getting smaller when there is no weight coming off?

Generally it takes about 12 weeks of continuous hard training to notice any muscle gain on your body. I think you may possibly be measuring yourself differently this time around as it is impossible that in 3 weeks of doing the challenge you have lost 4.5 inches from your chest if you have not lost any weight. I'm sorry to say that I think that you are measuring it differently this time.

I think that the reason many people are not seeing weight loss, when they believe they are making significant changes, is that they overestimate their activity level and underestimate how much they are eating. It's as simple as this, you need to do more exercise and eat less food.

This post is a repeat, but look forward to more original content to come in the future.