Have you ever tried to lose weight? More than half U.S population tried to lose weight over the last year... but only small fraction got to lose all the weight they wanted.
Calorie deficit is the first and most important requirement to lose weight. If you are in a calorie deficit, you lose weight.
Calories is a measure of how much energy food provides to our organism (source), as well as an indicator of how much energy we are burning when practicing your favourite sport, or cleaning your room.
When you eat less calorie than you burn, you are in a calorie deficit. Your body needs more energy than that you are providing with, and it will take some of the molecules stored in your body, to produce energy.
Calorie deficit is the first and most important requirement to lose weight (source)
The CICO Model
There’s a calorie flow in your everyday life. You take calories, and you burn them.
Calories In = Calories Out
All the energy you take through food must be either burned or stored in our body. Burning more than you eat will make you lose weight.
Following the CICO Model, we can have different scenarios:
If you want to lose weight, you must be in a calorie deficit. But how much of a calorie deficit should you do?
How Much of a Calorie Deficit to Lose Weight?
If being in a calorie deficit helps you lose weight then... the more the better right?
The more calorie deficit, the more weight you’ll lost, and the faster you’ll get to your goals.
Well, bad news... it doesn’t work that way
The safe and recommended calorie deficit to lose weight is 500 calories per day (source)
Doing this calorie deficit will make sure you stay healthy, and you are optimizing fat loss while minimizing muscle loss as much as possible
How to Create a Calorie Deficit to Lose Weight
How do you create the calorie deficit?
If you go back to the CICO model, you’ll notice you have two possibilities to create a calorie deficit:
- Lower dietary intake
- Increase physical activity
Lower Dietary Intake
The first way you can create a calorie deficit is by lowering the “Calories In” side of the equation. As simple as it sounds. Eat less than what you burn.
Start by planning your weight loss diet. Know how many calories you need to take, and plan your diet according to that.
Once you have the diet planned, you can use some tricks to create the calorie deficit while still enjoying your diet:
- Choose low calorie foods
- Less, but bigger meals
- High-protein diet
- Be flexible and eat following the 20/80 rule
Increase Physical Activity
Increasing physical activity makes you burn more calories. Calories out is formed by:
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): calories we spend by simply living
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT): calories used to perform non-exercise related conscious activities
Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT): calories burned when doing exercise or any other physical activity
Thermic Effect of Foods (TEF): calories used to absorb and digest the food
Conclusion
Calorie deficit is the first and most important requirement to lose weight. If you are in a calorie deficit, you'll lose weight.
In this post we've seen what's calorie deficit and how much you need to lose weight safely and effectively.
If you have any questions, please leave it below in the comments section 🙂
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