Trying to lose weight? You need to stay in a calorie deficit, which means eating and drinking fewer calories than you burn.
There are two ways to create a calorie deficit:
- Reduce calorie intake – change what and how much you eat
- Increase calorie burn – in the form of exercise
How does a calorie deficit help you lose weight? When the body breaks down muscle and fat for energy, it puts you into a “catabolic” state.
If you cut 500 calories a day from what you normally eat, you can expect to lose about 1 lb – 0.5 kg per week, which is a healthy amount according to CDC guidelines (opens in new tab). Best Weight Loss Exercise Machines . (opens in new tab) It can also help reduce body fat.
Here’s what research and experts say about a calorie deficit.
What is a calorie deficit?
A calorie is the unit of energy we get from food and drink. To lose body fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit — which means eating fewer calories than you burn.
Nutritionist and PT Alex Parren said: “Calorie deficit is when you eat fewer calories than you burn in a day. Everyone has a unique Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which indicates that their body is only able to use normal daily How many calories are burned for functions such as breathing, digesting food, removing waste, and cognitive function.
“Factors that affect BMR include age, gender, height and weight. Imagine how many calories your BMR would burn if you lay in bed all day long. It doesn’t take into account your lifestyle, most people have a fairly low BMR —About 1,500 calories for an adult.”
On average, you’ll burn more calories when you get up and move around. On average, women need about 2,000 calories per day to maintain their weight and 1,500 calories per week to lose 1 pound. The average person needs to consume about 2,500 to maintain the same weight, or 2,000 to lose 1 pound per week.
Research published in Frontiers in Physiology (opens in new tab) Showing that building muscle in a calorie deficit will also help the body prioritize the loss of body fat, not just muscle.
What role does it play in weight loss?
The body uses the calories it gets from food to boost metabolism, digestion, and physical activity. When the number of calories you eat equals the number of calories you burn for energy, your weight will remain stable.
Once your body’s energy needs are met, any extra calories are stored — some in muscle as glycogen (our cells’ primary fuel source), but mostly as fat. Therefore, if you eat more calories than you burn (called a calorie surplus), you can cause weight gain. Conversely, if you eat less food than you need for energy, you will lose weight.
“There are several studies proving that calorie deficit is the only way to lose weight,” Parren said. Any type of diet—whether it’s a paleo diet (opens in new tab)DASH diet (opens in new tab)or ketone (opens in new tab) – Relying on a caloric deficit to work. It is recommended to eat no more than 500 calories per day.
“However, I recommend that people achieve this deficit by burning more calories, rather than restricting food intake. That is, burn your 500 calories a day through cardiovascular exercise and resistance training, rather than reducing what you eat The reason for this is that it is less likely to cause cravings and eating disorders,” she said.
How to achieve a calorie deficit?
To achieve a calorie deficit, you first need to calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the amount of calories your body needs to achieve its most basic (basal) lifespan at rest. There are many online calculators that can help you do this.
“Once you know your BMR, you need to include factors like how active you are and how much exercise you do,” Parren says. This calculation is your Total Daily Energy Expenditure, or TDEE, which is a more accurate representation of how many calories you actually burn throughout the day.
“Your TDEE will take into account the number of steps you take during the day, how active you are at work (sitting at your desk all day versus doing physical work), and even activities like gardening or walking the dog. Once you have your TDEE number, you You can calculate how many calories you need to eat to reach the deficit.
“A calorie deficit is any number the following Your TDEE and one pound of fat are equivalent to about 3,500 calories. So, if you are short of 500 calories per day for 7 days, you will lose about 1 pound per week.
“More specifically, if your TDEE is 2,500 calories, then you need to eat 2,000 calories per day to lose 1 pound per week.”
Remember that once you start losing weight, you will need to recalculate your TDEE to work out your new daily calorie deficit figure. “Once you’ve lost some weight, eat at a maintenance level — the same number of calories as your TDEE — to make sure you don’t gain weight back,” Parren says.