The Calorie Deficit

Counting calories is a pretty big part of dieting/weight loss. Many struggle to understand how it works, why they have to do to it, and how your body processes calories going in and going out.

Let’s start with what a calorie is:

“A unit of energy-producing potential that is contained in food and released upon oxidation by the body. “

Each day your body burns a number of calories from your usual daily activities. In each person the number is different. Let’s say for example your number is 1000.

One pound of fat contains 3500 calories. From a caloric standpoint, you would have to eat a surplus of 3500 calories to gain a pound of fat. These are calories not spent in your daily routine. So if you spend 1000 calories a day in energy output, then you’d have to take in 4500 calories to put on a pound of fat. Sounds like a huge task to take in that much right? Remember though, you don’t necessarily start each day at a zero count for your calories. Unburned calories can carry over day to day. Equally however, you have to burn 3500 calories to take off a pound of fat, which means creating a calorie deficit, or burning more calories than you take in.

For example:

If you followed a 1000 calorie a day diet, (which in most cases I don’t recommend), creating at 200-500 calorie a day deficit through simple dietary changes, it would take 7-17 days to lose one pound of fat. If you incorporated 400 calories of daily exercise, now you could lose more than a pound a week. The process takes time and patience. It comes down to putting out more energy, than calories you’re taking in.

Once you are able to create that calorie deficit, then your body will begin eating up your stored fat for energy. Slow weight loss is always better, as it gives your body time to adjust to the changes, and ensures the weight loss is coming from fat, and not muscle. It also gives your skin time to tighten up and adjust to your new shape.

When you are going through your daily routine, about 85% of your energy comes from fat. Fat is the energy source of choice in a resting body. When the body is rushed through a weight loss process, it tends to eat up muscle. Building and maintaining muscle increases your metabolism. A lack of muscle makes for a slower metabolism. It takes less than 1000 calories of energy to burn a pound of muscle. It may not seem fair, but it’s just the way the body works. So maintaining muscle is EXTREMELY important.

On paper, weight loss is a simple process. It does however, require a great deal of patience and will power. The fat was not deposited overnight, so you can’t expect it to disappear the same. Now, mind you this is fat loss based on calories alone. There are a number of other variables to be considered as well as discussed in previous articles.

This is simply a look at the caloric aspect.