Do you need to create a calorie deficit to lose weight?
Are you trying to lose weight, or have you been trying to lose weight?
You keep hearing that you need to be in a “Calorie deficit to lose weight”.
So, you ask yourself…
-What is a calorie deficit?
-How much of a calorie deficit should I be in to lose weight?
-How do I create my own unique calorie deficit?
In this blog posts I am going show you, step by step, exactly how to set up your own unique calorie deficit to lose weight.
HINT: This method is more accurate than any online calorie calculator.
More specifically, You will learn everything you need to know about the calorie balance equation to control your own body weight, forever!
No more guess work, no more stalled weight loss, no more frustration.
Just 3 simple steps and one weight loss guarantee.
The Science Behind Creating A Calorie Deficit To Lose Weight
If you want to learn how create a calorie deficit to lose weight you need to first understand the number one most important rule of weight loss.
The energy value of all food is quantified by the unit “calorie”.
Your body will convert food, through digestion, into a more usable type of energy.
Your body can then use this energy as the fuel it needs to sustain all daily activity and organ functions.
The calorie total your body uses everyday (energy output) has to be greater than the amount of calories you take in through your diet (energy Input) to lose weight.
This energy exchange process is governed by the first law of thermodynamics…
“Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another“
Of course, you do not have to remember this entire physical law to lose weight…
Which is why us personal trainers, bloggers and health professions will often boil it down to something a little easier to remember…
That is, “Calories in Vs Calories Out.”
Sound familiar?
The Calorie Balance Scales
Now that understand why calories are a key player in the game of weight loss. I’m going to show you how to take control of this energy exchange so your weight loss journey never stalls again.
Calorie Intake is the sum total of all the food you eat in a day.
Calorie output: The sum total of all energy used in a day.
Walking, talking, exercise and even brain function all have significant energy requirements and will add to your overall calorie output for the day.
How many calories should you burn a day?
Truth is, you will never actually need to know how many calories you burn in a day.
As long as you maintain the same high standard of activity you can calculate your deficit by observing weight changes.
Once the Calories out side of the equation is pinned down and kept at a constant level. You can experiment with your Calories In side of the equation to find the right calorie requirements to suit your own goals.
If you are not doing any resistance training yet, I would strongly advise you download the Free 3 day a week beginner program below.
I have also included a bonus nutritional cheat sheet so you have some ideas on what to be eating.
Bio-Hack Your Body Fat
When the body is in a caloric deficit, it is forced to lose weight.
The energy required to sustain daily functions such as running, eating, walking, and even fidgeting you will need a certain amount of calories.
This is called your maintenance calorie balance.
If you do not eat enough calories to meet your maintenance calorie balance your body will be forced to look internally for other energy reserves.
Thankfully for us we have a massive amount of stored energy for when this happens.
Much like a camel stores water in its hump for a trek across the dessert, we store lots of adipose tissue in and around our bodies for times of limited food intake.
Adipose tissue is just a fancy term for fat, and although you may not think it, fat storage has a very necessary physiological role.
Without fat, you would not have enough energy to function if you were forced to go too long without food.
Humans evolved from hunter gatherers, who would sometimes go long periods between meals.
The storage of adipose tissue is evolution way of keeping us alive during times of temporary famine… or as we like to call it nowadays, “being on a diet”.
Thanks to modern biological sciences you can learn how to take advantage of this smart physiological function.
A well formulated diet and calorie deficit will allow you to objectively control your own body fat levels.
Sustainability Is The Secret Sauce Of Every Diet
When it comes to losing lots of body fat, and keeping it off long term, you need to carefully set up your own unique calorie goals.
The number one most important rule of any diet is sustainability.
The easiest way to make a diet unsustainable is to eat too few calories.
You have to find the sweet spot when creating your own calorie deficit.
Large enough to lose sufficient weight, but not so large the diet itself becomes unsustainable in the long term.
How Much Of A Deficit You Need To Lose Weight
By definition, you can be in any size calorie deficit to lose weight.
That being said… the size of the calorie deficit plays a huge role in overall weight loss.
There is approximately 3,500 Calories of energy in 1lb of body fat.
If you were to be in a 500 calorie deficit, 7 days a week, you would lose approx 1 lb of body weight a week.
The greater your calorie deficit, the more weight your body has to find internally, and the more weight you are going to lose as a result.
That doesn’t mean you should create as large a calorie deficit as possible. You won’t be long falling off the horse that way…
And besides Your goal isn’t to just lose any old weight right? you want to lose body fat… Yano,The stuff that jiggles!
There is a huge difference between any old weight loss and losing pure body fat.
Weight loss VS Fat Loss Explained
When you are in a calorie deficit your body is forced to look for energy internally right?
Fortunately we have a reserve of energy called body fat.
However, If we create too large of a calorie deficit then we will be burning off more than just body fat.
If there is too high of an energy demand (too large of a deficit) we will burn muscle as well as body fat.
This can happen when our body fat can not be metabolized fast enough to meet our current energy demands.
If there is not enough fatty acids in the blood, and your body has to find the energy somewhere, it will start to cannibalize its own tissue as a result.
This is called Catabolism.
In the next section I will teach you the 3 Step process for creating a sustainable calorie deficit so you can lose as much fat as possible, without also losing more muscle than necessary.
The Step By Step By Step Guide To Finding Your Own Caloric Deficit
I don’t use any fancy online calculators with my clients. Rather, we stick to good old fashion pen and paper.
It’s not that I think calculating your TDEE,BMR,NEAT and all the other fitness AcroNOM’s are a waste of time.
I just think they are complete over kill for beginners.
The truth is you don’t actually NEED to know weight loss variables to be able to lose weight.
You don’t need to calculate your:
-Basal metabolic rate (BMR)
-Non exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT)
-Total daily energy expenditure (TDEE)
These are nice to knows, not need to knows.
And besides,
I have seen time and time again how someone will stall their own weight loss by putting too much faith in these numbers, without first understanding the basics.
REMEMBER: You cannot be in a calorie deficit if you are not losing weight.
How to create a calorie deficit?
- Step 1: Calibrate your Own Calorie Balance Scales
The first thing you need to do is find out exactly where you are at, so you can make plans for where you are going.
You need to spend 7 Days Tracking your food intake
with a Free calorie counting application like “My Fitness Pal”.
You should also weigh yourself every morning and and write it down. Although your body weight will fluctuate up and down everyday, at the end of the week you should be able to calculate an average.
By the end of week 1 you will be able to calculate two figures.
- Step 2: Pick a calorie target and then make it happen
Now that you have a rough estimation of how many calories you eat a week and you know your average body weight its time to make some deliberate changes.
Because your metabolism adapts to your regular feeding patterns you should be able to lose weight by eating less calories than usual.
I suggest picking a calorie intake target and then making sure actually hit that target as your “average calories” for the end of week 2.
The results from week 2 look should look something like this:
- Step 3: Make the Final Adjustment
When week 2 ends you should be able to see what is happening with your own calorie balance.
In the examples above, when you were eating 1500 calories you lost half of a pound (.5lbs).
From here you have to work backwards.
So if you were eating 1500 and your weigh dropped by .5lb, then your maintenance calorie balance is probably around 1750 Calories.
Remember, 1 lb is approx 500 calories.
From the results of week 2, I know for a fact that if you eat 1500 calories again this week then your weight weight will drop by another .5lb.
However, In week 3 we will set a target weight drop of 1 lb.
To make this happen you need to eat even lower calories again.
When you eat 1500 calories you lose .5 lb.
So, if you eat 1250 you should lose 1 lb.
Steve Hall of ReviveStronger.com has a great blog post where he recommends most people to aim for approx 1% of their overall body weight in weight loss per week.
For example: If you are 180lbs total body weight then you should aim to lose 1.8 lbs per week total weight.
Click the graphic below for further reading on this topic.
Conclusion
Remember, weight loss is the result of a calorie deficit.
Regardless of what that smart phone app ,or online calorie calculator says.
If your average weekly weight does not go down over time then it is because you are not actually in a calorie deficit.
The proof is in the pudding… (I probably shouldn’t use food analogies)
Using a weighing scales and tracking your calorie intake you should be able to get two weekly averages.
Average Calorie Intake and Average Body Weight.
Tracking these two numbers alone will give you the ultimate insight into your own calorie balance.
If you account for, and control, all of the calorie balance variables you can take full control of your own body weight.
Let me know in the comments if you are going to follow this 3 step guide?
Best of Luck,
Mike
P.S. Don’t Forget Your FREE Training Plan Below
Let me know if you have any questions!