Caloric Deficit To Lose Weight. As I’ve explained a million times before, the most important part of every single weight loss diet is creating a caloric deficit. This is when you consume fewer calories than your body burns (or burn more calories than you consume, it’s the same thing). Doing so puts your body in a state of negative energy balance, where it doesn’t have the calories it needs to perform all of the daily tasks it needs to perform (moving, breathing, digesting, exercising, etc.). So, in order to perform those tasks, your body is forced to burn your own stored body fat for energy instead. As a result, you lose weight (or more specifically, you lose fat). This is why a calorie deficit is the absolute key to weight loss. How To Create Your Ideal Calorie Deficit. Creating the caloric deficit you need to lose weight at the ideal rate is something I’ve already covered in detail right here: How Many Calories Should I Eat Per Day To Lose Weight? What I want to do now is cover how I arrived at that amount, why it’s the deficit of calories that I (and most experts) recommend, and what makes it so ideal in the first place. Here we go. Even still, they all have their own set of PROS and CONS that will always stand in general. Here’s what I mean. Since the amount of calories being reduced is so low, the fewest dietary changes are required. This means pretty much no issues with hunger and mood, less metabolic problems, and little to no impact on training and recovery. Not to mention, the potential for muscle loss is at its very lowest. On the downside however, the rate of weight loss will be at its lowest as well, and that’s a pretty big CON for most people (who typically want to lose weight as fast as humanly possible). So, by reducing your daily calorie intake by too little, you end up losing weight at a rate that can be viewed as unnecessarily (and unbearably) slow for most people. The Large Caloric Deficit. With a larger sized deficit, the rate of weight loss will be at its highest, and that’s something that probably appeals to just about everyone looking to lose weight. However, that’s where the PROS stop and the CONS begin. The fact that it requires such a big calorie reduction makes it by far the hardest to do and sustain (due to hunger, mood, metabolic issues, etc.). A large deficit will also have a large negative impact on training and recovery (among other things), and that increases the potential for muscle loss to its highest level. So, by reducing your daily calorie intake by too much, you end up unnecessarily putting yourself in the hardest (and most unpleasant) position to achieve successful long term weight loss. The Moderate Caloric Deficit. With a moderate sized deficit in the middle of the previous 2 extremes, you pretty much get the best of both worlds while greatly lessening (or completely eliminating) many of their potential drawbacks. And, while each of the 3 different size deficits can indeed have a place in certain situations, my feeling (and the feeling of most others) is that for most of the people, most of the time, amoderate sized caloric deficit is the best choice for losing weight successfully. You’ll end up maximizing fat loss, minimizing muscle loss, and doing it in a way that is the perfect combination of easy, fast, sustainable, and enjoyable. It’s the size that I most often recommend. So, What Is A Moderate Sized Deficit? Once again, this is a question I’ve already answered in full detail right here: How Many Calories Should I Eat Per Day To Lose Weight? The quick version is this: the most common recommendation for a “moderate” sized calorie deficit is being 2. Don’t worry, my previous post explains exactly what that means and shows you exactly how to do it. Now that you know how and why I arrived at a “moderate” deficit being ideal for weight loss, and you know what I define a “moderate” deficit to be, you may have one other question about this recommendation: Why is the ideal caloric deficit based on a percentage of a person’s maintenance level and not just a fixed amount? Good question. Here’s the answer. So, if you created a 5. This sounds nice and simple in theory, but, it has one small flaw. It causes everyone to create the same size deficit and lose weight at the exact same rate regardless of their exact situation. Meaning, some people have a lot more (or a lot less) weight to lose than others. The calorie calculator uses physical characteristics (weight, height, age, gender), activity level and weight goals (gain, lose or maintain weight) to estimate daily. How Many Calories Does Walking Burn per Mile? See how many calories you can burn walking different distances and speeds. And, when you think about it like that, it seems a little silly to have someone with 1. With the “create a 5. On the other hand, since a percentage based deficit relies on each person’s own calorie maintenance level to set the amount, the deficit created will be in direct proportion to the amount of weight that needs to be lost by each individual person, and the means the rate at which they lose weight will be in direct proportion as well. Confused? Here’s a chart that explains what I mean. So, the size of deficit is in direct relation to the amount of fat that needs to be lost. This makes sense for a variety of reasons. The main ones that come to mind are: People with more weight to lose SHOULD lose it at a faster rate than someone with less weight to lose. With a percentage based deficit, that’s what ends up happening. People with more weight to lose are less likely to lose muscle due to the higher abundance of fat on their body. Therefore, they can handle a larger deficit and faster rate of weight loss without the same risk of muscle loss (assuming they do everything else right, of course). Similarly, people who are leaner or just have less weight to lose are at a higher risk of losing muscle. Because of this, they SHOULD have a smaller deficit because they SHOULD have a slower rate of weight loss. With a percentage based deficit, that’s what ends up happening. So, everyone wins. Regardless of how much weight you need to lose, a deficit of 2. YOU and YOUR exact situation. That’s Where My Recommendation Comes From. Walking Calories Burned by Miles Walked: If you know your distance, convert that into calories. Walking Minutes Calorie Charts. Find how many calories you burn per.And that covers how and why I (and many others) came to recommend 2. Once again, to see exactly how to put this deficit into action and figure out exactly how many calories you should eat daily to lose weight at your ideal rate, read this: How Many Calories Should I Eat Per Day To Lose Weight(This article is part of a completely free and amazingly awesome guide to creating the absolute best diet plan possible for your exact goal and preferences. Check out the entire guide here: The Best Diet Plan). Expert Reviewed. Three Methods: Moving More to Burn Calories Changing Your Eating Habits to Burn Calories Incorporating Other Calorie. Fat metabolism, or lipolysis, has a daily metabolic rate of about two calories, according to Finn. Therefore muscle has a daily metabolic. Caloric Deficit To Lose Weight – Setting Your Calorie Intake For Weight Loss. The amount of calories you burn in either exercise depends on how hard you work, how efficient you are at the exercise and how much you weigh. The 2 Pounds Per Week Rule and How to Burn Fat Faster. Tom Venuto – author of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. Note from John: this is a guest article by Tom Venuto, author of the EXCELLENT book, Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle. You can read my review on Amazon. Why do you always hear that 2 pounds per week is the maximum amount of fat you should safely lose? If you train really hard while watching calories closely shouldn’t you be able to lose more fat without losing muscle or damaging your health? What if you want to lose fat faster? How do you explain the fast weight losses on The Biggest Loser? These are all good questions that I’ve been asked many times. With the diet marketplace being flooded every day with rapid weight loss claims, these questions desperately need and deserve some honest answers. Want to know where that 2 pounds per week rule comes from and what it really takes to burn more than 2 pounds of fat per week? Read on. Why Only 2 Pounds Per Week? The truth is, two pounds is not the maximum amount you can safely lose in a week. That’s only a general recommendation and a good benchmark for setting weekly goals. It’s also sensible and realistic because it’s based on average or typical results. The actual amount of fat you can lose depends on many factors. For example, weight losses tend to be relative to body size. The more body fat you carry, the more likely you’ll be able to safely lose more than two pounds per week. Therefore, we could individualize our weekly guideline a bit by recommending a goal of 1- 2 lbs of fat loss per week or up to 1% of your total weight. If you weighed 3. Body Weight Vs Body Composition. Weight loss is somewhat meaningless unless you also talk about body composition; the fat to muscle ratio, as well as water weight. Ask any wrestler about fast weight loss and he’ll tell you things like, “I cut 1. It was easy – I just sweated it off.”You’ve also probably seen people that went on some extreme induction program or a lemon juice and water fast for the first week and dropped an enormous amount of weight. But once again, you can bet that a lot of that weight was water and lean tissue and in both cases, you can bet that those people put the weight right back on. The main potential advantage of any type of induction period for rapid weight loss in the first week is that a large drop on the scale is a motivational boost for many people (even if it is mostly water weight). Why do you hear so many diet and fitness professionals insist on 2 lbs a week max? Where does that number come from? Well, aside from the fact that it’s a recommendation in government health guidelines and in position statements of most nutrition and exercise organizations, it’s just math. The math is based on what’s practical given the number of calories an average person burns in a day and how much food someone can reasonably cut in a day. How Do You Lose More Than 2 Pounds Per Week? Can you lose more than 2 lbs of pure fat in a week? Yes, although it’s easier in the beginning. It gets harder as your diet progresses. How do you do it? My rule is, extraordinary results require extraordinary efforts. An extraordinary effort means a particularly strict diet, as well as burning more calories through training because you can only cut your calories so far from food before you’re starving and suffering from severe hunger. Simply put, you need a bigger calorie deficit. If you have a 2. 50. You would lose weight rapidly for as long as you could maintain that deficit (although it would slow down over time). Most people aren’t going to last long on so little food and they often end with a period of binge eating. It’s not practical (or fun) to cut calories so much and in some cases it could be unhealthy. The other alternative is to train for hours and hours a day, literally. People ask me all the time, “Tom, how is it possible for the Biggest Loser contestants to lose so much weight? Well first of all they’re not measuring body fat, only body weight. Then you have the high starting body weights and the large water weight loss in the beginning. After that, just do the math – they’re training hours a day so they’re creating a huge calorie deficit. But without that team of trainers, dieticians, teammates, a national audience and all that prize money, do you think they’d be motivated and accountable enough to do anywhere near that amount and intensity of exercise in the real world? Would it even be possible if they had a job and family? Not likely, is it? It’s not practical to do that much exercise, and it’s not practical to cut your calories below a 1. If you manage to achieve the latter, it’s very difficult not to rebound and regain the weight afterwards for a variety of physiological and psychological reasons. Get The Best Fat Loss Tips Delivered Right To Your Inbox. Subscribe to my FREE newsletter and you’ll also get my FREE “Health- First Fat Loss” mini- course and a FREE fat loss report to help you Skyrocket Your Fat Loss Success (PDF download): Here’s a preview of what you’ll be receiving over just the first two weeks. This can help speed up the fat loss within a given amount of time. But as you begin to utilize higher intensity workouts, you have to start being on guard for overtraining or overuse injuries. That’s why strict nutrition with an aggressive calorie deficit is going to have to be a major part of any fast fat loss strategy. Unfortunately, very low calorie dieting has its own risks in the way of lean tissue loss, slower metabolism, extreme hunger, and greater chance of weight re- gain. My approach to long term weight control is to lose weight slowly and patiently and follow a nutrition plan that is well balanced between lean protein, healthy fats and natural carbs and doesn’t demonize any entire food group. To lose fat, you simply create a caloric deficit by burning more and eating less (keeping the nutrient density of those calories as high as possible, of course). But to achieve the extraordinary goals such as photo- shoot- ready, super- low body fat or simply faster than average fat loss, while minimizing the risks, I often turn to a stricter cyclical low carb diet for brief “peaking” programs. I explain this method in chapter 1. Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle (it’s my “phase III” or “competition” diet). The cyclical aspect of the diet means that after three to six days of an aggressive calorie deficit and strict diet, you take a high calorie / high carb day to re- feed the body and re- stimulate the metabolism. Essentially, this helps reduce the starvation signals your body is receiving. It’s also a psychological break from the deprivation which helps improve compliance and prevent relapse. The higher protein intake can help prevent lean tissue loss and curb the hunger. A high protein diet also helps by ramping up dietary thermogenesis. A high intake of greens, fibrous vegetables and low calorie fruits can help tip the energy balance equation in your favor as fibrous veggies are very low in calorie density and some of the calories in the fiber are not metabolizable. Healthy fats are added in adequate quantities, while the calorie- dense simple sugars and starchy carbs are kept to a minimum except on refeed days and after (or around) intense workouts. There’s No Magic, Just Math. In my experience, a high protein, reduced carb approach in conjunction with weights and cardio can help maximize fat loss – both in terms of increasing speed of fat loss and particularly for getting rid of the last of the stubborn fat. It helps with appetite control too. But always bear in mind that the faster fat loss occurs primarily as a result of the larger calorie deficit (which is easily achieved with sugars and starches minimized), not some type of “low carb magic.”If your diet were high in natural carbs but you were able to diligently maintain the same large calorie deficit, the results would be similar. I’m seeing more and more advertisements that not only promise rapid weight loss, but go so far as saying that you’re doing it wrong if you’re losing “only” two pounds per week. Well, it’s certainly possible to lose more than two pounds per week, but it’s critically important to understand that there’s a world of difference between rapid weight loss and permanent fat loss. It’s also vital to know that there’s no magic in faster fat loss, just math. All the new- fangled dietary manipulations and high intensity training programs that really do help increase the speed of fat loss all come full circle to the calorie balance equation in the end, even if they claim their method works for other reasons and they don’t mention calories burned or consumed at all. Beware of The Quick Fix. Faster fat loss IS possible. My question is, are you willing to tolerate the hunger, low calories and high intensity exercise for that kind of deficit? Do you have the work ethic? Do you have the supreme level of dietary restraint necessary to stop yourself from binging and putting the weight right back on when that aggressive diet is over? Or would you rather do it in a more moderate way where you’re not killing yourself, but instead are making slow and steady lifestyle changes and taking off 1- 2 lbs of pure fat per week, while keeping all your hard- earned muscle? Remember, 1- 2 pounds per week is 5. Is that really so slow or is that an astounding transformation? You don’t gain 5. Personally, I think short- term thinking and the pursuit of quick fixes are the worst diseases of our generation. If you want to be one of those “results not typical” fat loss transformations, it can be done and it may be a perfectly appropriate short- term goal for the savvy and sophisticated fitness enthusiast. It’s your call. But when you set your goals, it might be wise to remember that old fable of the tortoise and the hare, and buyer beware if you go shopping for a fast weight loss program in today’s shady marketplace. Update from John: If you liked this article, then you’ll love Tom’s best- selling book Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
November 2017
Categories |