Friday 7 February 2020

UNDERSTANDING CALORIC DEFICITS AND GETTING YOUR NUMBERS RIGHT

There are a few rules of fat loss that must be adhered to if you wish to see results. However, none are as important as this one – You MUST be at a caloric deficit to lose weight. This is the cardinal rule of weight loss.

Every other rule will not matter if you can’t get this one right… and most people don’t. That’s why the majority of those who try to lose weight fail miserably and mistakenly assume that they are doomed to being fat. They are not doomed. They just weren’t on a caloric deficit.


what is a caloric deficit and why is it so important?

Excellent question. A caloric deficit is simply a situation where your body expends more calories than it consumes. That basically means that you’re exercising more and eating less.

The goal is to aim for about a 500 calories deficit daily. You can find out your caloric deficit number from this link: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Knowing your target number is essential for successful weight loss. It is common for most people to start a diet from the 2nd of January and they try to starve themselves. This is counter-intuitive.

If you cut your calories drastically, your body will panic and go into starvation mode. Once that happens, it will do its best to stubbornly hold on to precious bodyfat. This is a self-preservation mechanism within the body. It is keeping fuel for future emergencies.

So, you should aim for a 500 to 700 calorie deficit. This will not make the body panic and is sufficient for the body to tap into its fat stores for fuel. You must understand that all stored fat in your body is just fuel or energy. Whenever you consume more food than you need, the excess calories are stored as fat. It’s just stored energy.

In order to use up this energy, you must stop giving your body too much food. In fact, you should give it less than it needs. Now that your body has insufficient fuel from the food it eats, it will tap into its stored energy which is in your fat cells.

As the body burns up the stored energy to fuel the many repair and maintenance functions within the body, your fat cells will shrink. When that happens, you will get leaner and your weight will drop.

As you can see, the concept of weight loss is very simple. Eat less and move more. Execution of this concept is usually much more difficult because you will be curbing your food intake and that will require some discipline and determination. You’ll also be required to monitor your daily calorie intake.

Since they way you eat and the foods you eat are usually determined by your habits, you will need to change your habits… and we all know that old habits die hard. That is why your goal should just be to aim for a 500 calorie deficit daily. This is not difficult and will not require much sacrifice.

Do remember that as your weight drops, your calorie deficit numbers will change too. So, take your weight once a week and use the link to calculate your caloric deficit based on your current weight.

Later on, we’ll look at how to eat to achieve a caloric deficit. For now, you need to know what your caloric deficit number is and understand the fat burning process. Etch the mantra in your mind that you should use up more calories than you eat every day. This is more than half the battle won, if you can apply it well.

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