Your Complete Guide to the Calorie Deficit
There is a lot of conflicting information in the diet and weight loss industry, but one thing remains true— to lose weight, you need to be eating in a calorie deficit.
What does this mean exactly?
Simply put, a calorie deficit means that you are generally consuming fewer calories than you burn in a day. This way, your body uses its fat stores for energy and subsequently, you lose weight.
A calorie deficit can feel intimidating to someone who hasn’t had much experience with weight loss, and even for those of us who have been on and off diets for what feels like our entire lives.
How many calories are you meant to eat? How do you keep track? How do you keep from feeling hungry?
We answer all of these questions and more in this blog post, so follow along to learn everything you need to know about eating in a calorie deficit.
What Are Calories?
Calories are a unit of measurement much like a gram or pound, but instead of weight, a calorie is a unit of energy. More specifically, a calorie is the amount of energy it takes to heat one gram of water by one degree Celcius.
What does this have to do with your weight? Well, all food contains calories and your body uses thermic energy (heat) to burn those calories, creating energy that can be used by your cells.
Think about it like putting fuel in a car, the engine burns that fuel, and the car moves.
Your body uses this energy for everything from breathing, thinking, walking, digesting, and even sleeping. However, if you consume more calories than your body can use in a day, they don’t just go away.
Instead, your body converts these calories into fat to store it for later, in case you ever need it. Once in awhile, you might find yourself in need of extra energy, whether you have an hard workout at the gym, a demanding day at work, or maybe you need to study for an important test.
Your body taps into this stored energy for the extra boost you need to power through the challenge. But what about the rest of it? Over time, this fat storage builds up and eventually, you might find yourself overweight.
What is a Calorie Deficit?
When you chronically overconsume calories, you might find that your body starts to gain excess weight. Being overweight or obese can cause other health problems such as high cholesterol, poor heart health, or type 2 diabetes among other health issues.
This is where the calorie deficit comes in. A calorie deficit is defined as consuming fewer calories than you burn in a day so that your body is forced to tap into that stored energy (fat), burning that in place of food.
As your body burns through the stored fat, you lose weight.
The right calorie deficit for you will depend on a few factors including your age, sex, height, weight, and activity level as well as underlying health factors like PCOS, Cushing’s syndrome, or hypothyroidism, which may negatively impact your metabolism.
To lose 1-2 pounds per week, or the amount deemed safe and sustainable by most health experts, your calorie deficit should be about 500-1000 calories fewer than your base metabolic rate (BMR).
However, note that eating too few calories can be bad for your health, causing side effects like constipation, dehydration, fatigue, headaches, hair thinning, lightheadedness, and more.
You should never fall below 1200 calories per day for women or 1500 calories per day for men, or risk unwanted side effects or malnutrition.
How to Find the Right Deficit for You
To find the calorie deficit that’s right for you, first you must find your BMR. This is the minimum amount of calories your body needs to consume to perform the basic tasks such as breathing, walking, and talking.
When you find your BMR, simply subtract 500 to find out how many calories you need to consume to eat within a calorie deficit.
The formulas to find these numbers are based on your sex and are as follows:
BMR for males: 66 + (13.75 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) − (6.8 x age in years)
BMR for females: 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.85 x size in cm) − (4.7 x age in years)
Seem complicated? There is no need to do the hard math when there are plenty of tools available to do it for you such as this calculator. Simply enter the information and the calculator will tell you not only your BMR but how many calories you should eat for weight loss.
You might be now wondering how you keep track of your daily calories. Well, you can keep a food journal by hand, or you can use any free or paid fitness tracker such as MyFitnessPal, LoseIt!, or Noom.
Tips and Tricks
Figuring out your calorie deficit number is the easy part. Tracking your calories requires consistency and accuracy to be effective.
You don’t have to get too bogged down by the details. Many people cut calories simply by reducing their portion sizes, limiting their food intake to certain times of the day, or even by eliminating sugary drinks and high processed food from their diet.
However, we do recommend spending at least a little bit of time tracking your calories more closely, especially if you are new to weight loss. This way, you can learn how to better estimate proper portion sizes and set yourself up for sustainable changes long term.
Getting Accurate Measurements
It’s no secret that portion sizes have grown over time, especially in western or American culture. It’s called the S.A.D. diet for a reason!
The overall change in standard portions in our culture has lead to a distorted view of proper portion sizes, which contributes to our perceptions of jumbo sized portions as the norm.
This can make it really tricky to accurately estimate how much you eat in a day, with most people vastly underestimating portions by visual estimation alone.
Using tools like food scales and measuring cups can be really helpful, especially in the early days of calorie counting, and can actually help you to more accurately estimate your portions in the long term, even when you stop counting calories.
Try not to overly obsess, but do your best to be as accurate as possible when recording your food intake for the best results.
The Daily Weigh In
Your weight fluctuates by a couple of pounds everyday due to water and food intake as well as hormone fluctuations. To get a better picture of your weight, a daily weigh in helps you to see how your weight is trending over time.
Generally, you should be aiming to lose about a pound or two per week on your calorie deficit. Daily weigh ins give you the right information to adjust how much you are eating to see the results you want.
For the best results, weigh yourself at the same time of day, preferably first thing in the morning before consuming any food or drink. This will give you the most accurate measurement.
Controlling Hunger
Many people fail their calorie deficit because they find they are excessively hungry. This shouldn’t happen if you are getting the proper nutrition and consuming enough water.
To feel your best on a calorie deficit, try to limit too many refined carbohydrates, calorie dense or ultra processed food, and sugary, high calorie beverages.
Instead, opt for whole foods including grains, nuts and seeds, lean meats, fish, dairy, and plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Additionally, make sure you are prioritizing protein which is slower to digest and keeps you feeling satiated longer.
For a more thorough breakdown of staying full on a calorie deficit, check out this past blog post!
The Importance of exercise
You can’t exercise your way into a calorie deficit, but staying active does help to enhance the effects of eating properly. Additionally, muscle burns more calories at rest than fat, so by building more muscle, you can actually increase your BMR.
Exercise also helps to give you more energy, improves your heart health, lowers your cholesterol, and helps you to burn additional calories while you are working out.
Experts recommend getting at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week, or around 30 minutes per day five days per week.
Medications
New medications like GLP-1s are powerful tools to help control your appetite. These medications mimic the hormone, glucagon-like peptide 1 which is naturally secreted by your small intestine during digestion.
GLP-1s were developed to help treat diabetic patients because they stimulate insulin secretion, lowering blood sugar. They are effective appetite suppressants because they also slow stomach emptying, making you feel fuller longer.
Many people have found success using GLP-1s to control their appetite, making it easier to stay within a calorie deficit without having to rely on willpower alone.
Conclusion
For those new and experienced in the world of diet and weight loss, calorie deficits can feel confusing and even intimidating. However, eating in a calorie deficit is the only guaranteed way to lose weight.
Calories are units of energy contained in the food you eat, which your body burns to do everything from breathing to thinking to running. Extra calories that aren’t used throughout the day are stored as fat. Over time, extra calories can lead to weight gain.
To lose weight, you need to consume fewer calories than you burn so that your body is forced to burn through that stored fat.
You can achieve a calorie deficit by subtracting 500 calories from your base metabolic rate (BMR). Tracking is made simple by using calorie counting apps and tools such as scales and measuring cups.
Getting proper nutrition, tracking your weight, getting enough exercise, and even using medications that control appetite are all ways to enhance your weight loss and see results faster.
Feel free to schedule a consultation with a practitioner to learn more about how GLP-1s can help you reach your goals!
