How to lose body fat.
Losing body fat comes down to one thing – creating a calorie deficit.
What is a calorie deficit?
The total amount of energy you need to use every day will vary – largely depending on your actions on that day, we measure this energy in calories.
A calorie estimates the amount of energy it takes to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree.
To create a calorie deficit we need to either burn more calories than we consume and we can achieve this by reducing calories through the food and drinks we consume or through increasing our movement or a combination of both.
The energy you need day to day is variable but the things that influence are
• sex
• age
• weight
• movement levels
• FFM – how much fat free mass you have. research shows a 1lb of muscle burns 10 calories per day while fat burns 2-3 calories per lb.
The calories you need per day is known as your TDEE – your total daily energy expenditure.
Things we can do to affect this is the food we eat
TEF – Thermic effect of food. we need to digest food and this takes energy, however not all food is absorbed in the same way.
Roughly 10 % of our TDEE (total energy expenditure) is made up from TEF the total amount you use can be increased through high protein – not only doesn’t it repair and build muscle it keeps you fuller and less prone to crave as sugar and carbs can but it will also help you burn more so absorbing less total calories.
Protein – 20-30 % of the 4 cals isn’t absorbed.
Fat 0-3% of the 9 cals
carbs 5-10% of the 4 cals
Am I convincing you to eat protein yet?
Then…
NEAT and EAT
NEAT – none exercise activity thermogenesis
Eat – exercise thermogenesis
So movement caused by your job perhaps or children and then the targeted exercise or walks we take, mountains we climb!
We dont want to have a calorie deficit too high as we will naturally adapt to the deficit over time, moving less, maybe your steps will drop, your fiddle less
The level of the hormone ghrelin will increase and youll feel hungry and a urge to eat more, leptin levels will also drop – the hormone stored in fat cells to signal your full.
As leptin drops with weight loss sometimes leptin signals can become unclear, this happens as your body is trying to keep you alive and ensure you dont strave.
Historically this is what helped drive evolution.
When creating a calorie deficit aim to move more and keep a close eye on your calories either by tracking foods or by limiting the amount of high calorie foods and processed foods you consume.
Start with 10 % deficit on your tdee and maintain it, be consistent with your exercise sessions and prioritise protein while keeping your movement levels up. Aim for around 7-10,000 steps.
remember your estimated calories can be used through out the week as na average so dont feel you have to stick to those calories if you have a event on or if you make some sub optimal choices with food.
if you want to track download my fitness pal and enter the calories from your tdee not your BMR.
Your resting metabolic rate is the amount of calories you burn at rest your bmr is the functions your body needs to perform – breathing, digesting, growing hair and skin etc
If your working out your calories (silver members) – your maintenance level calories – this is your tdee then don’t go off your BMR but off your TDEE- add in how much you move from the calculator and then come to the figure that is closest to your daily movement levels and don’t add on extra calories to consume through exercise you do.
Remember that consistency gives the biggest return
DONT just use the scales
Use photos
How you feel in clothes
Measurements
Your sleep
Your mindset
include Performance led goals
and try and enjoy the process rather than being too.restrictive on trying to rush to the destination.
if you resent the process you will inevitably give up
slow progress is always progress
Include sustainable and achievable actions and remember imperfect action rather than trying to be completely perfect will bring the best results
B xx
