Energy Balance:
Energy In vs Energy Out
More in than out? Gain
More out than in? Lose
Everywhere you look there's different advice on losing fat.
You try one, fail, get overwhelmed and end up worse than where you started.
Let's breakdown the science behind weight loss so you can understand WHY certain things may work.
(Thread)
Energy Balance:
Energy In vs Energy Out
More in than out? Gain
More out than in? Lose
Here are 3 factors that contribute to your energy in and how to manipulate them for weight loss.
Your appetite obviously influences your intake, and we could go deep into Leptin, Ghrelin and many more...but here are some high level actionable tips.
A massive influence here is going to be CHEWING your food, and primarily eating whole, unprocessed foods.
This one seems obvious. This is the amount of food you eat.
However, this can easily be impacted by lack of sleep, routine, planning, etc.
A great starting point for calories is 12 kcal per pound of body weight.
Get 1 g per pound of body weight in protein as well.
This would be 200g, or 800 kcal.
Weigh yourself often, and adjust down when weight loss stalls.
Yes, you can eat food that is not absorbed.
Many factors influence food absorption, including how your food is cooked, your gut, and others.
We won't go too deep here, as for the most part manipulating this won't have a massive effect.
A big mistake I commonly see is cutting calories when energy out is already extremely low.
This is a recipe for disaster.
Get your activity level up before dropping calories.
Here are the 4 factors in energy out.
This is your energy burned at rest, literally just to keep your body functions going.
This will increase with more weight, and decrease with less weight.
The more MUSCLE you have, the higher this will be.....
This is another case for re-comping at your current weight....if you put on muscle and lose fat, you can eat more food just because you are burning more at rest.
This is your physical activity throughout the day, other than deliberate exercise.
Unless you're a competitive endurance athlete....this is MUCH HIGHER than your exercise calories burned.
Many do not realize they're getting less than 4,000 steps on the regular...no wonder they feel like shit.
Check my other threads on how to manipulate this, but it involves walking more and you will find many other benefits from this.
From an energy out standpoint, this is not as effective as many would hope it would be.
Your time in the gym should be spent lifting weights, and only if you have a solid foundation here should you move on to deliberate cardio.
By all means, hit it up for these benefits, which you can get at just 1-2 sessions a week...but PLEASE get your weight training in.
Yes, the makeup of your food determines how many calories are burned digesting it.
First and foremost, the macronutrient profile changes the caloric burn while digesting them (known as the Thermic Effect of Food, or TEF):
Carbohydrate - 5-15%
Fat - 0-5%
This means for every 100 calories of protein you consume...you BURN 20-30 calories digesting it.
Yet another reason to prioritize protein....it's pretty damn hard to gain weight from overconsumption of it.
The makeup of highly processed foods make it pretty damn easy to digest, leading to less calories out.
Yet another case for eating whole, unprocessed foods.
The best approach?
Moderately attack all of these factors.
- Walk more (more NEAT, energy out)
- Eat more whole foods (appetite, fullness, digestion, TEF)
- lifting weights (higher RMR, more calories out)
- enough protein (higher TEF, more volume leading to lower appetite)
