I want to go over the basic underlying rule of how to lose weight. To some it may seem very basic but I didn't know about any of this when I was younger so I hope this helps somebody looking to get started. Your dietary needs can be very complex and this is very simplified just around weight loss and is not meant to be a complete diet guide. A complete diet has many components like nutritional value and personal taste and you should consult a dietician if needed. However, no matter what works best for you the basic rule of weight loss is the same.
In – Out + Generation – Consumption = Accumulation
This is the equation for a mass and energy balance. Since energy is neither created nor destroyed, for any system this equation holds true. In this case, the system will be your body and we are interested in the energy we intake and consume. Energy is commonly referred to as calories. Calories are just a unit of energy like inches and meters are units for length. The human body doesn’t spontaneously generate calories and the consumption term is accounted for in the out so we can simplify the equation to the below.
Calories In – Calories Out = Calories Accumulation
This is where the Calories In Calories Out (CICO) term comes from.
The "calories in" term is made up of the food and drink you put in your body each day. The calories out can be accounted for in two broad categories. The first is your daily activity, like walking, exercising, moving your fingers to play video games, everything you do takes calories. However, this is actually a small part of the calories you burn. For most people, the bulk of calories burned are consumed in keeping your body alive. This is called the basal metabolic rate (BMR), and it’s the energy required to keep your body functioning at rest. If all you did was lay in bed and not move, your body would still consume calories to keep your heart beating and your organs functioning. These two terms are commonly referred to as your Total Daily Energy Expenditure(TDEE).
You can search for TDEE calculator online and input your age, weight, height, and activity level to get an estimate. I would select sedentary as the activity level to start.
So looking at the equation, we have 3 possibilities.
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Calories in > Calories Out ==> Accumulation is positive
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Calories in < Calories Out ==> Accumulation is Negative
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Calories in = Calories Out ==> Accumulation is zero
Here’s the main takeaway. Over time, Anyone in a caloric deficit will lose weight, and anyone who wants to lose weight has to be in a caloric deficit.
Let’s look at the first case, where Calories In > Calories Out ==> Positive Accumulation. If you intake more calories than your body needs, that accumulated surplus is stored as glycogen or fat for future use. Your body doesn’t know when it will eat next so it wants to keep any unused energy for the future rather than waste it.
Now let’s look at the second case, where Calories in < Calories Out ==> Negative Accumulation. If you eat less calories than your body needs, the difference has to come from somewhere. Remember the calories out term is composed of your physical activity and the BMR. You already spent the calories used for any physical activity and the BMR is the energy needed to keep you alive. If that difference isn’t made up, the result is death. Death is the last thing your body wants to happen so it pulls the energy needed from your surplus, which as stated above is your fat. So again, ANYONE in a caloric deficit will lose weight, and ANYONE who wants to lose weight has to be in a caloric deficit.
How you create that caloric deficit in a sustainable way is going to depend on your personal lifestyle and needs. Some popular ways are intermittent fasting, keto, or veganism. And if any of those work for you, that’s absolutely great. Keep doing what you are doing. Each of those styles have their unique benefits for each person, but it’s important to understand the underlying rule of weight loss because it is the same for everybody.
You can follow the rules of any of those methods and still gain weight. You can fast for 16 hours or 20 hours but if you’re eating a caloric surplus in those remaining hours you will still gain weight. If you keep to a 100% strict keto diet, but you are eating a caloric surplus of those keto foods you will gain weight. You can eat 100% vegan foods, but if you eat too much of them you will gain weight. You cannot eat in a caloric deficit and gain weight. One thing I do want to mention, is that your weight will fluctuate day to day. For me, I've seen it swing by 4-5 pounds easily depending on things like when you weigh yourself, what you last ate, bloating, or any number of reasons. Try not to dwell on those too much and focus on the long term trend. Losing weight is also not the only goal of nutrition. Also eat your vegetables and mind your nutrition but that's a whole other discussion.
Personally I use a food scale, MyFitnessPal, and a scale to measure my weight each day. I would highly suggest weighing your food especially if you never have before because most people tend to underestimate the calories they are taking in. It’s also much more consistent over a long period of time. Slow long term weight loss is healthier and more sustainable than crash dieting so you need to create a slight deficit over an extended period of time. Estimating how much you eat each day without a scale means the amount you intake will fluctuate much more leading to inconsistent results. You can use your calculated TDEE as a baseline and track a slight deficit in the calories you eat and see how your weight changes over time. The calories in a calorie tracker and TDEE calculation are estimates, so if you don’t see what you are expecting try adjusting the values as needed by a few hundred calories. Just remember it takes a few weeks to see the trend through the daily fluctuations. How to best create that deficit will vary from person to person but the underlying idea is the same for anyone who wants to lose weight. I understand this can be very complex and differ from person to person but this is just from my experience of what has worked. I did try to simplify it so if you want any further detail or if you have any questions, please let me know and I’ll try my best to help.
Thanks all
TLDR; ANYONE in a caloric deficit will lose weight, and ANYONE who wants to lose weight has to be in a caloric deficit.
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