There’s an indisputable truth about weight loss:
If you’re to lose weight, you must use more energy (calories) than you eat.
This is one of those statements which sound beautifully simple, but when you look deeper, becomes a little more complex because there are a huge amount of factors which influence the energy we eat, and the energy our bodies use.
Your appetite
What you’re eating plays a part in your appetite. While it is certainly true that you can lose weight by only eating Mars bars, as long as you’re eating less calories than you’re burning off, you’re going to be flipping starving most of the time.
The TYPE of food you’re eating
Changing the quality of your diet can naturally lead you into a calorie deficit. You can feel at least as satisfied by a real, whole food meal the same size as a processed food meal, for less than half the calories.
Plus, protein requires more energy to be digested. So, for example, if you were to exchange some of your carbohydrate calories for protein calories, you’ll naturally create a calorie deficit.
HOW your body uses the calories
Your age, your muscle mass, how hungry you were before you ate, the food you ate and even the microbes in your gut all affect how your body uses energy.
Base metabolic rate (i.e. how many calories your body needs to just stand still)
Your age, your muscle mass, your hormones, your dieting history, genes and sleep quality will all affect how much energy your body needs to just stand still.
Non-Exercise activity
The amount you move during the day affects how much energy your body needs. Keeping active (even simply ‘moving about’) will consume a surprising amount more energy than sitting still for extended periods.
Exercise
How much you move, the intensity and type of exercise all affect what calories your body needs to complete the activity
How USED you are to the exercise
Our bodies become more efficient with practice – especially with aerobic exercise. So, if you’re trying to lose weight, don’t eat back the calories your fitness tracker tells you you’ve used in exercise. Not only is it likely to be inaccurate but there is also some interesting research showing that people who use the calorie burn function on their fitness trackers actually lose less weight than those who don’t.
Sleep
Sleep is not something we often consider as affecting how much we eat, and how our body uses the energy from the food – but sleep quality deserves more importance in our lives.
This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but I hope it illustrates how different people respond to different diets and different calorie intakes.
The best news is that you can make many of these factors work in your favour – more on that next time!