All successful weight loss programs rely on one common denominator; calorie restriction.
What is calorie restriction? Calorie restriction is an effort to reduce the amount of calories one consumes in order for the body to achieve a negative energy balance. This is simply a person reducing food consumption to the point that they are burning more energy than they are consuming. The body is then forced to use stored fuel (muscle tissue, glycogen and body fat) in order to survive. The burning of these stored fuels is cause of the weight loss phenomenon.
How does a person achieve this negative energy balance through calorie restriction? First a person must have an idea on what a calorie is. A calorie is a measure of heat. Food is the fuel our body needs to generate heat. If the body is not getting enough fuel from food consumption then the fuel must be found elsewhere. That fuel is found in our body fat.
The best analogy for this process is gasoline and an automobile. Cars run on gasoline. Without gasoline, a car is useless. We drive our car and fill up with gasoline when we are getting low on fuel.
What would happen if we put 18 gallons on gas in our car if we only burned 16 gallons? We would have extra gas left over. That extra gas has to go somewhere so it goes into storage for when we only have 14 gallons available but we need 16 gallons.
What would happen if we never tapped into our gas reserves? The surplus would keep growing and growing causing a need for larger storage tanks.
The human body works in the exact same way. The surplus fuel (food) is turned into stored energy (body fat) and the only way to reduce how much fuel is stored in reserve is to limit new consumption of fuel (food). This is the only way that the human body can body fat. A caloric deficit must be established so stored energy (body fat) can be burned to keep us alive.
How is a calorie deficit achieved? The simplest answer is to eat a fewer number of calories then it takes to fuel your basal metabolic rate. The BMR (basal metabolic rate) is the measure of energy a person needs to subsist. People can figure out their BMR by using any of the numerous BMR calculators that can be found online.
Once the BMR is calculated a person can then have a goal to shot for. If the BMR is 2500 calories a day, they a person should shoot to try to eat fewer the 2500 calories a day for a consistent period of time.
How can a person effectively create a caloric deficit? Part 2 of this article will address this issue.
W.S. Evans (Bill) is one of the millions of people who have battled a life long weight problem. Bill has a passion for helping others battle their weight problems by sharing what he has learned with his struggles with obesity. Bill’s struggle can be viewed on his blog called “My next 60 pounds”. Bill’s blog can be found at http://billgetsfit.blogspot.com.
Tags: heat food, Food energy, Food and drink, storage tanks, weight loss programsFiled under: Calorie Restriction
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I eat 500 cals a day and I feel like crap all the time. I feel like I might faint and I can’t think straight. I’m not trying to restrict my calories but it’s all I can do at the moment. How does anyone feel good with calorie restriction?
i would expect more muscle definition for how low body fat you have
Great Video On The Subject Of Calorie Restriction*****5/5*****
Diet food is just fake crud. In my opinion that stuffs more dangerous than regular food…
proclus says Celestrialism: GNU-Darwin Posts about calorie restriction and resveratrol the mechanism
Do you have a strenuous workout the day before your weighin?
I was losing fine 1.8 lb/week until for a couple of weeks the weight loss reversed and I gained weight each week, even without eating all my weekly points and none of my activity points. I thought something was screwy since I was sure I had a calorie deficit.
Then this Saturday at WI I was down 4.4 lbs, so still on track. But there's no way to really lose 4.4 lbs of body weight in a week. That's over 15,000 calorie deficit in a week and I didnt' starve myself or run a marathon.
Then I realized I hadn't worked out the day before WI, and all the previous weeks I had a strenuous evening workout til 10pm the night before (with WI at 7am)
I'm quite sure weight fluctuated with water retention and salt during and immediately after exercise.
Funny isn't it, though, that the way the scales move determine our mental state, even if in fact we're doing just fine.
keep at it
YESS!! Calorie Deficit is the secret – it’s the key!
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