What is a calorie deficit?
A calorie deficit occurs when you burn more calories than you consume.
Your diet and physical activity levels can contribute to a calorie deficit.
“A caloric deficit can be reached by consuming fewer calories, increasing physical activity levels or both, “Most weight loss programs recommend a reduction in calories and an increase in physical activity as a sensible and, more importantly, sustainable way to promote weight loss.”
Diet: Your body gets calories through the foods and drinks you consume. Dietitians recommend eating meals rich in whole grains, vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts and seeds.
Physical activity: Your body uses calories to fuel everything from functions like breathing and digestion all the way to physical activities like exercising. The American Institute for Cancer Research suggests a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of high intensity exercise each week.
How much of a calorie deficit is needed to lose weight?
Each person has unique calorie needs. These needs are determined based on factors including age, sex, height, weight and physical activity levels.
Not everyone needs to be in a calorie deficit. To find out if a calorie deficit is right for you, first determine if your weight falls into a healthy range. This can be done by speaking with your doctor or using at-home tools like a Body Mass Index (BMI) calculator or by measuring your waist circumference.
If your results fall outside of the healthy range and you’d like to lose weight, general calorie deficit recommendations suggest that eating 500 fewer calories per day may help with weight loss. For a more personalized recommendation, we recommends the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Body Weight Planner. This free online tool can tell you how many daily calories are needed to maintain your current weight, as well as how many are needed to reach your goal weight.
Calorie recommendations change based on weight. This means that the calorie deficit you aim for when you start losing weight will change as you make progress.
This is the general guidance that says eating 3,500 fewer calories per week leads to a pound of weight loss isn’t necessarily true – at least long-term!
Weight reduction leads to a change in energy needs. Energy balance is dynamic and leads to change with weight loss,
The size of a calorie deficit can also affect how quickly you will lose weight, Tilton notes. For example, a 100-calorie deficit will result in a slower weight-loss process than, say, a 500-calorie deficit. But together with healthy changes like increased physical activity levels, even a small calorie deficit can make an impact over time.
DID YOU KNOW THE HEALTHY CHEF DOES THIS ALL FOR YOU?
