What is a calorie deficit?
A calorie deficit is when you consume fewer calories than you burn. A calorie is a unit of energy, with 1 cal = 4.184 joules. Our body receives energy from what we eat and drink and spends this energy to perform every function essential to keep us alive, like breathing, digestion, blood circulation, etc. We also spend energy on every physical activity that we perform. We can put ourselves into a calorie deficit by providing our body with fewer calories than it needs to support these activities.
Calorie deficit to lose weight
By maintaining a calorie deficit for the long term, you can lose weight. Now, you must be wondering how to be in a calorie deficit; the answer is simple. There are only two ways to maintain a calorie deficit:
- Eating fewer calories than what you burn; and
- Burning more calories than you eat.
It is always recommended that you combine both of the above for healthy weight loss. To calculate how much calories you burn in different activities, check out the calories burned calculator.
Remember that 1 pound (0.45 kg) of fat is about 3,500 calories. Hence, to lose 1 pound of fat, you need to create a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories. This means that to lose 1 pound per week, you should consume 3500 / 7 = 500 calories less than the number of calories your body needs per day. To lose weight without significantly affecting your energy levels, you should aim for a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day.
How to calculate a calorie deficit?
The formula for calculating a calorie deficit is:
In the above equation, Calorie In refers to the number of calories that we consume every day, either through food or drink. The term Calorie Out is the number of calories that our body needs to maintain our current weight and activity levels.
If Calorie Out > Calorie In, you are in a calorie deficit, and you would lose weight. If it is the other way around, i.e., Calorie Out < Calorie In, you are in a calorie surplus, and you will gain weight.
Predicting weight loss in a calorie deficit - Is it really that simple?
The equation sounds simple enough, and one may think that just by eating very few calories, one can maintain a calorie deficit and lose weight. But it is not so. For starters, if you eat too few calories, you will always feel hungry and tired. It will also slow down your metabolism and make losing weight difficult. You may start losing muscle mass, which is not good for your health.
Another crucial point is that everyone responds to a diet change differently, depending upon their metabolic health. So it is very difficult to predict individual weight-loss results accurately. A simple trick is to figure out how many calories you burn every day and follow a calorie deficit of 300 to 500 calories for a healthy weight loss.
How to eat in a calorie deficit?
It is vital to pay attention to what we eat or drink every day to create a calorie deficit. This doesn’t mean that we should start depriving ourselves of food. We will only end up feeling miserable, hungry, and lethargic. Therefore, we should try to eat food that is nutrient-rich but low in calories.
A healthy diet should include:
- Fruits and vegetables;
- Plenty of protein such as eggs, legumes, nuts, seafood, or dairy products;
- Whole grains; and
- Healthy fat sources such as olive oil, nuts, etc.
In addition, we can also follow certain recommendations to reduce the calorie content of our meals:
- Avoid consuming too much sugar and trans fats;
- Increasing water intake;
- Eating more fiber; and
- Switching high-calorie foods with lower-calorie food.