If you've found yourself here, you've likely heard:
"All you have to do to lose weight is eat in a calorie deficit"
But what does that mean! What do I eat? How much do I eat? Does the quality of my calories matter?
I often see the usage of "calorie deficit" as a "sexy" term that fitness influencers use without explaining what it means or how to achieve it.
Whether you're at the beginning of your fitness journey, an experienced exerciser or stuck at a plateau wondering how you can tweak your nutrition to lose the last few pounds....This is for you!
Maintenance Calories
First, I want you to understand the concept of maintenance calories. Maintenance calories are the amount of calories it takes for you to maintain your current body weight and your current activity level.
The formula to calculate your maintenance calories can be expressed as:
REE x AEE = TEE
1. REE = Resting Energy Expenditure
This number is the amount of calories you need to consume to wake up and sit on the couch, nothing else. According to The University of Arizona, there are two formulas that you can use to calculate this number. I have listed the more accurate formula for both females and males below:
REE Formula for Females
655.1 + 9.65(weight in kg) + 1.84(height in cm) – 4.68(age in years)
REE Formula for Males
66.47 + 13.75(weight in kg) + 5(height in cm) – 6.76(age in years)
2. AEE = Activity Energy Expenditure
This number is your activity level. See the chart below to figure out which one best suits you.
Chart Source: CanFitPro HEWL Manual
3. TEE = Total Energy Expenditure
Think of this as synonymous with maintenance calories. This number is the total amount of energy (calories) that you need to maintain your current weight and fuel your current activity level.
The product of REE and AEE will give you your maintenance calories (TEE).
Example Calculating TEE
REE x AEE = TEE
Calculating REE first (Female)
Client A is 135 lbs, 168cm tall and 28 years old
655.1 + 9.65(weight in kg) + 1.84(height in cm) – 4.68(age in years) = REE
655.1 + 9.65(61) + 1.84(168) – 4.68(28)= 1421
REE = 1421 calories
Choosing AEE (Female)
Client A works in an office, does moderate exercise = 1.5 Activity Level
REE x AEE = TEE
1421 calories x 1.5 = 2131 calories
This client's TEE is 2131 calories. This means that Client A would require 2131 to maintain her specific weight.
Now that we know how to calculate maintenance calories, I want to highlight that you should use this as a guideline rather than the end-all-be all calculation. I'll explain why in the next section.
Calorie Deficit - Definition
In simple terms, a calorie deficit is when you eat less calories than your maintenance calories. The issue with this definition of a calorie deficit is that it does not take into account several factors that affect your weight. This list includes, but is not limited to:
Whether you are on your period;
How efficient your digestion is; and
The types of food you eat and the level that those foods are processed.
Again, take the TEE formula with a grain of salt.
How to Eat in a Calorie Deficit
In order to make this habit long lasting, my suggestion is to make incremental changes. This means, subtracting 100-200 calories at a time instead of drastically subtracting a large sum of calories (500+ calories).
Using the Example Above
Scenario #1
Client A's maintenance calories = 2131
Client A would like to lose 10 lbs.
Client A decides to cut 500 calories from her maintenance calories to speed up the process.
Client A is not used to eating 1631 calories, feels heavily restricted and hungry.
Client A is unable to stick to the 1631 calories due to feeling hungry and heavily restricted.
Client A gives up on her calorie deficit.
Scenario #2
Client A's maintenance calories = 2131.
Client A would like to lose 10 lbs.
Client A decides to cut 100 calories from her maintenance calories for two weeks before re-evaluating.
Client A does not feel restricted because 100 calories ends up being a small amount of food.
Client A's eating habits have not changed much and she is able to consistently eat 2031 calories.
After two weeks, Client A has been successful eating 2031 calories and is able to cut another 150 calories bringing her caloric intake to 1881 calories.
Incremental changes are more sustainable than drastic changes because they minimally impede on your life. If you make a 1% change everyday, you are more likely to sustain that change in comparison to if you were to make a 20% change every day.
Calorie deficits are useless if you don't implement them in your lifestyle long enough. So, what's the sense of doing all this extra calculating if it does not last long enough in your day to day life for you to reap the benefits?
Since you've come this far, I have some tips for you! If you don't want to use fancy calculations to find the sum of calories that you need to eat in a deficit, here are two easy tips to utilize in the event that you would prefer not to mathematically calculate your calories:
Tip #1
Track your calories for 5-7 days using an app (I use MyFitnessPal, this is not sponsored, but if anyone from MFP is reading this... Feel free to slide into my DMs). At the end of the 5-7 days (making sure you include at least 1 weekend day), take the average number of calories and start subtracting 100-200 calories at a time. Here's an example:
Example
Saturday - 2500 calories
Monday - 2000 calories
Tuesday - 1900 calories
Wednesday - 2100 calories
Thursday - 2400 calories
Friday - 2800 calories
Sunday - 2300 calories
Total calories for the week = 16,000
Divide 16,000 by 7 days = This person consumed an average of 2285 calories a day
Now that we have a base number for the week, to implement a calorie deficit, you would need to eat less than this number. In order to make this way of eating sustainable, think incremental changes. So how do you do that? Start off by subtracting 100-200 calories and staying there for 2-3 weeks and re-evaluating and continuing to subtract if you are able to stay consistent for 2-3 weeks.
Tip #2
The 1-2-3 method for consuming fruits and vegetables
1 serving at breakfast
2 servings at lunch
3 servings at dinner
Fruit and veggies are generally lower calories than higher calorie counterparts. They are also easier to digest than their processed counterparts.
Example
Breakfast: Instead of having 1 cup of cereal, you may have 1/2 cup and add a sliced banana
Lunch & Dinner: Instead of having a plate with 1/2 rice and 1/2 meat, you may have a plate with 1/3 rice, 1/3, veg, 1/3 meat
TL;DR
Maintenance calories are the amount of calories you must consume to support your current weight and activity level
You can calculate maintenance calories using the formula as REE x AEE = TEE
TEE = Maintenance calories
The formula for TEE is not absolute as it does not take a variety of factors into account (including your menstrual cycle, how your body interacts with different food etc.). Treat it as a guideline.
You can use the formula for REE and the chart for Activity Factor and multiply the product to arrive at your maintenance calories (TEE).
Eating less than your TEE (or maintenance calories) = weight loss
Eating more than your TEE (or maintenance calories) = weight gain
If you don't want to calculate your maintenance calories there are two suggestions: (1) tracking your calories for 5-7 days and taking the average amount of calories and subtracting calories from there (2) using the 1-2-3 method when consuming fruit & veggies.
That's it from me for now,
Nicole Erica.
References
McDonald, R. (Ed.). (2013). Healthy Eating & Weight Loss. Toronto, ON.
Maurer, J. (2005, July 01). Calories Count - Tips for Healthy Weight Management. Retrieved from https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/146469
The University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. (2006). Calorie Need
Estimates. Retrieved from http://www.cals.arizona.edu/pubs/health/az1390.pdf
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