Calorie deficit weight loss calculator: how to use
If you’re like most people, you’re concerned about your overall health.
Maybe you just want to lose weight. Perhaps you’re trying to prevent conditions such as heart disease, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. You may even be trying to eat better in order to treat an existing condition, such as diabetes.
This simple Calorie deficit weight loss calculator can help you to figure out how the caloric deficit may work for you.
What is a balanced diet?
Balance is what a healthy body is all about. Every system within your body constantly strives for balance, and it’s this balance that keeps your health stable and your systems functioning.
So what exactly is a balanced diet? And how using this Calorie Deficit Weight Loss Calculator can help you?
There’s no one perfect diet, but a balanced diet is one that includes a variety of foods from each basic food group every day. Eating different foods from each food group guarantees you’re getting adequate carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals.
A balanced diet also infers that energy needs are balanced with physical activity; that is, you take in the exact amount of calories your body needs to function and maintain a healthy weight.
Of course, most of us can’t eat perfectly at every meal of every day. To really succeed in achieving a balanced diet, consider your diet throughout the week, not necessarily at only one meal.
Obesity is associated with risk factors for several diseases, including heart disease and diabetes. Being overweight or obese may also aggravate your joint health and either hasten or worsen arthritis. It can also affect high blood pressure.
Body Mass Index (BMI)
The current standard for determining healthy body weights is the Body Mass Index (BMI).
BMI measures your overall “fatness” and is a better indicator of health than simply body weight for one’s height.
You should strive for a normal BMI, valued between 19 and 24.
A BMI of 25 to 29 indicates you’re overweight, and a BMI of 30 or higher indicates you’re obese. Check with your doctor or registered dietitian to determine what a healthy weight is for you.
To lose weight, you need to reduce your total calorie intake.
For example, “eating 500 calories less than your usual intake a day will promote the loss of about 1/2-1pound per week”*. – Mayo Clinic
* For individuals without health issues
How you can eat less easy
- Check out the calories in common foods that you eat each week to determine where you can make a change or reduce portion sizes.
- Include fiber in your diet. Fiber (found in fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, and foods made with whole grains) provides denseness without calories, meaning you can actually eat a bit more without upping your calorie intake. Shoot for 3 grams of fiber or more per serving.
- Add one to two vegetable servings to your diet daily. Have carrots available to snack on, slice an apple, or eat a banana. You’ll be surprised how easy this is to do if you plan on it.
- Drink more water.
- Analyze your eating behaviors to see whether any of them are possibly sabotaging your weight-loss efforts. Skipping meals, avoiding food groups, and eating when you’re stressed or bored can all hinder weight loss.
- Get support. If you need to lose weight, find a professional to help you do it. Talk to your doctor about consulting a registered dietitian or certified personal trainer.
- Calculate your optimal calorie deficit for weight loss using the calorie deficit weight loss calculator
THE CALORIC REDUCTION MISTAKE.
If you’re like most people, you’re concerned about your overall health. Maybe you just want to lose weight. Perhaps you’re trying to prevent conditions such as heart disease, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. You may even be trying to eat better in order to treat an existing condition, such as diabetes.
We bet you’re no stranger to the phrase balanced diet. However, do you have any idea what that phrase really means? . It also features tips for healthy eating when dining out so you can find balance even at your favorite restaurant.
Weigh yourself only one day per week. Stay on the same day each week, weighing in approximately the same time, without clothing. Record your weight on the weekly weigh-in log. Suppose after one to two weeks, you are not losing the desired amount of weight despite your best efforts. You can either step down to the next-lower calorie level and its associated menu, increase physical activity or do both.
WHAT IS A calorie?
A calorie is simply a unit of energy. Different foods are burned in a laboratory, and the amount of heat released is measured to determine the caloric value of that food. All the foods we eat contain calories. Food first enters the stomach, where it is mixed with stomach acid and slowly released into the small intestine. Nutrients are extracted throughout the journey through the small and large intestines. What remains is excreted as a stool. Proteins are broken down into their building blocks, amino acids. These are used to build and repair the body’s tissues, and the excess is stored. Fats are directly absorbed into the body. Carbohydrates are broken down into their building blocks, sugars. Proteins, fats, and carbohydrates all provide caloric energy for the body but differ greatly in their metabolic processing.
THE CALORIE-REDUCTION ERROR
Here is a very interesting point of view about the calorie counting theory from Dr. JASON FUNG. He is an author of a book titled The Obesity Code: UNLOCKING THE SECRETS OF WEIGHT LOSS.
In trying to understand the underlying cause of obesity Dr. Fung established the Intensive Dietary Management Clinic in Toronto, Canada. The conventional view of obesity as a caloric imbalance did not make sense, – he says.
The calorie reduction had been prescribed for the last fifty years with startling ineffectiveness.
Reading books on nutrition was no help. That was mostly a game of “he said, she said,” with many quoting “authoritative” doctors.
For example, Dr. Dean Ornish says that dietary fat is bad and carbohydrates are good. He is a respected doctor, so we should listen to him. But Dr. Robert Atkins said dietary fat is good and carbohydrates are bad. He was also a respected doctor, so we should listen to him.
Who is right? Who is wrong?
TRADITIONALLY, a person’s weight could be predicted by a simple equation: Calories In – Calories Out = Body Fat
This key equation perpetrates what Dr.Fung calls calorie deception. It is dangerous precisely because it appears so simple and intuitive. But what you need to understand is that many false assumptions are built in.
Assumption 1: Calories In and Calories Out are independent of each other
THIS ASSUMPTION IS a crucial mistake. Caloric intake and expenditure are intimately dependent variables. Decreasing Calories In triggers a decrease in Calories Out. A 30 percent reduction in caloric intake results in a 30 percent decrease in caloric expenditure. The end result is minimal weight loss.
Assumption 2: Basal metabolic rate is stable
WE OBSESS ABOUT caloric intake with barely a thought for caloric expenditure, except for exercise. Measuring caloric intake is simple, but measuring the body’s total energy expenditure is complicated. Therefore, the simple but completely erroneous assumption is made that energy expenditure remains constant except for exercise. Total energy expenditure is the sum of basal metabolic rate, the thermogenic effect of food, nonexercise activity thermogenesis, excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, and exercise. The total energy expenditure can go up or down by as much as 50 percent, depending upon caloric intake as well as other factors.
Assumption 3: We control Calories In
We think eating is our conscious decision and we can follow any crazy diet plan we want to.
But our hormonal system influences the decision of when to eat and when to stop, thanks to the feeling of hunger.
We consciously choose to eat in response to hunger signals that are heavily mediated by hormones.
We consciously stop eating when the body sends satiety (fullness) signals, which are largely mediated by hormones.
For example, the smell of fried food makes you feel hungry at lunchtime. However, if you’ve just eaten a large buffet, the same smells can make you feel slightly nauseous. The smells are the same.
The decision to eat or not mainly depends on hormones.
Our body has a complex system that determines whether we are or not.
The regulation of body fat is under automatic control, as is breathing. We don’t consciously remind ourselves to breathe and we don’t remind our hearts to beat.
Because hormones control both calories consumed and expended, obesity is a hormonal disorder, not a caloric disorder.
Assumption 4: Fat stores are essentially unregulated
EVERY SINGLE SYSTEM in the body is regulated.
Growth in height is regulated by growth hormone.
Blood sugars are regulated by the hormones insulin and glucagon, among others.
Sexual maturation is regulated by testosterone and estrogen.
Body temperature is regulated by a thyroid-stimulating hormone and free thyroxine.
The list is endless.
We are asked to believe, however, that the growth of fat cells is essentially unregulated.
The simple act of eating, without any interference from any hormones, will result in fat growth. Extra calories are dumped into fat cells like doorknobs into a sack. This assumption has already been proven false. New hormonal pathways in the regulation of fat growth are being discovered all the time.
Leptin is the best-known hormone regulating fat growth, but adiponectin, hormone-sensitive lipase, lipoprotein lipase and adipose triglyceride lipase may all play important roles.
If hormones regulate fat growth, then obesity is a hormonal, not a caloric disorder.
Assumption 5: A calorie is a calorie
THIS ASSUMPTION IS the most dangerous of all. It’s obviously true. Just like a dog is a dog or a desk is a desk.
There are many different kinds of dogs and desks.
However, the real issue is this: Are all calories equally likely to cause fat gain?
“A calorie is a calorie” implies that the only important variable in weight gain is the total caloric intake, and thus, all foods can be reduced to their caloric energy.
But does a calorie of olive oil cause the same metabolic response as a calorie of sugar?
The answer is, obviously, no.
These two foods have many easily measurable differences. Sugar will increase the blood glucose level and provoke an insulin response from the pancreas. Olive oil will not. When olive oil is absorbed by the small intestine and transported to the liver, there is no significant increase in blood glucose or insulin.
The two different foods evoke vastly different metabolic and hormonal responses.
These five assumptions—the key assumptions in the calorie reduction theory of weight loss—have all been proved false. All calories are not equally likely to cause weight gain. The entire caloric obsession was a fifty-year dead end. So we must begin again. What causes weight gain?
Caloric reduction extreme experiment
It’s easy to study calorie reduction.
Take some people, let them eat less, watch them lose weight, and live happily ever after.
Bingo!
The case is closed.
Now you can call the Nobel committee.
Eat less, move more” is the cure for obesity, and cutting calories is really the best way to lose weight.
Luckily for us, such studies have already been done.
A detailed study of total energy expenditure under conditions of reduced caloric intake was done in 1919 at the Carnegie Institute of Washington. Volunteers consumed “semi-starvation” diets of 1400 to 2100 calories per day, an amount calculated to be approximately 30 percent lower than their usual intake.
The question was whether total energy expenditure (Calories Out) decreases in response to caloric reduction (Calories In).
What happened?
The participants experienced a whopping 30 percent decrease in total energy expenditure, from an initial caloric expenditure of roughly 3000 calories to approximately 1950 calories. Even nearly 100 years ago, it was clear that Calories Out are highly dependent on Calories In. A 30 percent reduction in caloric intake resulted in a nearly identical 30 percent reduction in caloric expenditure. The energy budget is balanced. The First Law of Thermodynamics is not broken.
Let’s figure out what was happening here.
All body functions that require energy experienced an immediate, across-the-board 30 percent reduction, which wrought complete havoc.
Calories are needed to heat the body.
Fewer calories were available, so body heat was reduced.
Result: constant feeling of cold.
Calories are needed for the heart to pump blood.
Fewer calories were available, so the pump slowed down.
Result: heart rate and stroke volume decrease.
Calories are needed to maintain blood pressure.
Fewer calories were available, so the body turned the pressure down.
Result: blood pressure decreased.
Calories are needed for brain function, as the brain is very metabolically active.
Fewer calories were available, so cognition was reduced.
Result: lethargy and inability to concentrate.
Calories are needed to move the body.
Fewer calories were available, so movement was reduced.
Result: weakness during physical activity.
Calories are needed to replace hair and nails.
Fewer calories were available, so hair and nails were not replaced.
Result: brittle nails and hair loss.
The body reacts in this way—by reducing energy expenditure—because the body is smart and doesn’t want to die.
Calculation of moderate and vigorous activity
Understanding your physical activity level will help you more efficiently use the Calorie deficit weight loss calculator.
Moderate: While performing the physical activity, if your breathing and heart rates are noticeably faster, but you can still carry on a conversation — it’s probably moderately intense. Examples include:
- Walking briskly (a 15-minute mile).
- Light yard work (raking/bagging leaves or using a lawn mower).
- Light snow shoveling.
- Actively playing with children.
- Biking at a casual pace.
Vigorous: Your heart rate is increased substantially and you are breathing too hard and fast to have a conversation, it’s probably vigorously intense. Examples include—
- Jogging/running.
- Swimming laps.
- Rollerblading/inline skating at a brisk pace.
- Cross-country skiing.
- Most competitive sports (football, basketball, or soccer).
- Jumping rope.
from here
FAQs for Calorie Deficit Weight Loss Calculator: How to Use It
Question: What is the Calorie Deficit Weight Loss Calculator?
The Calorie Deficit Weight Loss Calculator is a simple tool that helps you determine the caloric deficit needed to achieve your weight loss goals. It takes into account your current weight, activity level, and desired rate of weight loss to calculate the optimal calorie deficit.
Question: How does a balanced diet contribute to weight loss?
A balanced diet ensures that you consume a variety of foods from different food groups, providing your body with essential nutrients while maintaining a healthy weight. By using the Calorie Deficit Weight Loss Calculator alongside a balanced diet, you can ensure that you’re getting the right amount of calories to support your weight loss journey.
Question: How does the Body Mass Index (BMI) affect weight loss?
BMI is a measure of body fat based on your height and weight. It provides a guideline for determining a healthy weight range. By using the Calorie Deficit Weight Loss Calculator in conjunction with your BMI, you can set realistic weight loss goals and track your progress effectively.
Question: Why is the calorie reduction approach not as effective as commonly believed?
The conventional belief that reducing calorie intake leads to weight loss overlooks crucial factors. Calories in and calories out are not independent of each other, and the assumption that basal metabolic rate remains stable is flawed. Our hormonal system plays a significant role in determining hunger and satiety signals, and fat storage is regulated by various hormones. Furthermore, not all calories are equal in terms of their metabolic and hormonal responses.
Question: How does the Calorie Deficit Weight Loss Calculator address these misconceptions?
The Calorie Deficit Weight Loss Calculator takes into account the interdependence of caloric intake and expenditure, as well as the hormonal influences on weight regulation. It helps you understand that weight loss is more than a simple calories in versus calories out equation, and encourages a holistic approach to achieving sustainable weight loss.
Question: How can I incorporate healthier eating habits into my routine?
To make eating less easier, you can start by examining the calorie content of common foods you consume and finding opportunities to make healthier choices or adjust portion sizes. Increasing your fiber intake through fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes can provide a sense of fullness without excess calories. Adding more vegetables to your meals, staying hydrated by drinking water, and being mindful of eating behaviors that may hinder weight loss are also effective strategies.
Question: Should I seek professional guidance for weight loss?
If you need to lose weight, it can be beneficial to consult a healthcare professional, such as a doctor or a registered dietitian. They can provide personalized guidance, create a tailored plan based on your specific needs, and offer support throughout your weight loss journey.
Question: How can I determine the optimal calorie deficit for weight loss?
By using the Calorie Deficit Weight Loss Calculator, you can calculate the optimal calorie deficit based on your individual factors such as weight, activity level, and desired rate of weight loss. This personalized approach ensures that you are creating a sustainable and effective plan for achieving your weight loss goals.
Question: What should I consider when selecting physical activities?
Understanding your physical activity level is essential for accurate calculations with the Calorie Deficit Weight Loss Calculator. Moderate activities, such as brisk walking or light yard work, should elevate your heart and breathing rates, but still allow for conversation. Vigorous activities, such as running or swimming laps, significantly increase heart rate and make conversation difficult. By accurately assessing your activity level, you can estimate the number of calories burned during exercise and adjust your caloric deficit accordingly.
Question:How can the Calorie Deficit Weight Loss Calculator help me achieve my weight loss goals emotionally?
The Calorie Deficit Weight Loss Calculator is here to support you every step of the way, not just physically, but emotionally too! It understands that embarking on a weight loss journey can be challenging, and it’s normal to experience a range of emotions along the path to your goals.
First and foremost, the calculator helps you set realistic and attainable weight loss targets. By providing you with a personalized calorie deficit, it ensures that you’re not overwhelmed or pushing yourself too hard. This approach allows you to make progress at a pace that feels comfortable for you, alleviating the stress and pressure often associated with weight loss.
As you use the calculator to track your progress, you’ll see the numbers change in real-time. Witnessing your efforts pay off can be incredibly motivating and empowering. Each pound lost becomes a triumph, boosting your self-confidence and reinforcing your belief in your ability to achieve your goals. Remember, you’re capable of amazing things, and the calculator is here to remind you of that!.
Healthy Eating Made Simple: A Calorie Deficit Meal Plan for Women
Calorie Deficit Without Sacrificing Flavor: 6 Scrumptious Meals to Try Today
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- Griffith R, Lluberas R, Luhrmann M. Gluttony in England? Long-term change in diet. The Institute for Fiscal Studies. 2013. Available from: ifs.org.uk/bns/bn142.pdf. Accessed 2015 Apr 26.
- Kolata G. In dieting, magic isn’t a substitute for science. New York Times [Internet]. 2012 Jul 9. Available from: nytimes.com/2012/07/10/health/nutrition/q-and-a-are-high-protein-low-carb-dietseffective.html?_r=0. Accessed 2015 Apr 8.
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