How to tilt the calorie balance to favor weight loss

Creating a calorie deficit is the single most important step to achieve weight loss. What is calorie deficit? In short, eat less than what you burn. But wait, you say, what’s new about that?? I’ve been dieting for as long as I remember, without an ounce of a difference in my weight!!

While it is true that “dieting” has received quite a bit of negative publicity lately, it is undeniable that the first step toward losing weight has to be in the kitchen and your plate. Let us then consider the basic principles of calorie deficit.

Basic principles

There are three main points to consider when we talk about calories balance. Firstly, the total energy consumed at rest (TER). This is the calorie burn that happens as we go about our every day routine – as we sleep, sit, eat, walk and such. Second, we consider the amount of intentional physical activity we do – walking, jogging, climbing – in short – Exercise. Thirdly, of course, is what and how much we eat and drink. The more we eat the more calories we consume (duh!). The effect of what we eat is more nuanced and I’ll expand on that later.

So, to boil it down: Total calories burnt = 1 + 2. Total calories consumed = 3. Therefore, 1 + 2 should be greater than 3. That will lead to weight loss. It’s really that simple.

So, you ask, why do so many people struggle to lose weight? Is that all the billion-dollar weight loss industry is built on?

The short answer is Yes. There is nothing more or less to losing weight. However, there are a few reasons why many of us have trouble achieving this straight-forward equation. One of the main reasons is that we do not keep in mind the core principles of achieving meaningful and sustained weight loss. The second reason is to do with perception.

The problem with perceptions

One perception that causes trouble is that we can eat whatever and how much ever we want as long as we work out enough. This perception is perpetuated by the weight loss industry trying to sell us newer ways to burn calories. But the truth is that we can never, ever, burn enough calories to balance out the junk we stuff ourselves with. Only a few of us inherit a high metabolic rate – meaning a high burn rate – but everyone’s metabolism slows down as we grow older. And that means sooner or later bad eating always leads to weight gain.

Another perception that causes trouble is that we connect calories to the volume of food. Therefore, you will see strategies that ask you to use a smaller plate. While this is generally true, it works better for protein and carbohydrate but not for fat. Fat is energy-dense. Each gram of protein or carbohydrate contain 4 calories, while each gram of fat contains 9 calories! 125% more calories than the other two!! That means we consume a lot more calories with a smaller amount of food.

The third perception that causes trouble is that of time. Although we don’t realize it, we usually grow fat over several years, starting around the time we reach our twenties as our metabolism starts slowing. Over the years our bodies become less active and our habits worsen. Our lives get busier and more stressful. Slowly, fat accumulates and we start growing sideways. When we start a weight loss program though, we forget all that and want to get thin overnight. We crash diet and overexercise. It does lead to a quick weight loss, but it’s just not sustainable. More often than not, the reduction in weight is due to dehydration or worse still, loss of muscle. There has to be a calorie deficit, no doubt, but eating too little is as bad as eating too much. A thumb rule is to aim for a calorie deficit of 25-30% of your daily calorie requirement. This, of course, won’t show drastic results but it will lead to sustainable and healthy weight loss.

The Invisible Threat

Another major problem is that much of the fat we eat is invisible. Except for the dollops of butter or ghee we add visibly, fat is mostly hiding along with the sugar in the half a dozen kaju katlis we wolfed down as dessert or it sneaks its way into us through the handful of fried mixture we had with tea. And that’s a major problem. Our brain cannot decipher that we are eating fat because it doesn’t see us doing so. Try and eat a whole bar of butter by itself or a table spoon of ghee. Your brain will repel at the thought. But it can’t do much when fat is disguised. Of course, it doesn’t help that most fatty stuff is lip-smacking tasty to eat. In fact, eating junk food could actually be calming. We all know how easy it is to stress-eat a whole tub of ice cream.

So what do we do?

One: Understand and internalize the core principles of weight loss.

Two: Be aware of what you eat.

Obviously don’t eat any free fat – by that I mean no butter on your toast or ghee on your dosa. Limit sweets and fried stuff. In fact, stop eating them for a while. You can eat some as a reward once you’ve reached your target weight.

Three: Be aware of how much you eat.

Track the number of calories consumed. Although some people will tell you otherwise, counting calories, at least early on in your weight loss program will instill a sense of discipline and seriousness that is needed to jump start the weight loss process.

Four: Exercise.

While we may not be able to burn off all the excess calories we consumed when we binged on pizza, exercise has tons of other benefits that will help us stay healthy. Strength, Stamina and Flexibility. That’s been the mantra for as long as I can remember. And it says it all. Find exercises that help you achieve that. Include weight training and HIIT to get the maximum benefit of exercising.

Bottom line: Creating a calorie deficit requires us to focus on what we eat, how much we eat and how much physical activity we get. Period.