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The Deceptively Simple Math of Weight Loss
Nutrition | August 11, 2014
Weight loss is often presented in the media and elsewhere as a dizzying and complex endeavor requiring nothing short of witchcraft to accomplish. Thousands upon thousands of fad diets and trendy exercise regimens crowd the fitness landscape and new ones continue to pop up with each passing day.
Weight loss is, in fact, a very simple formula. Not simple to accomplish – the current obesity epidemic in America and elsewhere is testament to that – but the actual formula for weight loss is very basic math. You have to consistently consume less calories than your body requires and/or burn the necessary calories through exercise to create a caloric deficit. Then and only then will you lose weight, get in shape, burn fat, etc. For example, if I know for certain that my body requires 2000 calories a day to function, then I ought to consume 1500 calories or less over a sustained period of time to shed weight. While this strategy is as proven as gravity, it may cause a significant decrease in energy so it’s better to start with 250 calories less and then burn additional calories by working out to accelerate the process. You can always decrease your caloric intake if you’re not seeing any progress within 10 days, or simply increase the volume of exercise.
There is no mystery to calories. They are simply units of energy that our bodies use to live and function. If our body does not receive the necessary amount of energy (that is, calories), it will access stored energy in the form of fat and sometimes muscle (depending on how significant the caloric deficit is and for how long) and use these to provide energy for the body. This, in turn, causes weight loss if done consistently and for a long enough period of time.
Television offers a great example of this in the form of the reality show, ‘Survivor.’ All the contestants are required to live on an island with little to no access to food and are, consequently, forced to survive off the land. Since food is scarce and hard to find, this creates a sudden calorie deficit in the contestants who, in turn, shed a considerable amount of weight over the course of the show. While this is an extreme example, it does get rid of a lot of the smoke and mirrors attached to weight loss.
Sounds simple, right? Of course it’s not. Many people struggle with weight loss mainly because it requires a great deal of discipline and work. Also, our frustrations and emotions cloud our perceptions and keep us from progressing as fast as we would like to. Even worse, sometimes our judgments of ourselves sabotage our hard work at the gym or in the kitchen.
The basic formula for weight loss is not at all complicated, it’s just a simple math. That said, it is still very important to realize that there is a difference between weight loss, and healthy weight loss. Just because you eat only 1200 calories of pizza and fries a day, doesn’t mean you’re doing yourself a favor. Healthy weight loss can be achieved by eating healthy foods in the right amounts, combined with healthy amount of exercise.
If you’re struggling with your weight, keep at it. Challenge yourself, believe in yourself and don’t give up. Fitness and wellbeing are a part of who you are, not some silly trend or fad.
Best,
Z.
Private Member |
Thank you so much for this post today! Seriously, I just came home from work after a week of vacation, and haven’t done any food shopping yet. I’m hungry, with a headache and need to cook dinner. I was just thinking of making home made pizza (tortilla shells, home made sauce, turkey pepperoni and cheese). But by reading this, I’m on my way to the store to stock back up on fresh fruits and veggies so I’m not tempted to overload on the cheese of the pizza. This was perfect timing.
Private Member |
🙂 truly healthy eating and regular exercise is the key to not only weight loss, but also fit, healthy and happy life 🙂
It’s better to fill your stomach up with veggies than processed foods and your body will thank you for that.
Thank you zuzka !
Private Member |
I was exercising, counting calories and eating according to rules but nothing worked for me. I had also anorexia after that for a couple of months since I was really desperate. So I’m just going to teach myself to love my body in the way it is.
Private Member |
Hi Zuzka,
This and your last post about the raw food diet gave got me thinking you or your readers might enjoy a book Ive just read. Its called Eat to Live by Dr Joel Fuhrman. In the book everything is backed up by science. He has a mathematical formula too. Its H = N/C. That is your health is dependent on how many nutrients you get per calorie. Its hard to keep within calorie limits when you eat low nutrient food, but when you eat high nutrient food you don’t have to count calories and you can have big portions. I’ve always struggled with will power in the past but that is greatly reduced since I read that book because I feel satisfied in huge meals of low calories. Also it has changed my inner dialogue, I no longer fat bash myself internally when I want unhealthy foods. Instead I tell myself that if I want to be disease free in my older years I have to give my body the correct fuel today, and weight loss is just a side effect of that. You don’t have to be vegan but he does recommend eating less animal products at least. I know you’ve been interested in vegetarianism so you might enjoy that aspect. Just look up doctor Fuhrman on google or youtube if youre a bit unsure about the book, that will probably explain better than I can. Its changed my life and the way I see food. His book is probably aimed at people who need to lose weight, but those who don’t need to lose weight or who exercise a lot can use the same principles, you just may need to increase the amount you eat.
Private Member |
Hi Zuzka,
Could you give me an example of a typical day for you i.r.o. eating, especially your breakfast. You mentioned you follow the Ketogenic way of eating so what do you eat most mornings as I always find breakfast is the hardest in terms of maintaining a variety without going overboard with the carbs. I love toast but restrict this to maybe once or twice a week, wheat free rye bread.
Private Member |
If you want to follow the Ketogenic diet a good idea for breakfast is to eat 2 eggs with spinach, onions, tomato and spice it up with some chili to boost your metabolism. LOVE IT!
Private Member |
hi zuzka !!
can u plz tell me the detailed caloric intake for pregnant ladies? Also the workout routines, abt lifting weights etc.
cheers,
Private Member |
Hi I put on weight gradually over a year and I am now about 1 1/2 stone heavier, it all seems to go on my hips could you please advise the best exercises to target my hips I would really appreciate your advise x
Private Member |
I was waiting for this article!!!
You are 200% right!
Actually all the food is equal and there are no magic products for weight loss.
All the other things like giving up on sugar or some kind of fat is just a matter of health.
The weight loss is simple – calories in calories out. All the diets are based on this simple principle.
Private Member |
I have been stuffing my face with fruits, vegetables and cooked carbs eating a minimum of 3000 CALS a day, and been losing more than 20 pounds. Yes girls.
It’s not about calories IN / calories OUT. THIS is the mainstream lie that is making us alllll tired.
This leads to burn out/fatigue LONG TERM and basically a low quality sleep/energy etc.
It’s about feeding yourself with the RIGHT CALORIES and understanding the basic metabolic pathways of the human body. Which biologie students etc know about, but if you’re not a biology student and want to know about your body functions, u need to do ur own research.
I’m surprised zuzana still don’t realise this being in the fitness industry, though i still love her as heellll!!!! loolll 🙂
Basically you know you have a metabolic problem due to your dieting past when u gain fat eating unlimited carbs!! this should NEVER happen to the HUMAN body(im talking clean carbs, law fat law salt, not donuts, those are FAT, not carbs).
EAT AS MANY POTATOES/RICE/PASTA/FRUITS/VEGGIES U WANT, gain fitness and high quality of life.
Not meaning to destroy ur article zuzana but SRSLY this needs to be FINALLY debunked once and for all, restricting calories is causing more harm than good in peoples life!
Private Member |
It is very strange to hear that from student studying biology.
Nobody is talking about RESTRICTING.Nobody is talking here about eliminating carbs. Please, read the article attentively!
I do not think that you eat 3000 calories from veggies and fruits and carbs. It is too much food.
Weightloss is simple maths. And it doesn’t matter you eat apples or cookies. If you eat too much apples you will gain weight. If you eat one cookie and there will be calorie deficit in general you will lose weight.
There is no food for weight loss. Every piece of food (candy or apple) at the end will be divided to similar micronutrients.
Private Member |
Alena , ever heard of ketosis? when your body is nourished by ketones ( biproduct of healthy fats) you can easily have 3000 cal /day and still be losing weight . 5 condition ; only carbs from cruciferous vegetables)
Private Member |
LOL. This is the worst kind of information that there is. There are no right or wrong calories. Zuzana is 100% correct. A calorie is a scientific unit of measure. There are no magical pixie dust versions or evil step-sister versions. It is a basic fact that if you eat more calories than you burn you will create an excess of energy that your body stores as fat (it is programmed to do this). If you burn more calories than you eat you will force your body to access these energy stores. Again Zuzana is correct in saying that you have to be careful how severe the deficit is and how you create it – otherwise you could be burning the calories you take in our your muscle before they have the opportunity to make you more healthy and strong.
People get caught up on the carbs, fats, sugars, blah blah. All these basically relate to how slow or fast (and how easy or hard) your body breaks down what you eat into what it needs. Back before manufactured food it wasn’t such a big problem. It is now because you can eat what your body thinks is 150 calories but because it’s all processed and concentrated it could be 1000.
Responses like these to well written articles is exactly what is wrong with “this industry” – there is no magic bullet to living a great, healthy, lifestyle. Actually if there was one out would be to stay hydrated (but that’s a different topic).
The answer is at the core of great articles like this. Don’t eat I excess of your calorie burn consistently, eat pretty clean, excersize, have some discipline and willpower and most importantly, feel good about yourself – within a couple of months you will look and feel better and it only goes on from there.
AGAIN, as Zuzana mentions,there is more education required around nutrition and calories. A calorie is a calorie but your body also needs nutrients to “keep it lubed”and functioning. You need minerals and vitamins and to be honest, probably thousands of things that scientists will only discover long after we’re all dead to stay healthy. Not eating too much and eating food that is full of good things is 60% – 90% of the problem for most people. As an example, you could do 2 Zuzana workouts everyday for the rest of your life, but if you ate a large pizza from the shop and drank 1.5 litres of cola everyday you would probably die overweight. Exchange the pizza and cola for anything bad or too much of anything and you’d still be in trouble.
As an excersize that illustrates that you can out-eat any excersize regime, go to the store and buy any 2 candy bars you like. Go to your gym. Stand in front of the running machine or excersize bike. Eat the two candy bars, look at the side of the package and see how many calories you just took in. I’m guessing about 500 calories minimum. Do you feel any fuller? Any less hungry? Probably not really. Now get on the excersize bike or treadmill and don’t get off to the display says you just burned all the calories you just took on. You will be there for a while.
As a general rule, anything you eat that comes from a box/package or somebody else’s kitchen is fuel but is probably not the best for you – you have to assume the worst right?
If you were to repeat the excersize from above but instead of 2 candy bars it was 2 serves of fresh fruit you would probably feel more statisfied as well as the “passion and suffering” to burn those calories is going to be substantially reduced. Factor that over the potential difference between what you eat to what you should eat over the rest of your life and you will get the idea of what I’m talking about here. Simple changes can make you feel better, fuel your body and create a neutral or calorie deficient lifestyle with ease.
FRESH FOOD eaten simply, in moderation is all you need. Feeling hungry, eat the apple instead of the muesli bar that had that it’s healthy printed on the side, yet tensions fresh in the package 2 years after it was MANUFACTURED (not cooked or made!). Feeling hungry, drink as glass of water – you’re probably not hungry, you’re thirsty. Don’t eat that pizza for dinner, it takes 4 minutes to grill a piece of fish. Eat it with simple spinach, olive and tomato based salad with some vinegar dressing.
There is an internet meme going around and the gist of it is “I sure hope my new organic, vegan, low carb, high fibre, blah blah diet let’s me live as long as my parents – and they were brought up eating steak and vegetables!” Nothing could be more true – because I guarantee that most of our patents never ate “too much” steak and vegetables regularly.
If on the other hand you want to get ripped and look awesome like Zuzana you have to do all of this, really boost the nutrients (to make sure your body has all the building blocks to build muscle and fight away injuries) and really, really work the muscles. You need to create a fuel deficit and then a fuel depot around excersize that let’s your body use what you eat to scuplt itself without having the opportunity to store any of it away in pockets.
All of this, I hope, is written so that most people can follow it – I’m trying really hard not to go technical. I have not used any of the buzzwords here. No use of organic, diet-x, supplements, book-y, or anything else. And to her credit, either has Zuzana. It’s great information presented simply. Well done.
Private Member |
Well stated. The maths is clear and the energy balances IN/OUT. The math modelling is different for each person. Some calories are harder to process than others, and metabolisms are different. Scientifically, what Zuzka said and you have stated in quite correct.
Even in science, the mathematical modelling is not perfect, but it is as close as we can get and we have put people on the moon with that math.
Private Member |
Anne, I agree with you! The only thing I would say to support Zuzana’s point is that you need to burn more calories than you’re eating to lose weight/shed fat.
Other than that, fresh fruits and vegetables are good to eat all day long. If you guys are confused at all, go check out freelee the banana girl on youtube or Facebook. She’s pretty extreme with her views on vegan-ism but she opened my eyes a little. 🙂
It always comes down to the TYPE and QUALITY of food you consume, cutting down on calories really doesn’t help you health wise if you’re eating bad food. You can pack in the good stuff all day long combined with a healthy workout routine and you’ll be good to go!
Private Member |
How exactly are you tracking your calories? Do you weigh your fruits and veggies and count your serving sizes and add the sum up to 3000cals? Look up flexible dieting. Follow some bikini competitors and natural bodybuilders on youtube who follow flexible dieting. They will probably laugh at your claims. Though I am not against eating fruits and veggies, but zuzka is right, and so are the scientists/nutritionists who study this stuff ie Alan Aragon. Caloric deficit is the ONLY scientifically proven way to lose weight, period. Your claims are what we call.. “bro science.” You might think you’re eating a lot of calories stuffing yourself with fruits/veggies, but they are low cal relatively speaking. So you can add a lot of volume to the food you eat for less calories. Look up Nikki Blacketter, Christian Guzman, Lex Griffin, Omar Isuf, Matt Ogus, Chris Lavado, Lainey Keogh.. just to name a few.
Private Member |
oh and ps. I’m sure you’ve never heard of tracking your macros. People should learn the truth and educate themselves before falling for the ‘bro science’ being thrown out there. I’m not doubting you can eat 3000cal/day. Everyone is different and have different metabolic rates. The aforementioned Christian Guzman has to take in around 80-100g fat, 600-700g carbs, and 180-200g protein in his bulk and he’s still having a hard time gaining weight(/g fat = 9cals, /g protein = 4 cals, /g carb = 4 cals, do the math), where-as if i ate that much macronutrients, I’d be throwing up from too much food. I digress a bit though. In terms of overall health, there are healthier options of where to get those macronutrients from. However, as stated by Alan Aragon, in terms of BODY COMPOSITION, a carb is a carb, a fat is a fat, a protein is a protein, regardless of source. So it’s simple math. Calories in vs calories out. BUT what’s also important is what the calories are composed of. Can’t have just 2000whatever calories coming from just carbs and have a ripped body. You need a good composition of fats/carbs/proteins aka your macronutrients.
Private Member |
Unfortunately the equation gets out of whack once you are a woman I’m mid to late forties. Not impossible, but ig you thought you had to watch your diet and workout 5-6 days a week, well get ready to eat even less and workout even more to get the same or worse results. I am going to go to my doctor and get my hormone levels checked! I believe I am in peri menupause (spell check anyone)!