Being overweight or obese affects a large part of the population.
This implies that many people try to lose weight at some point in their life.
While there are many products, programs, and diets designed for weight loss, the truth is that many are made to make money and not to help you maintain a low weight in the long term.
So, because there is so much misinformation, people get frustrated when they strive to lose weight but see little results.
So how do you lose weight?
Both dietitians and nutritionists use the concept of “energy balance” when referring to weight loss.
The point is that the secret to losing weight and maintaining it is in the balance between the energy that enters the body (food consumed) and the energy that exits (physical activity). The rest is not essential.
So, when it comes to losing weight and burning body fat, the truth is that there has to be a long-term deficit between the energy we consume through meals and the energy we use when moving the body.
In short: we must eat less and exercise more.
Energy In
Everything we ingest (except flat water) contains even a minimum of energy.
While some foods have higher energy values than others, the truth is that they all have an amount of energy.
You can measure food energy in kilojoules (kJ) or kilocalories (C). To convert the measurements, keep in mind that 1 calorie equals 4.2 kJ.
For you to keep in mind, these are some examples of the amount of energy that certain foods have:
- 2 slices of bread: 794 kJ
- 1 cup of skim milk: 355 kJ
- 375 ml can of coke: 675 kJ
- 1 portion of Carbonara Paste: 5851 kJ
- Low fat blueberry muffin: 859 kJ
- Big apple: 224 kJ
- McDonald’s small fries: 1070 kJ
Energy Out
Every time we move the body to perform any activity, we use the energy that we have accumulated in our body.
Even lying in bed all day also uses up energy. This is so because the body uses energy to keep us alive: the heart beats, the lungs breathe, cells grow and divide tissues repair, and much more.
The minimum amount of energy we need to survive (without moving or digesting food) is called Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).
Thus, any movement that we make outside the BMR, whether walking around the house or riding a bicycle for 20 km, makes us expend extra energy. But even the digestion of food requires the use of energy.
You must bear in mind that the amount of energy our body uses to breathe, eat and move depends on different factors.
It is essential to consider these factors if you are looking to lose weight:
- Gender: women burn less energy than men.
- Age: young people burn more energy than older people.
- Weight: people with a higher body weight burn more energy.
- Muscle mass: people with greater muscle mass burn more energy.
Energy Balance
Now, you know what happens in the body: food gives us energy, and moving and staying healthy requires energy.
Now let’s talk more specifically about energy balance.
So, if you want to lose weight, you should maintain a negative energy balance in the long term.
You may be wondering, how is that done?
The first thing you should know is that a negative energy balance implies that the amount of energy consumed through food is less than the total energy that we expend, either through BMR or physical activity. In this way, the body must use the energy stored as a fat reserve to function.
As for the long term, this means that you must maintain the negative energy balance for an extended period (at least three months) to achieve a significant reduction in body fat.
In this sense, it does not work if you diet for five days but then consume a large amount of food on the two days of the weekend.
This is so because, although the first 5 days of the week produced an energy deficit, the energy you consumed in the next two days was enough to increase the average energy consumed. This is not how the results of weight loss appear.
Many people experience frustration because they do not take that issue into account.
Remember that you must be consistent with the negative energy balance to achieve good results that last in the long term.
You can achieve a negative energy balance following a healthy diet and doing physical activity at least three times a week.
You do not have to run 10 km. When you take walks or climb the stairs, you are burning energy.
