What is a calorie deficit? How to Calculate and Create a Calorie Deficit for Weight Loss

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

The fight against excess weight has become the scourge of the entire modern society and a difficult personal problem to solve for every third inhabitant on planet Earth. Improper nutrition, work in offices, unwillingness to play sports lead to the appearance of extra pounds, which do not bother at first. When the situation gets out of control and becomes critical, a person rushes from one diet to another, loses weight, and then suddenly gains weight and the circle closes.

Each sudden weight loss is followed by an even sharper weight gain, he alth problems, depression and, as a result, a decrease in the overall quality of life. In fact, for optimal weight loss, you don’t need to put in a lot of effort, cook separate meals, limit yourself to certain foods, one of the most optimal nutrition systems is a calorie deficit. Based on it, you can easily get rid of tens of kilograms and never meet them in the future.

Individual norms for weight and height for men and women

Beforecalculate the calorie deficit for weight loss, you need to decide on the ideal parameters of your body and understand what weight you should strive for.

There are three body types in nature, and each of them gains and loses weight differently:

• Asthenic. Representatives of this type have thin bones, long and slender arms, legs and neck. They are physically active, have an accelerated metabolism, slowly gain weight and are not inclined to be overweight. With such initial data, you can lose weight in a few months without much difficulty.

• Normosthenic. The golden mean, people with such a structure are the luckiest, they have a perfectly proportional figure, a fairly good metabolism and there is not much chance of getting obese, even allowing themselves some flaws in nutrition.

• Hepersthenic. Representatives of this type have a wide bone and not very high growth, due to which the figure looks stocky and plump. Such people are most likely to be overweight and should carefully monitor their diet. For representatives of this type, the process of losing weight is not fast, but you should not give up, a little perseverance and work will bring results.

To understand if a particular person has a problem with being overweight, you can use the table of his correspondence to height. On average, the weight should be equal to height minus 110, i.e. for a person with a height of 170 cm, the ideal weight will be 60 kg. This indicator changes with age, and by the age of 50 you need to take away 100, which means that for the same person with a height of 170 cm, a weight of 70 kg will be suitable. If the deviation fromthe norm is insignificant, calculating the calorie deficit and following the nutrition system for a couple of months will help bring the body and mental state back to normal.

How to calculate the calorie deficit for weight loss based on knowing your body mass index

When determining the optimal calorie deficit, you need to take into account not only the general average tables, but also individual body parameters. One of the best indicators for making calculations and determining the optimal weight is the body mass index. This indicator is calculated by simply dividing body weight in kilograms by height (in meters) squared. The resulting coefficient must be compared with the norms and determine whether a diet is needed. Calorie deficit in each case requires a different approach.

BMI values and weight management recommendations

Until 16	critical underweight, risk of he alth problems
16-18, 5	underweight
18, 5-24, 5	slightly overweight
30-39, 9	obesity with he alth risks
Over 40	morbid obesity, high he alth risk

When the need to lose weight or choose the right nutrition system to maintain optimal weight is determined, an individual calorie deficit can be calculated. Correct calculation is the key to success in achieving a given goal for the optimal time and without harm to he alth.

How to calculate the calorie deficit forweight loss and maintenance of ideal weight

To lose weight and not gain weight in the future, you need to follow a simple rule - the number of calories consumed per day should be equal to the difference between calories burned and their deficit. It seems not at all complicated and easy to understand. So it is, the Calorie Deficit nutrition system is simple, easy to understand and follow.

Calculation of calories burned during the day

To determine the formula indicator, the number of calories burned per day is first calculated. For this, there is a special formula according to Harris - Benedict. It is the basal metabolic rate multiplied by the activity factor.

Calculation of the basic metabolic rate is calculated according to the formulas below, where weight, height and age are indicated in kilograms, centimeters and years.

BSM (men)=66.5 + (13.75weight) + (5.003height) – (6.755age)

BSM (female)=655, 1 + (9,563weight) + (1,850height) – (4,676age)

Activity coefficient is a constant value and is determined according to the table

Activity Factor Calculation Table

Quiet lifestyle	1, 2
Light exercise 1-2 times a week	1, 375
Average level of physical activity, sports 5 times a week	1, 55
Extreme Workout, Daily Workout	1, 725

Resultcalculations, the number will mean the number of calories burned per day, based on it and you need to calculate the calorie deficit for weight loss.

Correct calculation of the optimal calorie deficit

It's very common to hear advice to eat 500, 700, or 1,000 fewer calories, but that's the wrong recommendation. For one person, this deficit may not be enough, and he will be disappointed in the method of losing weight without seeing the result. Another will begin to lose weight too abruptly, creating a deficit that is unacceptable for the initial parameters, and will not get a beautiful figure, but poor he alth and leave the cherished desire to lose weight unfulfilled. The calorie deficit should be calculated as a percentage of total calories burned for the day.

To understand what calorie deficit for weight loss to accept as the norm, you need to decide how intense the desired weight loss will be. It is optimal if a person loses about 700 grams per week. This will not be a big stress for the body, and it will willingly part with extra pounds without creating additional reserves at the slightest deviation from the diet.

What is the deficit, the choice of the most suitable option

In percentage terms, there are three types of calorie deficit:

• Smooth weight loss - from 10 to 15% of calories burned per day. Choosing such a calorie deficit, you can practically not limit the menu, eliminate excess sugar, fatty meat and high-calorie dairy products. Such a smooth weight loss will not cause stress to the body, it is easy to follow and not break down. Minus only in slow weight loss,which may not please those who want a quick result. Inexperienced people may have difficulty breaking the diet, because it is much easier to “accidentally” eat an extra 200 calories than 600 or 800, which means you may not get the result.

• Moderate weight loss - 15 to 25% of calories burned per day. The faster you want to get rid of extra pounds, the greater the deficit should be. If you choose a moderate option, weight will be dropped faster, but dietary restrictions are much more significant. You will have to completely revise your diet, determine which foods on the menu are the most high-calorie, and reduce their consumption to a minimum. You can allow yourself an additional dose of food by increasing physical activity, this will increase the BMR, and hence the allowable number of calories. The advantage of this option is a fairly rapid weight loss and that it is more difficult to break the allowable norm. The downside is increased self-control and stricter restrictions.

• Accelerated weight loss - from 25 to 50% of calories burned per day. This option is suitable for people who need to lose weight in a short time for medical reasons. People with a lot of weight will see a pleasant result and will be stimulated to further successful work on their body, but you need to stop in time and switch to a more gentle regimen. Determine what the calorie deficit should be already at the new weight, and calculate from it. The advantage of this method is a quick and sharp result, the disadvantage is the constant feeling of hunger, which cannot become a constant companion of a person's life.

An important rule that is recommended to strictly adhere to when figuring out for yourself how to create a calorie deficit for weight loss says that you can not eat little and exercise a lot. If a decision is made not only to fight excess weight, but also to tighten muscles through active training, then you need to consider the number of calories consumed. They should be enough for intense strength and cardio loads offered by gym and aerobics instructors. It turns out that if, after a successful start of the diet, loads were added, then you need to recalculate the number of calories burned and their deficit, respectively.

Calorie control options, calculations and food diaries

In such a difficult matter as losing weight, self-control is very important, but for a person who has allowed himself to gain excess weight, this is not easy. Yes, and in life there are many daily worries, among which it is easy to forget how many calories are in which product and how much more you can eat today. To facilitate the task and maintain self-discipline, it is recommended to keep a food diary.

What it will be depends on individual wishes, it can be a regular notebook or notepad where you can write down what you eat during the day. Maybe a regular Word document or an Excel spreadsheet on a home or work computer, or maybe a special program on a smartphone.

The first two methods require additional time in the form of calculating the calories in each finished dish. That is, during cooking, you must first weigh on a kitchen scale, preferably electronic, the exact weight of all products. Then add up all the indicators of each of them, determine the calorie content of the cooked dish and already from this value the calorie content of your individual portion. This occupation is quite troublesome and difficult, besides, there is a high probability of errors in the calculations. To simplify the task, you can use tables.

Specialized programs for easier calorie control

The easiest and easiest way to control are special programs - calorie diaries. You can install them on a regular computer, tablet or smartphone. In the first option, they are downloaded through any browser; for mobile devices, they can be downloaded from PlayMarket (for Android devices) or iTunes (for Apple devices). The meaning of these electronic diaries is that all information about ready-made dishes is already sewn in there, you just need to select the one you need, enter its weight - and the calorie content and calculation of BJU will automatically be added to the calendar. Some of them work only with dishes from their database, but most allow you to create and save your own individual recipes.

Important points and possible problems in losing weight

When you read a lot of information, found out how to create a calorie deficit, started a diary or installed a program, it seems that everything is ready and you can start losing weight. But on the first day, an inexperienced person faces two categories of problems:

1. I ate too much for breakfast and lunch, and in the evening I was hungry and the whole diet went downhill. Permissible limit exceededdisappointment and more self-doubt follows.

2. The second option is for more persistent people. It starts with the same high calorie intake for breakfast and lunch and not enough for dinner. This category of people will not exceed the norm, endure a hungry evening, and at night they will become ill from the symptoms of hypoglycemia. So close to the hospital.

How to deal with difficulties in planning a menu for the day

What to do? How to prevent an unpleasant situation fraught with he alth problems? To protect future he althy and slender people is the preliminary planning of the menu for the whole day. If the nervous system allows you to think about food before going to bed and not run to the refrigerator, you can do it in the evening. Decide what meals will be for all meals and snacks, write them down in a diary, leave about 200 free calories for impromptu fruit, a piece of chocolate or a cookie. And the next day, just follow the pre-planned menu and stick to the specified weight of the dishes. If in the evening there is no energy, time or desire, you can plan the menu in the morning, before breakfast, so as not to accidentally go over it.

Conclusions and final recommendations for a successful start and quick results

In the struggle for the beauty and harmony of the body, many diets have been invented, but the simplest, most affordable and easily executed is a calorie deficit. Reviews in LiveJournal and on the personal pages of celebrities once again prove the effectiveness and safety of this method. From all the information about this effectiveweight loss method, there are several recommendations with which the start will be successful, and the result will be quick and long-lasting.

1. Calorie counting is not really a diet, it is a system of proper nutrition. At first, everything seems very difficult, but, getting used to a reduced diet, within a few weeks, a person who has parted with a few kilograms no longer understands how he could eat so much food before.

2. The system does not prohibit the consumption of fats, carbohydrates, sweets, fruits or starchy foods. The main thing is the number and not exceeding the allowable calories. Even with the biggest shortage, there is room for a few squares of chocolate for tea.

3. You should not reduce the number of calories very sharply, you need to start slowly so as not to provoke the body to accumulate reserves.

4. No need to be upset if in the first few days the weight will go away rapidly, and then more and more slowly. At first, water and excessive puffiness go away, the true weight begins to disappear later and little by little.

Following these simple rules and recommendations, you can part with annoying excess weight in just a few months. During the diet, the rules of proper nutrition will be so rooted in the head that adherence to the regime will be an easy task even without the use of diaries and special programs. This means that a happy life of a he althy person without excess weight and related problems awaits ahead.