Have you ever started an eating plan; and much to your disgust or frustration – you did not lose any or as much weight as you anticipated?

For some people this either makes them reduce calories more, or they give up on the idea.

This article will help you to understand all the factors that come into play when you start to talk calories.

Some health professionals are still working to the calories in vs calories out method, however the explanation to the clients is not always taking everything into account.

I read an article that helped explain a bit more, and so I incorporated some of it in here because it was very well written:

 

ENERGY FACT:


You need a certain amount of energy (in the form of calories) to stay alive, as well as to move around. You can get this energy from food, or you can retrieve it from stored energy, such as your fat tissue.

If you consume less energy than you expend, you will lose weight – and if you do the opposite, i.e. consume more energy than you expend, you will gain weight.

In other words: Changes in bodily tissues = Energy in – Energy out.

This relationship between ‘energy in’ and ‘energy out’ is called the Energy Balance Equation, and it’s the most commonly accepted model for calculating how much weight one will lose or gain over time.

While the Energy Balance Equation determines body weight, it doesn’t tell us much about body composition, which is influenced by things like sex hormone levels; macronutrient intake (especially protein); exercise style, frequency and intensity; age; medication use; genetic predisposition, and more.

Understandably, people get very frustrated and confused with the Energy Balance Equation when the numbers don’t seem to add up, or their results don’t match their expectations.

Such as reducing calories and exercising more…


And it’s a fair frustration. However most of the time, the numbers don’t add up.

‘Eat less, move more’ is thought to be a good start – but that advice alone isn’t enough, because it doesn’t take all of the complex, intersecting factors and feedback loops into account – as mentioned above.

ENERGY IN:

 

 

Processed foods versus whole foods:

We absorb less energy from minimally processed carbohydrates and fats (whole foods) because they’re harder to digest (breaking nutrients down from original source), and we absorb more energy from highly processed carbohydrates and fats (man made foods), because they’re easier to digest.

The more processed a food is, the more digestion work is already done for you.

 

Raw foods versus cooked foods:


We often absorb more energy from foods that are cooked (and/or chopped, soaked, blended) because those processes break down plant and animal cells, increasing their bioavailability.

When eating raw starchy foods (like sweet potatoes), we absorb very few of the calories. After cooking, however, the starches are much more available to us, tripling the number of calories absorbed.

Interestingly, allowing starchy foods to then cool before eating them decreases the amount of calories we can extract from them again – mostly due to the formation of resistant starches.

 

Gut Bacteria

We may absorb more or less energy depending on the types of bacteria in our gut.

Some people have larger populations of a Bacteroidetes (a species of bacteria), which are better at extracting calories from tough plant cell walls than other bacteria species.

Margins of error:

 

By eating a diet rich in whole, minimally processed foods, the number of calories you absorb can be significantly less than you may expect. Plus, they require more calories to digest.

Conversely, you will absorb more calories by eating lots of highly processed foods, and burn fewer calories in the digestive process. In addition, highly processed foods are less filling, more energy dense, and more likely to cause overeating.

Taking all of these factors into consideration, it becomes clear that this part of the equation should more accurately be: Energy In = Actual calories eaten – Calories not absorbed

ENERGY OUT:

 

 

Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)

RMR is the number of calories you burn when resting, thinking, breathing, and living.
This roughly represents about 60% of the energy out you omit each day depending on your weight, body composition sex, genetic predisposition, and possibly your gut bacteria.

Thermic effect of eating (TEE)

Digestion is an active metabolic process. Thermic effect of eating (TEE) is the number of calories you burn by eating, digesting and processing your food. This represents roughly 5-10% of your ‘energy out’.

In general, you’ll burn more calories in your effort to digest and absorb protein (20-30% of its calories) and carbs (5-6%) than you do fats (3%).

Physical Activity (PA)

This is the calories you burn during purposeful movement, such as walking, running, sports , gym workouts and gardening.
These calories will vary due to the intensity of the activity

Non-excercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT)

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is the calories you burn through fidgeting, staying upright, and all other physical activities except purposeful exercise. This, too, varies from person to person and day to day.

 

Considering all of these factors, this part of the equation should more accurately be: Energy out = RMR + TEE + PA + NEAT

Changes in bodily tissues = [actual calories eaten – calories not absorbed] – [RMR + TEE + PA + NEAT]

 

HOW THE BODY OPERATES:

One consequence is that when ‘energy in’ goes down, ‘energy out’ goes down to match it, because we burn fewer calories in response to eating less.

Likewise, when ‘energy in’ goes up, ‘energy out’ tends to go up too, because we burn more calories in response to eating more.

This isn’t the case for everybody, and it doesn’t work ‘perfectly’, but generally, that’s how it goes and how our bodies avoid unwanted weight loss and starvation. It’s how humans have survived for two million years. The body fights to maintain homeostasis.

 

To illustrate this point, here’s how your body tries to keep your weight steady when you take in less energy and start to lose weight:

 

  • Thermic effect of eating goes down because you’re eating less.
  • Resting metabolic rate goes down because you weigh less.
  • Calories burned through physical activity go down since you weigh less.
  • Non-exercise activity thermogenesis goes down as you eat less.
  • Calories not absorbed goes down and you absorb more of what you eat.

 

It’s important to note that if you have lots of body fat to lose, many of these adaptations don’t happen right away or are very modest initially.

As you become leaner, however, this adaptive thermogenesis really ramps up.

* Think of when you feel disappointed when you start an eating program and you don’t lose as much as you thought according to the scales – it takes time for the adaptation.

This is a real concern lately as many more people live in an instant world – wanting instant results.

 

Reducing actual calories eaten also causes hunger signals to increase, causing us to crave (and maybe eat) more.

 

However changing some of the nutrients you consume can help this – such as eating more good fats in your diet because they are your brain’s fuel source.
Many people are not consuming these foods that help satisfy the brain and the triggers that the brain can send out – such as hunger.

I hope this helped your understanding that calorie counting is not a sustainable lifestyle to live, as we always underestimate the calorie amount we eat and over estimate the amount of calories we burn – without ever taking into account NEAT, TTE & RMR.

The call to action here is to listen to your body, rest when tired, give more if you want when adequate recovery is taken and learn to relax your mind more.

Once your body is healthy on the inside – everything will fall into place.