What is Energy Balance?
“Matt, I’ve been eating at a deficit for 4 weeks and haven’t lost any weight.”
No you haven’t.
“Matt, I’ve been on keto fo 3 months and I lost 15 lbs! I lost all the weight because I was in ketosis.”
No you didn’t.
“Matt, I ran for 90 minutes on the treadmill and burnt 800 calories. That means I’m at an 800 calorie deficit for the day.”
No it doesn’t.
Whether you gain body weight, maintain body weight, or lose body weight, it all hinges not on not what fad diet you’re on but on the ratio of energy taken in by food and energy spent throughout the day.
This is called your energy balance. So if you want to lose body fat you would need to create a negative energy balance or a caloric deficit. If you want to gain body weight and build muscle you need to create positive energy balance or caloric surplus.
Let’s start by talking about the calorie. There is no such thing as a good calorie or a bad calorie. A calorie is purely a unit of measurement. Specifically, it is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree celsius.
When we hear the term calorie it is typically referring to a kilocalorie or kcal (1000 times the energy of a calorie) Our calorie balance is what determines whether we lose or gain body weight. If the amount of calories we take in from what we consume are equal to the energy that we burn throughout the day, we are in a neutral energy balance.
Simply put:
Calories In = Calories Out
The calories in part is pretty simple. It is the amount of calories contained in the food you eat and the drinks that you drink.
The calories out portion is a lot more complicated than most people think. Most people equate the calories our portion to being solely your daily exercise. But that is actually a very small portion of your daily energy expenditure. Let’s break down the calories out part.
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE):
BMR (Basil Metobolic Rate)
Roughly 70% of TDEE
This is the energy your body burns every day basically just to keep the lights on. Things like your heart pumping, breathing in and out all day, and sending electrical signals from your brain to your different body systems.
NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis)
Roughly 15% of TDEE
This is things like fidgeting, tapping your foot, gesturing with your arms and other unintentional movements.
TEF (Thermic Effect of Food)
Roughly 10% of TDEE
Believe it or not, your body actually has to put energy into extracting the energy out of the food you eat. For instance you burn more energy to digest protein sources than you do to digest fat or carbs. This is one of many reasons people find success in positively changing body composition on high protein diets.
EA (Exercise Activity)
Roughly 5% of TDEE
This is what comes to most people’s mind when they think about burning calories. This would be your walking, running, lifting weights, and going up the stairs. It makes up a surprisingly small percentage of your TDEE. This of course dependent on how active you are. A marathon runner’s EA would be a much higher percentage of their TDEE.
Are you bored yet? It’s not terribly exciting stuff, but the fact remains if you are not losing weight like you think you should be, it means that the above does not add up to be more than the food you’re taking in.
So when people say things to be like “I’ve been eating at a deficit for 4 weeks and haven’t lost any weight.” The reality is they are either eating more than they think they are or they are burning less energy than they think they are. The reason keto, vegan and primal diets work, is because they tend to create a calorie decifit on the intake side. Also when people go gung-ho on a diet they typically step up their energy expenditure as well.
Bottom line figure out what your goals are and adjust your nutrition and energy expenditure to accomplish those goals!