Calories and the Maths of Losing Weight

A calorie is the amount of energy required to raise 1 kilogram (1 liter) of water 1 degree Centigrade. A calorie is simply a measure of heat energy. When food is burned, it releases a certain amount of heat (energy), depending on the type of food. The more calories that are in food, the more energy will be released when it's burned.

Body fat is like a reserve storage tank of energy. There are 3500 calories in each pound of body fat, so if you are ten pounds overweight you have a 35.000 calories "tank" of stored energy on your body, enough to last you a long time. This explains why you can stay alive for a long time without food, but in today's modern society it's not necessary to be prepared for days without food as in the stone age era, so you can achieve a healthy and attractive body fat ratio.

Once you understand the importance of calories, you're ready to figure out how many you need. The first step in designing your personal fat loss plan is to calculate the total number of calories you burn up every day. This is known as your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). TDEE is also known as your "maintenance level" because this is the level where your calorie consumption it's equal to your calorie expenditure. TDEE is the total number of calories your body burns in 24 hours, including basal metabolic rate and all activities.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the total number of calories your body burns for normal bodily functions, including digestion, circulation, respiration, temperature regulation, cell construction, and every other metabolic process in your body without including physical activity. BMR is at its lowest when you're sleeping and you're not digesting anything. BMR can vary dramatically from person to person depending on genetic factors.

Lean Body Mass (LBM) is your metabolically active tissue (muscle) and it requires a great deal of energy to sustain it. The higher your LBM, the higher your BMR will be. This is very significant when you want to lose body fat because it means the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn at rest. The best way to increase the amount of calories you expend during the day is adding more muscle to your body.

The Law of energy Balance:

-To lose weight, you must burn more calories than you consume each day (calorie deficit)
-To gain weight or muscle, you must consume more calories than you burn each day (calorie surplus) (it's important to know that is possible to gain some muscle while having a calorie deficit, but this is achievable only in genetically superior individuals, in advanced trainees after a long layoff or in beginners whose bodies are extremely responsive to exercise.)

Focus on one goal at the time, lose fat or gain muscle, this is the efficient way.
In order to lose fat you must burn/use more calories than what you consume. This can be achieved in 3 ways:

1) Eat the same calories as you need to maintain your weight and do exercise (burn more)
2) Eat less calories than what you need to maintain your weight and don't do any exercise (diet)
3) Eat less calories than what you need to maintain your weight plus exercise (burn more and diet down, the fastest and more efficient way)

Don't do the maths, the purpose is to let the nutrition and exercise work synergistically to shape your body.

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