What is a calorie deficit?

Questions like "what to do to lose weight" are probably among the most frequently asked by modern people. We fight bravely for a better figure, health and higher self-esteem, and the issue of diet today takes up a record amount of our attention. It is quite significant that today we have about as many methods of losing weight as there are people willing to lose weight, and all this variety is accompanied by a whole lot of myths, "miraculous methods" and shortcuts. However, when we look at the topic closely, abandoning emotions, unrealistic expectations and pseudo-scientific theories, one golden rule clearly emerges: to lose weight, you need to limit the amount of calories you consume, i.e. introduce a so-called calorie deficit. What is a calorie deficit, what is it for and how to use it?

Less is... less

It's interesting that when we type "happiness" into Google, we get less than 50 million results, for "health" the browser suggests 168 million answers, while the keyword "diet" crushes the competition, giving as many as 243 million hits! It seems that when looking for health and happiness, we focus primarily on what we eat. And rightly so! What ends up on our plate is our basic building block and largely determines both how we look, how we feel and our longevity.

So we look for diets that will help us get rid of excess body fat in the most comfortable and painless way. The cabbage soup diet, Kwaśniewski's diet, the Copenhagen diet, Dr. Dąbrowska's fruit and vegetable diet, the Dukan diet, and recently, for example, millet detox or the paleo diet, have gained popularity. It is worth remembering that every diet, regardless of its profile, duration and basic assumptions, is based on one important principle - the sum of calories consumed must be lower than our current energy demand. In other words: a calorie deficit is the basis of every method of losing unnecessary kilograms.

How to calculate calorie deficit?

In order to precisely determine the energy needs of our body, it is best to go to a dietician. This is especially recommended for people struggling with serious overweight and/or coexisting health problems that exclude restrictive dietary regimes. A nutritionist will conduct an in-depth interview, analyze basic health parameters and lifestyle, habits, preferences and expectations regarding the diet. Energy requirements, defined by a dietician, will be the most precise description of the actual state and the best way to determine a safe calorie deficit, written down in a detailed weight loss plan.

In case you need to get rid of a little ballast, especially when giving birth for the first time or when you are getting back into shape after a period of natural weight gain, such as pregnancy and postpartum, a simple tool in the form of a calorie demand calculator is usually enough. You can find free tools of this type on the web, calculating our energy needs based on variables such as gender, age, weight, height, activity level and goal. However, it should be remembered that such solutions provide approximate values.

What is PPM and CPM?

Time for a few abbreviations. PPM is the basic metabolic rate, which is the amount of energy our body uses for basic life functions that allow us to function. CPM determines the total metabolic rate, which is the sum of PPM and our daily physical activity. While remaining in the weight loss period, we should always remember that the calorie deficit should not be lower than our PPM value, because such a situation, without medical supervision and for a period longer than a few days, threatens our health.

When we listen to the needs of our body, follow a healthy routine and provide ourselves with both an appropriate amount of sleep and physical activity, very often our appetite regulates itself. We compensate for energy expenditure with an increased meal or a shorter break between meals, and we balance periods of stagnation with a lower caloric value of food. Unfortunately, however, often stressed, overworked and condemned to eternal lack of time, we lose the ability to look at ourselves carefully and accurately recognize the signs that the body sends us. In such moments, we often overestimate the value of our CPM, adding to our diet an amount of calories that we are not able to burn. Then a surplus appears, which is stored in our body in the form of unnecessary fat. Then we also start looking for a convenient and effective diet, although above all we should say to ourselves: "less!".

Calorie quality, not quantity

Let's assume that we already know our calorie needs. Let's also assume that we have also determined a safe calorie deficit for us. What now? Now - unless we have decided on a restrictive diet that clearly defines what and when we can eat - it is worth looking at the quality of the food we eat, as well as the proportions of protein, carbohydrates and fats. By quality, we mean the nutritional value of meals: it is important whether we provide ourselves with 500 kcal in the form of a bag of crisps or a portion of turkey with rice.

Similarly, a properly selected protein-fat-carbohydrate balance is of great importance, which will provide us with a healthy coverage of our body's demand for all nutrients. It is best to go to a dietician for a nutrition plan that strictly meets the needs and goals, but it is roughly assumed that carbohydrates in our diet should be around 50-65%, proteins 20-30%, and fats 15-25%. As can be seen from the above, the proportions of ingredients vary in the range of even 15 percent. The demand for protein increases significantly when we want to build muscle mass, while it decreases slightly when our goal is to reduce body fat. However, it should be remembered that an insufficient amount of protein in the diet can result in muscle breakdown, especially when it occurs in combination with a prolonged calorie deficit. The effect of such a diet may be weight loss, but not the kind we wanted.

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