THE MATHS OF FAT LOSS

 

 

Fat loss can be a complicated process, for the most its very simple

 

 

Energy in vs energy out

 

 

Ignoring underactive thyroid glands,  metabolic mysteries, gut micromes that could induce more eating and a few other very little known processes that may or may not effect fat loss to a small degree, the reality is for 99% of people when they consume less nd exercise more they lose weight.

 

As a personal trainer for over 10 years ive witness so many people who have struggled to lose weight for years, then all of a sudden dropped 3 or 4 stone in a year. What was the mysterious process that worked now but hadnt worked in the past.

 

The finally got the maths right

 

 

Perhaps they found a diet that worked for them

Perhaps they had a new motivation and found it easier to avoid junk food

Perhaps they started a new job that increased their output

Perhaps they started a relationship with an outdoors type

Perhaps they lost their license and had to walk everywhere

 

All of these things and others simply change one or both sides of the equation. we can demonstrate repeatadly that getting this equation right works. It really is that simple. 

but making the equation balance, or tipping it in your favour (for fat loss) is a lot harder

 

 

HOW TO GET THE EQUATION RIGHT

 

GAINED or GAINING

 

It isnt enough to eat less and do more. This may work, but it may also just slow down or stop you gaining weight.

If your weight has been steady for the last year then you have the balance right. Energy in equals energy out

 

However if you are gaining weight then you are taking in more energy than you are using up. The amount of weight and how quickly you are gaining weight is crucial for working out the maths of the equation.

 

EXAMPLE 1

If you have been gaining weight for the last year at a rate of 1lb a month (12lb/ yr) then you have an excess of 3500kcals a month = 117kcals a day (small bag of crisps)

 

EXAMPLE 2

If you have been gaining weight for the last year at a rate of 2lbs a month (24lbs / yr)  then you have an excess of 7,000kcals a month = 234kcals per day (a chocolate bar)

 

If you cut our 234 kcals (or a chocolate bar) everyday in our second example then you will stop gaining weight. 

If you cut out 234 kcals (or a chocolate bar) every day in our FIRST example then you will stop gaining weight and start losing weight (at the rate of 1lb a month), 12 lbs a year, just under one stone! 

 

The above is only true if all other factors remain the same!  

 

The exact same examples can be used for exercise too. Instead of taking out a chocolate bar, you can perform 234kcals of exercise everyday (45mins) more than you used to do. In the first example you would lose 1lb a month in the second example you would stop gaining weight.

 

 

 

WHAT FACTORS MAKESA DIFFERENCE TO THE EQUATION

 

 

ENERGY OUT

 

EXERCISE 

The more exercise you do the more kcals you will use up - If your job, fitness levels allow then performing longer exercise (at the same or similar intenisty will result in extra kcals used).

Doing 2 hours slowly wont necersarily burn more calories than doing an hour of hard of exercise.

 

While the more is better for the MATHS EQUATION it isnt always best. Beginners may pick up injuries from over training, resulting in less training over the month/year. They may also lose motivation to do exercise by doing so much so soon.

 

 

The higher the intensity of exercise you do the more energy you will use up

 

During my careers ive seen so many anorexics mind numbingly turning up for 2 or 3 classes in a row every night and they must have burnt as many calories and someone sat on a couch, at best walking a dog slowly.

 

The aim should always be to progress, to get fitter. The fitter you are, the more energy you can burn in any given amount if time. whether thats 20minutes or 60 minutes or 4 hours. So whether you like your short sharp HIIT sessions or your longer club bike rides. your goal is to get fitter.

 

The best advice i cna give is buy a heart monitor, record your average heart rate for each session. Every week or month those average heart rates should be getting higher and higher. They will only get higher if your muscles have improved and are capable of doing more work than before.

 

ACTIVITY

The more activie your day the more energy you will you use up

this could include walking the dog, doing house work, washing the car, mowing the lawn, walking to and from work, taking the stairs inwork, standing instead of sitting, doing a manual job, playing with children and here is the kicker, how animated you are.

 

All of these depend on having good nutrition. when someone is malnurished all of the above decrease. when you are tired and fatigued, you walk less, make less movements, play less. people who suffer depression also tend to move less and this is one of the reasons why they are liekly to gain weight. depression decreases motivation to move and malnutrition decreases the ability to move. This is one of the reasons it is crucial to eat healthy, lots of vitamins and minerals, essential fatty acids (EFA's) and protein.

 

SLEEP

The less you sleep the more time you are awake. If you are active the whole time then you will use more kcals. The downside to this is too little sleep is bad for you and also the longer you are awake the more likely you are to consume more food. for this reason a health professional would recomend getting the usual amount of sleep. But sleeping 10 hours a day, or snoozing for many hours will decrease the amount of energy you use in a day.

 

TEMPERATURE

This is being considered as a partial reason for the western obesity epidemic. When hot or cold you body has to use energy to maintain homeostasis, in this case the thermoregulation, or your bodiesability to maintain the same temperature. for example if your cold your muscles contract repeatadly using many many calories. when your hot, your body vasodialates its blood capilleries and sweats in order to lsoe heat. These all require energy.  However this isnt going to contribute a huge amount and it does require being very cold very hot. It is definatly not recomended by any health professionals to outside and freeze for hours at a time. An hour in the gym would be more productive. dotn forget you would be expected to do the gym as well.

 

 

MUSCLE MASS

the more muscle you have the more living cells you have. Cells require energy to function. The more muscle, the more cells, the more energy is required. 1lb of muscle requires 30-50kcals a day. So a man or woman with an stone of muscle would burn 5-700kcals a day more those who havent got the muscle. Thats 4-5lbs of fat a month that your body requires to maintain the extra muscle.

 

Or another way to look at it is by gaining a stone of muscle you can lose 4-5lbs of fat month more than you would, or you can eat another 4-5lbs of fat without gaining weight

 

 

MORE THAN YOU USED TO

 

Its worth noting here that all of these are realted to each other. If you go for a 4 hour bike ride, you will prob do less house work, or dog walking. in order to gain muscle you use more resistance but less energy then cardio. So in the short term you use less energy, but in the long term more. 

 

 

 

IYou should concentrate on:

1. Get Fitter aerobically (progresss)

2. Increasing quantity (but only upto the point suitable for your level)

3. Gain Muscle / gain strength

 

 

 

ENERGY IN

 

There are many ways to reduce the amount fo food you eat

 

LESS QUANTITY

consuming smaller portions of all foods. Smaller meal sizes and smaller snacks. However smaller doesnt neccersarily means less energy. A large healthy meal will likely contain less calories than a small /snack. So it important to remember that smaller quantities of the same food is whats important.

 

 

LESS HIGH ENERGY FOODS

Avoiding high energy foods will reduce overall energy intake massivly. Avoiding fat foods and high sugar /added sugar foods and eating more low calorific foods such as fruits and veg and low fat meats.  everybody knows this, the problem is for most of us we dont crave the healthy low calorie foods, we want the other sort. 

 

By eating very healthy some people find it is not sustainable where as others enjoy it and find it easier. The amount of good and bad foods you eat and the ratio depends on individuals. for someone eating healthy i would expect 70-90% of their food to come from very healthy sources, Fruits, Veg and low fat meats. The 10-30% would serve to keep them motivated to eat healthy.

 

whether you have a little snack everyday, or one day of lots of junk food is again an indivduals choice. the less bad food, the better the results. It is that simple from a maths perspective.

 

 

CONCLUSION

Get the equation right

 

Use an online nutrition tracker like MY FITNESS PAL to measure how much energy you consume (and nutrients). Use a heart monitor to measure how much energy you use during exercise. For those with a better heart monitor you can wear it for 24 hours and see how much energy you use the entire day. 

 

In the same way you can count average steps in a day (did you get your 10,000 in?)  You can measure how much energy (how many kcals) you use in a day