Calories to Lose Weight

First of all, let us set the record straight, this should not be ‘calories to lose weight’ but should instead be ‘calories to lose fat’.  It is important when you are trying to build lean muscle that you realise that building muscle and losing fat may result a no net gain or loss.

It is also important to realise that to lose fat, you need to have a deficit of calories on your intake (400 less than you need per day for an average person), compared to your expenditure, so this encourages your body to burn fat.  It is also important to note, that when building lean muscle, you have a higher requirement for calories (100 more per day for an average person).

These statements would appear to be at odds with one another, how might it be possible to consume fewer calories, even though you need more of them?  The key to this is to consume the correct amount of protein, carbohydrates, and fats to ensure that the body still burns body fat, but you still get the full amount of energy that your body needs.

It is also important to understand when lowering your calorific intake, that your body will go into a ‘crisis mode’ when it thinks that you are starving, so you should not more than 10% of your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) or you run the risk of your body converting the protein in you muscle to carbs to use as energy.

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The way you can cause your body to burn fat is to eat the following amounts as a percentage of TDEE:

50% energy from fats and carbohydrates;

40% energy from protein;

10% energy from stored body fat;

Note that it is the protein that is slightly less than expected, and results in the calorie deficit.

It is also interesting to note that of the total amount of energy that your body requires, only a very small amount is actually used to build muscle (possibly as low as 5%)  Exercise however is a much bigger proportion (approximately 20%)  It is actually your brain that takes the lion’s share of the energy that your body needs, followed by necessary tasks performed by the body, such as breathing, maintaining temperature, pumping blood around the body, fighting infection.

There are exceptions to these guidelines for building muscle and losing fat at the same time, and they are:

Teens who cannot build muscle or put on fat no matter how much they eat

Bodybuilders that are at or close to their genetic limit, or have a low body fat percentage (under 8%)

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For beginner and intermediate people, it is very possible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time, simply because there is still plenty of muscle that can be built, and plenty of fat that can be burnt, so the balancing act for the calories consumed is not so closely fought.

Further guidance on the types of food to consume – eat protein throughout the day, equally spaced out so that your body will not be forced to burn muscle (1g of protein per pound of body weight)  Consume enough calories so that your body cannot put on fat, and also does not go into ‘crisis mode’.  Eat unprocessed foods where possible – fresh vegetables, natural fats such as nuts, olives.  Eat grain and low Glycaemic Index (GI) carbohydrates – no sugar, alcohol, white flour etc.