Calorie deficit: The fundamental principle behind weight loss

If you've been trying to lose weight, you might have already encountered the term “calorie deficit.”

Calorie deficit means eating fewer calories than what you burn in a day. But while it appears to be a very simple formula to losing weight, the actual challenge is in effectively practicing it.

GMANetwork.com consulted registered nutritionist-dietician Coach Timothy Ting to explain the best ways to get started with your weight loss guided by this concept.

The practice of calorie counting

Coach Tim clarifies that the practice of calorie deficit is not a diet. Rather diets work because of this principle.

@timnutrition (IG)

He states, “Calorie counting is not a diet. It's a method to do your diet. Calorie counting kasi is the back end ng lahat ng diets. Kumbaga, all the diets work via the calorie counting at some point. There are certain diets that take advantage of the fact na naglalagay lang sila ng food rules to the point na you don't have to count your calories but indirectly you keep your calories. Kumbaga 'yung tracking ng calories na 'yan, it's more for us nutritionists talaga to properly prescribe you a diet.

“Tracking calories is the process of counting and logging in foods para you know exactly how much calories are in the food that you are taking in.”

There are available tools online to get you started with this practice.

The first step is to find out your daily calorie needs or your baseline calories. With the use of online calculators, this is computed with the information about your age, your height, your weight, and your level of physical activity.

Then depending on your weight goal, you have to adjust your calorie intake.

Coach Tim tells, “Usually the calculation is minus or plus 500 if you want to lose a pound or gain a pound per week.”

Once you have you've determined this, the next step is to track your calories by weighing your food and managing portions.

The disadvantages of calorie counting

While it cannot be dismissed that a lot of information and apps are readily available online to help you get started in counting and tracking your calories, Coach Tim cautions us about its disadvantages.

Without proper guidance, the practice of calorie deficit is prone to abuse.

He explains, “The main disadvantage is that it's too unstructured, too much freedom for most people. Parang binigyan mo ng budget 'yung isang bata na PhP 2,000. So sinabi mo, 'Ikaw na bahala paano mo siya gagastusin.' And usually people eat like kids eh so they tend to eat like too much sweets, too much salty foods, too much fatty foods. So nami-mismanage nila 'yung calorie count na 'yun which in turn leads to some eating disorders in the long run kapag na-abuse siya.

“Sinasabi kasi sa calorie counting, you can eat anything you want as long as pasok siya sa calorie count mo. So tendency is people will go for it tapos siyempre full of calorie-dense food, napupuno kaagad 'yung budget nila, nauubos 'yung budget nila with the ube cheese, the sushi bake tapos gutom pa sila. So tendency is they go over. So pagka over the next day, babawi and that leads to a binge-purge pattern which leads to 'yung mga eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia.”

Another disadvantage of doing this on your own is it does not guarantee sustainability directed towards a healthier lifestyle.

He continues, saying, “A big disadvantage of it din is you might start to get tired of actually counting your food kasi isipin mo naman, every time that you eat you have to log. Every time that you eat you have to check. Every time that you eat you have to weigh. So eventually mas maganda rin that you consult with a nutritionist kasi we can guide you kung paano ba 'yung tamang way of tracking, ano ba 'yung purpose of tracking na 'to. Kumbaga basically we can educate you about the tracking so eventually we can set you up with a lifestyle pattern na hindi mo na kailangan mag-track.”

Most people look for various ways to achieve their weight goals, and this appears more attainable now with the help of the internet. However, it is important to remember that the best practice includes consistency, healthy choices that go beyond what you eat and drink, and of course, to seek proper advice from registered nutritionists-dieticians.

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