The Foundation of Every Diet

Whether you want to lose weight, gain weight or just maintain your current weight, understanding energy balance will make a world of difference.

Energy balance is the basis of all diets. This is very important when considering any type of nutrition manipulation, especially when change in body composition is the goal. Energy balance is at the core of all weight loss (or gain) goals. It cannot be overlooked, and more importantly, denied.

So what is energy balance? Sounding somewhat redundant, it is the balancing (energy in vs. energy out) of energy within a living system. Our body’s effort to maintain homeostasis. This is vital in understand how your body reacts to dieting. Your body is constantly fighting to maintain homeostasis. So what is the source of energy for humans? Humans get their energy from, and only from, calories. Calories and energy can almost be used interchangeably. So energy balance is simply: Calories In versus Calories Out (CICO).

When referring to energy balance, manipulation in how many calories you are consuming (Calories in) and how many you are expending (Calories out) is how we create change in body composition. When someone intakes more calories than they expend they create a positive energy balance and this will lead to weight gain. Contrary, if someone is expending more calories than they are consuming they create a negative energy balance and will lead to weight loss.

What is a calorie? The true definition is: the amount of heat required at a pressure of one atmosphere to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree Celsius. A calorie is a measure of energy or heat. So, are all calories the same? Yes? No? First, answer this. What weighs more a pound of feather or a pound of iron? They weigh the same! But what they consist of and look like are very different. Similarly, all calories are the same, they are simply a measure of energy. The basis of the statement “not all calories are the same” is that calories consumed by various sources are utilized differently by the body.

CICO is actually a very intricate and constantly changing equation. I will attempt to simplify it as much as possible because this is an important factor to grasp when trying to create a change in body composition.

"Energy balance is at the core of all weight loss (or gain) goals. It cannot be overlooked, and more importantly, denied."

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Breakdown of energy balance

As previously stated CICO is an equation. Calories in = Calories out. To successful tip the scale in your favor you need to break down either side of this equation. In other words, what makes up calories in and calories out.

Calories in

Calories come from one source, the food and liquids we consume. More specifically, the macronutrients (or macros) within the food and liquids. Macronutrients are the chemical elements of food that provide energy. There are 4 macronutrients. Most common are fats/lipids, carbohydrates, and protein. The fourth is not talked as much in the context of nutrition. The fourth macronutrient is alcohol. Calorie in portion of the equation is controlled my macro consumption.

To move the scale into a negative energy balance we follow the oldest diet “trick” in the book: create a calorie deficit. Easier said than done. Furthermore, there are a variety of ways to do that. This is why you are reading this article, to find out the best way to create a calorie deficit so you can lose weight.

Although calorie consumption is the only thing that affects calories in, there are many factors that affect calories consumption. When I say these factors affect your calorie consumption I mean they affect your access, desire, and feeling towards food. These factor include but are not limited to:

- Appetite (hormone regulation)

- Environment

- Stress levels

- Palatability and reward of the food

- Perceived control over situation

- Lack of delayed gratification

All of these factor play a role in how many calories you consume.

"To move the scale into a negative energy balance we follow the oldest diet “trick” in the book: create a calorie deficit."

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Calories out

Calories out has a few more players than calories in. Calories out is comprised of: basal metabolic rate, thermic effect food, non-exercise activities of thermogenesis and physical activity. So let’s break each one down!

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): This is essentially the amount of calories you need to consume to stay alive. Although you may be resting, there are millions of reactions going on in your body at any moment. So BMR reflects the calories or energy needed at rest to fuel these basic physiological functions. When I say at rest this means that the individual is not asleep but is not moving.

Although simple equations are more commonly used, a more accurate way to assess BMR can only be tested in a lab witch specific laboratory equipment. An individual come into the lab under the following conditions:

- Well rested (8+ hours of sleep)

- No exercise within 12 hours

- Fasted

- No caffeine

Then then lay underneath a hood that is hooked up to a machine. This machine uses indirect calorimetry to track the exchange of gases. It tracks the amount of oxygen the person is breathing in and the amount of carbon dioxide released. The individual must lay still and awake for an extended period. After gas exchange data is collected it gives the individuals BMR.

BMR is THE highest percentage of your calories expended. It accounts for 60-75% of calorie expenditure. Although it’s high variable from person to person, one’s BMR is rather unchanged from day to day.

Thermic effect of food (TEF): The process of breaking food down into energy, requires energy. TEF is the energy that is required to break down a particular food. Thermic effect of food consists of about 10% of daily energy but the percent of energy per calorie is different for each macro.

Protein: 25-30% of calories.

Carbohydrate: 6-8% of calories, but some research shows higher. This tends to be higher in foods that contain higher fiber content.

Fats: 2-3% of calories. Similar to carbs, research has shown higher

The take away is, protein requires a much higher amount of energy to breakdown and use protein. These %s mean that if you were going to consume 100 calories of protein then about 25-30 calories will be used for digestion, absorption and utilization of the macro, in this case, protein. Furthermore, the increased consumption in food will automatically increase ones energy expenditure.

Non-exercise activities of thermogenesis (NEAT): This is the energy used to perform activities of daily living or anything other than deliberate exercise. This consists of, but not limited to: Walking the dog, gardening, shaking your leg while sitting in a meeting, cleaning your house, grocery shopping, cook dinner, playing with kids, you get the idea. NEAT is highly variable between individuals. NEAT alone can make up 15-50% of total energy expenditure.

Physical Activity (PA): This is your deliberate exercise. Whether its weight lifting, walking, yoga, American Ninja warrior, any activity with the that increases heart rate and/or contract muscles for the intention of health benefits is exercise.

This is another extremely variable factor of energy expenditure. It constitutes about 15-30% of energy expenditure. Obviously, those who live a sedentary lifestyle may have little to no impact on energy expenditure from exercise.

These are the components of the CICO equation. When trying to lose weight, knowing how to properly manipulate these variables is extremely important. So let’s take a moment to dive deeper and break down the following: Which factor has the largest impact in creating a deficit? Can we manipulate it? If so, to what extent can we change it?

Possibly the most controllable factor and the one with arguably the greatest impact is calories in. Modifying the amount of calories you take in to create a caloric deficit is the very essence of a fat loss diet. All successful diets use one or more methods to control your calories in. Whether you are counting calories, no carbs, low fat, etc. these strategies are creating a caloric deficit by controlling or limiting your calories in.

"Calories out has a few more players than calories in. Calories out is comprised of: basal metabolic rate, thermic effect food, non-exercise activities of thermogenesis and physical activity."

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