Misconception: A daily 500 calorie deficit equals 1lb (0.45kg) fat loss per week. This is one of those fallacies that even we’ve been guilty of believing for many years. If something is repeated often enough by lots of people, it gains its own weight of truth - everyone says it, so it must be true. But the more we understood about human biology, the more we realised this cannot be right. There’s no argument that in order to lose weight/body fat, you will have to create a calorie deficit, either by eating less or exercising more. Again, it’s calories in versus calories out rule (or that bloody Stephen Hawking and his annoying Laws of Physics) but it assumes that every calorie making up the short-fall comes from your fat cells. If you cast your mind back to chapter 1, we explained about aerobic capacity and oxygen debt; that humans cannot solely use fat for fuel, as it will always use some carbs and possibly a bit of protein as well. How much of a calorie deficit is required to lose 1lb (0.45kg) of fat? It’s impossible to say for any one individual as there are many other factors to take into account, with your current metabolic rate being the main one, but if we were to make a ballpark guess, we would aim for about 4-4,500 calories deficit from your diet and 6,000 calories plus from exercise. What you need to know: In a laboratory, body fat has 3,500 k/cals of energy but in the real world, your body cannot simply isolate surplus fat to make up any calorie shortfall. The hormones that strip fat will also strip carb stores and muscle tissue (proteins). More advice and articles at getphysical.co.uk
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 18:56:00 +0000
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