I’ve popped my teacher lanyard back on for this quick intro to calorie deficits…

You’re in a calorie deficit when the energy you expend is greater than the energy (in the shape of food) that you consume.

To put it another way, you are giving your body less fuel than it needs to function at your current weight.

Weight loss can only occur in a calorie deficit. The greater the deficit, the greater the weight loss, but also, the harder is it to maintain.

Your body doesn’t like being in a calorie deficit, because it hints at starvation, so it brings in measures to try to get you to eat more and/or move less: increased hunger, constant thinking about food, cravings, headaches, fatigue, low energy. The more you restrict your calories, the harder your body will fight back.

So, one of the best ways to maintain a deficit for longer is to go smaller. Around 10-15% of your current energy needs is a good place to start.

To find out what your estimated Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is (ie how many calories you need per day to maintain your current weight), this calculator can help: https://tdeecalculator.net/

Remember, though, come to it from a place of curiosity and interest, not judgement. This is just an estimate and it’s just for info. 

Now what?

So, say your current TDEE (energy needs) is 2800kcal/day.

A reasonable, not too painful deficit of 10% would mean cutting out 280kcal (roughly) each day, or around 1960ckal/week.

This would lead to fat loss at around 1/2lb each week. 

Too slow?

That would mean it might take 7 months to lose a stone, and I bet you’ve lost that kind of weight way more quickly on various diet plans in the past. But it’s almost certainly gone back on again, assuming that you kept up your diet long enough to get to that point.

A more gentle deficit is easier to maintain. Cutting out 280kcal could be:

• one less large Costa latte each day, or
• swapping full-fat Greek yog for fat-free, or
• having 2 chocolate digestives instead of 5

A large Domino’s Pepperoni Passion pizza has 2642kcal: one less of those a week and you’d be laughing!

So, if you’re looking to lose weight, can you identify where those 280kcal might come from in your normal day / week?

Of course, if you’d like a hand with this, that’s just one of the things we’d look at in your Fad-Free 1:1 coaching sessions. Click to find out more or book a chat with me to talk it through.