When it comes to weight loss, what really is the best weight loss diet?
Is it slimming world, weight watchers, keto, soup, paleo, intermittent fasting and the list goes on.....
With social media and marketing playing such an influential role in our lives each of these diets claim to be the best diet for losing weight. Despite what they may want us to believe when it comes to weight loss it all falls down to one key factor, calorie deficit. For any of these diets to be successful you have to be in a calorie deficit.
What is a calorie deficit?
To understand how to create a calorie deficit we need to understand energy balance. A calorie is the amount of energy found in our food and drink. We each require a certain amount of energy a day to maintain our current weight at rest, and this is called Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR for short. Our age, height and current body weight all play a part in this formula. The next part of the equation is calculating our TDEE, which stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure. This method allows us to estimate the amount of calories we burn doing our daily activities. There are several different formulas you can use for the calculation but the one I personally use is Harris–Benedict equation.
If we consistently eat above this number, we will be in a calorie surplus and this will result in weight gain. If we consistently eat below this number we will be in a calorie deficit and this will result in weight loss.
This is why calorie counting has become more popular over recent years because it takes away the guessing game, and you are able to have a better understanding of how your day to day energy balance is looking. This is also made even easier now with free apps like MyFitnessPal which allow you to log your food on your phone throughout the day.
However, this doesn't mean that other diets don't work but you just need to remember that for any of these diets to be successful you must be in a consistent calorie deficit and to achieve this, it must be something you feel you can stick to!
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