Calories Out - How to manipulate for our advantage

So you want to lose weight. Cool! Nothing wrong with that when you go about it in a safe manner and are not imposing weight loss on anyone else.

Diet and exercise are the first two things that come to mind when it comes to weight loss.

There is a basic understanding that eating more green things and hitting the gym will help one lose weight. There is however more than just diet and exercise that affect weight loss and the rate it comes off. Not understanding this creates a lot of frustration and wanting to throw in the towel.

Most fail to realize the significant impact the other hours of the day not spent on working out have on progress over time. To better understand this then we need to discuss total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), more commonly known as the calories out part of calories in-calories out (CICO) equation.

TL;DR

Calories out is total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).

What we eat (TEF), how much we exercise (EAT), every other activity during the day (NEAT), and our bodies doing its daily thing (BMR) all affect calories out.

We have the most influence on NEAT and it varies the most person to person. Something as small as fidgeting can create a difference of 700 calorie burn person to person. By doing more non-sedentary activities we can increase NEAT.

By eating a high protein diet we make TEF higher. Carbs have a greater impact on TEF than fat, so don't swear them off.

By exercising 3-5 times a week and pushing ourselves to the edge of our comfort zone, we increase EAT.

There is the least amount of control over BMR on a day to day basis but how weight loss is approached can severely impact it and "damage your metabolism". By retaining lean body mass one can reduce the negative impacts of dieting.

Sciency Details

TDEE is the total number of calories the body expends in a day. This number is dynamic, that is, no two days are the same because one eats and does different things every day. Researches have found that as one loses weight, TDEE also declines which makes it harder to lose weight over time.

TDEE is made up of resting energy expenditure (REE) and non-resting energy expenditure (NREE).

REE is determined by basal metabolic rate (BMR). BMR is the amount of energy the body needs in order to function. This is the amount of calories burned if you laid on the couch all day and did nothing else. This can account for 60-80% of TDEE, higher for someone who is sedentary and lower for someone who is active. We have little control over BMR on a day to day basis.

Sedentary activities are defined as activities that require less than 1.5 metabolic equivalents (METs), while in a sitting, reclining, or lying posture. Some activities that qualify under this are watching television, playing video games, driving, and reading. A sedentary job is were one is sitting at a computer most of the day. As defined above, sedentary activities are while sitting, reclining, or lying, therefore if you switch to a standing desk then this now becomes a non-sedentary activity.

NREE is the summation of exercise activity thermogenesis (EAT), non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), and thermic effect of feeding (TEF). This is the amount of calories burned doing anything during the day other than laying on the couch. We can influence NREE greatly day to day.

EAT is the amount of energy expended due to formal exercise. For those who exercise less than 2 hours per week, with “bodily exertion for the sake of developing and maintaining physical fitness”, EAT then makes up 1-2% of their TDEE. In those "who habitually participate in purposeful physical training", EAT can make up 15-30% of their TDEE. This can be thought of as increasing your workout intensity, for example getting close to muscle failure, will yield in a higher EAT rather than continuously doing the same workout week after week, for example circuit training that does not have a progressive overload component. The amount burned due to EAT can be estimated and it is worth noting that as you lose weight, it will take you less energy expenditure to complete the same activity. This is because body mass has been reduced, so it takes less energy for the body to complete the same activity.

NEAT is the amount of energy expended when performing any activity outside of formal exercise and has the largest impact on TDEE, after BMR. NEAT is leisure activities, fidgeting, standing in line, toe tapping, chores, walking from your car to the store entrance, etc. In sedentary people NEAT can account for 6-10% of their TDEE, while it can account for 50%, or more, for those with highly active lifestyles. NEAT can vary by more than 2,000kcal per day in people who are sedentary vs active yet the same age, height, weight, lean body mass, and gender.

TEF is the energy expended after ingesting a meal. It accounts for 8-15% of TDEE. Each macronutrient (protein, carbohydrates, and fat) expend different amount of energy per calorie to digest. Protein requires 20-35% of its total calories to be digested. While carbs require 5-15% and fat 0-5%.

So how to use this information?

We can affect calories out, TDEE, through many aspects. The one that has the greatest variability on a daily basis is NEAT.

Increasing your NEAT is essential for weight and fat loss as it has the highest impact on the calories out equation. There are many ways we can do this, some more practical than others. For example, a mail person has a higher NEAT than an office admin as the mail person spends all day moving to deliver mail while an office admin spends most of the day sitting. Obviously telling someone to change their job to increase their NEAT is not practical advice. On Friday, I will be posting on my Instagram page @fit_nessxd a couple of ways that you can actually improve your daily NEAT.

The other components that make up TDEE need to also be considered. Weight loss and fat loss are not the same thing. See my blog post on the difference between the two.

If you are simply interested in weight loss, EAT can be from any form of exercise you enjoy and keeps you motivated to show up and workout 3-5 times per week.

If you are interested in fat loss, EAT should be primarily composed of resistance/strength training. Yes, you can increase muscle mass from other forms of exercise, but they will not produce results as quickly or efficiently build muscle when compared to resistance training.

I've emphasized before that protein intake is imperative for fat loss, but as you can see eating a higher protein diet yields higher TDEE as you are increasing TEF. Therefore, you should consider having a higher protein intake even if your goal is weight loss.

BMR is not something that we can vary on a day to day basis but it does change over time as we age, do or do not exercise, and by dieting. Dieting has been found to negatively impact our BMR as the body adapts to eating lesser calories and has reduced metabolic adaptive tissue. This is part of what makes it difficult to lose weight over time, or a second or third time.

To minimize the negative impacts that dieting has on BMR you should aim to retain as much lean body mass as possible. Retaining lean body mass can be done by decreasing your calories by 10-20% below maintenance, consuming sufficient protein, and resistance training. Negative impacts on BMR from dieting is commonly known as "hurting your metabolism" or "metabolism isn't as fast as before".

This was a lot of information! As you can see calories out has many opportunities to create frustration in one's physique change goals as it is impacted by many factors. I hope that this has given you a better insight as to things that you can change little by little to optimize your calories out and achieve your goals.

Comment below or email me at contact@fitnessxd.com if you have any questions!