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What is a Calorie Deficit?

Updated: Mar 23, 2023


So many phrases are banded around in the health and fitness world and it is often assumed we know what those phrases mean. In this quick article I will cover what a calorie deficit is and why it is an important component of fat-loss.



Understanding Energy Balance

Calories are the measure of energy in our food. Our body uses calories to fuel numerous things including:

  • Thinking

  • Breathing

  • Digesting food

  • Keeping us warm

  • Blood pumping

  • Movement


Depending on the balance of calories we

consume versus calories, we will be in one of three states of energy balance:

> Calorie Surplus - When we consume more calories than we use.

> Calorie Deficit - When we consume fewer calories than we use.

> Maintenance - When calories we consume are equal to calories we use, so there isn't a surplus or a deficit.


What is body fat?

Body fat is basically stored energy, the body needs to have a constant supply of energy to keep us alive, so the body has fat stores to help fuel our bodies between meals and whilst we sleep.


What happens when we are in a calorie deficit?

When we are in a calorie deficit, the body will tap into its stored energy (mostly body fat) to fuel movement and keep you alive. This is why it is an essential component when the goal is to reduce body fat.


There are two ways to create a deficit:

  1. To increase movement; this is the only way to increase your bodies energy needs.

  2. To decrease calories consumed.


The Final 'T'

One trap many people fall into is relying on calorie data from fitness trackers to calculate energy expenditure; all scientific studies on this have concluded they are not accurate enough to consider. Fitness trackers are great at tracking steps. Full. Stop.


When looking at any kind of health and wellbeing goal, including fat-loss, I highly recommend working with a qualified and compassionate coach.


Every person is different and our calorific needs vary. We are humans with emotions and lives, so we are far more complex than energy in vs energy out and our value is not dependant upon how much we weight, our body fat percentage or how we look.




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