Are You Under-Fuelling Your Weight Loss Attempts?

Put simply a calorie is a unit of measure that estimates the amount of energy stored within the foods we eat.

Historically it has always bee suggested that women should consume 2000kcal per day and men 2500kcal to maintain healthy weight. However this is far too general for many individuals and often people will require more than this to optimise health especially if they are regularly exercising.

Every single bodily function required energy. Therefore fuelling our bodies well is so important if you are going to feel your best both mentally and physically. Even if you are physically inactive our body still needs adequate energy for basic organ function, keeping warm and cognitive function.

What contributes to our daily energy output

BMR: Basal Metabolic Rate: the amount of calories burned if we were laid flat in a room for 24 hours. This includes organ function, temperature regulation, breathing and thinking.
NEAT: None Exercise Activity Thermogenesis  
Exercise: Structured exercise sessions
Thermic effect of food: The energy used to digest foods

As you can see from the pie chart the two biggest contributors to energy output is our BMR and our NEAT. So its really important to be mindful of not going too low on your calorie intake even if you aren’t attending a structured gym session.

Calories for weight loss

I think its generally well understood that we need to consuming fewer calories than we are burning when trying to lose weight and body fat.

As most of our energy requirements contribute to our BMR and generally just staying alive..its really important not to rude calories too low. Especially if you are always staying active and exercising.

A suitable calorie reduction when attempting weight loss would be around 500kcal less than your average daily expenditure. So if we take those population average figures then this would be 1500kcal (minimum) for women and 2000 for men.

More coming on this topic and if you need help with working out your energy for weight loss or if you struggle with your relationship with calories and food but still want to reach some goals this year then why not consider 1:1 coaching.

Hannah