05/12/2024
The ability to change or maintain your current level of bodyfat comes down to energy balance measured in Calories
Much like how an inch measures size and miles per hour measures speed, Calories measure energy
Your body requires energy for all of its functions
These energy requirements can be broken into 4 parts
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
This is the energy required to breathe, make your heart beat, for brain function. The energy required for you to sustain life at rest
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)
This is the energy required for you to walk, cook, clean, chores etc. The energy required for you to move in your daily life outside of planned exercise sessions
Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT)
This is the energy required to do a spin class, a weights session, 5k run etc. The energy required for planned exercise sessions
Thermic Effect of Food (TEF)
This is the energy required for your body to break down and extract nutrients from food you eat. For example, you take a bite of a banana, chew it, swallow, your body then massages the banana down to your stomach and begins breaking it down into glucose, fructose, fibre and extracts the vitamins and minerals, then shuttles all of these constituent parts around your body to cells that can either use or reconstitute them into other parts for later use. These are all energy costing processes
These 4 parts make up your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)
TDEE can be thought of as Calories Out
Food Eaten can be thought of as Calories in
If your TDEE is 2000 Calories and you consume 2000 Calories, your bodyfat will stay the same, as the amount of energy you used was equal to the amount of energy you put in
If your TDEE is 2000 Calories and you consume 2500 Calories, that’s more than you’re using so your body stores that extra energy for later use, extra energy in the body is stored as fat. This is a Calorie surplus
If your TDEE is 2000 Calories and you consume 1500 Calories, that’s less than you’re using so your body has to break down its own stored fat to provide you with energy because you never got enough from food you ate. This is a Calorie deficit
Now you know 🤓