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Metabolism is a tricky subject.
It varies by the day and even by the hour, with many variables affecting it.
Even by tracking your nutrition and activity, there are factors that can push your calorie balance in the wrong direction even when you feel like you’re doing everything right.
But before we go into that, we first need to define what being in a deficit means and why you would want to be in one in the first place.
Calorie Balance
To clarify, in this article I’m not going to be referring to food quality or nutrient density. I’m strictly talking about calories, not macros, not vitamins and minerals or anything else.
No matter what type of food you’re eating, if you are in a calorie deficit you will lose weight. If you are in a calorie surplus you will gain weight.
If you combine this with resistance training then the weight you lose will be fat, and the weight you gain will be muscle.
The problem is that this “calories in calories out” balance is more difficult to decipher than it looks.
“Calories in” is the simpler of the two. As long as you accurately track your intake over the course of a day, you’ll have a pretty decent picture of that side of the equation. I say only pretty decent because food preparation and serving size can affect calorie counts. (I prefer ranges over strict number goals because of this variability.)
“Calories out” is where we get a little muddled. It is extremely difficult to even estimate how much we burn on a given day because there are so many factors that go into it. (How active we are, our current weight, what we did the day prior, how we slept, how stressed we are and so on.)
Because of this, I'll be focusing mostly on the "calories in" side of the equation.
Keeping those concepts in mind, I’ll now go into 3 ways that your calorie balance can be thrown out of whack and how it can make you feel like you’re in a deficit even though you aren’t.
Tracking problems
The first error you want to correct is a tracking problem. If you have a calorie range goal, it is imperative that you correctly input your food.
Some easy to miss items include:
-Additions to coffee like milk, sugar, and creams
-Sauces and dips
-Oils and butter used to grease pans
These items, while small, can add up quickly to your total calorie count. And it’s often easy to forget them.
Serving sizes are important to get right as well. Don’t underestimate just to artificially decrease your total. You’re only cheating yourself.
Bingeing
For those that don’t necessarily track their food by the meal but feel that they eat healthily, I warn about the effects of bingeing. One weekend worth of bad eating can throw off your average daily calories and undo all of your hard work during the week.
Moderation is key. I’m not for restricting yourself of any foods. Rather I tell clients to enjoy what they like in moderation as long as they stay within their calorie goals.
The Big Picture
The easiest way to track your calorie balance is to look at both your weight and fat percentage on a weekly basis and make adjustments based on the changes.
Has your weight and fat increased over the course of the week? That means you were in a surplus and need to adjust accordingly.
Did you lose weight and fat? That means you were in a deficit.
Did you gain or maintain weight but lose fat? That means you put on lean muscle and lost fat. This is the most positive change you can have and the extra lean muscle will only boost your metabolism further in the long run.
Make changes based on evidence. Use the data from the previous week to shape your decisions for the next week.
Only by keeping diligent track of these important measures will you reach your goals and have a long-term template to maintaining them.
To your good health,
Getting started can be a tough thing to do, and the main reason is that people don’t know where to start.
That’s where I come in.
Regardless of whether you live in the GTA and can do in-person coaching with me or you live anywhere else in the world and can do online coaching, I can put a plan in place to help you get to where you need to be.
For more information, check out my coaching options or what my clients have to say.