Understanding CICO: An Overview of Weight Loss and Caloric Deficit

Welcome to Episode 14

• Learn how burning more calories than consumed, is essential for weight loss. 
• Discover BMR, NEAT, TEF, as well as hormone changes that occur during a caloric deficit. 
• The role of caloric deficit in weight loss, regardless of the specific diet followed. In addition. 
• The impact of exercise, the concept of energy negative foods, and the effects of a caloric deficit. 
• Challenges of losing weight without knowing your calories. 

Stay tuned as Coach Neil shares invaluable insights on navigating the realm of health and fitness for Gen X.

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Transcript

voice guy [00:00:00]:

This is Just Start, helping Gen X live the health and fitness lifestyle for fat loss, mobility, and muscular development. You're about to get real and raw info on how to change your life. Welcome them to just start. Now your host, Neil d.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:00:23]:

What does calories in versus calories Out actually mean. Okay. Calories in refers to the food you consume, which is your energy intake for the day. Calories out is the amount of calories your body expends daily to live. Now to lose weight, You need to create a caloric deficit when you burn more calories than you consume. Now have you ever wondered what BMR Stands for what it is, and is it important? BMR stands for basal metabolic rate. It's the energy required to maintain basic Bodily functions while at rest, and it is actually a significant part of your calories out. Now some of you may be wondering, Okay.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:01:09]:

I got BMR. What is NEAT? What does it stand for? NEAT stands for nonexercise activity thermogenesis. It includes all the non exercise, nonvoluntary movements that you make, like fidgeting, waving your hands around, blinking, twitching, stuff like that. The stuff that I'm doing right now that you don't see is my hands go wild around as I talk. Okay. So and you can drop as much as 500 calories a day, Even maybe a bit more just through NEAT. Okay. It's a easy thing to do.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:01:38]:

Now here's something else you may have heard of, maybe not. Okay? It is t e f. This is this stands for TEF. It stands for thermic effect of food. Now if you've ever wondered why some foods make you feel warmer than others, Well, TF, baby. It's the thermic effect of food. It's the energy required to digest food. As a general rule, we can say The protein has a TF of 20 to 30%, carbs will have a TF of generally 6 to 8%, and fat 2 to 3%.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:02:08]:

There's exceptions, but that's a good general rule. K. Now if you've ever wondered how your daily activities and food choices interact with weight loss, Here it is. Activity and intake are two sides of the calories in calories out coin. While calories in refer to the foods and drink you You consume calories out includes the energy you expend through x through activities like exercise, walking, and, yes, Even fidgeting. Okay? Waving your arms around wildly as you talk. Now the balance between these 2 determines whether you gain, lose, or Simply maintain your weight. For example, if you eat 2,000 calories a day, but you burn 25 100 calories through various activities, Including NEAT, training, TF, you will find yourself in a 500 calorie deficit which promotes weight loss.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:03:03]:

The same to be said if you eat 25 100 calories but you only spend 2,000, those 500 calories can turn into weight gain. Chances are it may not be muscle. When you're in a caloric deficit, there are several key hormone changes that happen. Okay? First of all, Insulin, and this is all common knowledge. Okay? Insulin, this is a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar levels in a caloric deficit. Your fasting levels of insulin generally go down, improving your insulin sensitivity, and this becomes beneficial for weight loss as high insulin levels Levels will generally promote higher fat storage. Now let's talk about another hormone, leptin, commonly known as the satiety hormone. Leptin is produced by fat cells and signals to your brain that you're full.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:03:49]:

In a caloric deficit, leptin levels drop making you Feel hungrier and potentially making it harder to maintain the deficit, but I can assure you it doesn't last for long and you usually get a good handle on things after a couple of days. Another hormone commonly referred to is t three. This is a thyroid hormone that plays a role in your metabolic rate. In caloric deficit, t three levels can sometimes decrease, which might slow down your metabolism ever so slightly. Another hormone that we'll hear a lot about is ghrelin. K? This is ghrelin is often called the hunger hormone. So you have leptin known for its as a satiety hormone and ghrelin called the hunger hormone. Ghrelin levels can actually increase in a caloric deficit making you feel hungrier.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:04:32]:

Now it might not sound fair but forewarned is forearmed. So and there's another hormone called Cortisol, which Stress from dieting can increase the levels of cortisol, which can in turn affect fat storage and other metabolic processes. So now that we know a little bit about how hormones react, the question comes up, do hormones affect weight loss? Well, Short answer is yes. However, with a caveat, hormones like insulin, leptin, and t three, they do affect weight loss, but After calories in versus calories out, it's not the other way around. What I mean by that is that calories in versus calories out is actually the driver. It is the determinant. And as a result of a lower caloric intake, Your hormones will act in a certain way, which will promote certain feelings, which could stay which could drive you slightly off course if you give into them, But it's not the hormones that are the determining driver here. It is really the calories in versus calories out.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:05:36]:

Now having said that, I'm gonna make the question official. Can you lose weight on any diet as long as you're in a caloric deficit? Well, you may have heard that you can lose weight on any diet, but Is it true? I would say yes. I truly believe from what I've seen, from what I've read, true scientific research, Anecdotal research and my work seeing other people actually have this effect happen real time in life, I would say, yes. The key to weight loss is truly being in a caloric deficit regardless of the diet you fall, you can take all the popular diets out there, the ketos and the carnivores and the the vegetarians and the vegans, whatever. Put it all together. At the end of the day, there's one thing that all of them all have in common. So the majority of these diets, they bring you into a caloric deficit. And truly, it is that caloric deficit which is the driver of weight loss.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:06:34]:

It's just some of them are better for maintaining lean muscle tissue than Other and I won't get into that, but yeah. Okay. So for example, if you're on a plant based diet, the principle remains the same, consume fewer calories than you burn. Alright? So enough about diets. Let's get about let's talk about something we all love, food. Okay. Can you lose fat but not weight? K. You ever wondered why the scale isn't moving, but you look leaner? I get this a lot.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:07:02]:

I hear this a lot. Oh, you know what? I I didn't lose much weight as I thought, but I feel good. I look good. You know, here's the thing. Caloric deficit controls mass loss, not just fat loss. K. You can lose fat, but maintain or even gain weight if you're building muscle, and this can happen a lot, okay, especially if you're using resistance training And you're have you're prioritizing protein in your diet. Alright.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:07:27]:

So does exercise now does exercise Actually help in creating caloric deficit. Now you may have heard that exercise burns calories, but how effective is it? Well, exercise is a part of calories out and helps you in creating a caloric deficit by increasing your energy expenditure, And it also make you look pretty sick and awesome because it's gonna put some shape into your muscles and you're just gonna look so much better. Right? So getting on with foods, Is energy negative food a thing? Have you ever heard of foods that take more energy to digest than they provide? Well, So the closest thing I can come to an energy negative food is celery, which will still leave you with more calories than it takes to consume and digest, albeit very few, maybe, I don't know, single digits, Tiny tiny amount. Whatever. But whatever. Okay. So alright. Moving on.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:08:26]:

NEAT. What happens to neat during a caloric deficit. Now have you ever noticed that if you diet, when you start to diet, you might Get less fidgety. K? A little bit less energetic, a little bit more even lethargic, possibly depending on what type of diet Okay. Now remember, NEAT, non now remember, NEAT is non exercise activity thermogenesis. Now we said before, NEAT could be everything that you do, which is not exercise. Okay? All the walking around you do, maybe gardening is neat. Fidgeting is neat.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:09:09]:

Okay? Walking, pacing up and down the hall is neat now. In a caloric deficit, your body will naturally try to conserve more energy, which can lead to a decreased need by as much as and some people up to 500 calories per day. And this is why you might find yourself moving less, even talking slower or even, like, blinking less frequently when you're cutting calories. Your body's like, hey, listen, I gotta conserve it. This is a great place to conserve it. Now let's talk about something that's often overlooked and the dangers of getting it wrong. How does the digestive system affect weight loss? This is a big one. You may have heard that a healthy gut is a key to weight loss, but how true is that? Well, while a well functioning digestive system is beneficial for overall health, it's not a primary determinant for weight loss.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:10:01]:

In fact, Some digestive disorders often lead to weight loss due to malabsorption. Now before anybody gets the idea that being sick and having Stomach disorders is good. It is not because malabsorption can lead to malnutrition and other health risks, which can Have long term very negative effects on your body. So you absolutely want to have a healthy gut no matter what, even if it means you're gonna be in taking that nutrients, and you to just be a little bit more careful and, you know, diligent with what it is that you eat. Alright? Hey. I just wanna thank everybody for listening and joining into this podcast. I really appreciate. The support has been fantastic.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:10:39]:

And I wanna let you know that if you like what you're hearing and you're looking to incorporate fitness into your lifestyle to improve your Health, your energy, and your mental clarity. I want you to know that you don't have to do it alone. I'm absolutely here to help you, to guide you just like I've guided many others to live a healthier, Fitter life. So if you're looking to begin your own transformation but don't know exactly where to start, no problem. That's where my coaching membership can help out. It's Specially designed to take the Gen X body from overweight and underperforming to lean, fit, and thriving in a fitness lifestyle that helps you become Your very best self. Check out the link in the show notes to get on the waiting list. Okay.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:11:19]:

Back to the show. Question 13, don't worry. We didn't forget Can you lose weight without tracking calories? Well, okay. Simple answer, yes. You can lose weight without tracking calories, But it's hard because you have to be mindful, cognizant of portion sizes, food choices, And your activity level to ensure that you're still in a caloric deficit. And I can tell you that most people that measure their food even like a few times are Shocked to see what a portion size actually is. A portion size okay. Foods these days are so calorie dense.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:11:58]:

And I'm not saying nutrient dense, I'm saying calorie dense that a portion size we look at a portion and Add to the fact that a lot of foods today, they just simply don't satiate, they're not filling, so we eat 2 or 3 or 4 times more than what we really need or should eat. Okay? Because we're just not getting those satiety signals because there's no nutrients there's not sufficient nutrients that are being absorbed, that If you're pouring I'll use like a simple example, a bowl of cereal. You pour a bowl of cereal, even like a small or medium bowl, it might actually be 2 or 3 times what they're telling a portion of cereal actually is. So the thing is is that, yes, you can lose weight without tracking calories, but it's really hard difficult to gauge the portion us correctly. And then the other side of the coin is that we often will over calculate for what our activity was during the day. So if you're Under calculating your your calories from food and and over calculating your calories from activity, it might be much farther from the actual equation than what you're thinking. Let's pull it altogether by saying that small changes can absolutely lead to big results when you just start. Guys, I'll see you next time.

Host (Coach Neil D) [00:13:04]:

Choco.

voice guy [00:13:05]:

You've been listening to just start. Early in life, Neil d went from a skinny to a muscular physique. When trends and lifestyle choices led him down a path of fat gain and lost motivation, his my nation to end the madness became a transformative system, and a passion for helping Gen x live the fitness lifestyle for fat loss, mobility and muscular development. We hope you liked the show. If you did, like, rate, and review. For more info and to Reach out to coach Neil Dee personally. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. See you next time on Just Start.