How to have
A 500 Calorie Deficit
How To Create A Calorie Deficit | Fat Loss Explained
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so you want to lose fat you may have
seen online that you need a calorie
deficit to achieve fat loss a calorie
deficit means that you consume fewer
calories than your body expends in a day
but how do you go about actually
creating a calorie deficit how many
calories should you consume in a day and
what about doing cardio in today's video
I will discuss how you can create a
calorie deficit for losing body fat
I will also simply explain why a calorie
deficit is the single most important
variable for fat loss first of all it is
important to understand that calories
are a unit of measurement for energy if
you consume a 300 calorie meal this
provides your body 300 calories worth of
energy this is relevant because your
body fat is basically an energy reserve
if you do not provide your body enough
energy from food to fuel your daily
activities your body has to burn off its
internal energy reserves in the form of
fat on the flipside if you consume too
many calories in a day your body has
more energy than it needs and it will
store energy in the form of fat so your
calorie intake has a direct relationship
with how much body fat you lose or gain
now that we know the relationship
between calories and fat loss it is
clear that we need to look at both your
calorie intake and activity level to
lose body fat to achieve a calorie
deficit you can consume fewer calories
exercise more or a combination of both
usually a combination of more activity
and consuming fewer calories works best
but the main variable to look into for
most people is calorie intake it may
take one hour of intense running to burn
roughly 500 calories but you can consume
those 500 calories back in a matter of
10 minutes and assuming you already
train multiple times per week there's
only so much more exercise you can do
without running into recovery issues so
having tight control of your calorie
intake is where most of the gain is when
it comes to creating a calorie deficit
for fat loss
if controlling your calorie intake is
that important how
know how many calories you should
consume there are multiple ways you can
go about this but I will show you one
simple method that you can start with
you may have seen calorie calculators
online with complex formulas even those
with the most detailed equations are not
100% accurate so I suggest starting with
a more simple calorie goal if you take
your body weight in pounds and multiply
it by 10 to 12 most people will be in
the moderate calorie deficit so if we
take a 175 pound person as an example
this person can consume between 1750 to
2,100 calories per day you can be
logical with this guideline if 10
calories per pound sounds very low in
412 calories per pound and 12 calories
per pound sounds high you can aim for
the lower end of the range give the 10
to 12 calories per pound target a try
for at least 3 weeks if you do this and
you lose roughly 1 percent of your body
weight per week that is great you are in
a calorie deficit and well on your way
to achieve your fat loss goals if for 3
weeks in a row your body weight stays
stagnant and you notice your clothes
don't fit any different you may need to
change your calorie intake decreasing
your calorie intake by roughly 10
percent is a good idea if you notice
that you are not progressing after 3
weeks it is also possible that in the
first few months of your fat loss phase
you are making good progress but then it
eventually slows down or even stops this
is normal if we consider that the human
body is adaptive the human body cares
about survival unfortunately not about
looking good on Instagram so if you
maintain a calorie deficit for a long
time your body starts expanding less
energy for instance your spontaneous
activity tends to decrease as you lose
more fat causing you to burn fewer
calories in a day I mentioned this to
point out that the calorie intake you
need to make progress now may be
different from the calorie intake you
need in 3 months to continue making fat
loss progress but this is what progress
tracking comes into play if you notice
that your fat loss is slowing down
substantially you can increase your
calorie deficit by either decreasing
your calorie intake or increasing
activity
there are obviously more nutrition
variables relevant to fat loss but we
haven't discussed in this video
for instance the foods you eat are
relevant because some foods are more
filling than others and make it easier
to maintain a calorie deficit also your
protein intake plays an important role
because it helps with muscle maintenance
and perhaps satiety as well but the
reason I focus on calories in this video
is that it's the single variable that is
responsible for the majority of the
progress you make in a fat loss phase
you can eat very clean foods but if your
calorie intake does not put you in a
calorie deficit your body won't burn off
fat so before thinking about anything in
your fat loss journey make sure your
calorie intake is controlled now that we
have covered calorie intake let's look
into exercise for some reason cardio is
seen as a key factor for fat loss even
though cardio can help I think it's
important to emphasize that cardio is
useful when combined with a diet that
already puts you in the calorie deficit
research shows that doing more cardio
without change in your diet does very
little for fat loss this is because
doing a few cardio sessions in a week by
itself is not enough to create a
significant calorie deficit if - the
three cardio sessions in a week are done
on top of an effective nutrition
approach that's when cardio is
beneficial but for those trying to look
leaner and have more muscle definition
perhaps more important than cardio is
lifting weights multiple studies show
that strength training promotes muscle
maintenance more effectively than cardio
while in the calorie deficit so if the
goal is to look leaner be sure to
maintain a good amount of strength
training in your routine the importance
of lifting weights versus cardio is
something I will discuss in the future
video so if you're interested in that
too subscribe to the channel to stay
updated and now to sum up you use body
fat stores as fuel when you consume
fewer calories than your body expands in
a day also known as a calorie deficit to
achieve a good starting point for your
calorie deficit multiply your body
weight in pounds by 10 to 12 track your
progress for about 3 weeks while
maintaining this calorie number
and adjust the calories if needed based
on your progress
lastly cardio is a useful tool to
enhance fat loss but it's mostly
beneficial if you already have created a
calorie deficit via your nutrition and
that's all for this video I hope that
it's now clear why calories are crucial
for fat loss and how you can create a
calorie deficit as always if you have
any questions feel free to leave them in
the comments below leave a like and
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you in the next video
