Introduction

Have you ever attempted to reduce weight? I bet at some point of time you might have thought so (or you might as well be currently trying to).

Weight loss (essentially fat loss) is something which can also be an emotional issue (more than a physical one). We will be using the terms weight loss and fat loss interchangeably in this article, although there’s a lot of difference between the two.

However, there is a lot of science in the process of weight loss. Most people who reduce weight, get it back (sometimes multifold) within a few years of losing weight… Why? Because the fundamental understanding of the fat loss process is missing.

Most people who struggle with Fat loss blame calories for the same. Blaming weight gain on calories is like blaming wars on guns. The diet is not the cause of excessive body fat levels. Rather, it’s the entire lifestyle.

Fat Loss: Making the best use of this article

In this article, I will be talking about the science of body fat, fat loss, metabolism, calorie management and hormonal relationships with fat loss.

If you’re into learning it deeply, keep reading. But if you’re here with an execution mindset and wish to pull off your fat loss journey straight away, scroll down all the way to the last section “Fat loss: Where do we begin now” to hit the pedal.

Body Fat: What and Why

Body fat is extremely vital to living.. Why? Because it is the source of energy in the times of need.

In the times of scarcity (starvation), stored body fat is utilized by the enzymes to produce energy and allow for the functioning of the body. This process is called “Beta Oxidation” which is explained in detail below.

So, basically body fat IS important to the functioning of our bodies. Yes, body fat is GOOD (to a certain extent).

Types of body fat:

There are generally three types of body fat:

1. Subcutaneous Fat

2. Visceral

3. Intramuscular.

Does fat really “burn”?

Body fat doesn’t “literally” burn, but yes there is a process by which it gets lowered down. The process is extremely complex and science driven but for the sake of simplicity, it goes as below.

The process of FAT BURNING is called BETA OXIDATION.

Whenever beta oxidation takes place in the fat cells, it releases Fatty Acids into the blood stream. (Fats are made up of fatty acids). These fatty acids are in turn utilised to produce energy (in the form of ATP molecules). That means, FAT gives us ENERGY. So fat is good (to a certain extent).

Why do we gain fat so fast: The Puzzle Solved

The thought of getting fat crossed my mind and I wondered, why am I so prone to gaining fat easily while many of my senior generation members aren’t? There has to be something behind it.

I started reading about the things that have changed and came to the following conclusion.

There are multiple reasons why we gain fat so easily, and we can’t blame this complex process on one or two things.

I am sure as you read these reasons, you are going to nod your head to each one of them (since you might be aware of all of them).

Food-related causes:

High amount of processed foods in our daily diets

Poor quality of foods (right from sowing till reaping)

Overload of available information (thanks to Google)

Influential food advertising and marketing gimmicks

New entrants in the food chain:

In the past 20 years, there has been a lot of revolution in the way crops are being cultivated.

Earlier, the population was lesser and the production pressure on farming was less. Compare it to today, the concrete jungles are fast replacing cultivable land. Increasing population is pressurizing farmers to produce more (and fast). Everyone wants a quick fix to things, no one has the patience.

Result? Welcome chemicals and pesticides in the food chain, which expedite the process of farming to meet the needs of the market today. Right from sowing the seed to handling the final produce, there has been a lot of change in the way farming is being done (both positive and negative changes). But honestly, the negative changes far outweigh the positive ones.

Gradual lifestyle Shift:

Look back at 1998. We had Siemens which weighed 500 grams a device, with bulging antennas. We paid for outgoing and incoming calls both. Wifi was unknown, we had “coo-coo-chi-chi” dial-up modems.

Look at today, we have the smartest devices in our hands. We do more than 50% of our digital activities from our mobile devices. We have the sexiest looking mobile devices and we are getting incoming, outgoing and national roaming calls for free!

The lifestyle has changed drastically, and so has been the requirements of our respective bodies.

We are now more sedentary (thanks to machines and automation).

We are now battling stress at all walks of our life.

The food that we eat also has to change, accordingly (to say the least).

High Body Fat: The challenge ahead

Excess body fat is fast becoming a big problem the world over.

The medical issues it is creating these days is fast overwhelming the “cosmetic” issues or the “clothes-fitting” issues it poses.

We all know that higher body fat has been known to be associated with:

Difficulty in movement

Poor emotional health (depression, anxiety, mood swings) and self-esteem

Increased risk of diabetes, organ failures, heart disease, strokes, certain cancers

Decreased reproductive health

Hands down, unneeded body fat makes for poorer health, bad body composition and overall inadequate physical performance.

Lower body fat is the best way to achieve good esthetics and better overall fitness levels.

Fat Loss Secrets: Calories and its management

Weight loss is literally useless if it doesn’t bring with it Fat loss! Yes.

For creating an environment conducive for fat loss, we need to first understand what are calories and how do we manage them.

What are Calories?

Everything that’s edible has calories. Similar to the currency, every food stuff bears calories (some have more, some have less). The measuring unit is Cal or KiloCal (written as kCal).

What is Calorie burn?

It is the total amount of calories our body burns everyday (no, this isn’t an oversimplification).

The calorie burn is a sum total of three things:

A. Basal Metabolic Rate (Resting Metabolism):

Our body performs a lot of functions every second (breathing, digestion, pumping blood) which don’t require us to be “present” or active. This means, they are involuntary functions and keep happening “on their own”.

The body requires energy to perform these functions and it derives this energy mainly from the food we eat. Now, the body doesn’t understand which foodstuff are we eating (meaning, it doesn’t care which food is giving the energy.. it just needs the energy).

Simply said, the food we are eating carries calories, which give our body the energy to perform its vital functions, every single second. If that stops, we STOP!

These processes are together called our body’s “Metabolism” and the energy they require is called the “Resting Metabolism”.

B. Activity Levels:

This is the calorie burn which occurs due to activities like exercising, various daily activities like walking, stair climbing, standing, bending, shifting, lifting stuff at home etc.

The more active we are, the more calorie burn we have here.

C. Thermogenesis:

This is the calorie burn that comes from digesting food. Yes, that’s an energy burning process too. But calorie burn from this process is typically a very small chunk of our daily calorie burn.

Calculating the Calorie burn

Are you asking this question, Why do we need to know our calorie burn? If yes, then I will address it first. We need to know the calorie burn so that we know how much to eat (according to our fitness goal). Period!

There are many ways to calculate our daily calorie burn. I am going to highlight only two of them. While going through them, just remember that they are based on research and science, so they are great guidelines but never 100% accurate. Nothing for our body can be 100% accurate, we all are different ain’t we?

1. Harris Benedict Equation

This method uses your age, weight, height and sex to calculate the BMR. The BMR is then multiplied by an “Activity multiplier” to calculate the total calorie burn.

This method DOES NOT take into account your body composition (the amount of body fat (PBF) and muscle mass you have) and hence is not very accurate.

This method also is the most commonly used method to calculate calorie burns.

The calculation is as follows:

BMR Men: = 66 + (6.23 X weight in pounds) + (12.7 X height in inches) – (6.8 X age)

BMR Women: = 655 + (4.35 X weight in pounds) + (4.7 X height in inches) – (4.7 X age)

2. Katch & McArdle Equation

This method uses your body composition to calculate your BMR and hence it is more accurate than the Harris Benedict’s method.

The BMR is then multiplied by the activity multiplier (see below) to arrive at the total calorie burn.

The BMR calculation is as follows:

BMR (Men + Women) = 370 + (21.6 * Lean Mass in kg)

Lean Mass = weight in kg – (weight in kg * body fat %)

1 kg = 2.2 pounds, so divide your weight by 2.2 to get your weight in kg

Activity Multiplier (same multiplier for both the equations)

Little or No Exercise, Sedentary Job – 1.2 x BMR

Light Exercise/Sports 1 to 3 Times Per Week – 1.375 x BMR

Moderate Exercise/Sports 3 to 5 Times Per Week – 1.55 x BMR

Heavy Exercise/Sports 6 to 7 Times Per Week – 1.725 x BMR

So, you first calculate your BMR according to one of the above equations (I would recommend the second one) and then multiply it with the activity multiplier to know your total calorie burn.

Once you have this figure, just create a Caloric Deficit to start on your weight loss journey (aka Fat loss Journey) Bingo! We are ready to take off, please fasten your seat belts.

Caloric Deficit: Let’s bust some secrets here

What is a Calorie Deficit?

Calorie deficit means consuming lesser calories than what your calorie burn. So, if for example my calorie burn comes out to be 3000 cals a day and If i am consuming 2800 cals a day.. I am creating a calorie deficit (just an example please!)

Why calorie deficit?

For fat loss game to happen scientifically, there has to be a calculated caloric deficit. When this deficit is put into practice consistently for a long period of time, we see good fat loss results.

Reason? because you’re causing Fat burning (beta-oxidation) but still keeping your metabolism high. This means, you’re preserving (and in fact gaining) muscle and losing fat. This is the key to long term fitness.

You may be thinking maths now (at least I did when i saw this calculation for the very first time in my life). Why can’t we simply cut down calories, create a bigger deficit and lose all that weight fast and easy?

The answer is NO! We can’t fool the body. If the caloric intake is too less, the body has ways to compensate. There is NO FAT LOSS.

A person who’s on very few calories (than he/she usually needs) is essentially Starving. In such situations, the blood insulin levels plummet and the thyroid hormone production naturally goes down. When this happens, this is a signal for the body to lower down the resting metabolism (like the engine, in a way to acclimatise to the decreased food availability).

In these situations, body tries to preserve as much fat as possible and burns down mostly muscle. So, there’s FAT PRESERVATION and LOSS OF MUSCLE TISSUE. The exact opposite of what one wants. That’s bad!

What’s worse? Once the calories are back to normal, the body rebounds back (because of insulin, thyroid hormones and a resultant change in the resting metabolism). The result? WEIGHT GAIN happens which is called the Rebound Phenomenon. This weight gain is usually more than the earlier lost weight. This situation is uglier than before and is a TOTAL FAILURE of the entire process.

Needless to say, it also leads to a resultant heartbreak and a feeling of extreme failure for that person. In a line, I can suggest that there are the right ways to lose weight and then there are the wrong ones.

But, it isn’t just about counting calories. There are other factors too which need attention.

Fat loss and Hormones: The magic salad dressing!

There are a couple of hormones playing key roles in fat loss process.

Insulin Hormone

Glucagon, Cortisol, Epinephrine and Growth Hormones (Anti-Insulin Hormones)

The best environment for fat loss is when the insulin hormone levels are low and the anti-insulin hormone levels are high.

Just imagine yourself after a large meal. The blood sugar levels are skyrocketing and the insulin hormone is spiking up (in an attempt to reduce the sugar levels). Here, because of the insulin spikes, this blood sugar is converted into glycogen and stored in muscles for future use.

But, not all of the sugar can be stored as glycogen because only a small amount of glycogen is needed in the muscle. The remaining excess sugar (if any) is converted into fatty acids which are transferred to the fat cells. There, these fatty acids are converted into fat and stored for future usage. This leads to an increase in body fat levels.

This essentially means, if we have larger meals it is a sure shot way to shut down fat burning.

On the other side, imagine a situation where you’re fasting. In the “unfed” state the insulin levels are usually low and the anti-insulin hormone levels are high. This kind of environment is conducive to fat loss. It means, fat burning ON!

Fat Loss: Where do we begin now?

There are some key things you need to do to begin your fat loss journey the right way. No, this is no magic and will just require patience, consistency and grit. Some sweat, yes.

Whatever I am going to tell you below, they are all permanent lifestyle habits. I would highly recommend you to pick one at a time, become their master and graduate to picking another one. This will be the best way since this is a “permanent lifestyle change”. Yeah, you heard it. (*ucK! quick results)

Here we go!

Increase your physical activity and make it intentional. Do it more often and measure/track as much as you can.

Start eating nutritious foods, start making healthier food choices, start avoiding sugars and cola and drink more water. This will give you the confidence and within a few weeks you will see things moving.

Start eating slower than you usually do. It takes some time for your stomach to signal your brain that it is full. If you’re eating too fast, then over eating episodes are likely to happen. Eating slowly is a key to getting satiated earlier and restrict over eating.

Learn to gradually eat only till 80% full. Once you start making healthier food choices, eating slower than you usually do.. This rule will gradually become easier to implement.

Start to intentionally sleep more. 7-9 hours would be good because when we are making these changes to our diet, we are almost giving our body and mind a mini-shock. The body will use the sleep to recover and this will help burn off more fat!

Apart from your exercise regimes, stay active all day. Walk around, take the stairs, get up and move every now and then. Using a fitness tracker can be handy since it can count your steps and motivate you to go the extra mile.

Don’t pay attention to the heavily influenced food stuffs and the information overload around. The companies are more than ready to label anything as healthy and low fat/low cal. Don’t fall into that trap and stick to the basics.

If possible, follow a well designed nutrition and workout plan under a wellness/nutrition/fitness coach. They are experts and can understand your requirements pretty well. They will also be able to track your progress and be a great motivational buddy.

P.S. I have been a wellness coach for the past 4 years, apart from being a dentist of course (more about my story, some other day). I can also help you get to your goals in a planned way. If you feel so, you can connect me via an e-mail!

Thank you for reading till this point. I hope I could give value to you.

Do let me know your thoughts/suggestions by commenting below or you can connect with me at my social handles.

Till the next time!

Lots of love

Vaibhav Bharadwaj

Dr Vaibhav is a Writer, Coach and Educator based in Jaipur, India. He writes prolifically in the Healthcare, Wellness and Marketing Spaces, and helps businesses grow their influence through his Content and Inbound Marketing services.

Visit his official website to know more.

Fat Loss and Calories: Everything you wanted to know about the fundamentals of fitness