The Slim Blog

The number you see when you step on your scales is the result of one thing and one thing only - your unique energy balance.  Whenever we talk about diet, nutrition, calories, exercise, fat burning, metabolism and so on, these are all factors that make up our energy balance equation.  If you can understand your energy balance, and how you can influence it, you will become an expert at weight management!

Your body is like a bank account

Think of your bank account.  No I’m not trying to depress you! It’s just that your ”bank balance” makes for a very useful comparison with your “energy balance”.  Your bank account works on a simple equation - money in vs money out, what you earn vs what you spend.  Most people assess their finances on a monthly basis:

• If you earn £2000 and spend £2000, your bank balance remains equal.
• If you earn £2500 and spend £2000, your bank balance increases by £500.
• If you earn £2000 and spend £2500, your bank balance decreases by £500. 

Some days money might come into your account, other days money might be spent from your account, but if you look at your bank balance at the end of the month you get an idea of what’s going on… hopefully without having a nervous breakdown!

Understanding calories

Your body works in the exact same way as a bank account, except the units aren’t money, but calories.  One calorie (kcal) is a unit of energy, in the same way one pound (£) is a unit of currency or one litre (l) is a unit of fluid.  You don’t find calories swimming around in your food!  They aren’t some kind of nasty molecule that make your bum grow bigger!  They are simply a measurement of the energy in the food you eat and burn.

Calories in vs Calories out

The energy balance equation is as follows - calories in vs calories out.  The left side of the equation (calories in) is simply the amount of energy we eat each day, in the form of carbohdydrate, protein and fat.  The right side of the equation (calories out) is simply the amount of energy we burn each day, as a result of our body’s metabolism.  The energy balance equation is usually assessed on a daily basis, rather than a monthly basis:

• If you eat 2000 and burn 2000, your weight will remain equal. 
• If you eat 2500 and burn 2000, your weight will go up by 1lb per week. 
• If you eat 2000 and burn 2500, your weight will go down by 1lb per week. 

Excess calories are stored as fat on your body, causing your weight to go up.  A shortage of calories forces your body to burn off fat, casuing your weight to go down - to understand how calories convert into weight changes read the magic numbers of weight loss.

Your energy balance changes every day!

It is so important to remember that calories in and calories out aren’t constant.  There will be some days when you eat more and some days when you eat less.  Think of those really strict diet days (1000 calories in) compared to those binge days (5000 calories in).  There will be some days when you burn more and some days when you burn less.  Think of those days when you go for it at the gym (3000 calories out) compared to those days when you slob out (1800 calories out).  However, just like your bank account, if you track your weight on a monthly basis you can calculate the exact number of calories your body is burning or storing on average per day.

TAKE NOTE- dieters often look at their weight daily and get upset when it bounces up and down.  These changes are just fluctuations in water levels, and aren’t actually long-term changes in fat weight.  That’s why it is important to track your weight and look at it’s path over longer periods of time.  It would be irrational to check your bank account everyday and start celebrating when money goes in or getting depressed when money goes out!  You assess your bank balance monthly, and you should do the same with your weight.

Liam

The Slim Company
personal training and weight management | Baldock | Bedford | Biggleswade | Harpenden | Hatfield | Hertford | Hitchin | Letchworth | Luton | Royston | St Albans | Stevenage | Welwyn

Most people understand the rule that if you eat more than you burn you gain weight, if you burn more than you eat you lose weight. This energy balance equation is well researched and well proven, but the diet and slimming industry has done a very good job of over overshadowing it with myths and fads.  This article aims to get back to basics and remind dieters and slimming club members of the magic numbers of weight loss.

•There are 3500 calories in 1lb of fat weight.

This means that you have to eat 3500 more than your body burns to store 1lb of fat weight, or burn 3500 more than you eat to lose 1lb of fat weight. In terms of food, 3500 calories is about 9 king-size mars bars, or 6 bottles of wine, or 4 large pizzas. Yummy! In terms of physical activity, it would take about 4 hours of non-stop running to burn off 1lb of fat, which is like running a marathon. Not so yummy.

Dieters often make the mistake of thinking that if their weight is up by 1lb on the scales, they must have stored 1lb of fat. Slimming clubs don’t teach their members that the weight on the scales is not just showing changes in fat, it’s showing changes in fat and lean tissue, and this lean tissue is mainly made up of water. On average water weight fluctuates by 3 - 4 lbs a day, so if your weight is up 1 or 2lbs in a day, the chances are it’s water retention.

To put it in perspective, an average sized woman who burns 2000 calories a day would have to eat 2000 calories + 3500 excess calories (5500 in total) to store 1lb of fat in a day. That’s not easy, but I’m sure you’ll have great fun giving it a good try!

•Burning 500 calories a day = 1lb of fat loss per week.

Let’s take the average sized woman again. If she were to eat 1500 calories a day and burn 2000, her body would burn off 500 calories of fat a day to make up for the shortage. This 500 calories burned a day over 7 days is 3500 calories over a week, resulting in 1lb of fat loss. Alternatively, if she were to eat 2000 a day and add 500 calories of exercise to her day, she would burn 2500 calories a day, and again the body would be forced to burn off 500 calories a day to make up for the shortage, also resulting in 1lb of fat loss per week.

The optimum rate of fat loss is between half a pound to two pounds per week - which means burning off 250 to 1,000 calories per day.

•100 excess calories a day = 10.4lbs fat gain per year.

Unfortunately for the food lovers out there, the same maths works in the opposite direction. If you overeat just 100 calories a day over 365 days, that’s 36,500 calories stored as fat each year. In weight terms, 36,500 calories is just over 10lbs of fat (36,500 / 3500 = 10.4).

This helps to explain how weight gain can easily go unnoticed, especially if you are weighing yourself every day. That 100 extra calories a day, just 1 cookie, means your fat weight will go up by 0.028lbs per day (10.4 / 365 = 0.028). Not even the best quality bathroom scales would notice such tiny changes in weight each day. Even if you weighed yourself monthly, your weight would only go up 0.86lbs (10.4 / 12 = 0.86), which is impossible to notice!

The good news is that you can make the energy balance equation work for you.  If you add just 100 calories of exercise to your day and cut out that daily cookie, you’ll be 10.4lbs lighter every year!

The Slim Company
personal training and weight management | Baldock | Bedford | Biggleswade | Harpenden | Hatfield | Hertford | Hitchin | Letchworth | Luton | Royston | St Albans | Stevenage | Welwyn