#24: Why Weight Loss is NOT as Simple as Calories in / Calories Out - Part 1

"Eat less and move more" - we are told to do that all the time. From personal trainers, to fad diets, to GP's , we are told to simply reduce our calories to induce a calorie deficit and that’s how we lose weight.

So, why isn't it that easy?! Why are 65% of dieters failing?

Weight loss is about so much more than just counting calories - and in this episode, I'm going to explain why.

Firstly, what are calories?

A calorie is a unit of energy. Every cell in our body, from our brain to our muscles require energy to function. All types of food is made up of calories, being from either fats, proteins or carbohydrates. These are also called macronutrients and are important sources of calories, which people need to live and function.

Calories also come along with nutrients, we want to nourish our body and brain correctly because if we don’t consume enough it can lead to deficiencies in certain nutrients that the calories provide.

Negative consequences of nutrient deficiencies include as losing lean muscle mass, brain fog and not having the energy we need on a day-to-day basis.

What a calorie deficit and calorie surplus *actually* means!

All of us need a certain number of calories to come in each day this because our bodies use them to convert to energy to function. The the average person say is consuming 2000 calories and their body burns through 2000 calories a day to function, they should remain weight.

If that same person, who requires 2000 calories a day to function only eats 1500 calories, then they still will burn another 500 calories for functioning. This additional 500 calories when not consumed through diet is burned from their fat or muscle stores. This is what a calorie deficit means, when you eat less calories than what your body burns.

Alternatively if they eat 500 additional calories equalling 2500 calories and their body doesn’t burn them off, then the calories are stored in the body usually as fat. If you’re eating more calories than what your body burns, that’s what a calorie surplus is.

I’m not discounting the calorie deficit argument, in fact – it is definitely vital and necessary. You can’t lose weight without it.

But, now that we’ve got through the basic biology side of things, I want to explain why it’s not this simple!

How insulin affects your ability to burn fat?

You need to consider what calories do to your blood sugar and insulin levels.  If you don’t this is when you can end up constantly hungry, craving more, experiencing energy crashes and finding it extremely hard to keep up your efforts.

Let’s start by comparing a chocolate bar that’s 250 calories to healthy, well balanced meal of 2 eggs cooked in 1 tablespoon of olive oil or butter and some spinach which also has roughly 250 calories.

The chocolate bar is full of processed, highly refined carbohydrates and sugar, which both raise blood sugars quickly.  It contains little protein, which is needed to slow down the speed at which food is digested and therefor slow the release of sugar into your blood.

When you eat 250 calories of pure sugar and carbs blood sugars increase and insulin is quickly released to ensure the blood sugars don’t raise to high (this is called an insulin spike). This unstable peak in blood sugars actually makes you feel great in the short term, but leads to feeling tired, low and craving more soon after.

Now, let’s look at the eggs, spinach and olive oil with a similar amount of calories. This meal had hardly any carbs, lots of healthy fats which don’t cause much of sugar spike or insulin release at all, and protein which only moderately affects insulin release. This meal will give you little to no rise in blood sugars and insulin and therefore will help avoid the blood sugar crash, reduce cravings and will leave you more satisfied for longer in comparison.

How is hunger, cravings and willpower linked to blood sugars and insulin?

Foods that are highly processed and high in carbs result in constant blood sugar highs and lows making you always feel hungry, have a lack of energy, and experience energy crashes. Not to mention the difficulty of fitting these foods into a calorie controlled diet, whether that’s a daily amount of 1200, 1300 or 1500. 

When we shift the focus on eating foods that keep your blood sugars stable, such as protein, slowly digested carbohydrates (like vegetables), no sugar and healthy fats, then insulin spikes are reduced. This keeps you energised, you experience way less cravings and feel more full, which makes it MUCH easier to eat less (ie. eat at your calorie deficit).

Not only that, but insulin is actually a hormone that we don’t want around all the time if we want to burn fat. When it’s in your blood, it’s telling your body to store fat. Whilst it’s necessary for our survival, and we need it, we don’t want it around all the time. Insulin is high when we are constantly eating, in this state we are not able to tap into our fat stores. Periods where we don’t eat are desirable so that insulin stays very low as this enables us to tap into our fat stores.

To support this need to be eating meals that:

1. Keep insulin low.

2. Keep us full for long enough to not have to eat every 2 hours!

Calorie quantity alone compared to quantity and quality:

Too many other diets out there don’t consider the quality of calories compared to the amount such as weight watchers, where meals are based on a point system. This is where it becomes encouraged to eat a chocolate bar, or a bowl of rice if it fits in the daily points and leaves you wondering WHY it is not working for you. These types of plans based on calorie restriction only lead to increased cravings (which we have learnt due the link to blood sugars and insulin) as well as not supporting you to learn to eat for long term health.

Here are some action steps to help you eat for low insulin and blood sugars, whilst staying low calorie too.

1.    Look at your own diet, you may want to start using an app to become aware of what you’re eating (I love MyFitnesspal and Easy Diet Diary).

2.    Stop eating processed, packaged foods as quite often, they’re full of sugar. If you do, be sure to look at the ingredients and see that sugar isn’t added into the ingredients list - and if it is, you want to ensure it’s towards the end of the list of ingredients as that means there usually isn’t too much of it in there. Also, aim for something that has above 6 g protein and ultimately at least 5 g fibre.

3.    Focus on eating meals that are rich in lots of vegetables, have a healthy source of protein and fats (olive oil, avocado, nuts and seeds).

4.    Ditch the crap! Because, it’s not worth the empty calories at all. You’ll be missing out on essential nutrients if you waste your calorie intake on foods like this!

Now, instead of trying to do this yourself - you could also skip through all of the guesswork and have me do it for you!

Do you want all of the guesswork taken out for you, to keep your insulin and blood sugars low whilst you’re in a calorie deficit so that you can finally slim down without the hunger or cravings?! The 3 Week Body Reset does exactly that! It teaches you about both the quality and quantity of calories for long term weight loss success!