Beyond Calorie Counting: Five Ways To Support Weight Loss (without constantly counting calories)
@brunonascimento
What Really Affects The Amount of Calories We Burn?
Weight loss and calorie counting. You can’t have one without the other, right?
If you’re trying to lose weight, you’ll already know that you need to burn more calories than you consume. When we think of burning calories, we think going to the gym or going for a run. Yes, of course, those things do burn calories. But we also burn calories in different ways. Strictly counting calories works for some. But if it’s not for you, I get it, I don’t love it either. The great news? Scrutinising every calorie that you eat isn’t necessary. In this blog post, I’ll explore exactly what a calorie is and five key factors that affect the amount of calories we burn each day - follow this advice to help you lose weight without constantly counting calories.
What is a calorie?
A calorie (or kcal) is a unit of energy that comes from the food we eat. Simply put, our bodies use this energy to function. The energy stored in the carbohydrates, fats and proteins becomes available to our body during the process of metabolism.
We all know that our physical activity level (PAL), the amount of physical exercise we do, affects the amount of calories we burn. It’s no surprise that the more active we are, the more calories we burn. When our PAL is higher, we need more calories.
Our physical activity is just one part of the story. Let’s dive into the five other factors that significantly affect the amount of calories we burn:
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
BMR is the amount of calories that your body uses when you’re at rest. Incredibly it accounts for between 60-75% of the calories you burn every day. Your BMR relates to basic functions that keep us alive, such as the metabolism of the liver, brain, heart and kidneys and can be affected by many things, including:
How physically active you are
Age - your BMR naturally declines as you get older due to a decline in lean muscle mass (it declines about 2% per decade)
Weight - your BMR increases as your weight increases
Lean muscle mass - having more muscle increases your BMR so you burn more calories even when resting
You can increase your BMR by building lean muscle mass through strength training.
2. NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis)
NEAT accounts for all the physical activity we do that isn’t formal exercise and includes things like:
Cooking
Cleaning
Walking upstairs
Gardening
NEAT activity should actually account for 25% of the calories we burn each day. Unfortunately for many of us, our sedentary lifestyles mean that we burn far fewer calories than that through NEAT activity. Increasing the amount of NEAT activity we do each day can significantly increase the amount of calories we burn. It doesn’t have to be difficult either. In fact, next weeks blog article isTen Simple Ways To Increase Your NEAT Activity, perfect if you need for inspiration and practical tips to help you introduce more movement into your day - subscribe below to make sure you don’t miss it.
3. Thermic Effect of Food (TEF)
TEF is the energy your body uses to metabolise your food. It makes up about 10% of the calories you burn each day. Interestingly, the amount of energy it takes to process your food is affected by your macronutrients:
Protein: Increases your metabolic rate by between 15 and 30%.
Carbohydrates: Increases your metabolic rate by between 5-10%
Fats: Increases your metabolic rate between 0-3% for fats.
Adding more protein to your meals can boost the amount of calories burn. If you’ve heard that increasing protein can help with weight loss - this is one reason.
4. Body Composition
Our ratio of lean muscle tissue to fat affects our metabolism and the number of calories we burn. Muscle burns more calories than fat and, for most of us, our activity levels decrease as we get older, meaning even more loss of muscle tissue. Maintaining lean muscle tissue through regular exercise and strength training can help with this.
5. Calorie Restriction
Restricting calories is the most obvious way that people try to lose weight. Which makes total sense because to lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit. The problem? Continuous calorie restriction over a long period of time can slow your metabolism. Why? Sustained calorie restriction can cause us to lose muscle tissue. To prevent this, try these three steps:
1. Adding in strength or resistance training to help to maintain lean muscle mass.
2. Increase protein intake to increase your metabolic rate. Protein will also help you feel more satisfied after eating which means you’re more likely to stick to your meal plan.
3. Alternate between reduced calorie intake and a healthy, adequate calorie intake to avoid slowing down your metabolism in the long-term.
Final Thoughts
Burning calories is about much more than the amount of time we spend working out. Small actions add up. Don’t overlook the importance of increasing your NEAT activity, eating a source of protein with each meal or introducing strength activity to increase your lean muscle mass. All these will increase the calories you burn each day and support weight loss.
Make sure to tune in next week where I’ll be sharing my top tips to help you easily increase your NEAT intake.
Thanks for reading, as always, and if you found this helpful, don’t forget to share with a friend who is ready to quit dieting and lose weight in a sustainable way.
Much love, Catherine x