Don’t worry if I stir up some emotions when I say that the CICO (calories in, calories out) model is grossly misunderstood.
For years our country has fallen prey to the idea that energy balance is all that matters when it comes to weight loss, but recent research is showing us otherwise.
I’m sure some of you don’t know what CICO is, but when it comes to the concept of how many “experts” believe that all that matters is eating less and exercising more, you’re probably right. I hope you understand. weight.
Energy balance is important for optimal health, but we forget the simple fact that what we do to cut calories is the very reason we get stuck in a weight loss plateau in the first place.
Eating fewer calories than you burn will definitely help you lose weight. I also applaud those who use this analogy to think about the “balance” of their diet and not feel restricted to certain foods.
You can eat Twinkies for 10 weeks and still lose weight, as Dr. Mark Haub of Kansas State University did in 2010.
The only thing I want everyone to remember is that when it comes to fat loss, not all foods are created equal. Not just a decrease. When it comes to fat loss, blood lipids, blood sugar, systemic inflammation, gut health, and adrenal health all play a role.
All of these are affected by nutrition, stress and recovery. If you don’t have all three… your weight loss efforts will come to a standstill.
Let me do some research on you:
A study of 36 men followed a diet of 3,200 calories per day for three months. Suddenly, in his next six months, they were half starving to his 1,570 calories per day. They were fed carbohydrate-rich foods for energy, and ate very little meat or dairy. They walked 20-22 miles a week.
After half a year, they started increasing their calories and showed dramatic behavior. Their resting metabolic rate dropped by nearly 40%. They began to feel cold and irritable and unmotivated.
They had restless sleep and began to obsess over food….causing borderline eating disorder behavior.
Calories in and calories out proved to be dependent variables. A simple analogy I can think of is:
Imagine making $100,000 a year with your money in, money out philosophy. If your income suddenly drops to $25,000, what happens to your money going out? Do you expect to continue spending between $80,000 and $100,000?
If you have brains and don’t want to go bankrupt, don’t! Deposits and withdrawals are the dependent variable.
Applying this to calories in and calories in, we see that fewer calories can enter the body to lose weight only if the number of calories burned is stable. But what most people do wrong is that they’ve just drastically reduced their calorie intake and broken their homeostasis so they’re burning fewer calories and their bodies are trying to balance their energy balance and stop losing weight. It’s about not noticing that you’re there.
See, your body is smart! If you play games with it, such as extreme dieting, cutting carbs, or exercising too much, you will naturally start burning less.
What happens after that? Cutting more calories makes her feel worse and puts more stress on her body. Cortisol rises more chronically due to disruption of other important hormones such as ghrelin, estrogen and testosterone.
So next time you start dieting, remember that if you don’t do it right, you could be on the road to a long recovery. is needed.
If you’ve never played baseball, you can’t expect to step up and hit a home run. Don’t undermine your body’s natural ability to burn calories without proper planning.
Remember:
Total energy expenditure = basal metabolic rate + thermogenic effect of food + non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) + post-exercise excess consumption (EPOC) + exercise.
Energy consumption isn’t just for training. In fact, they only make up 15-22% of the total calories you consume each day.
This is one of the key building blocks of the “Simple Seven” method we teach in our Revive program, which prepares the body for fat loss.
If you’re tired of feeling like you’re dieting and working out all the time, you’re not alone.
If you want, schedule a free call with me to help create your own roadmap to getting healthy! Go to bit.ly/3RfWSxS.
Mike Over is the owner of Over-Achieve Fitness in Chambersburg. Follow him on Instagram @mjo_oaf.
