The Truth About "Calories In, Calories Out"

"Calories in, calories out doesn't work for everyone!"

YES, it does. But I think what most people are saying is, "calorie counting didn't work for me"

And that's fair.

Tracking calories is not a perfect system and there are definitely limitations, which I'm going to talk about.

And not everyone wants to count calories and that's fine too.

You don't need to count calories to lose fat.

But I'm going to explain what you do need to do.

CICO Is NOT Counting Calories

Calories in, calories out is not the same as counting calories. It refers to the process of weight loss weight gain or weight maintenance through energy balance.

You want to lose weight, you eat fewer calories than you expend.

You want to gain weight, you eat more calories than you expend.

Defining CICO

Calories in is all the food and drink that you take in over the course of the day.

Calories out is a lot more complicated.

Most people think of it as just the exercise that they do, but that's only a tiny portion your total daily energy expenditure.

TDEE includes your BMR (your basal metabolic rate), NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis), TEF the thermic effect of food and exercise activity if you do any at all.

Your Basal Metabolic Rate

Now I'm going to go into what those things are and how they might be impacting you your BMR is the largest portion about 70%.

It really comes down to your body size and to a smaller extent whether you have a larger proportion of muscle to fat. Muscle is slightly more metabolically active than fat. A body that is 170 lbs of lots of muscle is going to have a higher BMR than a body that's 170 lb of 30 to 40% fat .

The Problem With Tracking Calories

The main issue with calories in is that tracking calories is not all that accurate.

Many people underestimate the calories that they're taking in.

On average in studies it's about 30 to 40%.

The food that we're tracking is not always exactly the same. So it's not as accurate as an absolute value as we might like it to be. But if you're always tracking in the same way and you know that you need to reduce your calories by, let's say 200 calories, then you're still going to get some good information. 

You're NOT In A Deficit

"But I was in a calorie deficit for months and I never lost any fat!"

Nope!

But I don't blame people for being confused. They see these equations on the internet and they fill in their details and it pops out a number that is supposed to be your calorie deficit. That number may or may not be correct in the first place.

You might have a slightly lower metabolic rate than average or you think you're a little bit more active than you are.

Confusion With Calorie Tracking

Then usually people take that calorie deficit number and they try to track calories based on it.

And as I mentioned, most people are under reporting their calories.

They think that they've been eating 1,600 calories a day but they've actually been having closer to 2,000 calories a day. In that case the equation was correct the actual tracking was incorrect.

So there are a lot of ways where this can go wrong and I fully understand that I know the challenges having done it myself I actually just recently tracked for 100 days just to see how things were going.

I'll be sharing the results of that in a video so if you're interested please subscribe!

You should have been in a calorie deficit based on those numbers but you actually weren't because there are inaccuracies on both sides. Perhaps your activity level or also your tracking.

What Does CICO Take Into Account?

Calories in, calories out is an oversimplified model but it does take into account all those things you've heard that it doesn't.

Does CICO consider that people have different metabolic rates?

Yes, it does. 

But those calculators on the internet don't. And that might be where people run into trouble.

Your Metabolic Rate And Weight Loss

The main thing governing your metabolic rate is going to be your body size. That also explains why if you've lost a certain amount of weight it becomes harder and harder to lose weight.

Because your metabolic rate, the number of calories that you're burning, is naturally going down, just because you are a smaller person. Smaller people don't burn off as many calories as larger people.

A person who's very lean and has more muscle will burn off more calories than someone with a much higher body fat percentage.

But let's say a woman is 5'2 and absolutely ripped. She's still not going to burn off as many calories as a man who's 220 pounds, even if that man is obese and at 40 or 50% body fat.

That's unfortunately just how it goes.

Hormonal Issues And CICO

Does calories in calories out take into account hormonal balance?

Yes, it does.

Medical conditions like hypothyroidism can reduce your metabolic rate, but that just means that your calories out is going to be lower. Your metabolic rate is so slow that in order to lose weight you would have to have too low a calorie intake for it to be healthy or sustainable.

In that case medication is necessary to get your metabolic rate to a normal level. Hypothyroidism affects about 1 in 1000 men and 18 in 1000 women. But it's easy enough to be tested with your doctor to find out where your thyroid levels are.

Is It Really A Slow Metabolism?

"But I just have a slow metabolism!"

Metabolic rate is also affected by genetics. Nothing you can do about that, obviously. It just means that some people won't burn off as many calories as might be expected for their body size.

But many people who feel like they have a very slow metabolism and have normal blood work have just acquired bad habits. Perhaps through their family.

We get some good stuff from our family and we get some bad stuff. So if your parents are also obese you're much more likely to be obese yourself. That is a combination of genetics and lifestyle.

We can't do anything about a genetics, but there are significant things that we can do with lifestyle.

When it comes to physical activity and the food that we're eating, it takes time and patience to overcome your upbringing. Those are the values and behaviours you were raised in and they're very deeply ingrained.

So for many people it is a process of years to overcome that.

But I believe that if you're committed to that process and you really want to make a change you can do it.

It will take you more work than it might for other people.

Does Your Metabolism Go Down With Age?

Age can also affect your metabolic rate, but it's probably not as much as we think.

There was a fairly recent study where they showed that there wasn't much drop in the metabolic rate up until the age of about 60.

But lots of things can happen as we get older that make it harder to burn off calories.

We may have poor sleep and more life stressors that can affect just about every aspect of our lives.

It affects the time that you have to work out and move around you might be stuck in a job where you're not burning many calories all day long. You may have client meetings where you're eating certain food and it's really difficult to follow a plan that would help you get lean,

Is Aging Really The Problem?

We don't know exactly what impact aging at self has on how many calories you're burning off because people tend to be less active as they get older. And like I said, sleep which affects just about everything gets worse in quality and quantity sometimes as well.

We do tend to lose muscle mass, but for most people this is due to less activity as we're getting older.

Hormone Changes With Aging

There are of course differences in hormones as we get older. Men will produce less testosterone.

Hormones can throw out your ability to exercise, to sleep, and to eat properly. Or even have the desire to eat properly. Nobody's overlooking any of those things.

But calories in calories out would still explain that, because it means you're putting out less energy and probably taking in more energy through foods that are more calorie dense.

How Muscle Affects Metabolic Rate

We've talked about how body composition can affect your metabolic rate and maintaining muscle mass is going to be key.

Most people don't do the strength training they need to maintain muscle mass, much less grow it, as they get older. So it's very difficult to say are we losing our muscle because we're agin?

Or is it just because we're not doing what it takes to stimulate those muscles to stay the size they're supposed to be?

Lower muscle mass means a slower metabolism.

Does CICO Take Food Quality Into Account?

Many people believe that calories in calories out doesn't take into account the quality of food, but it does.

Is 500 calories of chicken breast the same as 500 calories of broccoli or 500 calories of donuts?

They are exactly the same amount of calories, because calories are just a unit of energy.

But that doesn't mean that they impact your body the same way.

Which is more filling?

Which is more enjoyable?

Which is going to help you retain and grow muscle?

And which is going to help your long-term health?

The CICO Model And Different Foods

I'm going to explain how the calories in calories out model DOES take into account that those 500 calories, while being the same energetically, perform differently in the body.

Chicken breast is almost purely protein.

Protein helps with muscle retention and growth. Having more muscle means a slightly higher metabolic rate.

The Role Of TEF

For your TDEE, there is also the concept of TEF which I mentioned earlier the thermic effect of food.

Protein and fiber are higher in TEF and that can account for 5 to 10% of your total daily energy expenditure, the amount of calories that your body expends.

2,000 calories of ultra-processed foods is going to affect you differently than 2,000 calories of mainly whole foods. You're going to have a higher TEF. So a greater energy expenditure with more whole foods.

Whole foods like fruits and vegetables and grains are also going to be higher in fiber, also a component of TEF.

Broccoli and chicken breast have more protein, so there's going to be more calories out than if you were consuming 500 calories worth of donuts. 

In two medium donuts there's only 7 g of protein and about 2.5 g of fiber. Bet you didn't know that donuts have some fiber. Not a lot, but some.

Food Volume And Fat Loss

Now if we look at the food volume, how much it's going to fill you up:

500 calories of broccoli is over 16 cups. Most people probably won't consume that at one sitting. It's going to have 40 g of protein and about 37 g of fiber. That would be more than most people need in terms of fiber for the entire day.

500 calories of chicken breast. That's about 470 g. Probably about three breasts. I tend to have about a 150 g breast per meal, so this would be three of those. That chicken breast is going to help you with muscle growth. There's going to be more energy expenditure.

It's going to make you feel better than and 500 calories of donuts.

If you feel better and there is a greater nutrient composition (this applies to chicken and broccoli) then you're going to be able to expend more energy.

You're probably going to move around a lot and you're going to be able to work harder during those workouts that you do.

So while 500 calories of any food is the same amount of energy, they have a different impact on your body. The calories in calories out model takes that into account.

Fibre For Fat Loss

I think it's really important when you're tracking calories not to just track calories.

You want to have your fiber in place as well.

Approximately 14 g of fiber per 1000 calories that you're taking in is a good rough number.

If you're consuming 2,000 calories a day, then about 28 g of fiber.

You want to lose weight, but you want to do it in a healthy way.

Higher fiber intakes also improve health outcomes.

Calorie Deficit For Fat Loss

You can't ignore a calorie deficit if you want to lose body fat.

That's just how it works.

But as you've just heard, there are a lot of variables involved that make it tricky to find out if you truly are in a calorie deficit.

How Do You Know You're In A Calorie Deficit?

Really the most effective way to know if you're in a calorie deficit is if you've lost weight.

So if you look at your daily weekly activity and what you're eating on a daily and weekly basis and you're not changing, then you're not in a calorie deficit.

You are at maintenance.

We know that even with accurate tracking and monitoring that the calories you see on food tracking apps are not always 100% accurate. In fact you'll see a lot of variance for the same type of food and it's hard to figure out which one is correct.

Food items also vary in their composition. So you have to think of it as an estimate.

But if you just keep tracking the same way and reducing in whatever way that you're planning, then eventually you will see a result.

The Value Of Calorie Tracking

Just because a system isn't perfect doesn't mean that it doesn't have value.

Hopefully by now you're convinced that a calorie deficit is what you need for fat loss.

Make sure you're doing it right by watching this video HERE.

Ivana Chapman