How do you start a calorie deficit to lose weight?

If you wish to cut fat, you must be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. You won’t be able to lower your body fat percentage if you’re not allowing your body to dip into its stored calories.

Of course, there’s quite a bit to understand about being in a calorie deficit to lose weight, but before anything else, you have to understand what it is.

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What is a calorie deficit?

Calorie deficit (Photo via Unsplash/Farhad Ibrahimzade)

Any time you consume food, you’re consuming calories. These calories are what your body burns to generate the energy needed to go through day-to-day activities.

Each diet revolves around three types of calorie consumption:

• Calorie maintenance
• Calorie surplus
• Calorie deficit

Every meal you consume adds to the number of calories you consume daily. You have a daily calorie intake based on your bodyweight.

A calorie maintenance diet refers to one where you consume the exact number of calories that you burn. Hence, you will be maintaining your bodyweight, as there will be no additions or deductions to the calories.

A calorie surplus diet refers to one where you consume more calories than maintenance calories. That results in weight gain, as extra calories are stored by the body as fat, and if you’re into extreme weightlifting, it helps with adding muscle mass.

A calorie deficit diet, meanwhile, refers to one where you consume fewer calories than maintenance calories. That results in cutting fat, as your body dips into the stored calories to make up for the deficit. Keeping that in mind, you should focus on a calorie deficit to lose weight.

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How to start a calorie deficit diet?

Start a calorie deficit diet (Photo via Diana Polekhina/Unsplash)

To get started with a calorie deficit to lose weight, you need to find out the number of calories you should consume every day to create a deficit.

The first step is to find out your daily calorie intake. You can do so using an online calculator or a visit to a dietician. Once you know your daily calorie intake to maintain your current bodyweight, you need to take away 500 from that number. The resulting number is the number of calories you need to consume to lose weight.

Keeping a 500 calorie deficit is a healthy choice. While some wish to push that and use a 700 or 800 calorie deficit, that shouldn’t be used long term, as the body can hit a plateau that would halt the weight loss process.

Once you know the calories required to create a deficit, distribute those calories among macronutrients, protein, carbohydrates and fats to create a diet.

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Does a calorie deficit to lose weight always work?

Calorie deficit meals (Photo via Unsplash/Sirasit Gullasu)

If you’ve been on a calorie deficit but not losing weight, you need to do one of the following:

1. Increase your physical activity so that your body burns more calories, which will increase the deficit.
2. Decrease the number of calories you consume every day to adjust the overall deficit.

It’s possible that the deficit created is not working because a real deficit was not created. Hence, it’s important to do a bit of trial and error before finding a proper number to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight.

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What are calorie deficit meals?

Any type of meal can be consumed as a calorie deficit meal as long as it keeps you in a deficit. There aren’t any set meals that will keep you in a calorie deficit to lose weight.

However, you need to ensure that your calorie deficit meal should have all three macronutrients in adequate amounts along with other essential nutrients like calcium, vitamins and fiber.

Usually, the amount of carbs, protein and fats in your diet depends on the type of diet you’re following. However, the type of diet, like a keto diet or high-carb diet will not change the number of calories you consume.