Let’s start off simple… what is a calorie? And what is a deficit?

The word calorie in its simplest form is a unit of measurement. It measures how much energy is in one item of food. So, for example… one calorie is equivalent to 4.2 kilojoules of energy. Therefore, the more calories you consume, the more energy you are providing your body with.

Now what is a deficit?

According to the Oxford dictionary a deficit is ‘the amount by which something is too small’. So, let’s put that into context… a calorific deficit means you are below the standard allowance of calories that the human body needs to consume each day to run at its optimum level.

Let me also just point out, your body uses energy for every tiny activity that you complete. Your muscles are designed to continually twitch throughout the day whether you are resting or being active. Now obviously, the more active you are, the more your muscles are moving and twitching, and the more energy you end up using. However, when you are sitting down, laying down, sleeping, or just breathing, your body is burning its energy to do all of them activities that you don’t even think about!

A bit of common knowledge is that the woman’s body requires a 2,000-calorie intake per day for it to function correctly.

But what do all diets teach you ladies?

You must be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. This is because being in a calorie deficit forces your body to use its fat stores (which do contain energy when burned), which then means that you are burning fat.

Being in a calorific deficit does contribute to you losing weight, I will never deny that.

However, what I most commonly see is women interpreting that as ‘right I need to starve myself’. I can not count the number of women who have walked through the Sxefit doors and are skipping meals, having no-fat diets, no carb diets, or are running on 800 calories per day to try and lose as much weight as possible. I need you all to understand just how detrimental this is to your body!
One of the first meals to go is always breakfast. This is one of the worst things you can do! The name breakfast means you are BREAKING the FAST. Your body has coped without you eating or adding any fuel in for however long you have been asleep, and yes, it is still burning the calories when you are resting, so your body needs that fuel in the morning for you to operate.

Another thing that women do not realize is that when you decide to stop eating to save on calories or you begin depriving your body of the energy it needs; it will do its best to store whatever it can. So, whenever you eat that food, the fats in that food will be stored as fat, as your body does not know when it is going to eat again. You force your body into its survival mode, so how does it protect itself? Store fat so that it has a supply of energy.

When are you depriving your body of the fuel that it needs do you ever wonder why you feel so tired? Why you struggle with bowel motions? Why your skin looks dull? Why your body begins to feel weak? Or you develop less stamina than what you had before?

CALORIE DEFICIT DOES NOT MEAN GO WITHOUT!

Your muscles NEED them calories to function, if you don’t supply the calories (energy) then it has nothing to burn!

Without any additional exercise a women’s body requires a minimum of 1600 calories per day. Now this is not universal, it does change depending on the activity levels of that woman, her age, weight, and height… but as a standard 1600 as a minimum.

So, when you are only putting in 800 calories and then working out for an hour per day you are running on less than EMPTY! How do you expect to feel?
To correctly calculate what calorie deficit you should be in; you would need to look at how many you should be consuming on a day-to-day basis. Then work out what activities you do in a day, including cooking, cleaning, washing, working out, walking, working, etc. and how much energy each of them activities require. Add that to the basic number of calories you should be taking in, and then remove 500 calories from that overall total as that is the recommended amount for healthy weight loss.

Is this what you do ladies? No? Then stop. You are harming yourselves.

Change the way you think…

Instead of saying ‘I need to cut this out’ or ‘I need to be in a deficit’ start saying… ‘I need this type of food because it will give me energy to burn as I work out’ or ‘I need to give my body energy because it hasn’t eaten for 5 hours’.
What you need to understand is, the type of food you eat, and the balance of your diet is the most important aspect of weight gain or loss. This is why I released my Nutrition Mission, to educate you all on food groups and contents to prevent you from harming your bodies.

Anyone who has engaged in my diet knows that I recommend you eat a minimum of 3 meals per day and graze throughout the day 2-3 times. I am living proof that this method works, just look at my body and how it functions to know that you do not need to stop eating or deprive yourself to be healthy.
Forget calorie and think energy!

If you are sat there starving yourself, lets work on your food education. Head over to my Nutrition Mission and let’s sort it out!

http://www.tiffanysxefitdiet.com