But what is CICO?

x3livox
x3livox Posts: 48 Member
edited November 13 in Health and Weight Loss
I know it stands for calories in vs. calories out, but how does it work/ how do you do it? Am I supposed to be excercising off more than 1300 calories a day? Is that possible? Does it actually work? I hope this doesn't seem stupid. I just keep getting conflicting answers about CICO.

Replies

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Your body burns calories all day long just to keep you alive. If 1300 is your MFP goal, eat 1300 and do not exercise and you should lose weight.
  • DaddieCat
    DaddieCat Posts: 3,643 Member
    CICO is an energy balance equation, you don't really "do it" so much as you eat and workout in a way that makes the math work for you.

    I'm guessing that you don't actually need to exercise more than 1300 calories a day. I'm guessing that you just need to eat around 500 calories less than you burn on a daily basis.

    I'd suggest starting here and reading these threads:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/931670/bmr-and-tdee-explained-for-those-needing-a-guide/p1

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1

  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    calories are energy.

    Your body is a closed system.

    Each and everyday your body is using energy to keep you alive. You are breathing, brain is functioning, your blood is pumping, you are maintaining body temperature, your body is healing itself, digesting food, etc. The amount of energy your body needs to perform this is called your Basal Metabolic Rate.

    However, we know, that you are getting up, walking around, moving, brushing your teeth, and all of the other things you do on a daily basis. this requires energy. AND there's any exercise you do. this also requires calories (energy).

    The amount of energy needed on a daily basis to sustain your current weight is called your TDEE. This is the calories you are burning by just existing, doing all your day to day stuff, and any exercise you perform. THIS is the number of calories you need to eat less than.


    Because your body is a closed system if you eat more calories (energy in) than you are burning with your TDEE (energy out) then your body stores this extra energy in the form of body fat to be used later. if you consume less calories (energy in) than you are burning (energy out) then your body MUST get that energy it's using from somewhere (i.e. body fat and muscle tissue).


    Does that make sense? MFP has a built in BMR/TDEE calculator for you.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    CICO is an energy balance. It works like this:

    CI<CO you will lose weight
    CI=CO you will maintain weight
    CI>CO you will gain weight

    The CI portion of the equation most people understand pretty easily, it is the sum of all the calories you consume. Whether you count the calories or not, you are consuming them all day, so you are responsible for the CI part of the equation. To measure the CI, you can track the calories of the food you eat, increasing the accuracy by using a food scale. It is still an estimate, but you can fairly reasonably estimate your CI.

    The CO portion is a little trickier. Your Calories Out is essentially the sum of all the calories you burn, which includes your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate - the amount of calories you would need if you were essentially in a coma), your daily activity (all the movement you do around the house, to and from work, etc) and the calories you burn during purposeful exercise you do as well. The sum of these is also called your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). Your TDEE is the CO side of the equation. It is more difficult to measure than the CI side, and it is influenced some by different factors (gender, height, weight, genetics, metabolism, can be impacted by medical conditions, etc).

    But at the end of the day, in order to lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit. Your CI <CO.

    What CICO is NOT is a way of eating. It is not a diet, it is not a recommendation to eat nothing but twinkies and still lose weight. It is just a universal mathematical formula that applies to everyone.
  • Megansmith112712
    Megansmith112712 Posts: 62 Member
    So if mfp sets your calories at 1300 them you should be able to eat that amount and lose your pre set pounds per week. So I don't exercise (lack of time and motivation), mfp has my calorie goal around 1800 if I eat that I lose about 1. Lb per week without exercise. Even if you do t get out b of bed all day your body burns calories. So as long as you don't go over what your body burns in a day then you'll lose weight (if you exercise you eat part or all those calories back).
  • Unknown
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  • Fursian
    Fursian Posts: 550 Member
    As I understand it, we all have allotted maintenance calories (whether we're counting calories or not), which changes with varying factors. If we go over this number, we'll gain, go under this number, we'll lose. If you find this number (trial and error, or look up various calcs online), you'll find your deficit.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    x3livox wrote: »
    I know it stands for calories in vs. calories out, but how does it work/ how do you do it?

    You don't do it. It's just a math expression.

    If(CI < CO)
    you lose weight;

    If(CI = CO)
    you maintain weight;

    If(CO > CO)
    you gain weight;

    That's it. It's just saying something true and kind of obvious, it's like when Einstein says E=MC^2.

    If you're trying to lose weight (that's why 99% of us are here) you want to take in fewer calories than you burn. How you do that is up to you. You can lose weight without any exercise, or you can train to run a marathon and eat more because of it. The important question is how do you maintain a calorie deficit for a long period of time, how do you make it sustainable?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    rainbowbow wrote: »
    calories are energy.

    Your body is a closed system.

    Each and everyday your body is using energy to keep you alive. You are breathing, brain is functioning, your blood is pumping, you are maintaining body temperature, your body is healing itself, digesting food, etc. The amount of energy your body needs to perform this is called your Basal Metabolic Rate.

    However, we know, that you are getting up, walking around, moving, brushing your teeth, and all of the other things you do on a daily basis. this requires energy. AND there's any exercise you do. this also requires calories (energy).

    The amount of energy needed on a daily basis to sustain your current weight is called your TDEE. This is the calories you are burning by just existing, doing all your day to day stuff, and any exercise you perform. THIS is the number of calories you need to eat less than.


    Because your body is a closed system if you eat more calories (energy in) than you are burning with your TDEE (energy out) then your body stores this extra energy in the form of body fat to be used later. if you consume less calories (energy in) than you are burning (energy out) then your body MUST get that energy it's using from somewhere (i.e. body fat and muscle tissue).


    Does that make sense? MFP has a built in BMR/TDEE calculator for you.

    Yup
  • x3livox
    x3livox Posts: 48 Member
    Thank you everybody! This was so helpful!
  • MFPLiftWeightsRun
    MFPLiftWeightsRun Posts: 15 Member
    OTOH, imo, you shouldn't have to calculate ANYTHING if your TDEE is constant.

    I.e. if you exercise the same amount every week, then your TDEE is more or less pre-determined.

    (though if you lose weight, running may burn fewer calories because you have less to drag around, etc. But, ignoring that...).

    With constant TDEE, Just be a little experimental:

    Pick a reasonable # of calories per day based on MFP suggestions.
    Do to that perfectly for a few weeks.

    - If you lose the amount you expected, keep doing that.
    - If you didn't lose as much as you wanted, and can stand it, tell MFP to decrease # of calories you eat per day.

    Pretty soon, you're on track.


  • blambo61
    blambo61 Posts: 4,372 Member
    edited September 2017
    Set your mfp goal to your main cals or bmr. Then enter any exercise you do. Enter the calories you consume. It will show how much more you can eat to be balanced. Each day your under that, your losing. I like setting it up that way so that I get an anttaboy for any deficit.
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