Caloric deficit question

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  • webdomainhub
    webdomainhub Posts: 8 Member
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    heybales wrote: »
    If you ate a lot of calories as your level, and started with very little protein, and moved to high protein with those many calories - yes you would have a slight deficit as the difference between processing of protein takes more energy. TEF - Thermic Effect of Food

    Say you ate 80% carbs from 3000 cal diet - 2400 cal that took 10% of it to process - 240 cal
    Protein @ 15% - 450 cal took 25% - 113 cal
    Fat @ 5% - 150 took 3% - 5 cal
    358 cal to process those macros.

    Moved to 80% protein instead - 2400 for 25% - 600 cal
    Carbs @ 15% - 450 cal 10% - 45 cal
    Fat same 5 cal
    650 cal to process those macros.

    292 cal advantage, therefore deficit.

    You'd lose a little weight until weighing correct amount for those daily calories - not much.

    And as you start lowering that 3000 cal diet down to perhaps normal levels - you see the advantage start disappearing for an amount that really matters.

    Now - take the fact that nutritional labels in US are allowed to be upwards of 20% off - guess which direction is normal so it appears better on the label. Other countries have allowances too since they can't be that exact.
    You could easily much smaller to no advantage then.

    So - what's with all the theory questions?
    Inquiring minds want to know. Both ways it appears.

    Thanks for the detailed explanation. I have been quite unsuccessful in the past going on a calorie deficit with no weight loss. So this time I want to do it right and thought that the unsuccessful attempt earlier could be due to my diet because I consume quite a high carb diet at the moment. White bread, noodles, rice are a staple.

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    edited December 2020
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    Likely due to accuracy logging - but the fact is if you stayed just as active, and dropped a known amount of calories from what is normally eaten - you will lose fat weight.
    No logging needed - merely pick items that add up to what needs to be the deficit and don't eat them.

    You make a bunch of changes that require accuracy now, and aren't accurate - you'll have problems you'll need knowledge on how to handle.

    If you started exercise at the same time - exercise is for health and many times comes with water weight gain.
    If you stressed body out and gained cortisol induced water weight.
    Many reason why people stop losing.
    A few reasons why people don't start losing.

    And many lose quite easily on a high carb diet.
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
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    webdomainhub wrote: »
    Another hypothetical question. What happens if there is no calories deficit but the calories are now turned into a high protein low carb diet, does weight loss still happen or what will happen with this approach?

    Same caloric intake = same exact level of fat loss/gain

    But shifting the macro balance from carbs to non-carbs will cause some water to drain off, since carbs lead to water retention; it might show up as a pound or two "lost" on the scale. Next time you have a bowl of spaghetti, it'll be back.

    Macros make no difference for fat loss. Nada. Zip. They might matter for other things (diabetics, etc.) but not for losing weight.

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