How You Not To Gain Weight Easily?

By Author: Evan Murray
Total Articles: 5
Comment this article

In dietetics and modern fitness, attention is paid to only two camps. The first want to lose weight, the second - to gain weight. But what if you are somewhere in the middle? You are satisfied with your current weight, and you do not want to gain a new one, and especially due to the appearance of new fat deposits.


In order not to gain weight, you can try a classic trick - create a small calorie deficit, barely noticeable and practically not felt physiologically and psychologically. This diet is especially relevant for those who began to notice a slow but steady weight gain. For example, after the New Year holidays, your weight increased and is no longer decreasing. Then, with each new holiday or event with friends, your weight only increases.


Let's prevent this.


Floor


Calorie intake per week

Deficit (50%)

Estimated fat loss in



Woman


2000 kcal

1000 kcal

909 grams



Man


2700 kcal

1350 ...
... kcal

1.22 kg



*male weighing 81kg with moderate activity during the day

*woman weighing 59 kg with moderate activity during the day

In the gym, you will often see athletes and bodybuilders who practice a very small deficit for fat loss, namely 10-15% deficit from maintenance. In addition, some diet experts recommend such a calorie deficit to the general public. Before we weigh the pros and cons, let's take a look at how this deficit will affect your calorie intake as well as your weekly fat loss.


Please note that men are in a greater deficit due to their simple need for more calories, but their fat loss is almost comparable to the rate of fat loss among women. This, by the way, is one of the reasons why we recommend calculating percentages for calorie deficits, rather than absolute values, such as 300-400 kcal for weight loss, etc.


It would seem, why should we maintain such a precise calorie deficit if our goal is not to lose weight, but to simply maintain body weight and avoid the risk of fat gain. Everything is simple here. With each new year of life, the body spends less energy. You are less active, hormones do not work as well as before, and the same picture with internal organs, which in total leads to a gradual decrease in calories expended per day.


That is, you can eat exactly the same as before, but because you began to spend less energy, your weight will begin to increase. To prevent this negative effect, we use a mini-calorie deficit. It is worth considering that no one maintains a 100% deficit. People often forget about prohibitions, do not count snacks, etc. But thanks to a 10-15% deficit, such mistakes are acceptable.


The advantages of this power supply scheme

Of course, the deficit is to some extent small and relatively easy to achieve. A small restriction in food is usually enough and often, this deficit can be achieved by simply replacing products in the diet (for example, replacing 2% milk with skim milk will save you 40 kcal, and in 3 meals we have 120 kcal).


Even with severe dietary restrictions, the difference is relatively small compared to normal eating habits. This has a beneficial effect on the behavior of some people, as it makes it easier to cope with the diet.


It is also often stated that such a deficiency does not affect defense mechanisms, decreased metabolism, and other phenomena. This is probably true, but there is no good quality research yet.


And finally, for athletes working on performance, the absence of extreme dietary restrictions reduces the likelihood of harming training or performance. A large deficit can ruin a workout or force changes to avoid breaking a person completely. In general, a small deficit bypasses this problem. The same applies to mental activity. A serious diet with a large calorie deficit negatively affects a person's mental activity, which interferes with work and study. Here, however, these disadvantages are not present.


Disadvantages of the power supply scheme
The biggest disadvantage is that fat loss is extremely slow. Yes, we remember that our goal is to prevent fat gain, but as practice shows, a person on a diet is not satisfied with just this goal. He follows a diet and naturally wants to see significant changes, for example, a decrease in fat and an improvement in his figure.


The exception is people who are very overweight. They will lose fat even on such a diet. As for the average person, despite the relatively faster rate of fat burning in obese people, the slow rate of weight loss may discourage them from continuing the plan.


The final downside to this approach is how easy it is to screw up. Because of the small deficit, even the smallest error in calculating actual food intake can destroy the deficit, leading to stalled progress or even weight gain.


Final Words

So what does the scheme look like in practice? To create a deficit of 300-400 kcal, it is enough to replace classic fatty products with less fatty analogues. Milk, cheese, meat - three products for which it is easy to find a low-fat and low-calorie replacement. That is, now you will drink 1% fat milk, low-fat cheese and fillet of beef or any other animal, instead of the classic fatty area.


In this case, training plays a lesser role. You should not rely on it, since adding physical activity increases appetite, and it will be more difficult not to gain weight. It is better to make a small substitution of products and thus create the necessary deficit.


Note that if you follow this deficit correctly, you will not only prevent fat gain, but also lose a certain percentage. Approximate data is given in the table. You can successfully lose 200 to 300 g of fat per week.