No matter whether young or old, male or female, athlete or non-athlete, an energy deficit is necessary to be able to lose body fat at all. This applies regardless of the diet chosen. The fat tissue stored by the body provides an energy reserve that the organism can fall back on when it receives too little nutritional energy, in other words less than it needs. In this case one speaks of a negative energy balance, so the body loses energy. In the best case, from the energy reserve stored in storage fat.
For you to calculate anything at all, you first need to know what your approximate total daily energy requirement is. As an example, the guideline value for the daily energy intake is shown using the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) "DRV Finder" online tool. First open the DRV Finder.
The following definitions can be used to assess the appropriate personal activity level:
Select the PAL value that suits you well for an average week and read the assigned AR for daily energy intake, which should preferably be in kcal. You can use the read-off value as an estimate for your average daily energy requirement.
Subtract about 15-25 % from the previously read value for your daily energy requirement in order to create a negative energy balance. The value obtained corresponds to your daily energy intake from food during your weight loss diet.
If the individual has good metabolic flexibility, the energy deficit generated during the negative energy balance diet is
completely compensated by mobilizing the body's storage fat. However, the ability to burn fat can be greatly
reduced, for example through years of high-carbohydrate nutrition with frequent meals, which means poorer metabolic
flexibility. In this case, there may be a lack of energy during the diet, since the compensation of the energy
deficit does not work well despite actually full energy stores. The ability to burn fat can, however, be regained,
in particular by taking longer breaks in the carbohydrate intake or by reducing the carbohydrate content of the
overall diet. All usable carbohydrates are relevant here. Long food breaks (e.g. intermittent fasting) or a change
in diet to a low carb or ketogenic diet are well suited for this. The ketogenic diet is the most extreme form of
carbohydrate reduction, as only about 30 g of usable carbohydrates are consumed per day. It is so effective in
terms of activating the mobilization and utilization of fat that the organism produces water-soluble ketone bodies
from fatty acids in order to be able to transport the energy carriers in the blood to the tissues where they can be
used for energy. This metabolic state is also called ketosis in its physiological form and, in addition to activating
the fat metabolism, has other health benefits.
The necessary background knowledge for the sensible implementation of a ketogenic reduction diet is described
in the book "Losing Weight in Ketosis: A Beginners' Guide". There are discribed the most important
metabolic basics of the ketogenic diet as well as the practice-relevant aspects of using this
form of nutrition with the aim of burning fat. No previous knowledge is required to be able to carry
out a successful ketogenic reduction diet with the help of this book.
It can be purchased at the local bookseller or online, for example from
amazon.
Book recommendation:
Losing Weight in Ketosis:
A Beginners' Guide
Autor: Marco K. R. Jarka
Verlag: Books on Demand
3rd edition 2022, english,
96 pages
ISBN-13: 9783755749677