Energy balance: What is it?
Energy balance is one of the most basic but one of the most important concepts to grasp around nutrition. Without understanding energy balance it is hard to know where to begin on reaching your goals, whether your goal is to lose weight or to add muscle mass.
The Basics
Energy balance simply refers to the balance of energy or calories being taken in through the diet against the calories being burnt through exercise. Whilst this may seem like an obvious or simple concept, it is a key concept that underpins nutrition and it is vital that people understand this when looking to change their lifestyle.
As demonstrated by the above diagram, getting your energy balance correct and aligning it with your specific goals can help you to take the first steps towards attaining your goals and targets.
Weight loss
If a client came to myself wanting to lose weight, the first thing I would explain to them is that they need to begin to put themselves into a calorie deficit. This can be done by doing one of two things:
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Increasing your energy expenditure
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Reducing your energy intake
Increasing your energy expenditure will help you take those first steps into losing weight. However, this alone will not be enough as you also need to ensure that your calorie intake is less than your calories expenditure. The greater the difference the quicker the weight loss. However, we want to do this in a safe and controlled manor to avoid any detrimental health effects and to make sure that this weight loss is sustainable.
Weight Gain
On the other hand, if a client came to me and said that they wanted to gain weight and add muscle mass then we would do the reverse. They would need to increase their energy intake to a point where this outweighs their energy output. However, again we need to make sure that this is done in a safe and appropriate manor by appropriately increasing carbohydrate and protein intake.
Many people in the body building world or people who frequently go to the gym may take on an approach known as "dirty bulking," which refers to just getting in as many calories as possible to meet their daily calorie target but this approach tends to incorporate a large amount of fat. This excess fat can put stress on the heart, surrounding arteries and blood vessels. Whilst this can be an effective way of putting on mass it also comes with a great deal of adipose tissue that takes further dieting and training to get rid of. This is why it is largely thought that taking a measured and careful approach to your energy balance when trying to gain mass is the best way.
