Hey guys,

my first real informational post here is about understanding the foundations of nutrition for fatloss.

A great visualization made by Dr. Eric Helms (muscleandstrengthpyramids.com & 3dmusclejourney.com) shows us that the main component is the energy balance.

The Energy balance is the difference between the energy we consume (food, drinks) and the energy we spent during a defined span of time. A good overview was made by Alan Aragon (alanaragon.com).

It doesn't really matter how you create the caloric deficit. If you energy balance is negativ (you spent more energy than you consume) your body has to provide this energy with his stored energy (for example fat, glykogen).

1kg of fat contains ~9000 kCalories. 1kg of bodyfat only contains ~7000 kcal, because the fat is bound to water. So to loose 1kg of bodyfat, you have to burn 7000kcal more than you consume. For example if you create a caloric deficit of 500kcal, you will need ~2 weeks to loose ~1kg. (500kcal * 14 days = 7000kcal)

This is just a flashover calculation, but it is accurate enough for the simple purpose to loose weight. By the way, weight loss and fat loss are two different things. You can manipulate your weight pretty easy with fluid, natrium,... , but that is another topic for a different post :)

I hope you enjoyed this small overview about what is needed to loose fat.
The next topic will be "How do I create a caloric deficit".