> THE SECRET FORMULA! < (That’s totally not a secret)
Let’s talk about energy balance, and how it will affect your results if losing, gaining, or maintaining weight is your goal. (Protip: That’s everyone)
The amount of energy we “burn” everyday is known as TDEE, Total Daily Energy Expenditure. We refer to it in calories (Fun fact: Calories are a unit of heat)
TDEE is made up of 4 parts.
First, and much to everyone’s surprise, least important, TEPA.
Thermogenic Effect of Planned Activities, or in others words, planned exercise like coming to the gym 3-4 times a week.
TEPA makes up a surprisingly low 5% of your overall energy expenditure. You can of course increase the amount of calories used by increasing the amount of exercise you do, but it is only ever going to be the smallest part of your total daily output.
Next, TEF.
Thermogenic Effect of Food. The digestive process uses energy, just like any other process in the body.
About 10% of your TDEE will be made up of food digestion, remarkably, twice the amount of planned exercise!
Now, I’m sorry, but just eating more burgers wont make you skinny J , but you can increase the TEF by choosing better quality foods. Of all the macros, proteins will create the highest TEF, water is also very important to increase your TEF.
NEAT is the next in line.
Making up 15% of our daily energy expenditure, NEAT is, Non Exercise Activities Thermogenesis.
Interestingly 3 times more important than planned exercise, NEAT is probably the easiest part of your daily energy expenditure to increase.
Walk 10,000 steps a day, take the stairs no the lift, park the car further away, do the housework, gardening, take the kids to the park and play.
NEAT is just you being more active in your day to day life.
Last in line is our BMR, which stands for Basal Metabolic Rate and represents the highest amount of calories burned, 70%. This is you, just being you and being alive J
BMR is the amount of energy your body requires for all its processes, your metabolism.
You can increase your BMR by building muscle through resistance training, through getting enough rest, being stress free, looking after your overall health.
All of these parts of the sum can be adjusted or manipulated to be increased, and therefore increasing your TDEE which is a very good thing. Increasing your TDEE means you can eat more without fear of putting on weight (if that is your goal) , or lose more fat if that is your goal.
How? I hear you ask?
Very easy, to increase your:
TEPA: Do more planned exercise. Not just smashing yourself everyday though, training smart, training supervised and planned, and definitely including some resistance training in there
TEF: Choose higher quality foods. More lean protein can increase your TEF, as proteins use a much higher amount of energy to be digested. Proteins also play a key role in producing hormones that inhibit fat storage.
Foods known to have a higher TEF include: eggs, chilli, oatmeal, ginger, green tea, fish, garlic, and importantly, water.
NEAT: Be more active in your daily life. Walk more, play more, stand up more, find ways to move around more than you do now, and you will increase your NEAT.
BMR: Your BMR is affected by your overall health, your muscle mass, your age, your genetic make up, all sorts of factors.
The best thing you can do to increase your BMR is increase your muscle mass through resistance training, but living a healthy lifestyle with good nutrition, mindfulness, and rest, will increase your BMR.
So why is increasing your TDEE so important?
Simply put, energy balance. Having a higher TDEE stacks the deck in your favour to have more control over your overall mass.
Let’s say your TDEE is 1600 calories.
If you want to lose weight, you create a calorie deficit. (eat less than 1600 calories)
If you want to gain weight, you create a calorie surplus. (eat more than 1600 calories)
If you want to maintain weight, you create calorie balance. (eat 1600 calories)
Buy increasing your TDEE, you gain more options, or tools in your tool belt.
In the example above, If that person increased their TDEE to 1800 calories, they could eat more, have more flexibility, and be able to add more nutrient dense foods to their diet.
So that is TDEE, how it affects your energy balance, and therefore your health and fitness goals!
Shoot me a message if you’d like to find out how to measure your TDEE.