Weightloss Fundamentals

Sustained fat loss comes down to one fundamental principle: you must consistently consume less energy than you expend. A sustained caloric deficit is required for ongoing fat loss. It doesn't matter how you achieve that deficit (for example, following a lifestyle meal plan (keto, paleo, or low carb) or simply just eating less) - what matters is that you are consistent in maintaining that deficit. Use any protocol that will make it easier for you maintain that consistency.

It's important to note that losing weight is not the same as losing fat. The goal for most people is to reduce fat mass while preserving as much lean mass as possible. Doing that requires managing the deficit intelligently, alongside ensuring adequate protein intake, sleep, and hydration. Resistance training plays a central role in this process - improving body composition and physical function.

The TL;DR

  • Fat loss requires a sustained calorie deficit. Start with 500 calories per day below your maintenance requirement. (See TDEE and how to estimate it). This is a safe starting point. You can get much more aggressive with your deficit - but you must maintain adequate protein intake to minimise muscle catabolism.
  • Lift weights. Include resistance training 3-5x/week during fat loss to preserve muscle mass and strength. It counters the muscle catabolism from calorie deficits, improving body composition (more fat loss, less lean muscle loss) alongside high protein intake. Evidence shows lifters retain significantly more lean mass in caloric deficits.
  • Protein matters. Aim for a minimum of 1.5 to 2 grams of protein per kg of body weight per day. Go higher if you are lean, resistance training, very active or pursuing an aggressive calorie deficit.
  • Pick a meal plan you can stick to. Low carb, keto, paleo, intermittent fasting, continuous calorie restriction... Anything. All approaches work if they create a deficit and you can consistently maintain that deficit.
  • If you don't measure it, you can't manage it. Use scales and an app to log food intake and body weight regularly. Accuracy and consistency beat guesswork.
  • Sleep is when the magic happens. Target 7 to 9 hours per night to support fat loss and muscle retention. This is non-negotiable.
  • Stay hydrated. Aim for roughly 3 litres of water per day, including water with meals. Adjust for body size, climate, and activity.
  • Adjust based on results. If you are not losing 0.5 to 1 percent of body weight per week after two weeks, reduce your caloric intake by 100 to 200 calories.

Energy Balance

The human body obeys the laws of thermodynamics. When energy intake is chronically lower than energy expenditure, stored energy must be mobilised. In other words, if you consistently eat less than you expend then, over time, your body will burn fat (and a little bit of muscle) for energy.

Multiple analyses confirm that weight loss requires a negative energy balance, regardless of dietary pattern. When calorie intake is matched, different diets produce similar weight loss outcomes.[6,10]

A 2007 paper summarised this bluntly: "independently of the method for weight loss, the negative energy balance alone is responsible for weight reduction."[1] Whether you fast, count macros, or follow another structured approach, if you are not in a sustained deficit, you will not achieve sustained fat loss.

What Is TDEE and How to Estimate It

To create a calorie deficit, you first need a reasonable estimate of how many calories you burn per day. That estimate is your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure).

What TDEE means

TDEE is the total energy your body uses in a day. It is made up of:

  • BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate): energy used at rest to keep you alive.
  • NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis): day-to-day movement outside formal exercise, including work, walking, standing, and general activity.
  • EAT (Exercise Activity Thermogenesis): planned training such as the gym, running, sport, or cycling.
  • TEF (Thermic Effect of Food): energy used to digest and process food.

Most people underestimate or overestimate TDEE because they focus on exercise and ignore NEAT. For many adults, NEAT is the biggest swing factor between “sedentary” and “very active”.

How to calculate an initial TDEE estimate

In practice, the simplest approach is to estimate your BMR first, then adjust it based on how you actually live and move day to day. Treat the output as a starting range, not a perfect number.

Step 1: Estimate BMR (Mifflin–St Jeor)

Use your sex, age, height, and weight to estimate BMR:

  • Men: BMR = (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) − (5 × age) + 5
  • Women: BMR = (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) − (5 × age) − 161

Step 2: Adjust for your actual activity

Many online calculators ask you to pick an activity level. The problem is that labels like “moderately active" often reflect exercise sessions, not total daily movement. A better approach is to anchor your estimate to step count and occupation.

Use these step-count bands as a rough guide, then adjust based on how physical your work is:

  • Under 5,000 steps per day: generally sedentary.
  • 5,000 to 8,000: lightly active.
  • 8,000 to 12,000: moderately active.
  • 12,000 to 18,000: very active.
  • 20,000 or more: extremely active.

If you use an activity multiplier, choose it based on the above reality check: 1.2 to 1.3 (sedentary), 1.35 to 1.5 (light), 1.55 to 1.7 (moderate), 1.75 to 1.9 (very active to extremely active). Treat this as an estimate, not a promise.

Examples

Example A: High-movement job (lawnmowing business)

A person running a lawnmowing business may average around 25,000 to 30,000 steps per day, plus frequent lifting, carrying, pushing, and bending. Even without formal exercise, their total daily movement is high. A plausible starting multiplier is often toward the 1.75 to 1.9 range, depending on body size and workload.

Example B: Low-movement desk job (IT working from home)

An IT worker at a home office might average 2,000 steps per day and sit for long periods. Even with three to four gym sessions per week, their overall daily movement can still be low compared with manual labour. A plausible starting multiplier is often closer to 1.3 to 1.45, depending on training volume and lifestyle.

Validate and refine your TDEE

TDEE is not fixed. It changes with body weight, training volume, sleep, stress, and diet-induced shifts in daily movement. The most reliable way to refine your estimate is to test it against real data.

  1. Track calorie intake as accurately as you can for 14 to 21 days. Include oils, sauces, drinks, and snacks.
  2. Weigh daily under consistent conditions (morning, after the bathroom), then focus on the trend (for example a 7-day average), not single days.
  3. If your trend weight is stable, your average intake is close to your TDEE. If weight is falling, you are in a deficit. If rising, you are in a surplus.

Tip: Want help estimating your TDEE? Use this simple prompt: TDEE Estimation Prompt.

Once you have a reasonable TDEE estimate, you can set a deficit (for example 500 calories per day) and adjust based on outcomes. For more detail on building a tracking habit that is sustainable, see the tracking section.

The Deficit Size Matters

How aggressive should the deficit be? The evidence consistently favours moderation. Think of this as a marathon, not a sprint. You're shooting for life-long change. Start small and adjust the deficit over time as your body adapts.

If you have not estimated your maintenance calories yet, start with the TDEE section and come back here once you have a reasonable starting point.

A 2021 meta-analysis found that energy deficiency impairs gains in lean mass during resistance training, even though strength can still improve.[3] In practical terms, as deficits grow larger, it becomes progressively harder to gain or preserve lean tissue during training.

Very low-calorie diets under 800 kcal per day do produce rapid weight loss, but at a cost. A 2024 systematic review reported that approximately 25 to 27 percent of total weight lost under these protocols comes from muscle mass, even when protein intake is adequate.[5] Outcomes vary by population and training status, but the trade-off is clear.

For most people aiming to lose fat while preserving lean mass, a moderate deficit of roughly 500 calories per day provides the best balance between effectiveness and muscle retention.[3,4,6]

Protein: Your Muscle Insurance Policy

Protein intake during weight loss is not optional if lean mass preservation matters.

The evidence shows:

Protein supports muscle retention through several mechanisms. It is more satiating than carbohydrate or fat, helping with adherence to the deficit. It has a higher thermic effect, modestly increasing energy expenditure. Most importantly, it supplies the amino acids required to maintain muscle protein synthesis during periods of energy restriction, especially when combined with resistance training.[13,14,17]

Sleep: The Overlooked Variable

Sleep has a measurable impact on body composition during weight loss. It is truly when the magic happens.

In a controlled trial, participants undergoing the same calorie restriction lost significantly less fat when sleeping 5.5 hours per night compared with 8.5 hours, despite identical energy intake.[21] Short sleep shifted weight loss away from fat and toward lean tissue.

The mechanisms are well documented:

A 2023 longitudinal study found that insufficient sleep predicted poorer weight loss maintenance after one year, independent of other behavioural factors.[19] For fat loss and maintenance, prioritising 7 to 9 hours of quality sleep is not optional.[24,26]

Hydration: Simple but Supportive

Adequate hydration supports weight loss primarily by improving appetite control, dietary adherence, and metabolic function.

Evidence indicates:

The adequate intake recommendations for total water are approximately 2.7 litres per day for women and 3.7 litres per day for men, including water from food sources.[32,34] You do not need to overcomplicate this. Drink when thirsty, include water with meals, and aim for pale yellow urine.

Adherence: The Real Game

No protocol works if you cannot stick to it. Adherence explains far more of weight loss success than diet style.

Available Protocols

In real life, people tend to create a calorie deficit in a few common ways:

Continuous Energy Restriction (CER)
Daily calorie reduction of roughly 20 to 30 percent from maintenance.[8]

Intermittent Fasting Variants

Macronutrient-Focused Approaches

What the Research Shows

A 2024 network meta-analysis of 47 randomised controlled trials found that all major caloric restriction strategies produced weight loss. ADF showed slightly greater short-term loss, but differences were small and not clinically meaningful long term.[8]

Another 2024 meta-analysis comparing fasting-based strategies with continuous restriction found similar weight loss at six months, with fasting showing a modest short-term advantage that did not persist.[9]

In practice, the best diet is the one you can follow consistently.[6,9]

Finding Your Protocol

Only you know what will work for you... and if you are unsure, remember this is a marathon not a sprint - try different protocols out and see what feels maintainable for you. Choose based on:

The physiology is secondary to adherence.

The Partner Effect

Aligning the eating patterns within your household will reduce friction and increase your chances for long-term compliance. While it might seem easier if you and your partner follow the same protocol, you don't have to. Protocols do not need to be identical, but they should be compatible.

Track Everything: Measurement Drives Results

Self-reported intake is notoriously unreliable. Don't guess - you will get it wrong.[35] People who consistently track what they eat tend to lose more weight and keep it off for longer:

What to track:

The tracking method matters far less than consistency.[40,43,45] However, there are tools that make the process much easier and, therefore, increase your chances of sticking with it.

If daily weigh-ins feel noisy or discouraging, jump to why the scales lie to see how to interpret trends properly.

Why the Scales Lie (and How to Read Them Properly)

Body weight does not change in a straight line, even when fat loss is occurring. Tracked on a graph, it will look like a staircase - with periods of plataeu and even little steps up before bigger steps down. Remember, the scale measures total body mass, not body fat, and short-term fluctuations are dominated by factors that have nothing to do with fat gain or loss. This is why tracking a trend (the dotted line in the image below) is more important than individual weigh-in results (the solid line). Don't let increases on the scale mess with your motivation. Increases and plateaus are normal and should be expected. Stay strong and persist.

Chart of weight loss over time from an electronic scale: daily weigh-ins (solid line) fluctuate while the smoothed trend line (dotted) moves downward in a staircase pattern.

Body weight does not change in a straight line, even when fat loss is occurring.

What drives short-term scale changes

  • Water retention: Changes in sodium intake, carbohydrate intake, inflammation, stress, or hormonal cycles can shift body water by 1 to 2 kg within days.
  • Glycogen storage: Stored carbohydrate binds several times its weight in water. Increasing or reducing carbohydrate intake can move the scale quickly without any fat change.
  • Gut contents: Fibre intake, meal timing, and digestion alter how much material is physically present in the gastrointestinal tract.
  • Training effects: Resistance training causes temporary inflammation and water retention in muscle tissue, which can mask fat loss on the scale.

Because fat loss occurs slowly, often at 0.5 to 1 percent of body weight per week, these faster moving variables can completely obscure real progress when weight is assessed over short time frames.

Why the scale can stall during body recomposition: If you are strength training while eating in a calorie deficit, it is possible to lose fat and gain some muscle at the same time, especially if you are new to lifting or returning after a break. For example, losing 5 kg of fat while gaining 1 kg of muscle would show only a 4 kg change on the scale, even though your body looks leaner, clothes fit better, and strength improves.

This is not failure. It is body recomposition. In this situation, the scale alone becomes a poor progress marker. Waist measurements, progress photos, how clothes fit, and strength trends often tell a more accurate story.

How to use the scale correctly

  • Weigh under consistent conditions, ideally daily, first thing in the morning after using the bathroom.
  • Focus on trends, not single measurements. A rolling 7-day average is far more informative than day-to-day changes.
  • Judge progress over weeks, not days. Two to three weeks of data is the minimum needed to assess whether a calorie target is working.

When interpreted properly, the scale is a useful tool. When interpreted in isolation or over short periods, it can be actively misleading. Fat loss is a slow biological process layered under fast, noisy fluctuations in body weight.

This is why resistance training is foundational during fat loss. It protects lean mass, improves how your body uses energy, and often explains why the scale stalls even as health, strength, and appearance improve. Read more in Strength Training for Longevity.

Hot tip: Track waist circumference alongside scale weight. Measure around the waist at the level of the navel, under the same conditions each time, ideally once per week. Waist measurements often reflect fat loss even when scale weight temporarily increases due to water retention. Seeing your waistline trend down while weight fluctuates can reduce frustration and help you stay consistent.

Putting It Together

  1. Establish a moderate deficit: approximately 500 calories per day below maintenance[3,6]
  2. Set protein intake: 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg body weight, higher if lean or highly active[11,12,15]
  3. Choose a protocol you can maintain[6,8,9]
  4. Track intake consistently[35,36,41,42]
  5. Prioritise sleep: 7 to 9 hours per night[18,19,21]
  6. Maintain adequate hydration[27,28,32]
  7. Adjust as needed: If weight loss is below 0.5 to 1 percent of body weight per week after two weeks, reduce intake by 100 to 200 calories See plateaus.

There are no magic foods, metabolic hacks, or shortcuts. The fundamentals are energy deficit, sufficient protein, sleep, hydration, and consistency. That is the game.

Your next move:

  1. Strength for Longevity Why lifting today improves your independence tomorrow
  2. Tools & Apps What's actually worth using
  3. Side Quests Glucose monitors, AI prompts, supplements

References

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Not medical advice. Consult your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. Use at your own risk.

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