It's the never-ending social media argument...
Someone says in order to lose weight, you just need to be in a calorie deficit. Then someone else says, actually it's blood sugar / insulin / inflammation that matters.
Who is right?
Kinda everyone, kinda no one.
If you take in less fuel than you use up ("calorie deficit"), you will lose weight. But here's why it's not actually that simple: most people don't want to lose weight. Most people want to lose fat. A calorie deficit typically does not bring the percentage of fat loss that people are actually after.
A calorie deficit will have us lose weight ... meaning, mass. Some will come from fat but much of it will come from muscle, bone, mitochondria, connective tissue (joint pain, anyone?), collagen (more wrinkles), organs will actually shrink (and dysfunction), brain mass decreases (brain fog). With the exception of some fat, these other losses are NOT FUN, even for people who want to "lose weight".
Why?
Well these other losses worsen our health and longevity, increase risk of disease and autoimmunity, make us tired, weak, age more quickly, create blood sugar imbalances, mood issues and can actually increase body fat percentage. These losses also reduce metabolic rate and make it nearly impossible to keep the weight off. Overall, health, energy, mood, lab work, confidence and aesthetics end up farther away from their goal.
Calories determine mass -- gain or loss. They do not determine, all by themselves, body composition.
Rather, the portions of various foods you eat do.
The amount of protein.
Your sleep.
Stress levels.
Strength training intensity and frequency.
Movement you get outside of workouts.
Blood sugar management.
How well you respect the hormone cascade.
The quantity and quality of your mitochondria.
The quantity and quality of your muscle mass.
Inflammation.
Oxidative stress.
And then yes, whether or not your mass is increasing, decreasing or remaining the same (calories).
I'm hoping you can now see both 'sides' of this silly argument with a lot more clarity now. Neither side is wrong but also, neither side is right. To be clear, I do not recommend you become a keyboard warrior and stand up to anyone on either side of this argument. Protect your peace. ;-)
XO,
Tara
P.S. If you want to learn all about how to rebuild your body into the strongest, healthiest version yet, that's what we dive deep into in my 28-day metabolism-boosting course, TRANSFORM: Body + Mind. The next round will be in September. Make sure you're on the waitlist if you'd like to join (and want a discount code when the cart opens)!