In the last module, we discussed the importance of maintaining proper weight management, and gave you a solid understanding of the role of calorie balance in implementing that.
As a very brief recap, we discussed the following key concepts:
- Nutrition plays a role in health, as defined by the WHO, not only by improving disease risk, but in terms of improving overall holistic wellbeing
- Nutrition can be considered hierarchically, with different levels playing disproportionate roles in maintaining optimal health and body composition, therefore deserving disproportionate amounts of your attention
- Lifelong dietary adherence is the single most important factor for long-term success
- Bodyweight management is crucial for reducing disease risk
- Calorie balance over prolonged rather than acute periods, is key for managing your bodyweight
- Eating a calorie surplus or deficit over a given period of time will lead to weight gain or loss
- There are several physiological factors that play into your calorie needs which can be roughly estimated to give you some idea of how much to eat to gain, maintain or lose weight
- Your body will make efforts to keep your weight somewhat stable, meaning that giving specific numerical recommendations for intakes which are likely to lead to a given outcome is difficult, but some overall guidelines can be given
- Your calorie intake doesn’t need to be the same every day, especially for fat loss
- Once weight loss has been achieved, you need to be able to transition to a method of eating which can maintain that weight loss
- Everyone doesn’t necessarily need to count calories
- Calorie intake isn’t everything