Energy Audit: What to do when your diet isn’t working
When you’re trying to lose weight and it just isn’t working, take a step back and reflect to get to the root cause of the issue. Use this post as a guide to take yourself through the steps!
Before I go further, if you have a history of disordered eating, take care of yourself and skip this post. I’m happy to help you out and send information that’s relevant so you dont have to skim through the parts that will trigger you!
Scenario: you’re on a diet and your weight loss has plateaued
Do you need to get your resting metabolic rate (RMR) checked in a clinical setting?
Barring any preexisting condition, probably not. Definitely not if you haven’t considered through the topics this post first! Your metabolism is likely not “broken.”
Should you use a machine at the gym to estimate?
Probably not. This are pretty in accurate, you might as well just use an equation to estimate your RMR - it’s free and basically as accurate. You can use this simple calculator to get a basic estimate.
Should you just calculate your daily energy expenditure and then compare it to your logged intake?
If you don’t already log food and you are open to logging food accurately, this is a good first step. That said, there are a lot of things this approach alone might miss. Reading this post will help you to track more accurately. Being honest and thorough is key! Remember, we want to find something here - fixing one of these things is way easier to do than fixing a “broken” metabolism.
Here’s a comprehensive post I wrote on protein intake, logging, and more. Together, these two posts should help you to determine the next best step you can take
Performing your energy audit
Let’s go through some key topics you should review when your weight loss effort has plateaued.
Take a critical look at how you log your strength workouts
Get a (very) rough estimate of energy burned during strength workouts.
TLDR: we don’t burn that much during resistance training. Many of us overestimate the caloric burn here.
How much are you (really) lifting?
Recent studies show that the total energy expenditure during strength exercise is about 6 calories per min. Total energy expenditure means resting energy expenditure (the energy you’d have burned at rest regardless of the workout) PLUS active energy expenditure (additional energy burned by the workout itself).
So, in 45 minutes the average person is likely expending about 270 calories total, including basal or resting energy expenditure. This might be hard for you to estimate yourself, but basically just remember - you aren’t burning that much during a strength session. Overestimating caloric burn during resistance training is often where dieters go wrong in tracking their behaviors.
A note on energy compensation:
When estimating caloric burn from exercise, we need to keep in mind that about 30% of the exercise calories will be compensated for - mostly through lower activity levels outside of workouts. We just move less after hard workouts without noticing it, especially when in a caloric deficit. There are so many factors feeding into total energy expenditure that it can be hard to track effectively. Additionally, individual physiological response to a calorie deficit varies greatly from person to person (we all respond to a calorie deficit differently!).
So, using the 45 minute workout example we can multiply 270 calories burned by .7 to take energy compensation into account. This means overall our full strength workout will create a ~189 kcal deficit, 40 kcal or so being calories we’d have burned at rest anyways simply be being humans. In total, our example workout adds a deficit of about 149 kcal when both resting metabolism and energy compensation are accounted for.
There was a super cool study published on energy compensation in 2021, if you want to check more out read the study here. If you are interested in learning more about the concept in general, look into the constrained energy model.
Practically speaking, what you should take away from this is:
logging calories burned from workouts in an app like MyFitnessPal is not a good idea.
make sure to train with intention and intensity. Lift heavy, time your rest, and use free weights (not just machines)!
Take a critical look at your cardio
How much are you performing and at what intensity?
I have a few posts on cardio alone that will help you get started with a good cardio program. You should do cardio even if you don’t want to lose weight!
Cardio for health + wellbeing
this post reviews the role cardio plays in our health (regardless of weight loss goals) + outlines how to build up to the recommended weekly amount in a sustainable manner.
Understanding cardio heart rate zones
this post reviews key cardio intensities and how to structure cardio around target heart rates.
The above posts will help you to understand how much cardio you should do - and how intense you should aim for it to be. Here are some things to consider other than duration, frequency, and intensity when performing your energy audit.
What type of cardio are you performing?
Some modalities have a higher caloric burn than others. For example, take running and cycling:
Running - multiple muscle groups involved. Tends to burn more calories at a given perceived intensity than more isolated exercises.
Cycling - more isolated, less potential for calorie burn at a comparable level of perceived exertion,
Other forms of cardio that tend to have a greater calorie burn: rowing, stairmaster, jump rope, SkiErg, Assault Bike (involves arms and upper body more than other stationary bikes).
Other forms that are more isolated: traditional elliptical machine, stationary bikes.
Next - how experienced are you at your chosen cardio modality?
Exercise economy increases with skill acquisition.
That’s to say, you become more efficient at a movement with practice. This is great for performance, but it means a lower total calorie burn. This doesnt mean that bad form is the key to weight loss, but you may have to cover more distance, reps, etc to push yourself out of your comfort zone as you get better at your sport.
Are you cheating during your cardio? Here are some examples:
Kicking off in a swimming pool
Holding tightly to handrails on gym cardio machines, particularly the StairMaster and the treadmill.
These habits can really affect the total calorie burn!
Take a critical look at how your lifestyle has evolved
Consider your overall activity level in these areas of life. Perhaps more importantly, consider your activity level in these areas of life compared to what it’s been in past periods. This comparision will be particularly useful if you’ve had successful weightloss attempts in the past. Take a critical look at what’s changed since the last time you successfully lost weight. Take your time really thinking about how these areas of your life have changed and don’t underestimate how much small changes really can add up.
An example most of us can related to is lifestyle changes brought about by COVID. Many of us could take a look at the changes that happened during lockdown and point out a number of key lifestyle changes that resulted in much lower activity levels:
Commute: do you commute via bike, foot, public transport, etc? Or do you drive to your office? These small walks really add up.
A sedentary job can really kill your total energy expenditure. 1 hour of exercise followed by 8 hours of sitting is not active. Sedentary jobs were made even more sedentary with the work from home switch (walking to meetings, lunch, etc does add up!)
Home life: did you move to a place where you drive more? Perhaps from an urban setting to a rural setting where stores aren’t accessible by foot? Perhaps somewhere with more in-climate weather?
Changes in chosen leisure activities. Look at kids, they draw hopscotch and jump on the trampoline for fun. As we get older we tend to opt for more sedentary leisure activities. What are your chosen leisure time activities? How have they evolved?
A more sedentary lifestyle doesn’t mean you can’t lose weight, but it does mean you need to consider the changes and adjust the estimate of your total daily energy expenditure. If having a more active lifestyle is important to you, these are priorities to consider if you have the option when making longterm decisions like where to live, how to commute to the office, and what activities to participate in with your family.
Here’s a post I wrote on simple ways to increase your daily non exercise activity.
Take a look at your diet
Consider the following places where people often fall off with their tracking
If you track, do you often have untracked meals? Untracked days?
Calorie deficits should usually be quite moderate. This is usually a good thing but it also means you can easily make up for a week of good adherance with a day or two of overeating.
Do have untracked binges over weekends? Be honest, did you get a mission burrito at 2am?
Are you taking small bites of random foods from your friends, kids, leftovers, etc throughout the day? A girl scout cookie or two when you pass through the kitchen?
Are you tracking sauces? Oils? Fats like cooking oil can really add up since they’re so dense! Just 1/2 a tablespoon more of cooking oil adds about 60 calories extra.
Are you eating a bunch of “healthy swaps” that are still calorie dense?
Common culprits: granolas, nut mixes, gluten free goods (less gluten doesnt meal lower calorie), fancy sugars and oils, nut butters.
Are you eating out a lot? Did you forget about the sides you shared with friends? Calorie estimates at restaurants can be quite inaccurate - one version of a dish was tested, but there’s a busy human back there putting it together for you!
Next, consider diet history
It’s useful to reflect on past successful past weight loss attempts. Compare what you’re doing now to what worked then just like you did for your lifestyle in the previous section. If you logged before, go back and see what was working!
Next, consider how long you’ve been dieting
For many women, this might be a long time - possibly your entire adult life! If so, you need a break. Diet efforts should be very focused and pretty short lived - think 1-3 months of concerted effort followed by a longer time at maintenance or a moderate surplus!
If you’ve been dieting for a long time, are struggling to lose weight, and have looked through all of these categories without finding something you may really be dealing with metabolic adaptation due to low energy availability.
Consolidating information to determine cause and problem solve
Issue #1: overestimating calorie burn during resistance training
We covered this pretty thoroughly above. People often overestimate calorie burn during resistance training sessions! The point of your strength workout is not to burn calories, it’s to build muscle.
Issue #2: leaning heavily on increased cardio for weight loss.
Hunger response to cardio varies widely from person to person. Some of us just get super hungry when we do a lot of cardio!
Modality selection - are you super efficient at your chosen cardio modality?
Energy compensation - are you moving way less than usual outside of cardio workouts due to increased daily/weekly cardio? Remember this response also varies widely from person to person. We tend to compensate more when in a calorie deficit diet.
Issue #2: completely avoiding cardio during a weight loss attempt.
Less cardio means lower total daily energy expenditure. Yes, you compensate for some calories burned during cardio but its only about 30%! That means that on average 70% of calories burned during cardio are contributing to increased daily energy expenditure!
Little to no cardio can also mean increased hunger due to lack of activity. A moderate amount of cardio can help regulate our appetitites and keep us more in tune with hunger cues.
Issue #3: Significant lifestyle changes
Consider ways you might add non exercise activity back into your day. Here’s that post I wrote about increasing non exercise activity again.
Walk to the store
Take up a leisure activity that requires more movement
Bike to work
Park at the back of the parking lot, take the stairs, take meetings walking, take after dinner walks
Take 5 minute breaks for a walk around the house and stretch every hour
Consider ways your sleep habits and hygiene have changed.
Here’s a useful post I made on improving sleep hygiene.
Go to sleep at the same time every night, including weekends.
Keep your room dark and cool.
Cut back on screentime before bed.
Hormonal balance - two particularly important things to make sure you’re consuming enough of (especially if you menstruate) are fiber and omega3 fatty acids. Find fiber in vegetables, whole grains, and seeds. Find those healthy fats in fatty fish, seeds and nuts. I have a blog on fiber sources as well as fats and fish oil as a supplement if you’re curious to learn.
Alcohol - are you drinking (too) regularly? Try cutting down and see how you feel. Cutting back on nighttime drinking is particularly helpful.
Hydration - I always recommend my clients start out with at least 1/2 oz per lb of bodyweight. Try to get it in earlier in the day so you aren’t waking up to pee all night.
Designate your bedroom as a place for sleep. Try to do things like charge your phone elsewhere, keep work in a designated work space, and avoid eating in bed.
Consider adding some foods with melatonin into your dinner rotation: eggs, high quality dairy, nuts/seeds, and berries are good examples.
Review your current diet and meds to check for unexpected sources of caffeine (headache meds, some common PMS meds like Midol, some ice creams/puddings/chocolate, decaf coffee, for example)
Consider ways your job has changed.
If you have a management role, consider introducing walking meetings or set a good example by telling your reports that you are working out during lunch.
Can you change the way you commute to work?
Can you take breaks to walk on a consistent basis?
Can you encourage work events that involve some movement?
Issue #4: actual metabolic adaptation - a response to prolonged low energy availability.
Signs of low energy availability:
increased hunger
lethargy
increased injury
menstrual cycle disruption
low libido
bad sleep
hormone issues (thyroid/sex hormones - they’re important for more than just…sex)
Next steps to take.
Go back to maintenance calories with consistent tracking. This will give you a mental break and provide you with a valuable number: your true - not just estimated - maintenance calories at your current age, body fat %, and activity level.
Address the issues found in audit and keep dieting. This is a good option if:
Some of the issues we’ve reviewed sound like you (lifestyle, diet, cardio, overestimating calories burned during strength sessions)
You haven’t been dieting for long. If you’ve already been in a deficit for months you should probably stop dieting and focus on getting strong for a while!
Take a short diet break, or reverse diet. Here’s a super useful summary of how and when to reverse diet.
Citation: Adeel,M.;Lai,C.-H.;Wu, C.-W.; Kang, J.-H.; Liou, J.-C.; Chen, H.-C.; Hong, M.-J.; Peng, C.-W. Energy Expenditure during Acute Weight Training Exercises in Healthy Participants: A Preliminary Study.Appl.Sci.2021,11,6687. https:// doi.org/10.3390/app11156687