Energy Balance Theory

A presentation was done by a Dietitian, Mary Chong , a couple of months ago on energy balance weight of maintaining your weight. She said that the Energy Balance theory was derived from the following formula:
   Energy intake  = Energy expenditure

Mary mentioned in her presentation that an extra 100 kcal intake  per day will be equivalent to 5.2 kg  per year. She also highlighted that “Fat loss is a slow process. It probably took a while to put it on. Likewise, it will take time to take it off.”

What will happen to our bodies if there is a severe reduction in calories? Mary showed a flow chart to explain that body will look to stores of CHO to replace lost energy. Water along with CHO will be lost with the depletion of store.

Body’s metabolic rate will begin to slow down,fat use is slowed and body uses protein stores. As a result, the muscle mass drops and you will also experiece further reduction in metabolic rate.

So what do Mary recommend for a desirable Weight Loss Programme? “Reducing kcal + Exercise = BEST METHOD”, was what she suggested. By kcal reduction, it should be 0.5 – 1 kg per week. Any thing more than that is probably fluid loss, lean tissue loss and some fat loss. Daily intake should be no less than 1200 kcal for women and 1500 kcal for men.

Indeed, Mary was right and I agreed strongly that Reducing kcal + Exercise is something that we should do to reduce or maintain our weight, In relation to that I feel that a nutritionally Sound Weight-Loss Programme should satisfies all nutrient needs except energy. The diet must be able to meet individual’s tastes and habits and we must be able to minimizes hunger and fatigue.

Traditionally, many people who has some knowledge about Chinese herbs will use Senna leaves (”fang xei” leaves) to loose weight. Even in the Western medicine, doctors are also seen prescribing Senna in discretly to many patients who complained about constipations. I had always pleaded to my doctors to stop prescibing such drug and instead give patient a fleet.

Senna should not be taken over long period of time as it will cause stomach cramps, nausea, vomitting, and electrolyte disorders. In Chinese medicine, Senna is a cold medicine that will affect the stomach’s absorption of nutrients significantly.

Page tags: weight lost, energy balance theory, energy intake, energy expenditure, maintaining