Impact of Calories On Being Skinny/Fat/Muscular

Updated: Jan 12, 2022

Ever been in a situation where you’re eating clean food, working out frequently still, the reading on the weighing scale is not decreasing? If not, then you might be familiar with someone in your friend circle or family who complains about it.

This article aims to educate you about the science behind weight loss and weight gain.

With this article, the fundamental foundation will be laid, which is used every time a diet plan is created.

So without further ado, let’s get started.

To understand this phenomenon we will be taking the example of 3 individuals(male/female) with different body compositions ( % of fat and muscles )

Skinny - less muscles less fat
Muscular - good muscles less fat
Fat - less muscles high fat

“Energy balance” is the relationship between “energy in” (food calories taken into the body through food and drink) and “energy out” (calories being used in the body for our daily energy requirements). This relationship, which is defined by the laws of thermodynamics, dictates whether weight is lost, gained, or remains the same.

Energy balance is the key if we want to gain weight(fat/muscle) or lose weight(fat/muscle) and it is governed by the calories which is nothing but a unit to measure the energy provided by the food.

Let's look at how this energy balance is influenced based on the different factors:

CALORIES IN :

All the calories which come into our body are from the food

Carbohydrates: 4 calories/gram

Protein : 4 calories/gram

Fats: 9 calories/gram

Looking at this we can clearly make out that fats are calorically dense in comparison with carbohydrates and protein but that doesn't mean we have to cut off fats from our meals to lose body fat. Good fats are essential for the healthy functioning of our bodies.

CALORIES OUT :

There are 3 ways through which the incoming calories are burned :

1. Basal Metabolic Rate: The rate at which the body uses energy while at rest to keep vital functions going, such as breathing and keeping warm.

2. Physical Activity+Neat: All the activities that include exercise and other non-exercise activities.

3. Thermic Effect Of Food: Thermic effect of food (TEF) is the energy you use to eat, digest and metabolize food.

Contribution from each of these :

BASAL METABOLISM : 60-75%

THERMIC EFFECT OF FOOD : 5-10%

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY + NEAT : 15-35%

Let's look into how manipulating these calories affect our weight :

A. MAINTENANCE CALORIES: no change in weight

A Calorie intake that will neither make you gain weight nor lose weight, but the body composition(% fat & muscle) can change based upon resistance training and/or (carbs/fat/protein) ratio and/or training experience.

To calculate the maintenance calorie you can either use any online calculator or track the calories of the food for 2 weeks which is keeping your weight constant(don't change physical activities drastically), To know more on that check out this video: Calculate Your Maintenance Calories Without Counting Calories(NO CALCULATORS NEEDED!!)

B. CALORIE SURPLUS: the reason for weight gain

A Calorie intake that will make you gain weight, but whether the weight will be coming from fat or/and muscle will depend on resistance training and/or (carbs, fat, protein) ratio and/or the amount of surplus and also on the training experience of the individual.

Now we can consider three cases in a calorie deficit :

Case 1: WELL PLANNED CALORIE SURPLUS WITH RESISTANCE TRAINING

As a beginner without any training experience, you will be able to pack on more muscles and less fat by maintaining a calorie surplus of 300-500 calories and prioritizing resistance training but as you become experienced with training the chances of building pure muscles minimizes. Check this image to know more about the rate at which one can build muscles

Case 2: WELL PLANNED CALORIE SURPLUS WITH RESISTANCE TRAINING FOR EXPERIENCED INDIVIDUALS

As I mentioned above an experienced individual who already is in his 4th or 5 the year of religious training will have difficulty in gaining pure muscle mass being in a calorie surplus, so in this example, you can see that the individual is gaining muscle mass but at the same time his fat percentage has also increased a bit.(Bodyrecmposition can be done in this case but the rate of muscle gain is very slow compared to being in a calorie surplus)

Case 3: EXCESSIVE CALORIE SURPLUS WITHOUT RESISTANCE TRAINING

This is the case where the skinny individuals think that if they want to bulk up they just have to eat more without giving the priority to the nutrients coming from the food and also ignoring the resistance training which helps in retaining and building muscles if this is continued for a long period the skinny individual will end up into a skinny-fat individual where he will be having very fewer muscles but a good amount of fat around particular regions especially belly.

C. CALORIE DEFICIT: the reason for weight loss

A Calorie intake that will make you lose weight, but whether the weight will be coming from fat or muscle will depend on resistance training and/or (carbs, fat, protein) ratio and/or the amount of deficit and also on the training experience of the individual.

Now we can consider two cases in a calorie deficit :

Case 1: WELL PLANNED CALORIE DEFICIT WITH RESISTANCE TRAINING.

If you maintain a calorie deficit of 300-500 calories and also focus on resistance training then there is a higher probability of losing weight more from fat and less from muscles but this will again depend on your training experience and macronutrient ratio.

Those who already have a good amount of muscles and have trained seriously for years will have a difficult time maintaining muscle mass in a deficit, but with proper analysis, it can be done, whereas beginners who don't have a good amount of muscles and haven't trained seriously will have a higher probability of gaining muscles while losing fat.

Case 2 : EXCESSIVE CALORIE DEFICIT WITHOUT RESISTANCE TRAINING.

If you maintain a very huge calorie deficit ( > 1000 calories) and don't focus on resistance training then there is a higher probability of losing weight from both fat and muscles ultimately leading to a skinny look with low strength and muscle mass.