CICO for Weight Loss: Can it Actually Work?

Does CICO Diet Work?

       The CICO diet stands for 'calories in, calories out' and is based on the premise of eating fewer calories than the number you burn. Scientifically speaking, burning more calories than you take in leads to weight loss. But the notion that you can eat whatever you want and lose weight still has some limitations. Fitness trackers and apps all tell you how much you've burned and how much you've consumed so this diet is popular with many.

The concept isn't completely new, but interest in it has been spewed following a popular Reddit thread that vouches for its success. The CICO diet subreddit has more than 16,000 followers. Sounds easy – you can munch on limited portions of whatever you like, and then burn it all away, losing weight. It's not the most sustainable, because it means you don't focus on the quality and type of food you're putting into your system.

What is The CICO Diet?

CICO stands for calories in, calories out and the cico diet plan is a diet concept that has been around for decades. Because losing weight ultimately burns more calories than you eat. There are no books or apps or celebrity spokespersons: People simply calculate their needs online, and then track how much they eat, drink, and exercise on any given day.

How Does CICO Diet Work?

In order to function, all the cells in your body need energy. This energy is constantly driving the reactions and important processes in the body. We deliver this energy to the body through food and burn stored fat. Any unused energy, remaining in the body, will be stored as fat.

The principle of calories in and calories out is a fundamental equation. Calorie intake refers to the consumption of food and beverages, in which energy is added. Calorie-out refers to energy used by the body during activity and rest. If more energy is used than added, the fat stores are burned as extra fuel.

Calorie-out is also known as your total daily energy expenditure or TDEE. When your TDEE decreases or your food intake increases, you may begin to gain weight.

CICO rely on the principle of "energy imbalance." At CICO, the daily energy intake should be less than TDEE. Burning more calories than you take in will results in losing weight.

According to CICO proponents:

Weight Gain: CALORIES IN > CALORIES OUT

Weight Loss: CALORIES IN < CALORIES OUT

Maintenance Weight: CALORIES IN = CALORIES OUT

Reducing the number of calories you eat is the most common way to lose weight. The body must burn 3500 calories to release 1 pound of fat. For example, today you ate 2000 calories and burned 2500 calories. This causes a total loss of 500 calories. If done for a week (500 calories burned x 7 days), it will burn 3500 calories, and 1 pound of fat.

The Basics of Counting Calories

A calorie is a unit of energy found in food that fuels your daily activities. Respiration? It burns calories – much like eating out and going to the gym.

BMR (Basal metabolic rate) is the amount of calories the body burns to make you stay alive. This number is individual and determined by a number of factors, including height, weight and age. Online calculators offer estimates, and some doctors use a breathing machine that produces a more precise, adjusted BMR.

Lifestyle factors such as physical activity need to be taken into account because you may not be in bed all day. Again, online calculators and formulas offer rough estimates of how many calories your body is using. Losing weight requires eating fewer calories than your body needs to maintain its level of activity.

Most diets are successful due to a calorie deficit. However, calories as we know them are extremely arbitrary.

Calories were discovered long ago and aren't necessarily accurate in terms of how our bodies metabolize each food.

Research from the US Department of Agriculture found that people only absorb about 75 percent of the calories found in almonds, according to a 2016 paper published in the journal Food & Function.

We are learning more about how calories are absorbed. Your body takes in more calories from foods that have been processed, or broken down from their natural forms, she explains.

So, if you have a smoothie, you will absorb most of those calories compared to if you eat the food raw or cooked.

Emerging research suggests our bodies handle ultra-processed goods like chips or Twinkies differently than kale or bananas.

That [packaged snack] would be viewed very differently on a cellular level. The National Institute of Health found that ghrelin, the hormone that induces hunger, was higher when people ate an ultra-processed diet than after eating a balanced diet, according to 2019 research published in Cell Metabolism.

Processed foods, which are high in sugar, fat and salt, can raise insulin levels and cause your body to store more fat. Then, you should consider the benefits of fiber.

Foods rich in fiber provide a certain level of feeling of fullness and satiety. Nutrition also promotes healthy gut bacteria, which scientists believe can determine a person's weight.

What Went Wrong with The CICO Weight Loss?

The problem with the CICO mentality is, that it reduces weight loss to the calorie equation, when not all calories are created equal.

We now know that the quality of the calories you consume, as well as the balance and timing of macronutrients—all influence your metabolism, satiety, and how your body uses calories. For example, 300 calories from a blueberry muffin made with flour and powdered sugar doesn't affect your body the way 300 calories from oats cooked with almonds and blueberries. [CICO] is a way of thinking that is outdated.

You should also consider how your food choices affect your body, in addition to losing weight. Eating all the junk, but keeping it low-calorie, will still wreak havoc on things like your skin, your mood, your digestive function.

Certain macronutrients are important for things like tissue repair, as well as recovery and muscle growth.

If you're doing strength training and other physical activity as part of your healthy routine—which also boosts your metabolism and helps you lose weight—you're doing yourself a disservice by not thinking about the foods you put on your plate.

So can you lose weight simply by remembering CICO? Sure, it's possible. But would we recommend it to people? Certainly not.

People lose weight after increasing their total caloric intake, or break a weight loss plateau by changing the quality, balance, or timing of their calories, without reducing their total. In short: It's not as simple as a mathematical equation.

What is the potential benefit of CICO?

Experts agree that the idea behind the CICO diet meal plan is mostly correct: Eating fewer calories than your body needs to survive results in weight loss. If you've been beaten by restrictive diets in the past, the CICO mindset—which eschews the concept of "forbidden" foods—may help. For someone who is really confused about conflicting nutritional messages, CICO can be a very simple and easy place to start.

Even just tracking calories for a few days can be quite an eye-opener. People are often surprised at how many calories are in their diet and how many are burned by exercise. Knowledge is power. If you know what's on the menu it helps you make a better choice.

A Better Way to Watch Your Calories

For the average woman looking to lose weight, it's highly recommended to consume around 1,500 calories a day: That number may go up or down slightly, depending on whether you're taller or shorter, or how much you exercise, but 1,500 calories is a starting point. the good one.

However, instead of counting the calories of each food you eat, practice "calorie awareness." Look at your plate and ask yourself, Do I have smart carbohydrates, protein, healthy fats and vegetables? Then ask yourself, Do each portion seem reasonable? And do vegetables occupy a large portion of the plate?

If you look at your plate and you have what you can guess is a half cup of whole grains, that's going to be about 150 calories; if you're looking at a reasonably sized piece of protein, it's probably about 3 ounces, or about 150 calories. And if you look at a lot of vegetables, with only a small amount of fat, like a drizzle of olive oil, you're probably adding about 400 to 450 calories to a meal. Developing this kind of calorie awareness can help you get the right balance of nutrients to nourish your body, while staying on track to lose weight that isn't dropping.