In the emergent debates on fat loss strategies, the use of a calorie deficit has gained momentum. Most fat loss experts, within them credible nutritionists and physiologists, feel that a calorie deficit is the sure way of maintaining an optimally lean physique. A calorie deficit simply refers to the difference of the calories being provided to the body through dieting and the amount of calories being burnt through exercises. The calorie deficit that triggers fat loss in the body usually features fewer calories being ingested than those being utilized by the body on a day-to-day basis.

The calorie deficit is essential not only in achieving the desired lean physique, but also in keeping body fat off. The bone of contention is however not on the use or need of a calorie deficit, but in how to achieve (read create) it.

Modern nutritional scientists and dieting experts are in contention about the way one should achieve or create such a calorie deficit. Should it be created by decreasing the amount of food eaten in a day or should it be created by increasing the level and intensity of exercises and other demanding activity? In other words, should the deficit in calories be created by reducing the calories one eats or by increasing the amount of calories one burns?

Last year, a key and ground shaking research was published by the Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism Institute, in their yearly Journal. According to the study, both diet restriction and exercise routines ultimately take off an equal amount of poundage in calories. This caused quite a stir in the nutrition fronts. The detailed study on 1200 dependable respondents divided them into two groups that used either of the above strategies in creating a calorie deficit. After two months, there was absolutely no difference accrued in the fat loss achievements of any one group.

It is indeed true that creating a calorie deficit using intensified exercises achieves similar effects as creating the calorie deficit using food intake reduction. But even with a reduction in the amount of food ingested into the body, the diet must be accompanied by a certain levels of exercises. A distinct array of weight loss benefits usually and only accrues when an addition in exercises is complemented with caloric restriction, a basis that can equally work conversely.

Even when a fat loss strategy emphasizes severe caloric restriction, what is otherwise called starvation diets, and then the individual does not complement the deficit with exercises, it can only be maintained to a certain extent. You can only starve for so long and then you will attack the food with a zealous enthusiasm soon after, undoing all the gains achieved by the period of starvation. Starvation diets have no staying power and actually lead to fat gain.

Adopting an active lifestyle woks better in creating a calorie deficit since it can be maintained and consistently used to keep the lost fats at bay. If one learns and loves exercises, even when an ideal lean physique is achieved, the exercises help to easily define the physique further and keep it that way for indefinite periods, almost without effort.

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