Fat Loss Nutrition Part 3: Maximize TEF

Parts 1 & 2 of the fat loss nutrition series covered determining your caloric needs to induce fat loss and general selection of food (broken down into "choose often" "choose sometimes" "choose rarely catergories). Part 3 of the series will discuss maximizing the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF).

The thermic effect of food (TEF)- or thermogenic effect - is a term used to describe the energy expended by our bodies in order to consume (bite, chew and swallow) and process (digest, transport, metabolize and store) food. Generally, TEF accounts for about 7% of calories expended/burned by the body each day. However, if we take a specific look and break it down, protein foods typically have a TEF of 25 -30%. So, if you consume 100 calories of protein (25 grams), your body will burn 25-30 of these calories through TEF, and you will absorb the remaining 70-75 calories. Carbohydrate foods require about 5-10%. Fruits are around 15%, cruciferous vegetables are around 30% and fats are somewhere between 0 and 3%.

You can see where I'm going with this ... if you just exchanged 100 calories of carbs for 100 calories of protein, you'd actually burn off another 20-25 calories. If you swapped 100 calories of fat for 100 calories of vegetables -- you'd eat up an extra 27-30 calories. This may not sound like a lot, but, over the course of weeks and months, this really adds up and can lead to significant fat loss.

So let's say you are the typical person eating a highly processed, low fiber, low protein diet. You eat about 2500 calories and burn about 7% of those calories.2500 - (7% of 2500) = 2325 calories absorbed. But then you switch to a higher protein diet, low in refined carbs and very high in whole foods, vegetables and fruits. You could easily increase the thermogenic effect: 2500 - (16% of 2500) = 2100 calories. That would mean you'd burn an extra 225 calories by doing nothing! For most people that's the equivalent of about 20-25 mins on a treadmill! Small changes add up to big differences in the long term.

The bottom line: eat more high TEF foods like lean protein, fruits, and vegetables (you'll notice all of these fall under the "choose often" categories covered in part 2 of the fat loss nutrition series) to really enhance your fat loss. Stay tuned for part 4 of the fat loss nutrition series which will cover nutrient timing (when to eat what).