Research
Energy balance
Mathematical models of body weight regulation show that the caloric equivalent of lost weight is not constant but depends nonlinearly on initial body fat mass.
The number of calories you need to cut to lose a pound of weight changes as you lose weight, especially if you start with a higher body fat percentage. Fatter individuals need to create a larger caloric deficit to lose the same amount of weight compared to leaner individuals.
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A recent mathematical model showed that the caloric equivalent of lost weight is not a constant but rather depends nonlinearly on initial body fat mass, with fatter individuals requiring more calories to lose the same amount of weight.
Why this rating
Based on a specific mathematical model validated against human under/over-feeding data.
Source
Nutritional Systems Biology Modeling: From Molecular Mechanisms to Physiology
Albert A. de Graaf et al. · PLoS Computational Biology · 2009
DOI 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000554
narrative_reviewCited 149×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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