Energy expenditure.

The energy that you expend can be broken down into three categories:

Resting metabolic rate, also known as your BMR. This is the amount of energy you burn at rest (doing nothing). This can be found (very roughly) using a BMR calculator, like this one: http://www.bmrcalculator.org

Thermic effect of food. This is the amount of energy you expend processing and digesting the food you eat. Protein requires up to 30% of its calories to digest, carbohydrates require up to 10% to digest, fats require up to 3% to digest.

Physical exercise activity. This is the amount of energy you expend being active, moving around, exercising, etc.

This produces the full energy balance equation:

The energy you consume - resting metabolic rate - thermic effect of food - physical activity expenditure = energy remaining

If the energy you consume is more than these three combined, you gain weight.

If the energy you consume is less than these three combined, you lose weight.

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