Don’t starve your body!

We see it far too often, people wanting to lose some weight, eating very few calories and hammering the cardio. Yeah, I admit it works for a little while, and people see short term results quickly. A lot of the “weight” loss is just that though, weight. Not fat. Loss of water from lower carbs, glycogen, sodium and electrolytes, which happen by default when someone drops calories so significantly. You'll also be eating away at those muscles as your body is trying to get energy from anywhere it can make glucose from.

These immediate results will probably be enough for most to continue, resisting the times to eat “naughty” or “unclean” foods because they want to stick to their diet, despite how much they're craving. They continue to eat minimal calories a day while doing silly amounts of running, cross trainer or anything else that will burn calories until progress stops. And it will stop.

By doing this you’re driving down your basic metabolic rate as you’re body adapts to lower calories, and all the things along side, messing up your hormones, your thyroid and other bodily processes which control your weight. Your body will be full of cortisol which doesn’t help with water weight, and you seem to have these areas on your body that just won’t seem to shrink despite how little you eat and how much you exercise (think love handles, belly, thighs etc).

You’ve hit a plateau, you can’t eat any less than you already are, and you’re constantly shattered. You feel like death and you decide that it isn’t worth it and you give in. You smash weeks of food in a few days, your weight has returned (or even surpassed due to a now lower metabolic rate) to you’re original weight, and you feel guilt, failure and a whole plethora of emotions which are unhealthy.

Then the cycle starts again….

Sound familiar?

But it doesn’t have to be that way, ask for help, do your own research or seek guidance from people you trust. The best way to diet and become healthy is to drive up the other side of your equation. Not less calories, but in fact more, whilst increasing metabolic stimulus through weight training and good nutrition. Eating more calories will fuel better performance in the gym, up the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF, energy used to digest food), increase NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis, calorie burn not attributed to TEF) and also lowering cortisol levels (stress hormone).

If you’re interested in learning how you can eat more not less, whilst still eating the foods you enjoy, and achieving your physique goals in a healthy and sustainable way, please get in touch with us.

Thanks

Adapt. Evolve. Become.