If you decided you wanted to start on a weight loss journey I bet the first thing you would say is that you needed to start eating less food. There's definitely a chance that this would be correct, but there's also a chance that it's dead wrong. There's a chance that eating less than you are now will actually kill any fat loss progress and prevent you from being able to lose fat for a while.
I'm not sure where the super-low calories diet deal started exactly, but I know that it's mentally effected just about everyone who wants to lose weight. They think if 1,800 calories means slow, consistent weight loss then 1,000 calories must mean SUPER FAST weight loss! It kind of makes sense initially but our bodies don't always work in ways that make sense to us. Instead of thinking about eating less food, start to think in terms of eating the correct amount of food. Not only will this help you build a better relationship with food, but it will also help you make the best progress overall. Plus, if you can eat more food and still lose sight then why wouldn't you? Why starve yourself more than you need too without getting any extra benefit?
People usually get pretty a little defensive when they look at the nutrition plan I write and see how much food I suggest. They often say things like "There's no way I can eat that much food", or "won't I gain weight if I eat this much?" Were so hell bent on eating no more than 1,300 calories to lose weight that the very thought of eating more is enough to turn people off. But here's the crazy thing about eating more food, it can totally work! Just under the right circumstance. I've seen this many times recently with my clients and I'll give you and example if one.
One client came to me after she had already lost a lot of weight but had hit a plateau. This is normal given that most people don't know about maintenance phases, but as we talked more I found out she had only been eating about 1,000-1,200 calories a day. No wonder she was stuck. All we did was slowly start to reintroduce calories back in, about 100 per day each week, and the weight started to fall off quick for her. What happens is that, when you eat too little, you bodies metabolic processes slow down and you burn significantly less calories each day. But, once you start to eat more, your body needs to start working again and you burn more calories. This is the example of the first circumstance when eating more is beneficial to weight loss: when you've been eating too little for too long.
The second circumstance comes back to the maintenance phase and how you need to start reintroducing calories to be able to cut again in the future. Let's say your calories start at around 1,900 and, over the course of a few months, we slowly cut them down to 1,200. Once we start the maintenance phase, we slowly start to add calories back in until we get to a point we're weight is stable, calories are high again, and we can start the next cut. This should take about the same length of time that it took to cut the weight off in the first place. Obviously you need to closely monitor your weight during this time so you don't put too much back on and you'll be surprised how many calories you can really add without gaining any weight at all.
So the big take away is this; don't just rely on eating less, make sure you're eating to CORRECT amount of food for you to lose weight consistently. Here's my suggestion in how to do that, either email me and I'll do it for you, or try this. Use an online calculator or go into My Fitness Pal and see how many calories you burn each day. Set you BMR and activity level but when it asked for you desired weight loss per week, start at .5 pounds. Yep, avoid the urge to jump right to 2 pounds per week. Stick with this until weight loss plateaus then switch it to 1. Then 1.5. THEN 2 pounds per week after you've been through the others already. I promise you'll still lose weight but you'll be so much happier with more food and you'll prevent yourself from doing any long term metabolic damage!
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