Why Low Calorie Diets are NOT the Answer

This article will cover why you just can’t drop your food intake to almost nothing to try to lose weight.

Often times I’ve heard from dedicated people who approach me for help that they are ready to eat minimal food to achieve their goal.

I’ve also heard multiple times from others who are scared to start their journey because they don’t want to give up eating food.

And I’ve also heard from those who tried to live on very low calories but couldn’t go through with it.

All of these are based on the misconception that you have to give up eating to look a certain way.

It seems logical- eat less and lose weight – but our body doesn’t respond to logic, it responds to instinct. Our body’s instinct is to survive. This is why our body needs food:

• Calories do more than just put weight on us, they keep us alive.

• Our organs: heart, liver, kidneys, brain, all need calories to survive. For example, the heart needs 600 kcal per kg of heart weight. A human heart weighs 350g so just our heart needs 210 calories per day. Other organs need more or less the same.

• The human body likes to maintain homeostasis and doesn’t like sudden changes so it will regulate itself. If you are not eating enough, it will accommodate by slowing down other body functions such as brain usage, digestion, muscle repair and growth, all of which slow your metabolism.

• Your metabolism will slow down meaning weight loss will be slow, but your hunger will go up. Cravings cause binging and binging is emotional and usually not healthy food, so unfortunately the binged food is stored as new fat. 

SO Now you’re thinking: what AM I supposed to do?!?!

First, honour your body:

Your main goal may be to lose fat ASAP but you must understand that food has other uses for your body, you can’t just cut out everything.

Realize how long it took to get to your current state and give yourself just as much time to achieve your goal. 

Second, now that you have a new time limit, start with small changes:

Your body can handle small changes and once it’s used to those, you can move on to the next step. For example: only cut out sugar from 2 days of your week instead of stopping cold turkey. Once 2 days are easy, move on to 3 days a week. This doesn’t mean you never eat your favourite dessert again- of course you do but only on special occasions.

Don’t start doing hours of cardio everyday or hours of training. Start with just 2 days a week.

Third, take your goal seriously and do the required work even if you don’t feel like it:

The required work includes refraining from starving yourself, no matter how tempting it is to skip meals. Eat your meals, do your training and be patient. Practicing small habits daily will lead to change rather than everything all at once and burn out.

To conclude, once you know your major goal that you can realistically achieve in a year, you must break it down to smaller goals that you will achieve quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily. No you’re not going to lose 10, 20, 50 lb in one month, and if you want to try to do it anyway, you’re going to damage your internal organs and end up worse.

Fourth, work with a coach who can guide you:

A coach can create a step-by-step program for you to gradually reduce your calorie intake, and then gradually increase it. A coach can help you integrate healthy habits into your life. They keep you accountable so you’re not falling off. They progress you when you stall. They guide you forward on the right path with education and experience rather than guess-work. They make your experience as painless as possible.

To work with me, learn more about my coaching here.