Are you not eating enough to lose weight??

Are You Eating Enough To Lose Weight?

Posted By Lu Herbeck, Puravida Fitness Nutrition Coach

In my experience, as a weight management consultant, working with predominantly female clients, I find that weight loss is an elusive goal for many. I hear the same issues raised time and again; “I watch my calories or my fats or my carbohydrates and I still can’t lose weight.” Does this sound familiar?



You may not have considered that some of these clients, and maybe even you, are not eating enough! Your body needs a consistent level of healthy, adequate nutrition. Cutting calories to less than about 1500 for women and about 1800 calories for men per day may actually discourage weight loss in favor of retaining body fat. Prisoners in concentration camps were emaciated due to chronic lack of calories and nutrients, but actually maintained a relatively high body fat. It’s a survival of the fittest principle that encourages our bodies to consume its own muscle mass in order to maintain enough body fat for emergencies. That is not a healthy lifestyle.

Just like a camp fire needs to be stoked periodically, your body needs fuel (food) about every 2-3 hours. Going too long without eating encourages your metabolism to slow down to conserve energy. Eating large amounts of food at one sitting encourages some of the excess calories to be stored as fat. Both of these scenarios are your body’s normal physiological response to food intake or lack thereof.

To break the chain you need to be conscious of eating every 2-3 hours and eat protein with each meal or snack. The protein slows down the breakdown and absorption of carbohydrates, which keeps your blood sugar on a more even keel. Following this one principle will help you reduce (carbohydrate) cravings, increase your satiety and encourage muscle tissue growth and maintenance. Making sure you are consuming enough calories throughout the day will encourage your body to run like a well oiled machine and provide you with increased energy and vitality. Consider the fact that it takes at least 800 calories to support life functions in a 50 year-old woman to just lie in bed. Once you add the energy it takes to carry out daily activities, exercise, digesting etc., it takes an absolute minimum of 1200 calories just to keep your body functioning. If you chronically consume too few calories your body will have to adjust to fewer calories just like we have to adjust our budgets to cover a decrease in income.

I know it’s counterintuitive to consume more calories (within reason) to lose weight but it’s been demonstrated time and again to be true. Plus, eating an adequate amount of calories is a healthier and longer term lifestyle change that will ultimately result in slow, permanent weight loss/management.