The surprising link between weight loss and eating enough

Are you eating enough for weight loss?

Many clients I see have weight loss as a goal. The science tells us that if you want to lose weight, you need to eat less than you burn. That sounds simple enough, right?  

Eat less = weight loss

What I tend to see is people not eating enough. They are shocked when I tell them that they need to eat more. They do not eat enough for their body to live (see BMR below). The equivalent of figuring out how much petrol an idle car consumes while parked. 

If you are eating less than your body requires to merely function, it will slow down your metabolism to adjust to the lower calorie intake (this will show as stalled weight loss/plateau/weight gain). Our bodies are very smart, the goal is to keep you alive – so it will adjust to ensure that happens.  

Wait, you want me to eat more to lose weight? Hear me out 

Let’s start with the basics of calorie requirements (stick with me – we will work it out as we go). 

The science shows that for sustainable weight loss you need to aim to reduce your calorie intake by 500 calories per day, which equates to approx. 500g weight loss per week.

To work out what your goal would be you need to get your TDEE (Total daily energy expenditure). To calculate your TDEE you need to know a few other measurements.

So we now have the basics

Now you have your BMR & daily calories based on your activity level

Do you think you are eating enough? You can check by putting what you ate yesterday into an app like Easy Diet Diary or MyFitness Pal. 

I don’t encourage calorie counting (it’s tedious, makes food unenjoyable and can lead to disordered eating), but I do like to gauge what my clients starting point is. This is a great tool to get started.

The symptoms for under eating or starvation mode can be vague as it impacts the whole body. It can show up as:

• Brain fog
• Fatigue
• Stalled weight loss or weight gain
• Digestive issues
• Depression / anxiety
• Difficulty building muscle
• Hair loss
• Change in menstrual cycle
• Feeling cold
• Change in hunger cues
• Overeating or binge eating

The way to improve on this is increasing your calorie intake. But….

Not all calories are created equal

We need to talk about how not all calories are created equal. Without complicating things, what I mean by this is food isn’t just calories – it’s:

Vitamins
Minerals
Fibre
Protein
Fat
Carbohydrates

All the things we need for a functioning body, for optimal health. Whole foods are going to provide more of this than processed foods.

A chicken salad wrap is not the same as fried chicken and chips.

The latter is processed and is essentially empty calories (ok on occasion, but not regularly), a diet like this will leave you malnourished.

Urgh… Mel this is too much. What do I do?

I’m glad you asked 😉

Start where you’re at.

My suggestions are the same for under or over eating

• Start with one meal at a time
• How can you make that meal more nutrient dense?
• Swap from processed foods to whole foods
• Add more vegetables
• Balance your meals throughout the day

If you start making these changes your calories will balance out.

And if you’re still confused, or just think this would be much easier with some 1:1 guidance then I’m here to help. You can book a free 15min call to see if we’re a good match or jump right in and book an initial consultation here.

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As always, we are aiming for progress, not perfection and small sustainable changes.