Should You Be Eating More If You Want to Lose Weight?
You’ve heard the advice time and
time again: If you're trying to lose weight, you should take in fewer calories.
But what some people may not realize is there's such a thing as eating too
little for weight loss. It’s true, says Lisa Young, Ph.D., R.D., a nutritionist
and adjunct professor of nutrition at New York University—cutting too many
calories can actually slow down the weight loss process.
"Restricting calories too
much almost always backfires," Young says. There’s a reason for that: The
body actually needs calories to burn calories. She points out that it's a lot
like when you want to light a fire. You need to throw kindling in the fireplace
to ignite it.
It’s important to think of food
as a delicious, well-deserved pleasure, but it’s also your body’s kindling; it
sparks your metabolism, making it possible to slim down. When you're eating
enough, the body first uses food for fuel, then turns to the fat it's been
holding onto for energy, Young says. But when you restrict calories too
severely, your body goes into "starvation mode," and then it starts
to break down lean muscle tissue to hang onto its energy stores. Ultimately,
this can slow metabolism, making it harder to lose weight. According to the
National Institutes of Health, eating too few calories also increases the
stress hormone cortisol in the body, which not only can make it harder to shed
pounds—it's unhealthy in a number of ways. Plus, overall, it's tough to stick
to a super low-calorie diet, because that's not what keeps a body running well.
All of that explains why it's possible to not eat enough for weight loss.
Eating this way also saps so much of the pleasure out of your meals as well!
Each person's calorie needs are
different, based on their activity level, goals, and gender, but overall
guidance for women is to consume 2000 calories daily to maintain their weight,
according to the NIH, and eat 1500 calories to lose up to a pound a week. Once
you dip too low in the amount of calories you take in, it becomes difficult for
your body to perform the basic biological functions that keep you healthy and
energized. If you’re not certain that you're hitting the number that's right
for you, here are a few signs that you may not be eating enough to lose weight.
You think about food constantly.
When you find that you can't get
through your afternoon to-do list because you're getting distracted dreaming
about dinner, that's a sign that you may not be eating enough. To increase your
caloric intake and let you think about things other than food, reach for
healthy snacks between meals. Young suggests pairing a protein-packed food with
something rich in fiber. Cottage cheese or a small handful of nuts with a piece
of fruit fits that nutritional bill (or try one of these healthy protein-packed
snacks).
You’re eliminating meals.
Skipping breakfast (or surviving
on a breakfast of black coffee) and starving yourself until lunch is not the
route to slimming down. And overall, if you cut out too much, psychologically
you'll constantly feel deprived, Young says. She suggests having three meals,
sticking with healthy sources of calories, like fresh produce, lean meats,
healthy fats, and whole grains.
You’ve stopped getting your period.
You shouldn't notice major
changes in your cycle if you're losing weight at a healthy pace, Young says.
However, when you don't eat a sufficient number of calories, it can cause your
period to become irregular. It may even stop menstruation altogether—likely
because the body doesn't have enough fat to produce the sex hormones that
trigger the menstrual cycle, research suggests. So keep an eye on your cycle if
you're restricting calories.
You get awful headaches.
Your brain runs on the glucose
found in your blood, and that glucose comes from the carbohydrates you eat.
When you restrict your calories and carbs too much, your brain will become
energy-starved. Take notice if you're feeling shaky, dizzy, or light-headed—or
getting otherwise unexplainable headaches—because these are signs you're not
eating enough and your blood sugar has dropped too low. You may be able to stop
those head-bangers by just adding more calories and carbs to your diet —and
this can help the pounds come off more rapidly, too.
You keep hitting a “I’m so sleepy” wall during the day.
When you take in too few calories
over the course of a day, you may find that you just don't have the juice to
keep going without getting sleepy or even just foggy. Having a couple of
healthy snacks during the day, as well as three solid meals, is a great way to
keep your blood sugar stable, as well as to keep yourself from feeling tired,
deprived, and cranky.
You keep hitting a “I’m so sleepy” wall during the day.
When you take in too few calories
over the course of a day, you may find that you just don't have the juice to
keep going without getting sleepy or even just foggy. Having a couple of
healthy snacks during the day, as well as three solid meals, is a great way to
keep your blood sugar stable, as well as to keep yourself from feeling tired,
deprived, and cranky.
Meals leave you completely unsatisfied.
That tiny salad for dinner?
Guaranteed, it will leave you feeling empty and wanting more. But if you fill
the rest of your plate with whole grains, healthy fats, and a lean protein,
you'll feel satisfied—and that's something you deserve to feel! Plus—and this
is key— you'll load up on the nutrients your body needs, Young says. Portion
control is not about tiny portions. It's about eating larger portions of
healthy foods (like these 20 low-calories salads that won't leave you hungry),
and smaller portions of the less healthy stuff.
