You eat healthy for the most part and your water intake is on point, but, you still can’t lose weight. You have been stagnant, remaining at your current weight for longer than you care to remember. What could be the issue? Most likely you subscribe to the belief that you must eat very little to lose weight, also known as a calorie restricted diet, or, as we like to call it; starving yourself. You most likely only eat one or two meals a day, and almost always skip breakfast. You've heard it before but just can’t get your mind around the fact that you need to eat several small meals a day to lose the excess weight. You my fitness friend, are in denial.
The primary issue is that with a calorie restricted diet is that your body will burn both fat and muscle to meet its caloric demands. Since muscle burns more calories at rest than fat, chances are your body will eat up it’s own muscle tissue before the fat cells. So you lose weight initially, but in reality you’ve lost muscle and fat, not just fat alone. By losing muscle you’ve decreased your metabolism and you will eventually gain the weight back and then some. Let’s look at a simple math equation that will help you to visualize the issue.
You eat one or two small healthy meals a day. You lose 10 lbs and you are excited about that.
Lets break down the number, shall we?
With calorie restricted diets, you generally lose fat and muscle in an equivalent ratio, about 50/50. So....
Out of your 10lbs of weight loss, 5lbs is fat and 5 lbs is muscle, which equals a total weight loss of 10 lbs.
So what’s the big deal? By losing muscle you have effectively decreased your metabolism by ~200 calories per day. That’s 73,000 calories per year that your body will no longer burn which is the equivalent of 21 lbs of fat. Your body will also respond by going into “starvation mode” which can further decrease metabolism by upwards of 40%. Obviously you can’t maintain a starvation type diet for too long, so what happens when you enter back into the real world? You start eating a normal amount of food and since your metabolism is ice cold and barely moving, you gain the 10 lbs back plus another 5 lbs faster than you lost it.
So, lets look at the 15lbs you just gained back. How much of the 15lbs do you think is muscle? If you guessed ZERO then you’d be correct! So you gain the weight back but this time it’s all fat and water weight and you are still missing 5 lbs of muscle. Even if you only gained 10 lbs back and were at the exact same weight you started, your body fat percentage has effectively gone up. Take a look.
Example:
starting weight 150 lbs @25% body fat
body fat = 37.5 lbs
lean weight = 112.5 lbs
After calorie restriction
140 lbs @24% body fat (you lost 10lbs but only 1% body fat! Thats because you lost MUSCLE)
body fat = 33.5 lbs
lean weight = 108.5 lb
After weight is gained back
150 lbs
body fat = 43.5 lbs
lean weight = 108.5 ( muscle didn’t come back)
body fat percentage: 28%!!!
Same body weight you started, but now you're at 28% body fat with a slower metabolism.. Does this sound like a good strategy for weight loss? Probably not.This starvation roller coaster is GUARANTEED to make you bigger and fatter than you have ever been before.
A nutrition plan broken down into smaller meals throughout the day is most effective to ensure the preservation of lean muscle, increased metabolism and maximizes nutrient absorption. Focus your effort on small meals and snacks, easy to prepare, portable and low maintenance to consume. Messy meals that force excess preparation may discourage you. Of course start with BREAKFAST, and follow through roughly every 2-3 hours with a small meal. This could range in size from a piece or two of fruit, a smoothie, to even an egg with a piece of toast. You may integrate larger meals during the day but keeping the calories more evenly dispersed will do the following:
- Deliver consistent nutrients to active bodies
- Increase parasympathetic (digestive) caloric burn
- Improve ease of preparation
- Minimize bloating and “fullness”
- Reduce late-night cravings
- Increase and help to maintain lean muscle tissue
Okay, so stuffing your face with hot dogs isn't what we are suggesting, but it did get you to click on the link.
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