3 Reasons Why JUST Eating Less And Exercising More Doesn't Work!
-And why we as coaches, trainers and healthcare professionals need to stop advising this to clients!
I like to attend commercial gyms, to keep me on the ground with what is going on. Few weeks ago found myself at a gym, minding my own business doing some morning movement on an Assault Bike, and I overhear a conversation between a PERSONAL Trainer, and a client.
Client, normal woman mid 30´s is asking how she can lose weight, she has been on a low carb and low calorie diet, delivered by a meal plan company the trainer had recommended for 6 months, as well as doing cardio daily and training with this trainer.
She frustrated and says “I´m eating around 1200 cal a day only adding black coffee and water and I still feel like I’m starving”
Personal trainer says, well you have two options, eat less or exercise more….
She complains about feeling drained and tired, and he replies something along the lines of do you want to lose weight or not or how motivated are you?
Heard this before?
I had to try my hardest not to jump in there, so I’ll let out my frustrations HERE, with you in hope I can influence you to NOT be this trainer and to ask some further questions if your trainer recommends anything like this!
I Want To Share With You Why The Advice “Eating Less And Exercising More” Doesn't Work?
First of all, because we are humans with a complex homeostasis within our bodies and outside of it. We have feelings, habits and routines and live in a society with our close family/tribe and JUST eating less AND exercising more is not always the way to achieve a sustainable long term weight loss.
My rant includes the 3 main reasons in practice why just cutting calories isn't going to help you, and give you some ideas on how to approach a sustainable weight loss (with a more reasonable approach)
"Why Restricting calories too much almost always backfires"
A very common "diet" advice found on the internet, and practiced amongst "nutrition coaches" is to cut your intake of food down to 1400 kCal for women and 2000 kCal for med. An in some cases even lower if the weight loss isn't happening fast enough. Bearing in mind that maintenance intake for the average female is 2200 kCal and 2800 kcal for an average male. Making this a "diet" of 800 kcal deficit respectively for both.
But as you may have experienced, cutting calories that low is super hard and often leaves you VERY hungry, almost to the point where you are obsessing about food all day. For those that have been dieting for a long time, leads to binge eating and other unwanted all out eating behaviour.
All because this number 1400/2000 kCal is based on the average Basic Metabolic rate for male and female. This means the energy that the body needs to just maintain all basic bodily functions and to keep you alive. This includes digestion, the heart pumping, the lungs exchanging CO2 for O2 and so on.
Truth is that when we cut our intake close to this energy, the brain goes in a "survival mode" from receiving messages from the body saying WE ARE RUNNING LOW, and you start thinking about food ALL THE TIME. Obsessing about food and eventually "losing control" around food in your body’s attempts to re-fuel. Often leaving you demotivated since you feel you have "failed" your diet again.
"Your Body Needs Energy to Burn Energy"
As we just mentioned, it takes us a certain amount of energy to just FUNCTION. And if you are fueling our bodies with very little energy, or low calories this also leads to lower energy availability and you become less likely to be active, exercising feels harder and you feel more UNMOTIVATED to get started.
Sound familiar?
Lets say, you want results really fast, and have started a "Diet" and cut your calories to 1400. You also signed up for the gym and want to go EVERY DAY - you just made it DOUBLE as hard on yourself to be successful at attending the gym.
You are literally burning the candle from both sides, you may not notice it in the first week, or month but if you continue this for 3+ months you risk running yourself into the ground. And not achieving your ultimate goal.
I often say it's like building up a debt on the credit card. You are only just fueling your body enough to pay for your utility bills, but you have to swipe your credit card for anything else. It works in the beginning, until you have a ginormous credit that keeps following you around, making it harder to save money and do fun things.
"The YOYO Long Term Effect"
You stick to it though for a few months, but slowly with any low calorie diet, you lose mental clarity and that motivation keeps taking hits from both "losing control" around food, difficulty attending the gym and keeping your commitments. Not to mention the mental grogginess and a short fuse from constantly being HANGRY (hungry + angry).
SO you abandon ship and stop this DIET. You go back to eating what you used to eat before.
Only this time you gain a couple of KG. WHY?
Truth is when you lower your energy intake drastically for a long time, your body is smart - so it starts spending even less on your daily functions. Saving energy where it can and you end up with a LOWER METABOLIC RATE than before you started dieting.
This leads to the so-called YOYO effect of dieting where after you have a difficulty maintaining the weight with a normal food intake, often leading to even worse feelings of lack of motivation, weight gain past your starting weight AND you feel you are back at square ONE.
How Can You Get OFF this Yo-Yo Roller Coaster?
This super low calorie aggressive weight loss method is not the best practice when it comes to weight loss, even though it is the most common one!
It's also the most common method that people FAIL doing, but repeat regardlessly over and over again because the fitness industry keeps shouting “EAT LESS & EXERCISE MORE”.
IF you have been a dieter in the past, have a history of binge eating and/or YOYO effect on your weight. I do recommend a certain REHAB is needed before you can attempt any further approach to weight loss.
In kindness, you need to get back to a point where your BASIC METABOLIC RATE is back to a higher level, and you normalise your hormone and body functions. (AKA stop gaining weight from eating very little and feeling unmotivated and HANGRY)
To do this: You need to
Find your maintenance intake, where your weight is stable.
Slowly increase with 100-200 kCal each week/bi weekly until your energy and wellbeing has returned.
Continue eating regularly for 4-6 weeks, where you feel good - have less obsessive thoughts about food.
Weight Loss, Playing The Long Sustainable Game:
I have found in recent years a more balanced approach to weight loss, with focus on feeling good throughout - and not toasting the metabolism and making it less likely to gain weight after the weight loss has been achieved.
Important ingredients:
A much more moderate calorie deficit of 150-350 calories to form maintenance intake (2200/2800 kCal F/M).
Keeping a diary or journal nearby to make sure that you are maintaining the right amount of energy to complete your daily tasks, be more active and if that is your goal you will see results in your overall weight.
This moderate deficit can be mixed with shorter, even lower energy intake closing in on 350-600 kCal deficit for a 2 weeks or up to a month.
After a shorter intake / when the target weight is reached slowly working out of the deficit again to make sure your metabolism keeps up with your increasing intake and you can eat "normally" without the fear of gaining weight.
Hope you have some clarity on why just eating less and moving more is not the best way, please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns
