Have You Cut Down on Calories but You're Still Not Losing Weight? | FREE Meal Prep Guide Included
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Losing weight does NOT mean starving yourself!!
"A lot of women overshoot their calorie deficit when they start their weight loss journey by going to the extreme. Once they reach a weight loss plateau, they can't decrease their calories lower without negatively impacting their health.
I had a woman come up to me at the gym a while ago and explained to me how she was barely eating 1,000 calories some days (she was tracking her calories consistently) then doing cardio for an hour or two on top of that but was frustrated that her belly wouldn't go down.
When you aren't eating enough during weight loss here's what happens:
You lose muscle mass at a faster rate than would occur during slow sustainable weight loss which leads to your metabolism slowing faster than would be expected during weight loss,
Slower metabolism = harder to lose weight = reach a weight loss plateau faster,
Not getting enough nutrients = low energy, nutrient deficiencies, hormonal imbalances, loss of period, loss of hair, brittle nails etc.,
Increased cravings which can lead to binge eating habits or a binge eating disorder over time."
Here Elaine points out what are actually the symptoms of Starvation Mode. Clearly, it shouldn't be an ideal state to live in permanently, and especially not worth it if you're trying to lose weight .
Starvation Mode (or Adaptive Thermogenesis) is an evolutionary tool which was needed when cave-Kings and cave-Queens were hunters & gatherers and there wasn't always a consistent source of nutritious food. The body then stops burning energy (calories) to keep what it already has "in stock" because it doesn't know when it will be receiving another meal.
This is survival mode for the body. It doesn't care how you look - it's only goal is to make sure you live as long as possible until your next meal.
“Our findings suggest that a group of neurons in the brain coordinate appetite and energy expenditure, and can turn a switch on and off to burn or spare calories depending on what’s available in the environment. If food is available, they (the neurons) make us eat, and if food is scarce, they turn our body into saving mode and stop us from burning fat,” says Dr Clémence Blouet from the Metabolic Research Laboratories at University of Cambridge, who led this study.¹