Are you eating enough to lose weight?

One of the first things people do when they want to lose weight is restrict their diet, hoping to take a shortcut to shedding their extra kilos.

‘Calorie in, calorie out’ no doubt seems to be a very simple concept.

It’s true that if you restrict your calories but still maintain a balance according to your energy expenditure and include exercise, a positive result can be achieved. However, a lot of people restrict their calorie intake beyond what they should, which can cause issues long term.

We are bombarded with a new crash diet every week promising rapid weight loss in a short period of time.

These diets generally advise to restrict energy intake and to quit junk foods. Some diets do promote some healthy eating messages, including eating plenty of vegetables and fruits. However, others require a complete elimination of one whole food group or promote theories that are not evidence based. These crash diets are very really about long term lifestyle changes.

Ironically, people who are constantly on a diet will find they are more prone to weight fluctuations.

If a diet only involves following a restrictive calorie meal plan and not lifestyle education, it’s very unlikely the diet will be sustainable. More often than not, when people ‘come off’ a diet, the weight they lost is easily regained. Most of the time, these dieters will bounce back to their original weight, or even gain more.

If a restrictive diet is not planned thoroughly, dieters will miss out on vital vitamins and minerals obtained from foods.

A lot of people choose 1200 calories to be the magic number for dieting, which is in fact too low for most healthy individuals. This amount of calories is also very unlikely to meet the entire recommended daily intake for vital nutrients such as calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin A and folate.

Metabolism is very important in regulating how our body ultilises energy. Factors that affect metabolism include reduced muscle mass, age and (you guessed it) restricting calories over a long period. Restricting calories long term can cause a loss of lean muscle mass, which can contribute to a low metabolism.

The key to healthy weight loss is to increase your metabolism or maintain a high metabolism by ensuring a high muscle mass.

This can be achieved by retaining a low body fat mass through regular exercise (both cardio and weight training) and eating a balanced diet. What you eat should match your energy expenditure and include foods from all food groups. This means moderate amounts of whole grains and low GI carbohydrates, fresh meat, poultry and fish. You should also include lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds and healthy fats, like olive oil and avocado.

Losing weight shouldn’t equate to torture or starvation. I’ve seen a lot of examples where highly active clients wanting to shed kilos went on a low calorie diet. They started to feel tired, extremely hungry and grumpy throughout the day with NO weight loss. They felt better after introducing carbohydrates back to their diet, with more energy and lost body fat.

Healthy eating really is mind over matter. Eating is a conscious decision and creating healthy eating habits and a good relationship with food is far more effective then counting calories, binge eating and the guilt associated with yo-yo dieting.

67 Comments

- - Melissa89 said
  - 27 Jul 2016
    1:10 pm
Im not sure actually. I don’t tend to eat much during the day

- - Mummytoabeautifulprincess said
  - 28 Dec 2015
    11:31 am
I’m changing my eating habits this year. Sick of trying diets.

- - mom90758 said
  - 18 Nov 2015
    7:11 pm
So many people go on diet when they want to lose weight. But I think it’s better to change the way we eat, incorporating whole food and exercise, and eliminating bad habits.

- - mom109229 said
  - 30 Sep 2015
    10:26 pm
This was an interesting mini article. Thanks for posting!

- - EllenG89 said
  - 31 May 2015
    10:09 am
Great read as I am trying to loose weight and know it is going to be even harder over winter. Great tips to keep in mind throughout my journey

- - mom72550 said
  - 19 Jan 2015
    3:29 pm
This just confirms information that I know, but I needed the reminder. I’m out to lose 10kg this year – 4kg down, 6 to go. Whilst lots of people are raving about particular programs: 5:2, LCHF, HCG, paelo etc I’m not following a program but just watching what I eat. I’m not prepared to give up carbs, or dairy or what not. But it’s working for me so I’m sticking with it.

- - youngoldlady said
  - 15 Jan 2015
    5:54 pm
Explains Lite n Easy one of my adult son’s tried this and had too much food to eat, so never lost the weight. So as long as it is the right foods would be something I should try.

- - Mrsjharding said
  - 03 Nov 2014
    10:20 pm
Fantastic article! Very informative 🙂

- - skbou said
  - 09 Aug 2014
    9:38 pm
A great article and food for thought :).

- - neddie said
  - 09 Aug 2014
    12:39 am
Good article and good advice there! Thank You.

- - ginoula5 said
  - 06 Aug 2014
    8:40 am
Great informative read, I eat about 1500 cals plus exercise if I want to lose weight.

- - mom73576 said
  - 04 Aug 2014
    10:00 am
Interesting read. thanks.

- - mggarner said
  - 26 Jul 2014
    6:29 pm
Never been on a diet… I suppose with my extra chromosome, the positive is that I am thinner than the average. I still watch what I eat and make sure that its “mostly” healthy and exercise so that also helps.

- - mom57758 said
  - 22 Jul 2014
    7:44 pm
Please help me I am overweight and really need help with loosing weight.
- healthy-energy replied
  
  25 Jul 2014 , 4:00 pm
  Hi mom57758, there are many ways and strategies to help to get the weight down. We would love to help you to lose weight but before we do that we will need to understand what your challenges are to be able to give the best advice. If you want to know more about our service you can give us a call directly on 1300 318 817. Sarah Leung (author).
- - mouse said
  - 19 Jul 2014
    10:13 am
I always had high muscle mass and still gain weight easily
- healthy-energy replied
  
  25 Jul 2014 , 4:05 pm
  Hi mouse, do you know if you are gaining muscle weight or body fat weight? One way to find out is a body composition analysis that tells you the proportion of fat and muscle in your body. At Healthy Energy we do offer body composition analysis. If there is any way we can help, please call 1300 318 817. (Sarah Leung – Author).
- - mouse said
  - 16 Jul 2014
    12:17 pm
an interesting fact, eat more to lose weight

- - mouse said
  - 02 Jul 2014
    8:41 am
a very interesting read indeed

- - memo said
  - 20 Jun 2014
    10:58 pm
interesting comments, need food for energy, sensible eating, exercise
- mom94125 replied
  
  19 Oct 2015 , 6:06 pm
  yes still need to eat right to help your body lose the weight
- - mel83ak said
  - 04 Jun 2014
    10:58 am
Great pointers. Thanks for the advice.

- - june11 said
  - 02 Jun 2014
    6:22 pm
There is good carbohydrates…..and bad ones. You can find lists in google search. I found it under Carbodydrates in food. What we fail to remember is that sugar (several types) is a carbohydrate. Some carbohydrates convert to more sugar than others. It can cause liver damage. It was a real eye opener to read how much some vegetables have in them. Some have natural salt in them too. I never knew this until I was diagnosed with Insulin resistance, I found you need a fine balance in protein, carbohydrates and other nutitrition otherwise you lose muscle strength. I also got headaches and stomach upsets on the first diet I was put on.