Do you ever wish you could just force a fitness issue and be there NOW? Listen: You can’t just force fat off your body.
Our bodies just don’t work that way.
The question still comes up – how to move fitness or fat loss forward as quickly as we can. I get it!
Sometimes we just need a refresher course.
And often the best way to clarify information is in response to questions.
The “Contact Me” form on my blog is serving up nicely just for this purpose!
I also have the opportunity to respond to questions on a variety of forums and blogs; here is a recent exchange about weight loss that I think you might find interesting.
Q. The way I understand it, starvation mode is a myth according to Brad Pilon and what really happens is that the fat is replaced by water which makes us look and weigh basically the same even though we could still be losing fat.
Am I right? If that is the case, do I have to worry about eating too little kcal? I have been eating really clean this week and I think I have eaten about 1000 kcal a day give or take.
I haven’t weighed, measured or tracked anything, but I did before, and I’m pretty sure I’m eating too little, but does that really matter?
Can I keep eating the same way and then for instance fast and loose the excess water weight?
It takes so much time to track kcals, I don’t have time for that, but if it’s ok to eat “too few” I don’t have to either!
Thanks!
Eva
A. Hi Eva,
Actually, eating too few calories may well get in the way of your body recomposition goals.
It’s not so much what we do in a day or two, but over the course of the week or weeks. We can’t just force fat off the body – in its wisdom it prefers a reasonable shift of fat stores. We need to keep that in mind when it comes to weight loss.
This means it is prudent not to reduce your overall (week average) calorie consumption below about 20% of your maintenance levels. Another common rule of thumb is the ‘rule of 10’. Find your ideal body weight and multiply by 10. You should not reduce your calorie intake below this number. And if you are very active, even that could be too low for optimal results.
There are other problems with undereating day after day – it is darn near impossible not to start getting some serious what I all “stored hunger” as we place ourselves in a deep chronic caloric deficit. See 3 secrets to mastering leptin & ghrelin on a weight loss diet: Are your hormones hijacking your willpower.
Remember also that though the mini-fast regime does not adversely affect metabolic rate, day-after-day fasting, say 3 days or longer, does. And eating VLCD (very low calorie diet) day after day may create a similar effect.
I know from personal experience, white-knuckle low-calorie eating ALWAYS backfired into overeating periods. I gave that up years ago and since then have maintained my huge weight loss and haven’t binged ever since.
I’d also like to clarify regarding water weight, starvation mode, and Brad’s work. The audio file of Eat Stop Eat to which you refer DOES report in about “starvation edema”. This report detailed the head-scratching phenomenon that many dieters experience where they are doing “everything right” but still see no visible or weight loss, quantifiable results.
Apparently the problem was the “hanging onto water weight” to which you refer. Yet keep in mind this IS under starvation, or VLCD, conditions, something which we should seek NOT to emulate if we are desirous of consistent reduction of our fat loss stores without threat to the metabolic rate.
Hope this helps!
Lani
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AND I hope this serves as a reminder for any who might get too ambitious on the fitness quest with the start of a new year. Remember, you can’t just force fat off your body! 😉
Do you have a question you’d like addressed?
Find the “Contact” form linked in the navigation bar beneath the header and send it to me.
You’d be surprised how YOUR question, once expressed, may help other women in ways you’d never expect.
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Wow Lani, you got really know how to cut to the heart of the matter, don’t you? It’s always a help to hear about your experience.
Thanks for the reminder about patience – at least that’s how it comes across to me! Smart stuff.
Tami
Hi Tami! It’s great to know that you feel a connection. Sometimes we just need someone to state something again straight to keep us on track.
Thanks for coming by and leaving your comment!
Lani
Hi Lani!
It’s neat that along with teaching our class you also personally relate to the public, the questions, and experiences. I enjoyed both the question and answer on this blog. I think that the question of eating “too few” calories is an extremely common question. It’s good to know we shouldn’t eat less than the 20% our body needs.
Thanks Lani!
Kelly
Hey Kelly!
What a treat to find your note here! I’m glad you’ve already found some personal benefit from articles and discussion. AND I love that you took the time to comment!
See you in class, too!
Lani
I appreciate your reminder about being too ambitious in our fitness quests. I think that is a mistake that is common when people begin a diet or exercise plan, I have been quilty of this myself many times, if you are too ambitious in trying to force the results you want and don’t see them right away you are setting yourself up for failure. As you pointed out it is not about the short term but the long term that we should focus on. So if it means cutting a few calories at a time to reach our goal as apose to cutting right down to the goals amount and are only able to maintain it for a week or so before we quit what benefit have we accomplished. Whereas if we gradually cut the calories and maintain it consistently then it may take longer but ultimatly the benefits will be greater. We have to be careful of the “all or nothing” attitude. For example if it is our goal to work out 5 times a week but we only are able to get in a workout three times this week or even once it is better that not at all so we should not give up because we didn’t meet our original goal but we can just continue forward and try harder next week to reach that goal. Also, you commented on binging and alot of time we can be hard on ourselves that because we slipped up once that it doesn’t matter what we eat now. I think it is alot of mind over matter. I have personally dealt with alot of weight issues and have struggled for years with my weight and still have not accomplished all my goals. I have lost alot of weight though and am proud of what I have accomplished. I have cut alot of calories but I don’t like the feeling of being hungry so I eat regularly and I do eat alot but it is what I eat that is important. I appreciate your article it hits home for me in my struggles for weight loss and I hope that my comments can be helpful to other also. Thank you Lani and I will see you also in class.
Christina,
It sure sounds like you have wisdom from experience! Your attitude is positive and the kind of perspective that serves success rather than undermining it. Thanks for putting it so simply within the context of your own experience.
Lani
WOW – timely article! I have just recently realized I was not eating enough calories on a daily basis – too little one day, too much another, and it was not balancing out. So I intend to watch my calorie/protein etc intake to rebalance my mental calculator, so to speak.
-Paym