Are You Eating Too Little? Here’s Why You Shouldn’t…
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When you’re desperate to lose weight, you might be tempted to crash-diet – to cut down as much as possible. Perhaps you’ve been dieting for a while, but you want to see faster process.
It’s a bad idea to cut your calorie intake too low, for a number of reasons. Most nutritionists will advise that you should not cut more than 1,000 calories from your daily maintenance rate, and you should not go below 1,000-1,100 calories (even if, like me, you’re a small female and only need 1,500 cals to maintain…)
If you’re not sure how much you should be eating, the Calorie Counter will give you the figures – just pop in your age, gender, height and current weight.
Avoiding Starvation Mode
When you eat very little, your body starts to worry. It hangs on to every last calorie, and can burn muscle for the fuel it needs. This is because it’s prepared to see you through a time of famine. Dieticians call this “starvation mode”, and you want to avoid your body sliding into it.
If you want to maintain a steady and sustainable rate of weight loss, you need to be taking in enough energy that your body will burn fat properly.
Having Enough Energy to Exercise
If you’re eating too little, your workouts will be adversely affected. You won’t have the energy or stamina that you normally have: you’ll feel like it’s much harder work than usual. Just like a car, your body needs fuel in order to move.
You can also put yourself at risk of serious injury by exercising without eating enough. If you feel dizzy or sick, stop exercising immediately.
Reducing Binging
Binges are usually caused by being too restrictive. If you’ve been repeatedly ignoring hunger signals, it’s no surprise that your body will rebel! If you’re at all prone to binging (eating a large amount of food in a short space of time, continuing to eat even once you’re full), the cure isn’t to try to be even stricter with yourself.
Don’t let yourself get to the point of feeling ravenous before you eat: genuine hunger pangs are a signal that your body needs food!
Long-Term Weight Loss
Many dieters are habitual “yo-yo-ers” – losing twenty pounds one year and putting them all back on again the next. If you want to lose weight for good, slow is better. Studies have shown that people who take longer to lose weight are much more likely to keep it off than those who crash diet.
This makes a lot of sense if you think about it: when you lose weight at a steady, sensible rate (around 1 – 2 lbs per week), you’ll be establishing good habits that you can keep up long-term. If you crash diet, you’ll be eating in an unsustainable way that you just can’t stick to in the real world.
Avoiding Illness
If you eat too little, you’re putting yourself at risk of getting ill, because your body isn’t getting enough fuel. Plus, you’re unlikely to be getting an adequate intake of vitamins and minerals – your skin, hair and general health is likely to suffer.
It’s not good for your health to starve yourself. If you’re on a diet, it’s more important to think about improving your general health than to lose weight at all costs.
Staying Sane!
Most of us become irritable, tired and lack concentration when we’re hungry. If you’ve cut your calories to a dangerously low level, you’ll probably be feeling those hunger pangs a lot of the time. This isn’t likely to put you in a good frame of mind.
Also, if you feel constantly hungry, you’re likely to give up on your diet. It’s much better to take a year to lose the weight than to try to do it in two months … and give up after two weeks.
Written by Ali HaleRelated posts:
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[...] Knowing how many calories you’ve eaten over the course of a day can also prevent you from inadvertently eating too little. [...]
Reply[...] you’re going to end up too hungry if you try to restrict your food intake excessively. You should be eating at least 1,100 calories per day – and probably more. To find out a sensible [...]
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