The golden rule is always calories in vs. calories out.
Simple and effective when done the right way. Calories matter most when we are talking about any goal in health and fitness. So if we naturally and physically burn 1,500 calories per day, I can eat 1,400 calories and I should lose weight.
The mentality always leans towards moving more and eating less. In general that can be great advice but It’s not for everyone.
If you are eating low calories and moving ALOT during the day, how do you expect to eat less and move more than you already are? You can’t. Which is good because your body wouldn’t like that either.
Let’s start with the movement aspect. When we move our body expends calories. General movement throughout the day keeps our joints moving, blood flowing, and ultimately burns some calories. On top of that some people turn to cardio for their form of activity during the day.
Cardio is needed in our lives to keep our body healthy, and that doesn’t take all too much. The extra cardio is now seen as an added stress on the body and our body has to figure out what to do about It. So what signal does long bouts of cardio send to our brain, we are moving a lot so we need to reserve as much energy as possible to sustain this movement. Reserving calories in our body is how we slow our metabolism down.
A slower metabolism burns less calories at rest than a faster metabolism.
On top of the cardio, we are eating low amounts of food. What signal does this send to our body? This also tells our body to reserve the energy we have in our body to make sure we can sustain eating and moving this way. So now we have two signals telling our metabolism to stop burning calories on Its own.
This is why many people hit a wall on their weight loss journey. Because now the metabolism has slowed down and the same amount of movement and food does not cause the same result. What now? Move more, eat less. And the same cycle continues until we realize that this is not working.
What needs to be done?
The exact opposite.
A weight loss goal does not start with going to the gym and losing weight. In many cases the first few months are spent setting your body up to want to lose weight.
Instead of adding exercise and reducing calories, start by adding a resistance training program to your routine AND slowly eating more (good) food over time. These two things are going to send the signal to ramp UP your metabolism to want to burn more calories on its own because It needs more fuel to operate at the same level.
There is no timeline for how long this will take, but take your time and work your way up to a calorie amount that becomes challenging to eat every day. In the process of adding more food we want your weight to stay relatively similar to what It was when you started.
If you are losing weight in the process (great work) but you could add some more calories at a faster rate, and if you are gaining too much weight then you need to give your metabolism more time to catch up.
We want the calories as high as possible so when you cut the calories back you are still eating a good, healthy amount of food each and every day. This is where the weight loss will come. Now you are gaining muscle, your metabolism is faster than before, and you just dipped into a calorie deficit. Everything is now working WITH you to start to lose weight.
The best part, you are eating more and losing more weight than when you started.
It takes time but it’s worth It. Sustainability is always the key.
In good health,
Jeff
P.S Whenever you are ready, here are 3 ways I can help you change the way your body looks and feels…
1.) Would you be interested in testing out our program for two weeks… With no payment?
Right now you can give our program a shot for two weeks with no payment and get on the road to looking and feeling how you really want.
If you are interested in this free test, reply “TEST” to this email.
2.) Come in for a FREE body scan
We are letting you get a better idea of where your starting point is by getting a free InBody scan. This can test your body fat, muscle mass, and water levels.
If you would like a free InBody scan, reply “SCAN” to this email.
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I have been toying with the idea of creating programs for anyone to use and follow. They would come complete with videos, descriptions, and program demos.
If you have any interest in a program such as this, reply “PROGRAM” to this email and I will get you the ideas that I have been thinking about.
