If you’re trying to shed some pounds, you might think counting calories and eating less is the way to go. But that’s not always the case, according to Terry Fairclough, a well-known personal trainer and co-founder of Your Body Programme. As a personal trainer, I’ve heard all sorts of opinions and questions about the best weight-loss diet. Should we be counting calories? Should we eat a low-fat, low-carb, or high-protein diet? Should we fast or eat small, regular meals throughout the day? A huge calorie deficit might lead to weight loss, but not necessarily fat loss.
While all these factors depend on your body type, goals, and activity levels, the one thing no one should do is under-eat. We all know someone who starts counting calories like crazy to get that perfect beach body. The weight might drop, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best approach. While a calorie deficit can cause weight loss, it doesn’t always result in fat loss, which is what most people actually aim for.
Nowadays, people are eating way more than they need. Yes, some might need a slight calorie cut, but only because they’ve probably been overeating. In my experience, folks trying to lose weight think eating less is the only solution, but that’s not true.
When you eat, your body converts carbohydrates into glucose, a sugar that fuels your cells. If your body doesn’t immediately need this glucose, it stores it as glycogen in your muscles and liver. Glycogen is made of linked glucose molecules, each with two or three water molecules attached. When you need quick energy or don’t have enough glucose from food, glycogen breaks down to release glucose into your blood, giving your cells the fuel they need.
So, how does this relate to cutting calories? Well, when you cut calories, you’re mainly losing stored carbs and water, not fat. While most of us aim to lose fat, a prolonged calorie deficit might cause your body to hold onto fat and instead break down protein.
Protein is crucial because it helps you burn more fat while your muscles rest. This is why eating enough calories from all three macronutrients—fats, carbs, and protein—is essential. For those who think avoiding fat is key to losing it, I’ve got news: Fat is your body’s most important energy source, providing more than twice the energy per gram than carbs or protein.
Fat also gets stored in muscle fibers, making it easier to access during workouts. While glycogen stores are limited, body fat offers an almost unlimited energy source. When you exercise, stored fat breaks down into fatty acids, which your blood carries to muscles for fuel. So, you need fat to exercise and get fit. Cutting out fat means you won’t have the energy to burn unwanted fat.
Additionally, reducing calories and essential nutrients can lead to deficiencies, affecting every bodily system—especially immune, liver, and digestive functions—causing health issues and slowing metabolism. Health problems from under-eating include fatigue, malnutrition, osteoporosis, anemia, hormone imbalances, and fertility issues. Extreme calorie cuts also stress the body, releasing cortisol, a hormone that breaks down fuel for energy. While short-term stress and increased cortisol can cause weight loss, chronic stress does the opposite by making the body hold onto fat and break down protein.
Chronic high cortisol levels can slow metabolism and increase belly fat due to heightened fat receptors. It also blocks the conversion of thyroxine into its active form, affecting thyroid function and metabolism. Stress also affects digestion, as energy shifts to muscles to handle fight-or-flight situations. Undereating hampers your ability to digest and absorb crucial nutrients, impacting your fitness and weight-loss results. Poor sleep can follow, as adrenaline kicks in to normalize blood sugar, waking you up. Bad sleep disrupts liver detox, immunity, exercise, work productivity, and can lead to weight gain.
Bodybuilders often reduce calories to get really lean but increase them after competing. Still, doing this wrong can harm health. Constant calorie reduction puts the body into “famine mode.” If you eat even slightly above your limit, the body stores the extra as fat, making weight loss seem impossible.
Ultimately, you need to eat the right amount of calories, carbs, fat, and protein tailored to your body type, goals, activity level, height, weight, and age. That’s why I started Your Body Programme, to help people understand their calorie needs based on their specific body types. You only have one body, so aim to keep it healthy and nourished while maintaining a fast metabolism.
My program has shown that increasing your caloric intake can actually promote fat loss. Make sure to eat plenty of lean proteins from sources like beef, chicken, eggs, and fish. If you’re vegan, opt for pulses, legumes, tofu, and tempeh. Add healthy carbs like fruits, vegetables, sweet potatoes, quinoa, brown rice, and whole wheat pasta, along with healthy fats from avocados, nuts, seeds, and olive oil.
