If you want to lose weight, you might think the trick is to count calories and eat less. But that’s not always the best approach, says Terry Fairclough, a top personal trainer and co-founder of Your Body Programme. As a trainer, I’ve heard all sorts of opinions about the best diets for weight loss. Should we be counting calories, doing low-fat, low-carb, or high-protein diets? What about fasting or eating multiple small meals a day?
It’s true that a big calorie deficit can lead to weight loss, but probably not the kind of weight loss you’re after, which is fat loss. Essentially, not eating enough can backfire. Sure, you’ll drop some pounds quickly, but that’s often from losing muscle and water, not fat.
Many of us tend to overeat, so a slight calorie deficit can help if you’ve been eating too much. However, significantly cutting calories usually leads to more harm than good. When we eat, our bodies convert carbohydrates into glucose, which fuels our cells. The muscles and liver store extra glucose as glycogen, which contains water. So, when you drastically reduce your calorie intake, you’re mostly losing water weight and stored carbs, not fat.
Additionally, under-eating causes the body to stress out, holding onto fat and burning muscle instead. Protein is crucial for muscle maintenance and fat burning. Hence, you need a balanced diet with enough calories from fats, carbs, and proteins.
Fat often gets a bad rap, but it’s a vital energy source, providing more than twice the energy per gram compared to carbs or protein. It’s stored in muscle fibers for quick use during exercise. If you cut out fats completely, you’ll lack the energy needed to burn off the fat you have.
Consuming too few calories and missing out on essential nutrients can have a ripple effect on your entire body, especially impacting your immune, liver, and digestive systems, which can slow your metabolism and cause other health issues like fatigue, malnutrition, osteoporosis, anemia, hormonal imbalances, and fertility problems.
Calorie restriction also ramps up stress in the body, leading to increased cortisol levels, which can prompt the body to store fat, particularly around the belly. High cortisol levels can also slow your metabolism and disrupt thyroid function.
Furthermore, under-eating can impair digestion and nutrient absorption, negatively impacting your training and overall health. Poor sleep due to low blood sugar can further affect metabolism, immunity, and productivity, making it harder to lose weight or fat.
Some people, like bodybuilders, cycle their calorie intake to get as lean as possible for competitions. But without proper guidance, this can lead to illness. Ongoing severe calorie reduction can slow your metabolism so much that it becomes almost impossible to lose weight; your body starts storing any extra calories as fat because it thinks it’s in survival mode.
In summary, it’s vital to consume the right number of calories and nutrients for your body type, goals, and activity levels. My program, Your Body Programme, calculates your calorie needs based on these factors.
To support weight loss and general health, eat plenty of lean proteins like chicken, eggs, fish, tofu, and legumes. Include healthy carbs from fruits, vegetables, sweet potatoes, quinoa, brown rice, and whole-grain pasta. Don’t forget healthy fats from sources such as avocados, nuts, seeds, and olive oil. By properly nourishing your body, you can keep your metabolism strong and work towards your weight loss goals in a healthy way.
