Why you need to eat more to lose weight...

SO many people come to me with a single goal, to lose weight. Not lose fat, gain muscle, feel better, live longer...just one, 'simple', one tops all else goal of 'lose weight'.

Why I no longer work with these people?

Many reasons actually, but one mainly being that in order to lose weight, you need to fuel your body properly FIRST. Unfortunately, many of the people w/this mindset of a dire need to lose weight, are not mentally or emotionally prepared to do the work they need to in order to actually lose that weight in a safe & sustainable way. As a health professional, I refuse to simply give people what they want when I know it won't benefit them in the long run. 

So, here's the scoop! Before you can lose weight, you have several factors to look at. Some of those being, sleep quality, food quality, overall activity levels (this does not mean the 1 hour of workouts 4-6x/wk you do), stress management and finally, food quantity. Notice, quantity is last on my list. If we don't focus on all of the above, we have no right to be looking at portion sizes and food quantities, because the others significantly impact your body's ability to hold, use, burn the fuel you're consuming.

For times sake, lets say all of the above boxes are checked, you're crushing sleep, you ensure you're active outside of your 9-5 desk job, you're eating 80% whole foods...now we can look at how much you're consuming! Roughly, a female can easily eat 1800 cals (and more!) and should be to ensure proper hormone function and balance. A male even more than that! You read that right, these template and calculators spitting out 1500 and less cals for you are. not. it. friends!

How I work with clients...

First, I'd work with you to slowly increase your overall intake and get you to a point that will serve your body well! Once there, we need to let your body know it's safe, going to be fed, a famine is not coming and you're not going to starve! This takes weeks, even months depending on how long you have been restricting food from your body prior. This is where an experienced professional will be able to tune in to your body & listen to the cues it's providing and hear what it's saying.

When appropriate, the 'cut' aka diet can finally begin. But, don't get too excited to cut down that daily calorie #, a cut should safely only be done from 4-8 wks max! ((All depending on the person, there are no cookie cutter plans or templates that simply work for everyone, we are all beautifully made so intrinsically different and thus need to be treated as such!)) Then back to that maintenance # you go. This allows your body to again ensure it's safe and going to be fed. So, you see, losing weight the right way, is guaranteed to take time. You've heard it before, I'll say it again...you didn't put on that 30 lbs in a month, it's not coming off in a month.

If you're serious about changing your weight, hopefully for the sole purpose of improving your health, you should consider doing it in a healthy and sustainable way.  I'd be skeptical of any coach willing to cut cals immediately and same goes for any diet that promotes the same. Invest in yourself and take the time to help your body vs. harming it even more.