Yes it is true when trying to lose weight sometimes you need to increase your calories to actually lose weight!
Go from a plate like this....
To this!
“Have you tried cutting your calories back when trying lose weight and not have the success you thought? Maybe you cut your calories too low and that is why.”
Under eating can be one of the hardest challenges for a lot of our clients to over come. It goes against everything they have ever heard or read and mentally it just doesn't make sense. The less calories I eat the more weight I should lose right....? Unfortunately this is part of what makes losing weight so damn hard!
When you cut your calories down there is usually instant feedback of weight loss no matter how much you cut back, but it doesn't last long. Our body makes adjustments and recognizes that too few of calories are coming in on a regular basis and the weight loss stops. Has this ever happened to you?
Why this happens is a whole other conversation that will take a lot longer to explain. For today I just want to start simple and just give a break down of the numbers. It is important that you understand these are general numbers and estimates. Everybody is different in how much they move on a daily basis so keep in mind you may have to adjust on your own.
A Look at the numbers
Did you know that you will burn around 50 calories an hour without moving at all? So if you just laid in bed all day you would still burn 1200 calories for being alive!
An avg. 1 hour workout could burn anywhere from 300-700 calories
The hour after your workout you still burn 100 - 200 calories
So if you laid around all day and worked out for 1 hour you could now be burning between 1600 - 2100 calories/ day. If you add your normal movement for the day that number goes up even more.
We suggest around a 500 calorie deficit. for most women that would land somewhere in the 1500- 1900 calories to LOSE Weight!
Hopefully that gives you and understanding of how many calories you actually burn on a daily basis. If you have tried eating a 1200 calorie diet while exercising and moving on a regular basis there is a good chance you may have struggled to lose weight and under eating could be the reason why!
As scary as it may be to try and eat more food to lose more weight give it a try and see what happens. Now there are many factors that go into weight loss and it is not as simple as how many calories. This is a good starting point and the calories need to come from home cooking, fruits, vegetable, healthy fats and healthy carbs.
If you want help on your weight loss journey contact us below and we can discuss how we can help you with your exercise and nutrition!