Why you May Not Lose Weight if you Reduce Calories
Reader’s of this blog understand that if you consume more calories than you burn, you gain weight, and if you burn more calories than you consume, you lose weight.
It therefore seems logical to assume that if I reduce the number of calories I consume, I will lose weight. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
Our bodies have a very sensitive self-preservation mechanism that turns our metabolism up or down depending on our food intake. If you eat no food for a few hours, your body automatically slows down your metabolism to conserve it’s remaining resources. You therefore burn fewer calories.
Your body also assumes that it may not see any food for a while, so it preserves your fat reserves, and instead burns carbohydrates and muscle protein for energy.
The point here is clear. Simple calorie reduction will cause a reduction in your metabolism, and you will burn fewer calories, which greatly reduces the potential for weight loss.
In simple terms, dieting can make you fat, and on Monday we will discuss exactly why that happens.