Eat to Lose

Eat more and lose weight -- it's something you've heard before. And many diet plans entice you by claiming that you won't be hungry. But isn't the whole point of losing weight to take in as few calories as possible, so you can lose weight faster? Won't you gain weight by eating more food? Get ready to be surprised at how you can eat more lose weight.

What Your Body Needs

It's a fact of life that your body needs food to survive. Your body needs a certain number of calories in order just to keep itself going. If it doesn't get those calories on a regular basis, your body goes into crisis mode.

Does this following story sound familiar?

Amy has gained and lost a lot of weight in the past. Usually a crash diet for a few days or so would get the weight off when she needed it. As Amy's gotten past 40, the diets that used to work for her no longer do. Amy tries cutting back on calories and does some walking for exercise. Surely that will work.

Amy's not losing weight, so she cuts back her calories again, watching what she's eating like a hawk. Her calorie count goes down -- 1,200 then 1,000 then 800 and still no weight loss! Amy is hungry and tired and at her wit's end. Every once in awhile her cravings get the best of her and she binges, then immediately cuts back even more on calories the next day to make up.

Is there any hope for Amy?

Eat More - Lose Weight

Sure there's hope! And it's actually eating more that helps to lose weight. Yes, it sounds backwards, but here's what's happening.

When you eat too few calories on a regular basis, your body panics (for lack of a better term). It's not getting enough nutrition, so it goes into starvation mode -- and hangs on to all the calories it can, and all the fat it can.

Now that doesn't make sense -- why hold onto fat instead of using it for calories? What your body actually starts burning is lean tissue -- not what you want it to do! Burning the lean tissue reduces your metabolism further. From your body's perspective, it's smart -- by burning lean tissue, it reduces the metabolic process...which means you will need fewer calories per day.

It's a vicious cycle. You eat less and it keeps getting harder and harder to lose weight.

Once you eat more to lose weight, and give your body enough calories and nutrients, it comes out of starvation mode. Your body recognizes that it will have at least the minimum number of calories it needs on a daily basis, so it will slowly (at first) start burning fat. Then when your body is convinced this isn't just a passing phase, it will start burning fat faster.

Now keep this in mind -- if you have been yo-yo and/or crash (under 1,200 calories a day) dieting for years, your body will need some time to readjust. Your metabolism will need to reset before the weight loss actually starts.

How long will that take? Anywhere from one week to one month. But then you're on the road to real weight loss!

Eat more and lose weight!