Eating Too little Damaging Your Metabolism?
During these crazy times, we’ve got two types of people: the ones who eat all the food while they are bored at home or the ones that can’t seem to eat much because of their stress and anxiety. Neither is right or wrong for that matter because people cope in different ways. However, it’s best to try to not use food as a coping mechanism during difficult times. We have to look at the underlying reason behind why you are choosing food as your comfort….or not.
Right now if you’re not eating much its ok. You’re actually doing less as well so that is ok. You will probably see the scale drop and you’re pretty excited. However, once this is all over because it will be, what do you do when you STOP losing weight but you’re eating the same. What gives?
Your brain regulates your body weight differently when you gain or lose weight. It is the Calories In vs. Calories Out Theory. You need a certain amount of energy (in the form of calories) to stay alive, as well as to move around. You can get this energy from food, or you can retrieve it from stored energy (e.g. your fat tissue).
In theory:
If you eat less energy than you expend, you should lose weight.
If you do the opposite (i.e. eat more energy than you expend), you should gain weight.
This is known as the Energy Balance Equation which can help determine how much weight a person will gain/lose over time. However, this is based on a person’s weight, it doesn’t take into account other things like body composition, hormones, exercise, water intake, macros, etc, which is why so many people get frustrated. However, this equation is actually more complicated than “energy in v.s energy out.” Why? For Energy In:
Labels aren’t as accurate as we think and the energy we use to absorb these foods isn’t 100% accurate either.
We absorb less energy from minimally processed carbohydrates, and fats, because they’re harder to digest.
We absorb more energy from highly processed carbohydrates and fats because they’re easier to digest. (Think of it this way: The more “processed” a food is, the more digestion work is already done for you.)
For Energy Out:
There are 4 things to take into consideration:
RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate)- calories we burn at rest
TEE (Thermic Effect of Eating)- calories you burn eating
PA (Physical Activity)
NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis)
So your body’s response to you eating less is that it will burn less as well. So, does dieting damage the metabolism? No, but because of the adaptations, your body undergoes in response to fat loss (to prevent that fat loss, in fact). It may feel like your metabolism isn’t working because it hasn’t responded to anything but instead, their bodies have just become predictably more sensitive to various hormones and neurotransmitters.
However, you can still change your body even if it’s very hard to lose weight, like mine! You can follow these tips:
Eat more protein
Eat more veggies
Increase NEAT
Have a cheat meal
Include resistance training in your workout
Manage stress
Sleep at least 8 hours
References:
Precision Nutrition
