Well… not exactly. When you start working out you get more hungry from the exercise. If you start eating less at the same time. It becomes a double whammy, you’re tired and hungry and off the wagon you fall. Even if you get through this phase, your body will adjust to the exercise and the less food, so you need to exercise more and cut more calories. Then your body thinks it doesn’t get enough food and starts to hold on to all the foods it gets and then nothing happens. Or you end up eating 800 calories and doing 2 hours of exercise daily like a lot of fitness models do to get super lean.
Exercise needs to fit into your lifestyle. Doing excessive exercise for a period just to lose weight, will bite you in the bum when you get injured or over trained. Exercise smart by doing weight lifting and interval cardio training for maximum result in minimum time. Lots of cardio, like running, doesn’t help with fat loss. Moving more during the day is very important. Try to move every hour if its only for a few minutes. In the end it is about finding a workout regime you like and can stick to.
Then look at what you eat, when you eat and how you eat.
What you eat:
What do you eat? It is junk food, lots of processed foods, drinking soda, juices etc.? If you eat too much why is that? Does the food not satisfy you, then you probably are eating the wrong types of food for your constitution. Eating more proteins helps you to keep full longer. Eating more organic, natural, mostly unprocessed foods will nourish you and you’ll automatically eat less. Maybe you are under eating and you need to start eating a proper breakfast, lunch and dinner to replenish your body.
When do you eat:
Are you eating from waking up till you go to bed or do you have set eating times? Eating all day means also insulin secretion every time you eat. Insulin is a storage hormone, so it will store food as fat when it has used up food from previous meals. Normally a meal takes about 3 to 4 hours to digest. If you eat every 3 hours, your body never gets a chance to use it fat storage. Bring eating back to three meals a day and stop eating after 7 pm. Some people need 4 smaller meals. See what works for you.
How you eat:
If you eat food on the go, in the car, in a hurry or just for the TV, you don’t notice what you are eating. That means you easily eat too much or you are not satisfied and start looking for snacks. Take time for your meals, chew well and eat slowly. Enjoy your meals without distractions. You automatically will eat less and feel more nourished. Eating while stressed is not good for you as well. In that case it may be better to skip a meal and eat when you are relaxed.
There are a lot of improvements you can make before cutting calories.
How you digest food and how well your hormones function are all a part of the puzzle. As well as sleep, stress levels, emotional and mental state. You are not a machine with just calories in and calories out, like an equation. You are a holistic being with an incredible body, that knows how to heal itself, when you let it. Then it will find its correct body weight for your body type as well.
If you need help with getting back in shape, you can contact me for a free consultation at info@estherpthealthcoach.com.