[WHY LOW CALORIE DIETS DON'T WORK]

What happens when you start a new low calorie diet? Initially you will lose weight at the start (as you will be in a calorie deficit). But not many people realise that you are decreasing your resting metabolic rate AKA metabolic adaptation. This means that instead of our bodies maintenance calories (how many calories you can eat and your body does not gain or lose weight) being say 1800 calories, our new maintenance will be 1200 calories. Let me give you an example. Sarah is eating 2000 calories per day and maintaining her weight. She decides she wants to lose a bit of weight so she drops her calories by 10% and she is down to 1800 calories. She is in a calorie deficit and loses weight. Then after a while Sarah’s weight loss slows down and eventually it stops. Why? Her body has adapted and a now has a TDEE and a new maintenance calorie amount. So Sarah decides to cut more calories because it worked the first time. After all if she goes back to 2000 calories, she will be in a calorie surplus and gain weight. Sarah cuts down to 1500 calories because she really didn’t struggle at 1800 calories and is motivated by her results she had with her initially weight loss and diet. It works, she has created another calorie deficit and she starts to lose weight again. This could be muscle loss or fat loss or fluid loss but Sarah doesn’t care because the scale has dropped. But - what does her body do? It adapts. Sarah’s new TDEE will become 1500 in a very short period of time. Probably in a few weeks. From here Sarah will probably drop to 1200 calories or lower and increase gym visits to "burn" more calories. This is very common in short body transformation challenges where low calories + lots of high intensity training = big calorie deficit = big “results” and “transformation” which are great short term results but often what happens is people rebound and gain their weight lost plus another 5-10kg. At the end of a challenge, most people will cut back on training, be a little more relaxed with food but their TDEE and maintenance calories is very low. Cont in comments..14 w

Sarah’s new TDEE is often down to like 1300 or even lower so reverting back to her pre-low calorie-diet intake of 2000 puts her in a serious calorie surplus. Calorie surplus over time = weight gain for Sarah. Then the yo-yo effect starts that is associated with low calorie diets - you get fed up eating rations or boring diet foods, then you binge, put on a heap of weight. Often more than when you started the initial low calorie diet. Then we think the solution is just to cut our calories again. Cutting calories isn’t fun. It’ de-motivating, most people can’t adhere to it for long periods of time which means binge eating and possibly developing a bad relationship with food. This yo-yo cycle can go on for years or even decades. Over the years I have seen clients try so many different diets and until the last few years I really didn’t know how to help them because the marketing of the next best diet really plays with peoples psychology. They think that there is a magic product that is going to be the answer to their problems. What they don’t realise are that the diets they are buying into aren’t sustainable. It is not something they can enjoy and do long term. Anyone can put you into a calorie deficit and get a great before and after photo but will they teach you how to sustain your diet? Or are you even in a place to be on a diet right now? Are your calories too low to start another diet? Have you got a before / after / after after transformation photo from a strict 8 week challenge you may have done? I want to help educate people on long term success and help them understand the process so that they can continue their “diet” and make it a lifestyle. Let me know if you liked this post and would like to see more just like this!