Reducing our calorie intake to lose weight is not wrong. However, consistently eating fewer calories than the body requires can cause your body's base metabolic rate (BMR), or metabolism, to slow down and an increase in weight.

In addition, the number of calories you need to consume per day is reliant upon whether you are looking to reduce, maintain, or increase weight. There are a number of other factors as well, these include gender, age, height, your current weight, and level of activity for example.

We see reducing calories as starving our self, while just a few small and easy changes to our basic diet and lifestyle is all that may be needed. This may include introducing or increasing the amount of exercise, ensuring your body is properly hydrated, and changing the balance of macro-nutriment, increasing your protein intake for example.

Let's take this scenario:

You are between the age of 25-50, and female. Your required calorie intake to maintain current weight is say 2000 cal after all other factors are taken into account. You reduce your intake beyond a safe 10% level to say 1600 cal. Over time your body will adapt and adjust its calorie requirement. This then puts your body in the position whereby you may think you are reducing intake to lose weight but in fact are now overeating and have excess calorie intake causing a weight increase and, more than likely as body fat. Your BMR has reduced.

No generic nutrition system will give you, as an individual, an accurate calorie intake target. This is why nearly all diet plans fail as they have no idea who you are and what your needs are.

The golden rule of, ‘to maintain you must balance the calories in with the calories out’ is good. Therefore to lose weight, the calories in must be less than the calories out is also true.

Remember to also look beyond eating to what you drinking. Sources have shown that calories from drinks can contribute to around 20% of the total calorie intake a day. If you do not count drinks in you calories then you may be over consuming by 20%.

Although there is a lot of science and data out there when it comes to nutrition, a lot of it will be unique to you and will need to be evaluated correctly in order for goals to be reached.

Andy
CrossFit Ickenham
STRENGTH IN COMMUNITY

It’s important to eat, and keep track of what you eat!

Reducing our calorie intake to lose weight is not wrong. However, consistently eating fewer calories than the body requires can cause your body's base metabolic rate (BMR), or metabolism, to slow down and an increase in weight.