It is absolutely 100 percent essential to eat enough calories!
If you don’t, it will destroy your metabolism.
It’s like telling your body that you’re starving. If your body thinks it’s starving, your metabolism will shut down. Not eating enough calories will also force the body to ‘cannibalize muscle’ and hold on to fat.
The body thinks muscle is expendable during periods of starvation – and it considers fat to be necessary to insulate your organs for survival!! This is yo-yo dieting,!
When you starve yourself, you end up losing muscle, and when you begin to eat the right amount of calories, your body will pack on the pounds because it is anticipating another “famine.”
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOUR NOT EATING ENOUGH…
Find out by checking the ‘under-eating awareness’ checklist:
☑️ If you’re tired all day, maybe you aren’t eating enough calories, your body fails to meet its energy requirement, which results in fatigue throughout the day (even if you only sit at a desk all day long!)
☑️ If you Often Feel Dizzy The symptoms of this include dizziness, severe headaches, fatigue after minor activities, and intense craving for sugar. When you do not eat enough calories, your body goes into a hypoglycaemic state (a.k.a low blood sugar).
☑️ If your performance is stagnant or declining
☑️ If you’re not recovering well enough to keep up with training (or life).
☑️ If you get moody a lot… You Are Irritated And Angry All The Time The condition for this is called hangry!!!
☑️ If you have uncontrollable cravings.
☑️ If you’re just no losing weight or body fat, and you’re dieting and training consistently.
☑️ If your skin, hair, or nails are brittle, dry, or grow/heal extremely slowly.
☑️ If your Constipated
☑️ If you’re constantly cold and have a low body temp, regularly.
☑️ If your period is off or has completely stopped (For females – that’s not good).
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If you feel like you fall victim to more than one of these signs…
Stop dieting and re-claim your body!
- Focus instead on portion size and eating balanced meals and snacks.
- Don’t skip meals. They set you up for bingeing at the end of the day.
- Think about food as a positive source of energy and sustenance, rather than a source of comfort, reward, or a weapon.
- Stop labeling foods as “good” or “bad.” That adds an unnecessary emotional component to eating and sets you up to diet.
- Give yourself permission to enjoy what you eat! Take your time to taste and appreciate your food.
- Be grateful for all of the amazing things your body does for you everyday!
- Choose to spend less energy thinking and worrying about food, calories, and the shape of your stomach. Instead, re-channel that energy into hobbies, loving relationships, personal and professional growth, paying it forward, and making a meaningful difference in the world. Start moving more!!
“Mindful eating does eventually become a habit and will change your relationship with food and your body forever,”
Here are some tips
- Eat plenty of protein.
- Eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, quality carbs, and healthy fats.
- Adjust your intake as you plateau, or to prevent plateaus.
- Cycle calories and carbs.
- Refeed periodically
- Do a mixture of resistance, cardiovascular, and recovery activity.
- Develop a solid nightly sleep routine and manage your stress.
- Have some self-compassion.
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