Eat more, weigh less

If you are the average female (and I say this not in a sexist way) you will have a fear of the dreaded calorie. (Despite ramming chocolate in your face when Take That reveal they are splitting up again and won't release another corker.)

I have further proof that eating more is often the key to losing body fat.

Clearly this is more good quality, clean, unprocessed, natural food with no red wine involved to wash it down.

It is very hard to overeat calories if you eat grilled meat and vegetables. You'll feel full yet won't be inhaling calories faster than a Dyson (or all other good vacuum cleaners).

I have a client who was losing weight already but then stalled one week.

It was then revealed in the last 36 hours she had eaten a banana and a protein shake and was scared of over eating calories and undoing her good work.

This would equate to about 300 calories at a push.

Bearing in mind your body needs over twice this amount to function properly (brain, lungs, digestive system etc), we are talking about putting yourself in starvation mode. This is a defence mechanism we got from our cave dwelling ancestors.

When our bodies are put in severe calorie restriction they begin to STORE body fat in case another meal is not 'caught in the forest' for another few days. So by being on a very low calorie diet you can expect your muscle to diminish and your body fat percentage to go up.

This client of mine then introduced a small bowl of porridge for breakfast every day. (Oh yes CARBOHYDRATES!!! Shock horror...) and a few healthy snacks here and there.

She waltzed on to my scales 7 days later weighing 3 pounds less.

Now we still have a way to go to create a top-notch diet but that tells a story.

Yes a calorie deficit (more out than in) is essential for fat loss.

However, going as low as you can bear is a very, very, very bad idea.

The longer this goes on the harder it gets to convince your body to start shedding fat again because as far as it is concerned you might starve it again so it will hold on to body fat just in case.

This is one of the reasons those who go on crash diets usually end up fatter when they finally crack and binge. The body stores all the calories they then dive into!

It is also the reason fat loss can take a week or two when you finally sort your life out.

Give it time - you got yourself in this mess so have the patience to wait a week or so for the results!

Still luv ya though!
Jon

PS That particular client has lost 11 lbs in 5 weeks of training. We targetted a stone in 6 weeks so 3 lbs this week and that's mission accomplished! It could have been you!