As many know, we need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. The problem is - if that’s ALL you know, it might seem like a good idea to eat as little as possible. Let’s talk about why this is never a good approach, and how to find out how much you should eat each day. 

It Doesn’t Work

You might lose weight for a while. But you will not be able to keep it up forever. If you want to lose weight and keep it off you need long lasting sustainable habits. If your new habit is starving yourself, you eventually will give in, and it may lead to binging and likely MORE weight gain in the end.  

You’ll Be Miserable

Part of health is feeling good, and satisfied with your food. Eating too little sucks! You’ll be cranky, tired, and you won’t enjoy the journey or want to continue. 

It’s Not Necessary

It really is making it harder than it has to be. You do not have to eat as little as possible to lose weight. You can eat the foods that you enjoy - just in moderation! 

You Will Feel Extra Isolated

It can already be a bit isolating to go on a weight loss journey. Everything we do as a society is centred around food - it’s going to be hard to enjoy yourself with family and friends if you are avoiding all of the food all of the time.

IT’S UNHEALTHY

It should be obvious that this is a very unhealthy approach. If it’s not obvious then I want you to know that your body NEEDS food and nutrients to thrive.  

What To Do Instead

To lose weight, YES you need to be in a calorie deficit. But that doesn’t mean you go into the largest possible deficit. It’s just as important to eat enough as it is to not eat in excess. You must eat enough to support your goals and activity level.  It's actually a better approach to have the smallest possible deficit.  As you lose weight, you will plateau - meaning weight loss will slow down.  This happens because the deficit is getting smaller as we lose - which means at some point to continue losing you'll have to further reduce calories, or increase exercise.  If you start off with too little calories, (OR too much exercise, which is another blog post) then it's going to be a lot harder to do that.  Slow and steady wins the race as they say. 

Instead of just trying not to eat, find out how much you SHOULD eat, with a small calorie deficit.  You can do that by using this TDEE calculator.  Your TDEE is your Total Daily Energy Expenditure.  This is the amount of calories that you need to support your weight, activity levels, and future goals.  Once you have this number, you can aim to stay within your calorie needs.  Using a macro tracking app is the easiest way (in my opinion) to do this.  You can simply add your food and portions as you go and it will tell you how much you have left.  

It Doesn't Have To Be Perfect

Remember that tracking food is not something that is or has to be perfect.  In fact, food labels are never 100% accurate - but it is a close estimate.  You don't need to hit your exact targets every single day, it's about being consistent over time.  Get closer to your numbers more often then not and success is sure to follow.