Why Restricting Calories is Ruinous
Whether you’ve tried losing weight so that you could fit into a dress for an upcoming event, run a half marathon with your twenty-something-aged kids, or wean off one of your prescription drugs, dieting and calorie restriction is something you’ve likely experienced.
Most popularized standard diets, such as Weight Watchers, work on a foundation of adhering to the law of thermodynamics, which is based on the calories in/calories out precept. Essentially, the law of energy conservation (thermodynamics) as it applies to human physiology breaks down as less calories consumed, more calories burned. What this means practically is that most diets come down to this: eat less, exercise more. Sound familiar?
The problem is that eating less and burning more doesn’t spark long-term weight loss. In fact, calorie restriction and over exercise can prove to be extremely damaging, no matter how many advertisements and wonder stories are out there. Bottom line, the typical diet model doesn’t work. I know, groundbreaking, right? When we surprise our bodies with low calorie consumption, our body’s metabolism slows down significantly in an effort to preserve and protect us, and our hunger hormone, ghrelin, dramatically increases as a way to send us a signal that our bodies need more food.
Ghrelin spikes as a way to flag us down and wake us up out of starvation. If your kids can’t get your attention by tugging at your shirt, they’ll turn to screaming and crying until they are noticed. Ghrelin is the screaming kid.
The body produces so much ghrelin during low caloric intake periods, that even after normal calorie consumption is resumed, our bodies continue to bombard us with high ghrelin signals and maintain a low metabolic state as a result of the catastrophic diet episode it encountered. There’s no way to get ahead of the cycle that is started once a typical diet is started. Practically, the vicious cycle looks like this:
You notice your clothes is fitting tightly, so you decide to go on a diet. Calorie restriction begins and exercise increases. The body starts to freak out internally and begins sending you hunger pangs and “feed me now” signals, or ghrelin. You don’t listen, because, duh, you’re on a diet. Your body doesn’t know what’s going on, so intelligently, metabolism slows down to help keep you alive and healthy during this bizarre period of physical stress it’s undergoing. Your body does its best to work optimally throughout this time, but you notice that you’re starting to really feel the need to eat more and you’re just not feeling like your best self. You step on the scale and look at the calendar: it’s been a few weeks, and you’ve lost the ten pounds, so you throw the low calorie mindset and running shoes out the window and resume eating as normal because you can’t take this darn diet anymore. You’re hungry and it’s time to eat! Something’s off…you’re still starving even though you just ate a big meal two hours ago. “My body is sending me a signal I need more fuel, so I guess I better listen,” you think. Fine. You indulge in one more bite of dessert. Your body is still trying to protect you, so it hasn’t revved up your metabolism yet since it’s not sure what’s going on. The weight starts to come back because you’re still super hungry and consequently eating more, but your metabolism is now very slowed down because it can’t trust your eating patterns. Crap. You’re fat again. Ugh! Why can’t the weight just stay off? Time to diet before the family reunion. Restart the process.
Some of the most common side effects of crash dieting are:
- Feeling cold all the time
- Irritability
- Moodiness
- Brain Fog
- Dizziness and poor balance
- Anxiety
- Pins and needles sensation in extremities
- Long lasting increase in ghrelin, our hunger hormone
In an effort to shed the pounds, we often forget that our body uses energy (calories from food) for basic functions, such as regulating body temperature, digesting our food, and keeping our hearts beating properly. When we crash diet (meaning that we don’t change our lifestyle, but rather limit certain foods and cut calories short-term until our desired goal is met) by eating less and trying to burn more calories, our bodies become extremely confused and alarmed, which sets off a series of physiological changes that don’t fare well in the long-run. Short term, yes, these types of diets do cause the weight to fall off because of the severe shock the system has received, but long-term, the weight always comes back. The reason? Weight loss resistance is not a calorie problem…it’s a hormone problem.
My Hormones are Making Me Fat?
Weight gain and obesity comes down to a problem with the way the body uses the energy we provide it. If our bodies are sending signals to store fat instead of use calories for fuel, at the core we have an insulin problem. When insulin is continually spiked (as it is for many people who don’t even realize it), the body stores fat and will not let it go. No amount of calorie restriction and hours in the gym will signal weight loss to the body. The key to long lasting weight loss is insulin regulation.
In another post, we’ll talk about insulin resistance, what it means, and why it’s the hurdle you need to jump over before the weight will fall off for good. For now, the goal is to understand that hormones are the most important factor in weight loss.
For now, stop dieting! DO NOT eat less and exercise more. This type of up and down eating destroys your internal balance and sets off a serious alarm that could take months (and sometimes years!) to fix.
One weight loss action step you can take starting today is to reduce your overall carbohydrate consumption and increase your healthy, saturated fat consumption. Cut the pasta, bread, soda, cookies, rice, and oatmeal and load up on avocados, full fat coconut milk, olive oil, and egg yolks. Doing this will help your start losing weight in a healthy way, without sending a shock to the system. Concerned about eating fat to get thin? We’ll discuss that in an upcoming post as well.
Has dieting failed you? Do you have a story you want to share or a question you want to ask? Let me know in the comments below!
