It seems to make sense to cut as many calories from your diet as possible if you’re trying to lose weight. Have you ever thought that you could eat too little and this might be the cause you don’t lose weight? Eating too little makes it harder for you to achieve a healthy weight, but it can also cause other health problems. All in all, eating below your needs can backfire big time.
Everyone has a set amount of calories, or energy, they need to simply be alive. Your metabolism will slow down if you constantly eat less and your body will activate its emergency resources. Hunger and feeling full aren’t the only indicators of whether you’re fueling your body appropriately. the main obstacle for health goals is represented by the short and long-term dietary restrictions on weight and the traditional weight-loss methods of calorie cutting and deprivation.
There are many people who do this mistake while starting a diet. Kelly Hogan affirms: “I’ve had countless clients come to me after trying fad weight loss diets, none of which “worked” in that any weight lost was regained once they stopped the diet. There is little to no research showing any fad diet results in sustained long-term weight loss. This is the first thing I explain to clients so they don’t feel defeated or ashamed because they did nothing wrong.”
There are several common signs you’re eating too little to support your body. It’s always a good idea to consult a registered dietitian or health care professional when you don’t know what to do.
Food is always in your mind
If you don’t eat enough, you will be constantly preoccupied with food and you will think about it and your next meal or snack. This preoccupation can be expressed with behaviours such as: perusing restaurant menus online, obsessing over food social media accounts or watching cooking shows incessantly. The link between dietary deprivation and food preoccupation was first discovered by Ancel Keys in his landmark Minnesota Starvation Experiment during World War II. Many of the participants in the study admitted to obsessively collecting recipes and recipe books, and as the study went on, food became one of the only things they thought about. This example might be an extreme one, but the effect of food deprivation so often met in today’s lifestyle has a similar effect.
You are cranky all the time
Your ability to concentrate, be patient with others and mentally focus diminishes if you don’t eat something to raise blood sugar. Tiredness and fatigue also go hand in hand with not eating enough, because you’re simply not providing the body with enough energy. If you experience these cues, listen to your body, he knows what you need.
You experience sleeping problems
It’s awful when you’re tired, but you can’t sleep. There are profound effects diet may have on our sleep cycles. Recent studies revealed that diet restoration and maintaining adequate energy intake may also restore normal sleep-wake patterns.
Constipation
The digestive tract may move food through your system more slowly to preserve energy when your body is consistently not getting enough calories to meet your needs. Not eating enough fiber — which is common when you restrict calories below your needs — can cause constipation.
