Why it's not as simple as less calories going in and more going out.

Many people still believe that losing weight is as simple as "just eat less and move more".

They believe that the law of thermodynamics applied to weight loss is a fact, but in actuality, it's an oversimplified theory that only works to a point. It results in quick but temporary weight loss (unless of course you chronically starve yourself to the bone - which obviously comes with a lot of health problems).

Most people won't starve themselves though. In the vast majority of people, dieting triggers a 'feasting instinct' that results in more overall weight gain, because the metabolism has been slowed down as a negative side effect of dieting and now you are binging.

In fact, the law of thermodynamics actually explains why people's metabolism slows down from under eating and overexercising. With not enough calories coming in and too many going out, a very stressed body has no choice but to slow down the metabolism to stop you from losing fat and moving too much (to conserve energy). That's a perfectly logical thing for your body to do in times of famine.

Your body is doing nothing wrong and simply holding on to fat to protect you. By "dieting" in the conventional sense, we induce a famine state.

You actually don't need to eat less, you need to eat more of the right foods, namely more nutrient dense foods that satiate and replenish your depleted nutrient stores. Doing this will heal your metabolism and stop your cravings for foods that cause weight gain. Once your nutrition is replenished, your body will crave healthy food and you will have an aversion to foods that are not healthy. No need to use willpower.

The truth is that the way a food affects bodyweight, is less about calories and more about nutrient quality and the macro nutrient ratio of the food and how that affects hormones.

Your body doesn't have a calorie counting organ.

Whether your body burns calories or stores them for later, is the result of how the food you eat impacts your hormones (and whether or not your hormones are harmonized or out of balance).

And even that is an oversimplification.

Many other lifestyle factors can affect hormones. Stress for example, can cause a surge of cortisol. When stress becomes chronic, and in other words when cortisol is chronically elevated, that cortisol will also trigger the liver to dump sugar into the blood stream for the fight or flight response. If you are not fighting or flighting, your insulin is elevating. This elevated insulin stores extra body fat. Both excess cortisol and insulin is are "caustic" (catabolic) and they break down muscle tissue. This situation is the perfect 'shit storm' for weight gain - without eating a single extra calorie.

The less muscle mass you have, the less storage you have for glucose. That means the more carbohydrates you eat, the fatter you get. In such a hormonal state, it doesn't matter how natural or healthy or low calorie those carbs are.

So you see it's not that simple.

If you want to discuss this further in relation to your personal situation book a complimentary call to chat.