Why Eating More Helps You Lose Weight

Not crazy as in ‘she doesn’t like Chipotle’ crazy. Rather, she wanted to make sure that she wasn’t crazy for not liking the answer she received, by two different people, when she complimented them on their “cut, in-shape look”.

After hearing two people tell her that they saw progress by “eating less”, she immediately reached out and wanted to know my thoughts.

First, before getting into some specifics, I agree with my friend. I’m not a fan of the “I’m just eating less” response. At all.

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These individuals aren’t necessary wrong though. In order to lose body fat, you need to be consuming less calories OR you need to be exercising a significant amount more.

Most people, especially adults, have more control over what they eat rather than the amount they work out. Being conscious of what you’re eating is significantly more efficient for your life than working out three hours per day.

Most items that people eat on a regular basis are extremely calorie dense. There’s physically not that much food to eat but the food contains a significant number of calories. To give some examples, here are some of the most popular food or beverages in the United States and how many calories they have:

Eat More To Lose Weight

But for each of those items, I already listed a smaller serving size and they still contain quite a bit of calories.

You can limit your portion sizes for these calorie dense foods, and lose weight, but you’re likely going to be insanely hungry and not satisfied if that’s all you’re eating.

But in your real day-to-day life…..Yeah...Not that easy. You need foods that are satisfying, allow you to eat less total calories so that you accomplish your goals, and actually fill you up.

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That’s the greatness of lean proteins, along with fruits and veggies. You can eat a lot of them while keep calories in a good place.

Now, let’s put it into practical use. Below are four popular meals/snacks and a substitute showing how much more food you can eat, while still taking in lower calories:

Calories are the name of the game when it comes to losing weight. The more low-calorie, nutrient dense foods that you eat, the better your fat loss progress will be. Additionally, because they are so low calorie, you’re able to eat a lot more of them.

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For people that enjoy eating and snacking (ME!), it would be next to impossible to stay consistent with just “eating less food”. That’s where prioritizing protein and vegetables comes strongly into play.

Not only does simply “eating less” sound miserable, but in practice you can and should be eating more volume of food to lose body fat.I got a really great question on Sunday when I spent the day at a local market chatting with people about the FASTer Way and I knew that I had to do a video about it because so many people are out there barely eating to try to lose weight and it’s not working or has stopped working.

One pain point that I hear frequently is the same one I had…I am working out 6 days a week, all cardio, I only eat like 1100/1200 calories, but I cannot lose weight! It does not make sense!

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Here’s why…they are probably not eating enough. They are probably not fueling their bodies properly with the right macronutrients, so their body has stopped burning fat.

I want to explain the science behind what is going in the body but first, the question I got on Sunday that started this was, I am only eating 1200 calories and not losing weight, how will I lose weight if I eat MORE?

I had the same reaction! It just sounds backwards because that is what we have been told for so long. That in order to lose weight, we have to eat less and exercise more. So, I know it sounds crazy when I tell you that you should be eating A LOT more calories to lose weight.

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When you are only eating 1100/1200 calories and you are working out, doing high intensity workouts 5 or more days a week, you are simply not fueling your body enough and it is running out of gas. That is simply not enough food and your body is rebelling against you.

When we under-eat, when we are not giving our bodies enough fuel, we are making our bodies choose what to do with the fuel that it is getting. Our bodies will be forced to choose essential functions over non-essential functions. This means that it STOPS burning fat and lowers our metabolism. It stops burning fat so that it can focus on the functions that just keep us alive: our heart, our digestion, our blood circulating, our brain!

When our body is under-fueled it will actually hold on to fat for future fuel because it stops trusting you to give it enough. Your body is in starvation mode. It's in survival mode at only 1200 calories! What is happening is that you are burning so much energy and you are not fueling the body enough so it is holding onto every single calorie that it can and storing it as fat.

Eat More Not Less To Lose Weight!

Our bodies will burn through all of our glycogen first -> that’s our carbs, because that is our body's favorite source of energy. Once it burns through those carbs during your workout, it will go to stored fat for energy.

But when you are under-eating, the body is afraid to burn that stored fat for energy, because it thinks it needs that storage to run your essential body functions. It will hold onto your fat stores like it is life or death! Instead it will start to go after muscle.

The only way to prevent that is to eat the right amount of the right foods! When you do this, your body will shed FAT and build muscle -> that is our focus in theFASTer Way to Fat Loss.

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We focus on our macronutrients. We focus on eating the right amount of the right foods at the right time. We are very intentional about what we are eating and how we are eating it.

We use intermittent fasting to make sure we get the full benefits of digestive rest for cellular repair. We’re going to heal our gut when we do that and feel a lot less bloated and uncomfortable after we eat.

You would be amazed by the number of times my clients have told me that they feel so much better after implementing intermittent fasting. They are not bloated anymore and they have so much more energy! I hear this in the first 2 weeks of the program.

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So again, the question was how can I go from eating 1200 calories to eating MORE like you say, and lose weight? How will I lose weight by eating more?

Like I said, your body is in survival mode. It is holding on to as much fat as it can because it doesn’t think that it is being nourished enough. So it is going to hold onto every little bit that it gets, like it is life or death.

What we need to do is bump up those macros. we need to get you fueled properly for your every day life and for your workouts, so you have better workouts.

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I hope this was helpful. That question comes up a lot as my ladies are getting started and I get it. It’s hard to imagine that you will not gain weight or it's easy to think that you will get “fat” if you eat more. Especially if you have been under-eating and following the eat less exercise more method for a long time.

But you just have to trust the process. I have ladies tell me all the time that they have never eaten so much food and been in such great shape! And hundreds of thousands of clients have gone through the FASTer Way and have amazing results. You can see it in the before and afters that I share on Instagram and the testimonials.

My next group start soon so you better grab your spot because you don’t want to miss out. So, if you want a spot, get signed up today! Learn more by clicking here.

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And if you think someone else will find the info valuable, go ahead and share it. I would love for you to do that. I would be so thankful.