Here’s why eating more may be the exact thing you need to do to get leaner …
Last night we had a call for our challengers and a question came up about macros.
This particular individual asked her question and then shared that she’s eating more than she ever has and is consistently seeing the scale go down and noticing that she’s leaning out.
She expressed that she was shocked to see that because at first, she was really scared to eat that much food.
Which is super common.
A lot of our clients come to us with a background of dieting.
Weight Watchers, Optavia, 1200 calorie meal plans, fasting, keto, etc.
Maybe it’s because of my background and the fact that I openly talk about how many times I tried to eat way too little and all of the ways it backfired.
But that mindset is a tough one to break.
So, when your clothes aren’t fitting the way you want and you don’t love what you see in the mirror and you REALLY want to get rid of some fat and lean out …
The idea of MORE food can be intimidating.
Can you eat more and still lose weight or get leaner?
And yet, we see it time and time again …
Our clients get amazing results by eating more, having more freedom and flexibility, and, in many cases, doing less.
But why?
The woman on the call last night said it felt like magic.
Like most magic tricks, there’s usually a logical explanation that is pretty basic.
So prepare to be underwhelmed.
First, when you eat too little, your body compensates.
Your body is like … ok, we’re not getting enough energy in to handle all of the systems and activities that we want and need, so let’s be extra careful about our energy spending.
Imagine how you’d respond if your paycheck got cut in half? You’d start to eliminate spending in a bunch of areas to accommodate.
Your body does the same thing.
You’ll subconsciously move less. You may lose your cycle if you’re a woman. Your immune system and digestive systems may take a back seat. All because your body is trying to cut spending.
Now, the other side of that equation is that you’d probably think to yourself … how can I get my paycheck back to normal?
Well, your body asks the same question.
So, it’ll drive your hunger and cravings up. It’ll make you moody. It’ll send more stress signals.
All in an effort to get you to bring more energy in.
When you give in to eating more, it’s often not in a controlled manner.
But here’s the kicker …
When you finally give in (and it’s only a matter of time until you do) … it’s rarely in a controlled manner.
You likely binge or reach your breaking point.
However, because your body has down regulated so much, it’s easy to store a lot of that excess energy as fat. First of all, excess energy with a slower metabolism is never a good thing. Second of all, your body doesn’t want to go through that again so it stores some fat (energy) in case of another situation where you try to starve yourself.
Many people repeat this cycle for years and decades and wonder why nothing works.
It’s not that nothing works. It’s that starvation and restriction don’t work.
So, what happens when you start eating more??
Well, first of all, it matters the composition of that energy. We typically take a protein-first approach in an effort to maintain or build muscle while also improving metabolic function.
But the simple explanation is that when you have enough energy coming in, your metabolism won’t down regulate. You can keep all important systems and activities humming along.
You’ll have more energy to move throughout the day, you’ll get more out of your workouts, you’ll be able to recover more effectively, you’ll be able to digest and assimilate nutrients, you’ll be able to sleep and manage stress.
So your output is a lot higher. Which means you can eat more, get leaner, and actually lose fat.
It also allows more room for flexibility.
In fact, on our challenge call last night, I gave the recommendation that one of our challengers have 1 cookie per day.
She was like … wait, what? I should eat 1 cookie per day??
I said, yes. Because she works in a cookie store and is always tempted by them.
Why resist it day in and day out? Why not just remove the power they have over you and just eat one per day? Because we’re actually fueling her appropriately, she has plenty of room for 1 cookie per day and can still get leaner.
This is the value of actually understanding your metabolism and what your body needs to respond.
It’s simple, effective, and WAY more fun.
How nutrition coaching helps clients eat more and get leaner
You should see it in action when we’re working with our 1 on 1 clients. Typically, the first step in the process is what we call Metabolic Priming, which is basically what I just described.
Ensuring that there’s enough energy coming in and that the composition of that energy is exactly what they need to start leaning out and improving body composition.
Then, we can take that foundation and apply it to their specific goals of fat loss or muscle building.
And finally, we make sure that everything aligns with their lifestyle so they can still be social, travel, enjoy date nights and vacation while still making progress and being able to keep their results for life.
Our 1 on 1 program is the most effective way to lose an average of 20-30 lbs. in 6 months while never having to stress or obsess about what to eat or worry about gaining the weight back.
It’s perfect for individuals who have a baseline understanding of nutrition or even have experience tracking macros and are no strangers to working out (even if they need a better / more effective training routine).
