All our lives we’ve been conditioned to believe that in order to lose weight aka fat, we should burn more calories then we put in. This has lead to millions of people eating less and less food in order to burn body fat. These theories would hold true if the body was a static system that burned calories constantly at a consistent rate…
Unfortunately, the body is not a static system. The body is a dynamic system. The body adjusts based off of inputs as well as out puts.
What exactly does that mean?
It means that if you start cutting calories that will work for a time, at least until the body starts to think you’re starving. You see the body is set up to protect itself at all costs. So, if the body starts to think you’re starving, it will lower your metabolism. It will start shutting off non essential functions. Most importantly for fat loss goals, it will horde all the body fat you have and store everything it can as fat because it thinks you’re starving. Then if you’re not eating enough protein, it will start to break down your muscle in order to give your body protein to survive. You’ll still lose weight, but now your losing muscle weight which is not a good thing.
It’s been my experience that most of my really over weight clients don’t eat enough food. OR they are eating too much of the wrong kinds of food. We tend to focus on the quality of the food first. We limit the things that are going to cause inflammation or are calorie dense without good nutrients.
We recommend a version of the Paleo Diet (meats, veggies, nuts, and seeds, in that order) Limit sugar, starchy veggies, dairy, legumes, and grains.
When you do that correctly, you’ll get a good hormonal response in the body from your food. This will result in your body building muscle and burning fat, to help you be healthier.
If you need more help with this, I’d be happy to help you, but really it starts with your quality of food.
Here’s a throwback photo of me coaching one of my first clients at CFB in the very first gym we had:
3-14-16 WOD
HH
Clean and Jerk
5 x 2
Met Con:
100 Push Ups
100 TTB/ KTE
50 Wall balls
For time
25 minute cut off