Does
Undereating Cause Weight Gain?
Weight
loss is a constant battle for many people around the world.
Exercising and cutting back on calories is usually the norm
but even though, some people struggle to lose weight. Why is
that? If you drastically lower your calorie intake, you're actually
undereating and that's not recommended. Anyone on a weight loss
routine should not starve themselves because starvation diet
has been linked to many negative consequences. While it may
bring temporary results, eventually you'll gain weight. Here
are two primary reasons:
Slow
Metabolism
Your
body needs calories to function properly be it exercising, walking,
breathing or doing your daily activities, well you simply need
calories to live. If you don't feed yourself properly, your
metabolism will take a hit and your body will think it won't
get food for awhile. This is actually bad for weight loss because
when you don't take enough calories in, your body will try to
store food and keep every calorie and ounce of fat it possibly
can. It's like your body is trying to protect itself for survival.
So in the end, you can actually gain more weight by undereating.
Hunger
Pangs
Food
deprivation can lead to uncontrollable hunger pangs later on.
When you body can't take it anymore, you can get really hungry
to a point that you'll binge on everything you possibly can.
This will contribute to overeating and since your metabolism
is already sluggish, it won't be able to process the food and
calories effectively for energy leading to more food storage.
The end result is more fat stores and weight gain since all
the excess calories can't be used as energy.
Many people has the notion that undereating would mean more
weight loss but this is only part of the truth. You can actually
lose weight fast by eating less without starving yourself but
choosing the right foods is crucial. You can still eat low amounts
of food but nutrient-dense foods which will keep you energized
and keep hunger pangs at bay while revving up your metabolism.
So you can still eat less and lose weight normally. The choice
of foods is extremely vital on a weight loss regimen. For example,
if you replace say a small piece of white bread with a sweet
potato, it's a big difference in terms of nutrition. Don't let
the number of meals scare you, you can actually eat 4-7 small
meals everyday. Just snacking on an apple, having a bowl of
cottage cheese, savouring a greek yogurt, eating a piece of
fish with some veggies, or eating a handful of nuts can be considered
a meal in itself. A meal doesn't need to be big or fancy. Get
the nutrients in and eating will become more fun than a chore.
There
is no need to undereat till a point you're doing your body more
harm than good in the hope of losing weight as this is not natural.
Eat normally, choose the right foods, exercise and you'll lose
weight quickly and healthily. Good luck.
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