The Dangers Of Not Eating Enough Calories
Not too many people seem to understand the dangers of not eating enough calories, as displayed by some of the horrible advice given out.
Horrible advice such as what?
Horrible advice such as something I came across on a message board I’ve frequented for many years now.1Admittedly, the site in question isn’t exactly a place where you’d expect great scholarship, but c’mon!!!
In a thread debating the effectiveness of using exercise to burn calories, the board’s resident know-it-all made the argument that anyone venturing to lose weight should just eat 1200 calories.2It appears that EVERY board has some village idiot like this who puffs their chest out as a knower of all shit but is really just adept at using Google. Problem solved.
This is the thinking of many, that you just drastically reduce your calories and *POOF* fat be gone!
Although weight loss is nothing more than a matter of calories in-calories out (CICO), the magic number of 1200 calories — and anything that involves dropping calories to even lower levels — is just plain stupid.
How much energy, or calories, the body needs to perform vital functions is what’s known as baseline metabolism. Baseline metabolism is based on body size and composition, age, sex, and genetics. Stress levels, hormonal production of thyroxine, and body and external temperature also influence it. Separate from baseline metabolism, physical activity and food digestion require fuel as well.
Because no two people are alike with identical components making up baseline metabolism and how they expend energy via activity and food processing, no two people will have the same energy demands. This is the primary reason why a magic number, like 1200 calories, for ALL people irrespective of their differences is stupid.
And just like that, folks, I’ve shown the stupidity of cookie-cutter calorie intake amounts. What’s even more impressive is that it only took me a few sentences.3Six, to be exact. But who’s counting? Oh, you are?!
Fuck, that was simple!
We could very well end things on the last section…
…but we shan’t because I like to kick a horse when it’s down.4It’s one of my most favoritest things to do! FUCK PETA!!!
Now, let’s say a person’s baseline metabolism calls for them to eat 2500 calories. That’s how many calories they need to maintain their current body weight. Let’s say this person does indeed meet that requirement on a daily basis.
For the fuck of it, let’s say this person who ordinarily consumes 2500 calories makes the overnight decision to lose weight. They wake up and after coming to the realization that their sudden desire to start a diet wasn’t a nightmare, they begin their caloric deficit at 1200 calories. Hey, that’s the magic number, plus they want to lose weight fast. Pronto, motherfucker!
For the math-impaired, that means the person has cut 1300 calories from their daily intake. In addition to that, they’re probably also doing a shitload of exercise — most likely cardio because this is the type of shit cardio-doing motherfuckers do — and possibly even taking a fat-burning supplement that could singe Beelzebub’s insides.
Will they lose weight?
You betcha!
After all, they’ve created a caloric deficit and weight loss is all about CICO, now isn’t it?!
Seeing that the scale is moving ever so rapidly, they’ll carry on doing what’s clearly working so well for them.
Days and weeks go by and then *BOOM* everything comes to a screeching halt one day.
The scale reads the same weight as a week or two before. So in their infinite wisdom, they further reduce their calories and bump up their physical activity. So they’ve gone from eating 1200 calories to 1000 and they’re doing even more cardio. That seems to get the scale moving again, but not as rapidly as before. After a while, weight loss stalls again. So they reduce calories yet again and intensify their workout. They’ve gone from 1000 calories to 800 and are doing even more cardio. Now the weight loss is even slower than before, if they’re even still losing weight.
What the fuck is going on here?
After drastically cutting calories from the jump and losing weight at a good clip every week, weight loss suddenly starts creeping at a snail’s pace. What’s happening?
Absolutely nothing but the person’s body trying to tell them to stop being a dumbfuck.
That’s what’s happening!
See, the person most certainly lost weight with their aggressive approach, but it was weight in the form of water and muscle mass. Not as much of the weight as the person imagines came from fat.
The reason for the loss of water is that by eating less calories they’re more than likely eating less carbs. And because carbs hold water, less carbs means less water retention.
As for the loss of muscle, that’s a bit more complicated.
For starters, each reduction in food intake has them consuming less and less of the calorie minimum to meet the body’s energy demands, which is growing with the increased activity. In turn, that means they’re undereating, as they’re not providing the body with sufficient dietary calories. Without sufficient dietary calories, the body breaks down muscle for fuel to compensate for the lack of glucose.5Glucose is simple sugar obtained from carbs that the body converts into blood sugar for energy.
Whoa, hold up there!
Why does the body bypass its fat stores in favor of muscle tissue?
Ummmm…because with the extremely low calories the body is being supplied, the body doesn’t know exactly when it’s going to receive the energy it needs. As a result, it holds on for dear life to its fatty acid reserves for future needs and instead turns to muscle tissue, which requires a shit ton of calories to maintain and doesn’t serve as many critical functions as fat does.
It’s just a matter of economics, baby.
That’s why!
Now, as the body loses muscle — its natural fat burner — the metabolic rate slows down. As the metabolic rate slows down, fewer calories get burned. This partially explains why the pace of pounds lost doesn’t continue but comes to a crawl, even when a person makes adjustments to get the scale moving again.6Given this rather thorough breakdown, you should understand that any more adjustments only result in the metabolic rate slowing down even more as the body breaks down more muscle for fuel, which results in the hoarding of even more fat.
The other reason calorie burning lessens has to do with something called adaptive thermogenesis.
Adaptive what what?!
Lol…adaptive big-fancy-word is an energy conservation measure that keeps the body functioning on fewer calories in response to the brain signaling for the metabolism to slow down.
Both adaptive thermogenesis and decreased muscle mass result in the burning of fewer calories, a by-product of the body thinking it’s better to spend resources (i.e. calories) on respiration, keeping your heart beating, and other bullshit rather than on important stuff like building and repairing muscle tissue to make you look sexy.
Yeah, stupid body!
Well, there you have it.
Those are the things that make it harder to lose weight and why someone starting with a sizable deficit can further cut calories and/or increase activity and the scale will barely budge.
A slower metabolism and muscle loss are some of the dangers of not eating enough. Another danger of not eating enough is eating too much.
Wha…what?!?! How the fuck does undereating result in overeating?!?!
Well, riddle me this!
People who binge on their diet usually do so with what? Yup, junk!
And they do so why? Nope, not because they’re out of control oink-oinks.
Let’s guess again and be more politically correct while we’re at it, too!
People binge on their diet with junk because…?
Yup, that’s right, their caloric deficit is too low for their individual needs, resulting in their body demanding the most fattening foods.
Why fattening foods?
Because…DUH!!!…fat has the highest energy content!7Dietary fat contains 9 calories per gram.
Falling off the wagon over and over again is a product of eating too little, as well as one clear sign that your calories are way too low.
Other ways the body talks to you in hopes of you smartening up include mood swings, depression, and fatigue, nausea, constipation, and diarrhea, as well as gallstones, heart problems, anemia, gout, and electrolyte imbalances, hair loss, headaches, and menstrual irregularities for the women folk.
Losing muscle and burning calories slower are pretty serious, but those?
Yeah, those are the more serious dangers of undereating!
Maybe it’s just me, but undereating and possibly suffering some adverse side effect doesn’t sound all that intriguing, especially when it’s not remotely necessary. That is, unless you’re morbidly obese. If you are, sure, eat 25 percent or more below maintenance to shed some of those unhealthy pounds as soon as possible.8But only for a brief period for fear of muscle loss, dammit!!! For the vast majority of people, however, healthy weight loss is 1-2 lbs per week. That allows for the preservation of lean tissue. A deficit of 20-25 percent below maintenance accomplishes that.
Moreover, besides sparing muscle, a moderate deficit allows for maneuverability when fat loss stalls. With an aggressive approach, there are only so many calories you can cut and so much more activity you can drag your tired ass through. On the other hand, a more conservative approach affords greater calories to play with to jump start fat loss again without wandering into dangerous territory.
Everyone thinks there’s some easy fix. Yeah, just slash calories to basement levels and you’ll be good. Too bad the human body’s a dick and doesn’t let shit work like that.
Sure, you’ll lose weight, and in no time too.
If that’s what you’re after, then kudos.
For a good many people though, a reduction in body fat is the objective. As seen, a severe drop in calories doesn’t achieve that. But yeah, if you’re only concerned about weight, then it’s the ticket for you. Even that isn’t wholly accurate, though, for you’ll gain the weight back and even more due to having significantly less muscle to burn calories with when the diet ends and you return to a higher caloric intake.
Not interested in that?
More interested in losing fat without feeling miserable?
Dare I say that you even want to keep it off?
Then all you have to do is…
EAT, MOTHERFUCKER!!!
Glossary: caloric deficit, calories, cardio, diet, dietary fat, exercise, genetics, metabolism, muscle, supplement, workout