It seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it?  Everyone “knows” that in order to lose weight, you have to drop you calories.  That’s pounded into our heads again and again by the nutritionists, fitness gurus, and media.  You know what?  They’re right.

But – there’s a big caveat to this rule.  You need to make sure you’re not eating too little.  If you fall into this trap, you’ll see your progress grind to a halt.  Here’s why.

When you eat, you’re providing your body with the nutrients it needs to function.  You’re also telling it that you can provide it with enough nutrition to survive without having to compensate for a lack of food later on.  You see, back in the days of the caveman (Geico, please don’t sue me), our ancestors didn’t always know where their meals were coming from, or so the theory goes.  When they could only get access to a fairly insignificant amount of food each day, their bodies had to adapt by cutting down on the amount of calories they used.  This is known as your body’s “starvation mode.”  Everyone knows that when you reduce the calories you burn, you make it harder to cut fat.

Thus, infrequent meals were a sign to the body that there wasn’t enough food to go around and that they needed to save up on calories for the future.  Unfortunately, evolution hasn’t quite caught up to the 21st century.  Today, when you eat too few calories, you’re sending a signal to your body that there’s not a lot of food around, and that your body had better start saving up by lowering your metabolism, shuttling more of your calories into fat stores, and reducing your energy.  You can’t really blame it, after all, it’s just trying to keep you alive.

So what does that mean for someone trying to lose a few (or more) pounds?  If you’re working out heavily, as you should be, but you’re not providing your body with the calories it needs, you’re essentially telling it to lower your metabolism by cannibalizing your muscle, reducing your energy levels, and increasing your fat stores.  Not good.

Because of this, you need to make sure you’re finding a good balance between eating less calories than you burn (after all, that’s how you lose weight), but not eating so few that you throw your body into starvation mode.  I’ll give you this, it’s not easy to find that balance.  If you’re really serious about losing weight, you’ll need to track your calories constantly, adjusting your intake as necessary.  You should monitor your progress weekly to see how your body reacts, and make changes as needed.

Rest assured, if you’re dedicated enough to keep up with your food intake, you will see changes.  So, don’t be afraid of food, you need it, just not too much (and not the wrong type) of it.