Food is so much more complex than we can even understand. We cannot just simplify it in terms of definitives. Over the almost 20 years of working with hundreds of different clients (many of them with a weight loss goal) , I have understood that it is not as simple as calories in, calories out. What those calories are made up of, matters. WHO they are, matters. And other lifestyle factors, matter.
The calories you consume will have a huge impact on the outcome. Your body metabolizes food differently depending on what it is you are eating. Insulin levels are affected and therefore blood sugar levels change, etc… Food is used as energy in different ways. Example: 50 grams of an avocado compared to 50 grams of M&M’s will most definitely metabolize very differently. One will result in stable blood sugar levels (avocado) while the other will have a huge glucose spike (M&M’s) leading to your body storing fat. In addition, this can change from person to person. A good tool you can use to understand how your body metabolizes certain foods is a glucose monitor.
I have had the experience with a number of clients who eat WAY under there caloric expenditure, sometimes with clients who only ate one small meal a day, but exercised rigorously and could not shed a pound. In some extreme cases it’s your bodies way of survival. If you are in such a deficit your body will store fat to compensate as a survival instinct. This will inhibit your ability to increase metabolism and start burning fat/calories in a healthy way as the body is meant to do.
You could be PERFECT with your nutrition while on a weight loss journey and still struggle losing weight if other area’s of your life are in flux. Nutrition is only one area of our “Basic Lifestyle Guidelines” that we need to address for our overall health in order to accomplish our goals. Stress, Sleep, Daily Rhythm, Movement and Hydration are all area’s that need to be in order for us to meet our needs. Example: we have probably all been there, but in moments of our life when we are completely STRESSED out and have no mechanisms to control it, I don’t care how perfectly you are eating or doing any of the other guidelines, you can struggle to lose weight. We cannot be existing in a constant state of stress with our sympathetic nervous system in that type of place and expect to be in a healthy place to lose weight. Same goes for lack of sleep for different reasons and our circadian rhythm (nigh shift workers) and the list can go on.
It is not as simple as we want to make it. If you are someone who can relate do this, we get it. And we can help. We are offering free consultations to anyone who is interested. During the consultation we will walk you through a self-diagnosis practice so we can pin-point those area’s that need to be addressed. And then we can give you the tools to improve them so that you can start making strides towards your goals.