The reason why you should NOT start by dropping calories aggressively if you want to lose weight!

Want to lose weight, and keep it off?

Many people lose a ton of fat each year.

Unfortunately, most end up putting it all back with dividends.

If you reduce calories too aggressively at the beginning of your diet, you shorten the amount of " weight loss runway" you have available to you.

See, you will see a quick drop in your body weight. That's great, right?

Sure, it's great to lose weight, but the thing is that no matter what you do, the body will adapt. In this case, the body adapts by reducing the amount of energy you expend at rest and through unconscious physical activity. 

Due to these metabolic adaptations, you will eventually stop losing weight. Now you face a decision.

You can either reduce calories even more or do more physical activity. 

Suppose you dropped your calories too aggressively in the beginning. In that case, your approach is likely to become unsustainable for long enough to see the changes that you want to see in your body composition.

If you go back to your old ways, you will bounce back quickly to even higher body weight & fat percentage because your body had primed itself for storing energy during your aggressive caloric deficit.

The body has evolved to resist dying from starvation with a three-prong response to a reduction in calorie availability.

1. Reduction in BMR ( how many calories you burn at rest)
2. Reduction in NEAT ( how many calories you burn through unconscious activity)
3. Fat cells become more receptive for future fat gain.

This three-prong adaptation allowed our ancestors to survive periods of low-calorie availability.

Unfortunately, it has become maladaptive in our modern world with unlimited calories leading many people on the frustrating path of YoYo dieting.

Each successive cycle of yoyo dieting leaves you in a worse place than the one before it. It becomes easier and easier to gain more weight and harder to lose weight due to a drop in basal metabolic rate and NEAT ( how many calories you burn through unconscious activity). 

If you want to learn what to do instead of dropping calorie intake aggressively and how to set yourself up for long term weight and fat loss success, listen to the latest episode of the Coach Pyry Podcast. 

Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions!

Let's do this,

Coach Pyry