Cutting Calories will NOT Help You

Just a quick scroll through my Instagram, Facebook, and a casual google search proves to me how obsessed our society is with telling people to “burn calories” and “cut calories”. An extremely outdated, one-directional, and uneducated way of telling someone to lose weight. It’s actually a bit of a pet peeve of mine, because I find it very lazy, and it actually does not benefit the client trying to lose weight. So why do I find it lazy, 1) there is a ton of research and evidence that shows this is not as effective as it is made out to be and 2) cutting and burning calories are the very tip of the iceberg, and there is a lot more of a scientific process involved than merely cutting calories. It annoys me because even new ads coming out are still promoting “Burn lots of calories in 20 minutes or less!! Pair your circuit training with a Low-calorie diet plan customized to absolutely no one because this program is bullshit..“.

It’s still beating around the bush, and not ACTUALLY fixing the problem, which is educating people on the fact it has nothing to do with eating fewer calories. I also find it a moral responsibility to give out as much information as possible, in order to actually create a change that is very desperately needed. The information I see makes me cringe because I know how damaging it is to constantly tell women that cutting calories out of your diet every which way, and burning up your calories is how you lose weight. Literally, zero mention of metabolism, zero consideration for the fact maybe these girls are already eating a severely low-calorie diet, so MAYBEEEE eating LESS and burning MORE is not the answer. Again, still, zero encouragement to increase weight training in women’s everyday schedule, and still a ton of bullshit money grabbing ads. We have been doing the exact same shit for years, and years, and years, and years. We are just being targeted differently, through different platforms, different systems, and through girls who are being paid to be ambassadors for something they DO NOT USE.

I am telling you, I have not once told a girl that has come to train with me that she is eating too many calories. Not once has that happened yet. The biggest problem I see over and over is they in fact under eat. They under eat because we are told to slash calories from our day to day routine, and then on top of that, they become cardio bunnies, attend boot camps, purchase at-home circuit training, and focus on exercises that have been promoted to “burn calories”. We are demanding so much energy output, without giving any energy in return. This creates metabolic damage or a very slow and scorned metabolism. Of course, it will be slow, how do you expect your body to function if you are not eating enough calories? The last thing your body is going to do is burn your unwanted fat, that is actually its lowest priority…because it wants you to LIVE! Calories are energy, energy to run your vessel, for your organs to function, your heart to beat, to get you through your day to day. Cutting and burning calories from an already minimal source will create a very slow metabolism, in which the goal of your body will then be to store the calories you do consume as body fat. It doesn’t trust it will be receiving calories anytime soon, so it’s not going to just burn them away for you. It’s really not as simple as they have made it out to be with the whole “calorie in, calorie out” thing. There is so much more to do than that, and everyone’s metabolism starts out very different. It might actually give you hope that you can create and maintain a fast metabolism. Yes, you can be one of those people that can just “eat anything and stay the same”, well, maybe that’s because that person did it right…

So why body fat? Why does it have to be fat that our body wants to hold onto? Because fat is 9 calories per gram, the highest amount of energy source when compared to 4 calories per gram of protein and carbs. Your body will store fat when it realizes it is not getting a ton of calories because it thinks we are in survival mode. We are still programmed through evolution to store fat as a survival instinct, in order to get us through those days where you might not see a meal. When our ancestors had meals few and far between, the stored fat will get broken down to release the energy when needed. Take it one step further, when things get really dodgy, our muscles will be degraded and eaten away in order to release a bit more energy for us to live a little longer. If your energy output is high, and you are not matching that with a good amount of calories, then you are driving your body into a “survival state”. Once you are in survival mode, anything you do eat, healthy or not, will likely be stored as fat as a type of “reserve tank”.

Weight loss is all about your metabolism, and working with it so it works for you. You can create a fast metabolism by increasing weight training, eating more consistently throughout the day, what you eat has correct portions of fats, proteins, and carbs, and you have a good balance of calories in, and calories out. Once you have this balance, and keep working on putting more lean muscle mass on your frame, then the unwanted fat will burn off. However, in order to build lean muscle, you need to be eating a good amount of calories, which is another problem I see almost every day. If you are that someone who has been weight training but still sees no results, then I would still take a look at your caloric intake and if it’s actually enough to build muscle. Like I said, I have not once met a girl who has had a problem with eating too many calories. The only place I see too many calories would be from one meal of the day, which usually came at the end of the night because they have been starving all day. Stop starving yourself and start feeding yourself, because calories are friends and not enemies. Educate yourself on how your system works physiologically before slashing calories from your diet, or trying fad diets and juice cleanses. Learn how to do it right, and you won’t have to struggle again.

Don’t forget to stay in touch! Comment below and let me know what you are thinking. Have these exercise and meal plan tips helped you enhance your diet and workout plan? #DollTalk