So many women come to me perplexed because they only eat one time per day or they don’t eat very much and they are still overweight. They don’t understand how the small amount of food they intake is keeping them overweight or how they are constantly gaining weight. This is one of the biggest misconceptions about weight loss. People think that by severely restricting calories they will safely and effectively lose weight…WRONG!!! Hopefully I can dispel this myth for you and help you ladies get on the road to losing weight.
The first reason why you aren’t losing any weight by only eating one time per day is that your body is going into starvation mode. God made our bodies to be super intelligent. Our bodies have a natural instinct to try and survive. So when you limit the amount of food you give to your body, it worries about the amount of calories that are coming in. So when you do eat, and give it calories, it automatically turns the calories into fat. Fat is what the body uses as survival energy depots. So if you think about it, you can parallel this mechanism with a scene from the movie, The Blindside. If you can recall, in the movie, when the young teenage boy, Michael, has Thanksgiving dinner with the Tuohy’s, he stuffs some bread into his pocket to have for later. He does this because he isn’t sure when he will get another meal. Your body does this same thing with the calories you give it at your one daily meal… but instead of putting it in pockets, it puts in your fat stores.
In order to keep your fat levels low, you need to intake calories throughout the day. Not just any calories but good calories from healthy foods. Your daily caloric intake should be, at a minimum, above your BMR, which is your Basal Metabolic Rate. BMR is the minimum calories your body needs to perform its most basic functions and minor movements throughout the day. There is a link to for a BMR calculator at the end of this post. If you are eating once per day, or even only twice per day, you need to check it out.
Okay so let’s say you are eating more than the calories required per your BMR…well if you are consuming all of these calories at one setting then your body is triggering high levels of insulin production to quickly lower your abnormally high glucose (sugar) levels. Here’s the thing, if you are consuming all of those calories at one meal, then you are probably eating a lot of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are essentially sugar and all of this sugar is ushered straight to your fat cells via insulin. This is why you can’t lose weight.
Even if your one daily meal is primarily protein and fat, your body will still store the surplus surge of calories as body fat. This is due to the starvation mode you have put your body into as I mentioned above.
Having knowledge gives you incredible power. Now you know why your little plan of only eating once per day is getting you nowhere. You need to make sure you are eating throughout the day…whether it is 3 meals per day or 5-6 small meals. EAT GIRL!!!
Also, let me state the obvious…you can’t eat crap 3 times per day, or 5-6 times per day and expect to lose weight either. You have to have a healthy diet.
So here’s the deal:
1) Never starve yourself
2) Never eat all your calories in one meal. Eat healthy food throughout the day.
If you want to know your BMR or BMI, check out the link below.
https://www.libifit.com/free-stuff/bmr-bmi-calculator/
Now, go eat something girl!
Melinda