If Someone Advises You to go on a 1200 Calorie Diet, Run the Other Way.

What ARE calories? Calories are units of energy, they are not the devil, they are not bad for you, all they are is energy. The lack of understanding of the human body from people preaching “healthy hacks” is partly the reason why we got to a place of restriction of said calories.

The best analogy I have heard is to think of calories as gas, if your car only has a little bit of gas your car isn’t going very far and maintaining low amounts of gas in the tank is actually detrimental to the car. This is completely true for your body as well. How many times have you tried to cut down on your calories in hopes of losing weight? Although it may have helped in the short-term, I am doubtful the results were maintained.

Recently, I was told that I was going to need to go down to a 1200 calorie diet by a gym trainer in order to achieve my results. Obviously, I know better and explained that this was just simply not going to happen because I do not restrict my body of the necessary fuel to run efficiently but in the back of my mind it left a kneading pain that made me wonder how many others took that advice and were led down a path of severe restriction.

Not only does restriction force your body to work inefficiently, it also slows your metabolism. This means that when you do reintroduce foods back into your diet that you were restriciting (because eventually, you will) your body will be less productive and you will gain the weight back that you lost. In my opinion, to spend some time hangry in order to lose weight in the short term just to gain it back is just not worth it.

Instead of restriction, focus on feeding your tank. Provide your engine with quality calories that not only give you the energy you need to feel great the whole day but will also allow your body to be the most metabolically active version of itself.  I don’t even believe on focusing on the amount of calories consumed in a day because if I believe if your focus is on the amount of calories in vegetables and fruit are your focus, you’re doing it wrong. Instead, focus on having a colorful plate, focus on enjoying your food and focus on feeding yourself quality nutrients that your body will thrive on.

One more thing I will leave you with, quality of calories is so much more important than quantity; use them to your advantage not your demise.