Can You Lose Weight By Not Eating? The Truth About Eating Less To Lose Weight

‘Can You Lose Weight By Not Eating? The Truth About Eating Less To Lose Weight’ – Monica May

The first thing most girls think about when they want to lose weight is eating less.

It’s common sense, right? If you eat less you will get skinnier.

The basic principle of weight loss is burning more calories than you consume, so losing weight is all about consuming fewer calories, right?

Well, no.

And what’s even worse, this false trend is no near to vanishing away.

Sorry to break it down, but eating less or even worse starving yourself, won’t help you lose weight and get healthy.

Even though it seems like it’s the right thing to do, it’s not.

The perception that losing weight is all about eating less is so far from the truth and can have many adverse side effects.

Not only starving won’t help you lose weight but it can cause weight gain, mess up your hormones and your metabolism too.

That’s why I can’t wait to answer to all of you asking ‘can you lose weight by not eating?’.

I’ll try to break it down into a million pieces and show you why you don’t have to eat less to lose weight.

Lastly, girls, I feel you.

I know from my own personal experience how overwhelming weight loss can be, even imposible, but it really isn’t.

In fact, losing weight is simple, easy, and painless if you are following the right weight loss methods you’ll get there in no time.

And starving is not easy or healthy, or an effective way to lose weight, and I’m just about to show you why.

Let’s jump right into it!

Can You Lose Weight By Not Eating?

NO, you can’t.

Will you get unhealthy by doing so? Absolutely yes!

Here’s why…

#1: Eating Less Slows Down The Metabolism

It really seems like common sense that if we eat less we lose weight, but that’s really not the case.

I explained this process a while ago in my article Why Diets Don’t Work? and today I’m breaking it down for you again.

If we starve the body and stop providing it with the fuel needed to function well, we do not create the need for it to burn body fat.

Instead, we create a need for our body to hold onto fat.

Wait, what?

Yes, you heard it right.

Instead of losing fat, we cause gaining fat since our body will turn into a “survival mode” and will start storing everything.

You see, when you starve, you tell your body to slow everything down and start storing for bad days.

And the first thing your body does when you stop providing enough food, it starts lowering your metabolism, stimulating brain chemicals to make you think about food, holding onto fat, and shutting down non-essential systems (to survival).

One example of that is with the reproductive systems, which is why many women who are under-eating end up losing their monthly menstrual cycle.

The body starts holding onto its fat stores and starts lowering the metabolism, which is the complete opposite of what should happen in a perfectly healthy body.

#2: You’ll Start Burning Lean Muscle

Since the metabolism is slowed down as we starve, and our body starts storing fat, it also starts burning lean muscle tissue for energy.

Why?

Well think about it this way – what does our metabolism want less of when it’s starving?

It wants less tissue because more tissues mean burning more calories.

And the type of tissue that burns a lot of calories and it’s not that essential for survival is muscle tissue.

So when our metabolism thinks we are starving, it gets rid of the calorie-hungry muscle tissue.

In fact, many studies show that most of the weight lost while eating less comes from burning muscles, not body fat!

Plus, the more muscles we have the more calories we burn.

And by starving we do the exact opposite of what we want – we burn muscles and store fat.

#3: You’ll Gain More Weight Than You Used To Have

Starving yourself may result in short-term weight loss, but as I just explained it doesn’t come from the right source of weight.

What’s even worse, we’ll gain back the weight once we resume eating regularly again.

And we usually gain even more weight than we used to.

Here’s how…

As soon as we stop eating less and we get back to our old eating habits, we have all the calories we used to have but need less of them.

This is thanks to all that missing muscle we just lost by starving and due to our slowed-down metabolism.

With a slower metabolism, consuming what used to be a normal amount for us is now feeling like overeating to the body.

And that’s why we gain more weight after finishing a starvation diet.

I’m sorry to break this down for you, but in most cases eating less is worse than doing nothing.

The well-known “yo-yo” effect many women experience with most of the diets is not a myth.

Luckily there’s always something you can do about it. We’ll get there in a while.

#4: Starving Causes Binge Eating

When you’re not getting full with the meals you eat, you end up thinking about food most of the time.

And thinking about food and feeling hungry all the time leads to binging, which is even worse.

When your body and mind are hungry, it will have anything and that’s when you’ll reach for junk food.

When you are starving, your body releases chemicals to make you think about food.

And what’s even more shocking is that this chemical actually increases your motivation to eat, delays satiety, and simulates food intake with a preference for carbs.

Photo by @meowmeix

That’s the main reason why you are craving for that bite of chocolate cake, not because you are an “emotional eater” but because starvation does that to your body.

What To Do Instead?

First of all, if you’re still asking yourself can you lose weight by not eating, or are on a starvation diet – STOP IMMEDIATELY!

Next step: Start eating healthy foods, and eat plenty of them.

As crazy as it sounds, eating less is not what it takes to lose weight.

What it takes to get healthier and start losing fat is eating the right foods.

Start with a plan that focuses on getting you healthy and clean, instead of restricting you to portion sizes and counting calories.

Losing weight is not just a simple math problem where you have to think about calories in vs calories out.

What foods those calories come from is as important, so make sure to choose the right foods.

Also, our body has a thing called “volume counter” too, which means you won’t get full by eating calories, but they have to fulfill a certain volume in the stomach too.

This explains the reason why we can’t get full by eating 3-4 almonds, no matter how many calories are in there.

In my meal plan, I  focus on volume with the perfect formula where you can eat as much as you want without compromising the calorie intake.

Plus, you still have to enjoy the foods you eat at the end of the day, so start a meal plan that’s adjustable and satisfies your taste buds.

Always remember, eating healthy is about creating a sustainable lifestyle you enjoy and that looks different for everyone.

Check out my meal plan to find out the best way to lose weight in 28 days!

This is the exact same diet, with the exact same meals I eat in a day, packed in a 4-week meal plan.

It’s fun, adjustable, diverse, and tasty as hell!

I feel so much better now when I fuel myself throughout the day with high-quality foods high in protein, loaded with veggies and the right amount of fruit and carbs for my activity level.

Grab your copy and start losing weight today! :)

And don’t you ever feel hungry again for the sake of getting healthier – DON’T EAT LESS, JUST EAT RIGHT!

Till next time, babes!
xo,

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