There’s a huge misconception that lowering calories and eating as less food as one can (ingrained by fad diets), would lead to faster weight loss – totally false! If you are not eating enough, because you want to shed weight, your body might not approve of this decision and revolt by gaining weight instead. Skimping calories by a great degree is also called crash dieting and one reason why such a practice would never get you to your goal weight – to compensate for the lack of energy from food, the body switches to a “famine” mode by lowering metabolism, burning lean muscle, and holding on dearly to its fat reserves. The truth is that even when you are trying to lose weight – you have to respect your body and support its energy demand. As we have mentioned above, going too low on calorie count, by following fad diets will always be counter productive. Through evolution, our body has been learned to hoard fat and with food deprivation, it detects an “energy crunch” and switches on mechanisms to conserve energy. Ideally, to lose weight, one should get into a calorie deficit, but not by surviving entirely on salads and soups. Calories are not your enemy, they are the fuel from energy is derived to run every little function in the body – from breathing to the beating of heart. So, instead of slashing calories randomly, do consume enough calories to run all body functions smoothly. Ideally, a woman should not go lower than 1200 calories and a man should not go lower than 1500. So, look out for these signs that show you that you are not eating enough to lose weight.
1. You are Always Hangry: A good weight loss diet will help you feel better about yourself, give energy to perform daily tasks, improve mood – but if you are irritable, fatigued, and feel crappy, and hangry (hunger+angry) through the day, it’s because you are eating too less.
2. Brain fog: Not able to concentrate at work or while doing regular chores? Inability to focus on tasks is referred to as “brain fog” and that can happen if you are running too low on fuel, aka calories.
3. Fatigue and Headaches: Feeling lightheaded with a nagging headache is one sure-shot sign that you are slashing calories by a great degree while dieting.
4. Unable to Have Sound Sleep: Struggling to have a good night’s sleep? A crash in energy demand can lead to sleep disruptions, and sleep deprivation has been directly linked to weight gain. Make sure you are getting at least 7 hours of sleep every night.
5. Preoccupied with Food Thoughts: Are you daydreaming about food? Preoccupation with food, with an inability to concentrate on other jobs is a sign that your body is craving for food.
6. Severe Hair Fall: Hmmm….nutritional deficiencies can trigger severe hair fall. That’s because your body is allocating the few calories you are providing to run important activities – like supporting functions of brain and heart, and cutting energy and nutritional expenses on hair and skin.
7. Increased Stress: It’s a direct outcome when you are eating too less. Increase in cortisol also means you are most likely to gain weight rather than lose it.
8. No Energy for Working Out/Exercise: Forget hitting the gym, you do not have energy to take even a few steps – and that’s because, the body is trying to conserve as much energy and calories as possible.
9. Digestive Issues: Constipation due to lack of fiber, probiotics, from dietary sources has also been noted when people resort to crash dieting to lose weight.
10. Hormonal Imbalance: It’s a fact that all important hormones go out of whack with crash dieting – from ghrelin, leptin, thyroid, insulin – all hormones that have a control on weight loss – begin to dysfunction.
11. Zero Weight Loss: To hold on to as many calories as it can, instead of burning, the body would just refuse to shed any weight.
12. Horror – You are Gaining Weight! Low metabolism, nutritional deficiencies (Vitamin D deficiency is linked with obesity), sleep deprivation, increased stress – all these factors add up and make a person gain weight.
Now, here’s the solution to your weight loss woes – Rati Beauty diet helps you to lose weight by eating nutritious food, the right amount of calories, without food deprivation, and putting you on the right kind of food to nourish the body – you can eat your way to weight loss on this diet.
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