Starving children in Africa. Holocaust victims who went weeks, months without food. Google some photos of these… well actually, don’t. Because it’s very sad (with all due respect to these people ?). They are skin and bones. That’s what “not eating enough” looks like.
What “not eating enough” for the average person trying to lose weight looks like is either one of the following:
A. Eats nothing all day. Cucumbers, celery, maybe a piece of chicken. 3:00 comes around. Blood sugar is down in the dumps and your brain searches for lots of calories FAST. Muffin, chocolate bar, whatever. Dinner rolls around and your body is still searching for those extra calories so you mindlessly over-portion and snack while you’re preparing the food. Your satiation is completely screwed from starving yourself all day so you raid the pantry after dinner and do some real damage. The 3000 calories you managed to consume in a span of 6 hours completely wipes out your attempt at starvation during the day. Not to mention you’re messing with your hunger and fullness signals (leptin and ghrelin), and may start to lose them altogether. Long term, you’re messing with your natural brain chemicals, big time.
B. “I’m going on a diet” Eats 1000 calories on Monday and works out for 3 hours. Next day- feels like absolute shit and binges on 8000 calories while lying in bed.
Do not EVER try to out smart your instincts. We are a very complex and intelligent species. Our ancestors have survived through feast and famine thanks to these instincts. There’s a reason why our ancestors would binge on honey when they found it…. the brain knew it was rare and the brain knew it gave the human lots of quick energy. The brain will lock in on high calorie items when famine strikes. Yes, it is that smart. As primitive creatures, this helped us survive. But now living within an abundance of food at our fingertips, this works against us.
You ARE eating enough, more than enough ….. you’re just not eating smart. You’re living in denial. Eat your breakfast. Have your snacks. Eat a big nutritious lunch. Protein, fat and carbs at every meal. And let’s put this one to rest… EAT YOUR CARBS! They will not make you fat.
There’s only one thing that makes you fat. It’s not your hormones (unless you have an autoimmune condition that is undiagnosed/unmedicated- but even that has to be quite extreme), it’s not your metabolism, it’s not “not eating enough”. You are simply NOT IN A CALORIE DEFICIT. That is it, and science has proven over and over again that this is the only reason people do not lose weight.
So, be honest with yourself. Are you really not eating enough? Let’s be realistic…. does that even make any sense? Think about it.