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Well hello Paula Pickalot, you must be friends with Candace Cantloseweight. If not, let me introduce you because you have a lot of things in common. You both don’t eat enough, you both subconsciously compensate for your lack of input by mindlessly inducing extra calories, and you are both in denial! Match made in heaven. Besties! ?‍♀️

So let’s chat about Paula. Paula exercises hard and eats super clean, but she doesn’t eat very much, or so she thinks. She’s been at the same weight for a year and the math just doesn’t make sense. Her input is 1200, her output is about 1800 averaged out through the week. That’s a 600 calorie deficit. Science says Paula should be losing 0.6 kg a week! So what the heck is going on?!

Paula is quick to blame her metabolism and hormones. Let’s talk metabolism – the more bodyfat you lose, the less harder your body has to work simply because there is less space. On top of that, the metabolism will slow itself down to conserve energy when you are in a significant deficit BUT it really isn’t that much, maybe a difference of 50-100 some odd calories. Now let’s talk hormones…. YES hormones are effected but not the way you think. The one that suffers the most is called leptin. Leptin tells you when to eat and it is one powerful son of a gun. Because of leptin, Paula grazes all day long but tells herself she’s not eating that much. Leptin doesn’t care about your dress size… leptin cares about staying at it’s comfy set point so it doesn’t have to work as hard.

We are primitive creatures built with instincts that are very difficult to outsmart. Have you ever tried staying awake when you’re tired? Your brain is smarter than your will power. It will find a way to make you sleep even if you’re on your front lawn. The same goes for hunger. Just like sleep, we need food to survive. Don’t try to outsmart your instincts.

Paula snacks on a lot of veggies and rice cakes thinking they are calorie-less. They have calories too Paula, and they are not very satiating on their own so you will search for more. I dare Paula to only have one handful of granola or nuts, or one pick of cookie dough when she’s baking. Or one noodle when she’s cooking pasta at dinner time. I bet she can’t, thanks to her instincts. The brain knows exactly where to look for high calorie items. Will power will not cut it. For some people it does, those people DO exist. But it’s very rare, and they often end up becoming bingers. The brain is almighty Paula, accept that!

So what’s our advice for Paula? EAT MORE!!! If Paula wants granola, pair it with some Greek yogurt and berries for a complete, satiating meal. Blood sugar remains stable, leptin is happy and Paula is FAR less likely to graze throughout the day. If Paula bumps her intake up to 1600 calories a day CONSISTENTLY, she may not take a dive on the scale but she will most definitely feel better, have more energy and see a slow, steady decrease in her weight.

Another way to think of it… do you think professional athletes who train hard eat 1200 calories a day? Not a chance. They fuel their body. Swimmers, sprint runners, bicyclists etc…. they eat frequently to balance their output and they stay nice and lean year round.

Do you relate to Paula? Let us know what you think! Comment below ??