Here is a statement, “Weight loss happens when you eat less in a day than what your body needs to function that day”. That is it. Notice I did not mention exercising, dieting, etc. nothing. Just a simple scientifically proven statement. Eat less to lose weight.
Does this sound controversial? Exactly opposite to what you hear? Friends, family and even doctors say, “exercise is key to health and it will make you lose weight”. You need to understand that they are not entirely wrong. What they are saying is that exercise helps lose weight. However, it is not the biggest reason to lose weight. They are not addressing the elephant in the room– eating less. Why? For two reasons-
- It has become taboo to ask people to eat less. Staying hungry, hunger pangs, growling stomachs are considered “bad” these days.
- Over the years, processed food has made more calories that we eat, absorb-able and stored… into fat. So for example, eating 100g of whole wheat bread in 1940 may have given you effective carbs of say 60 kcal, today the same “whole wheat” bread will give you 100 kcal!
For example, when your doctor notices that you are not willing (or persuaded to eat) less, she suggests burning those calories. Let’s put it in numbers. Did you know that there is an exact number of calories you need to maintain weight? Say I need 2,000 kcal/day to maintain weight but if I eat 2,500 kcal/day, my doctor might suggest exercising, probably cardio to burn excess calories. However, even the 40 minutes of exercise she suggests may burn about 300 kcal. It still leaves 200 kcal inside me that will get stored into…. fat.
Do not get intimated by the above calorie counting numbers. We at Circee Health NEVER ask anyone to count calories. Instead, we ask you to eat food that is just not processed as much. By doing so, you will not take in a lot of calories.
So ask yourself, especially if you have been exercising for years, have you lost weight? If the answer is “no”, then why not try eating less? How do you do this you ask?
Science Says
Studies showed that independently of the method for weight loss, the negative energy balance alone is responsible for weight reduction. Also, reduced-calorie diets result in clinically meaningful weight loss regardless of which macronutrients they emphasize.