If weight loss is your goal, then you must have come across the term ‘caloric deficit’, which means consuming less calories than your Body burns. This caloric deficit is often mistaken as skipping meals or starvation. In the quest to lose those pesky extra pounds, many people will skip meals hoping to see fast results. This can result in consistent weight loss within the first few weeks, but as time passes by, many people will hit a plateau.

Calorie restriction sounds like a shortcut to weight loss. For many, it’s an easy way to lose weight in quickly, however, it’s an invitation to develop health problems that can have long-term effects without ever attaining sustainable weight loss.

Below we discuss why calorie restriction actually makes you a fat-storing machine instead of a fat-burning machine!

1. Metabolism Slowdown
Metabolism is the chemical processes that occur in your body in order keep your body functioning. Food provides the calories required to fuel these chemical reactions. Thus, the metabolism depends on your selective food consumption, because not all foods (fast food) provide adequate nutrition. When you stop consuming calories for longer duration, your body limits these chemical processes, which slows down your metabolism, and a slow metabolism doesn’t support weight loss.

2. The Skinny Fat Dilemma
Calorie restriction cuts down on the supply of essential nutrients to your body. A short supply of nutrients, especially protein, causes the break down of muscle tissues. Muscle loss does cause your weight to drop, but it also makes you weak and your fat levels stay the same. Thus, your arms, shoulders, and legs become thin, while the fatty areas like belly, hips, and thighs remain bulky.

3. Aids in Fat-Storing
Our body stores the energy that is over and above our daily requirement as fat. When you deprive your body from healthy food, your body goes into survival mode. This means that the act of starvation will make your body think that it is not getting enough fuel to run itself and thus, whatever meal you consume will not be effective enough for right weight condition.

4. Promotes Overeating
After a prolonged period of a starvation diet or crash diet, you often feel hungry, which leads to impulsive eating. This overeating causes not only weight gain, but also leads to obesity.

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Conclusion:
The points discussed above suggest that skipping meals to lose weight isn’t a good idea. Does that mean that the weight loss theory of eating fewer calories than you need to is incorrect? No, weight loss does require you to consume fewer calories than your daily requirement. However, what really matters is the type of food you consume. Take a smart approach to weight loss by cutting down on your calorie intake and consuming essential nutrients like protein and good fats.

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