Diet vs. Meal Plan response.

After one of my last posts about 5 to 6 small meals a day, I got several emails asking, can’t I just cut calories?  Here is what I’ve come to understand why just cutting calories doesn’t work.  If you normally take in 2500 to 3500 calories daily and cut it to 1000 to 1250, that will work at first, but won’t last.  It will actually come back to hurt you.  By doing that, you are triggering the body’s starvation mode.  It is part of the body’s mechanism to adapt to its surroundings.  It sees food as now scarce, and slows down the metabolism to store as much as it can.  Since you are depriving yourself, you also eventually begin to crave the favorite foods you are missing.  Finally, when everything crashes, you are back to eating 3500 calories daily, but with a much slower metabolism than before and have set yourself up to gain more weight than you lost.  By going with around 300 - 400 calories 5 to 6 times a day, your body does not see a lack of food, but an abundance of food, therefore does not feel the need to store.  Your metabolism keeps burning.  Don’t forget, exercise is still important, even if it is going for a walk.  Till next time, The Average Joe.