Should You Eat More Calories to Lose Weight?

When you think of losing weight, it usually calls to mind visions of eating less, but for some people, the choice to eat more calories is the right one. The thing is that while it’s certainly possible to eat too much – that’s often what causes us to gain the weight in the first place – we can also eat too little.

Eating too few calories can also work against your weight goals. In fact, if you don’t eat more calories to the point that you’re within the right healthy range, you can make it considerably harder to lose weight. It may even make it easier for you to gain weight in the future.

When You Need to Eat More Calories

Under-eating is a thing, even in the world of losing weight. Many people think that if they want to reduce their body fat, the less they can eat, the better. In fact, even when they under-eat, they may lose weight at first. This can fool people into thinking they’re making progress. However, after a while, if they don’t eat more calories, the body starts to shift the way it functions.

Your body needs a certain number of calories in order to function. If you don’t consume enough, the metabolism slows down. It’s typically recommended that you eat more calories before that happens or you’ll burn through fat more slowly than you usually would.

Working Hard and Losing Less

If you don’t eat more calories in time and stop your metabolism from slowing down, you’ll find yourself fighting an uphill battle. Even when you’re being very careful about what you consume, you won’t lose weight as quickly as you had been. In fact, your weight loss may even stop and you’ll hit a plateau.

This means you’ll feel starving all the time and see little to no results. This happens all too often to dieters. Unfortunately, once they start to eat more calories – because they’re hungry and will need to do so eventually – their metabolic rates are so slow their weight risks ballooning.

How to Eat the Right Number of Calories

The key to being able to eat more calories is to make sure you’re consuming nutrient-dense foods. This doesn’t mean you can eat as much as you want. If you don’t know your healthy calorie range, your doctor can help you. This will help you to make sure you don’t eat too few calories, which would cause your metabolism to slow down, or too many, which would promote weight loss.