It’s not your fault.
If you’re on a calorie deficit not losing weight, then you’re most likely following the classic calories in vs calories out model of weight loss.
It’s built around this idea that if you just eat a little less, a.k.a be on a calorie deficit and move a little bit more, like exercise for example. Do that over time and you’re gonna lose weight.
It’s a simple concept that’s supposed to work, right? Almost everyone I know including their dog has tried this method of weight loss in some way, shape or form.
The problem is, it might work at the beginning. But then it stops working. You hit a plateau. You’re frustrated. So you blame yourself and then you quit. Sound familiar? And that’s where a lot of people that are on a deficit not losing weight find themselves.
In this video, I’m gonna show you why you’re on a calorie deficit not losing weight.
The Truth About Calories In Vs Calories Out
Let’s talk about the calories in vs calories out to paint a better picture why you’re not losing weight.
The calories in calories out model while it’s technically true, is almost entirely dependent on the ‘calories out’ part of the equation. The ‘calories in’ makes very little difference. And nobody talks about this part. Because reducing the calories in, like being on a calorie deficit, often reduces the calories out. And we just make this false assumption that the calories out stays stable. But it doesn’t.
The other thing is that your body doesn’t even count calories. Do you see a calorie counter in your stomach?
Your ‘calories out’, also known as your Basal Metabolic Rate can actually go up or down by as much as 50%.
Nothing proves this better than studies done on the Biggest Loser, a popular TV show in the US, where the contestants get put on these massive calorie deficit diets. And it works at the beginning. They lose a ton of weight and everyone’s happy.
The problem is, it’s not sustainable. Over time after they’re done the show, they’re still on this massive calorie deficit, and their metabolic rate just goes to shit. They stop losing weight even though they’re on a massive calorie deficit. They’re barely eating anything at this point and they’re always hungry. Sound familiar?
Why do you think there’s never any Biggest Loser reunion? Because most of them have gained back a lot of the weight they’ve lost.
Your Body Acts As A Two Compartment System
The reason for that is there’s really only two places that you can get energy from. And this is the thing that a lot of If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) “experts” out there don’t talk about. They sell you on this idea that you can eat pop tarts and pizza every day as long as it fits your macros.
What these IIFYM “experts” don’t tell you is that your body actually functions as a two compartment system. If you look at the energy that your body wants to expend just to keep you alive, you know, keep your brain active, keep your heart pumping, keep your organs functioning, basically, your basal metabolic rate. Let’s call it BMR for short.
Let’s say your BMR is 2000 calories. Well, there’s two different places where you can get those 2000 calories. You can get it from the food that you eat, OR, you can get it from your fat stores. So the assumption is that if you go on a calorie deficit, let’s say 1500 calories. You eat 1500 calories worth of food, you’ll make up the difference of 500 from your fat stores and your 2000 calorie BMR will stay stable and therefore you’re gonna lose a pound a week and you’re gonna lose 52 lbs in one year and you’re gonna weigh zero pounds in a couple of years.
Of course, if that was true, we’d all be walking around with a six pack. This is the weight loss model that we’ve been led to believe for decades. And almost every body i know has done a calorie deficit diet. The problem is, it’s almost never worked for anybody for a sustainable amount of time.
The Role Of Insulin When It Comes To Weight Loss
Now, going back to the two compartment model. I want you to think about your body as sort of a railway switch. Right? Think of a train having to go through a fork. You can only go one of two directions. Right?
And this is the most important concept that I want you to take away from this. You can either take your energy from the foods that you eat or you can take your energy from your body fat. You can either get it from one or the other. Meaning you can’t get a little bit from the foods you eat then get a little bit from your body fat. It doesn’t work like that. It’s one or the other.
And the biggest determinant of this railway switch is the hormone insulin. Whenever you eat a meal, assuming it’s a blend of protein, fat, and carbs, your insulin goes up. All you have to remember is that if your insulin goes up, you turn off fat burning. You’re in fat storage mode.
Now, when you stop eating, your insulin levels go down, and you switch from fat storage mode to fat burning mode. If we’re being technical here, you’re switching from the fed state to the fasted state. You start using some of the stored energy in your body and that’s the reason why you don’t die in your sleep every single night. You’ve probably never thought of it like that before, haven’t you?
Because as your insulin falls, you switch fuel sources and you get your energy from stored glycogen and body fat. It’s a pretty well run system assuming that you keep your fed and your fasted state in balance. And that’s what you want. You wanna have periods where you elevate your insulin levels to take in the nutrients from the foods that you eat, but then you also wanna have periods where insulin levels are low so you can use body fat for energy.
The problem is, that’s not what happens in today’s society. 6 small meals a day, anyone?
The Problem With Eating 6 Small Meals A Day
Let’s talk about that model quickly. As you eat constantly throughout the day. If you eat snacks, if you eat a lot of foods that are highly insulin stimulating like refined carbs and sugar. And that’s the problem. Most go-to snacks on the market are highly processed and full of sugar like granola bars and protein bars. As you keep your insulin levels high from eating all the time and eating refined carbs and sugar, you’ve switched over to this track where you can only get your energy from the food that you eat.
Remember, you can’t burn fat if your insulin levels are high. And again, this is where a lot of people who go on a calorie deficit diet find themselves. They’re not losing weight even though they’re eating less and they’re on this massive calorie deficit, they eat low calorie and low fat foods which are high processed, they’re hungry because those foods are not satiating, so they snack all the time, and they end up blaming themselves for not losing weight.
The Problem With Going On A Calorie Deficit
Let’s look at some numbers to paint a better picture here. Let’s say you go on a diet where you’re on a 1500 calorie deficit. But again, you’re snacking all the time. You eat a lot of refined carbs, highly processed foods, and sugar.
If only 1500 calories are coming in, you can only burn 1500 calories.
I mentioned this earlier in that you can’t just go on a calorie deficit and expect your body to make up the difference from your fat stores. It sounds like a great idea but your body doesn’t work that way. Your body is forced to ramp down it’s metabolic rate instead. And this is the problem with the classic calories in vs calories out model.
As you start off for example with a BMR of 2000 calories, then you go on a calorie deficit, your body compensates for this by turning down your metabolic rate to 1500 calories. Then let’s say you eat 1700 calories because you’re tired of eating so little. Here’s the crazy part. Even though you’re eating less than you did before, remember, you’re only eating 1700 calories now, still lower than the original 2000, but since your metabolism has gone down to 1500 calories, you’re gonna start gaining back the weight you’ve lost.
So then you kinda do it again. And this is the definition of yo-yo dieting.
You decide that you’re gonna go on an even bigger calorie deficit. Let’s say 1200 calories which is insanely low. But you’re eating constantly. You’re eating highly processed, low fat, low calorie food which are usually loaded with sugar. Well, now your metabolic rate has to go down to 1200.
Your body now has to start conserving energy. It has to slow down normal body functions because there’s barely any energy coming in. So you start to feel cold because your body isn’t generating as much body heat, you feel tired and lethargic, you’re hungry all the time and you’re not losing weight. The good news is that the metabolic rate can go up as well.
But again, the key determinant of that is insulin because you have to open up those stores of body fat for you to burn. It’s not just there for looks.
If you’re on a calorie deficit and you’re not losing weight, this is why.
As always, if this was helpful, share it with a friend who could benefit from it as well!
Need More Help?
Use this simple 4-step process to melt ALL the fat around your stomach and look good shirtless WITHOUT going on a crazy diet or wasting hours at the gym. Get the Lean Body Blueprint here for free!
Leave a Reply