Are you eating enough?

Everyday we hear about someone going on a diet, calorie restriction, juicing, trying to eat better, watch what they eat, or however you want to phrase it! Some of these same people will see great results right off the bat and lose weight/inches, but then plateau, and not reach their ultimate goal. A lot of times, this flatline in progress is actually due to not taking in enough calories. When you restrict calories to such low numbers (never less than 1200 is my rule, and even that is super low),your body goes into what is called 'starvation mode' and begins storing any calories taken in as fat to utilize as energy. You need to take in enough 'energy' or 'calories' daily for your body to function, so when that numbers gets too low, your body tries to preserve anything and everything it can to keep functioning. At this point, your body begins to burn its own muscle for energy...and everyone should know by now that muscles burns way more calories than fat. So if you are losing muscle mass, your body will not burn nearly as many calories daily. p> How do you know how many calories your body needs on a daily basis? Well first of all, a few components come into play: sex (sadly ladies, males burn more calories than females on average), how active you are (i.e. couch potatoes need less calories than runners), your age (unfortunately our metabolism naturally slows down with age)and lastly your current height and weight (the smaller you are, the less calories you will need). Every person has what is called a 'Basal Metabolic Rate' or in other words, how many calories your body needs to be awake and urn itself for a day. This is determined with a somewhat complicated equation, called the Harris-Benedict Formula, but it is just plug and chug:

* Women: 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)

* Men: 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

You then take that final number and multiply it by your corresponding activity level:

* Sedentary (little or no exercise) - 1.2

* Lightly active (light exercise/work 1-3 days per week) - 1.375

* Moderately active (moderate exercise/work 3-5 days per week) - 1.55

* Very active (hard exercise/work 6-7 days a week) - 1.725

* Extra active (very hard exercise/work 6-7 days a week) - 1.9

The total number you come up with is how many calories you burn by just living everyday. If you are trying to lose weight, you should subtract 250-500 calories from that number and aim for that daily. If you are trying to gain weight, add 250-300 healthy calories daily.

You don't know how many times I hear people tell me they've skipped breakfast or don't eat lunch, or my personal favorite, they 'forgot to eat!' How does one, 'forget to eat?" Isn't eating natural and something you do everyday, how can you possibly forget!? Anyways, rant over...if you are skipping meals in an attempt to lose weight, you will never reach your goal. You will reach it by eating healthy calories at least 3 times a day and not skipping meals!