Food is fuel

 have coached nutrition to general population individuals for many years now, and a striking pattern has emerged. People are not eating enough to fuel their bodies. 

Over the years we have been preached at to move more and eat less and that, unfortunately, has put a lot of people in a tough situation. I have worked with individuals eating 500, 800, or 1000 calories per day while trying to make progress towards their health and wellness goals.

Food is what your body runs on. It is like gas in a car. How do you think you will drive your car without gas? How do you expect your body to perform without food? Weights will feel heavier, energy levels will diminish, your mental headspace won’t be right, and we expect things to go well?

In addition, one of the primary goals for many individuals at the gym is to lose weight. When your body is under stress and your cortisol levels are high, your body doesn’t want to burn fat. Keeping your calories low adds additional stress on your body and will shut down the fat burning process; often, individuals find that they ADD fat around the midsection.

So how do we fix this? Slowly, and over time. We must make conscious changes to our lifestyle habits and make an effort to increase our caloric intake. To increase your food intake, slowly add 100 calories every 3-6 weeks and try to get your protein levels to 0.6-0.8g/lb of bodyweight. 

I bet you will find that, over time, you will begin to feel hungrier (a good sign!!), have more energy, have better mental clarity, improve in the gym, and just feel better overall. 

Food is fuel.