1. Eating Enough

If you are aiming for weight loss or fat loss, then yes you will need to be in a calorie deficit. 

However, a greater deficit, particularly in the initial phase, doesn’t always translate to faster weight loss.

In fact, if you cut calories too aggressively, you’re likely to cause one of more of the following;

• Slowing your metabolic rate
• Increasing stress in your body
• Interrupted sleep quality & quantity
• Poor recovery
• Poor mood
• No energy and loss of libido
• Loss of muscle mass

Remember our bodies are designed from a physiological survival point of view to store and hold onto fat and whilst you’ll need to be in a calorie deficit to lose fat, if you put yourself into too much of a deficit then your body will fight to hold onto fat.  Even, if you do lose ‘weight’ you’re likely to lose a lot of muscle as well as fat which will further impact your body composition, energy and metabolism.

How to make sensible calorie restrictions?

In general, start reducing your calories by 250 to 500 less than your maintenance calories.  It may take a little bit longer to achieve your fat loss goals.  However, you’re more likely to lose weight sustainably, retain more lean muscle (as you can retain training intensity) and feel and look great whilst doing it.

Going too hard, too extreme, too quickly, then completely failing and being miserable the whole time you are doing it is the alternative. You choose.

Remember – calorie deficits are temporary

Being in a calorie deficit constantly will likely cause stagnation and other adverse effects to your health.  It can also lead to, or exacerbate, a poor relationship with food.

Having defined blocks or phases of less calories should be followed by sensible reverse dieting to avoid a boom or bust approach to eating.

Another couple of ways to sustainable undertake calorie deficits is:

1. To eat your maintenance calories for a week or two at least every six weeks to re-set all your hormones and recover.

2. Incorporate reasonable re-feed or loading days every fortnight, week (or twice per week) depending on your unique circumstances.  This can be an effective means of re-setting hormones, keeping you sane and kick-starting further fat loss, even whilst still keeping you in a calorie deficit... IF, and this is a big IF, you have a healthy relationship with food.

Even so you still need to get back to maintenance calories on a regular basis and in some instances eat more than your maintenance calories – your ability to recognise when to and being able to adapt to different calorie cycles maturely will enhance your overall performance.

2. Getting Enough Volume

👉 Are you eating minimally processed wholefoods? Sure, you may be eating within your Calorie and Macronutrient range, but not all calories are the same… nutrient dense foods contain nutrients and transmitters often missing from highly processed foods. 

Afterall, if you had a handful of raw almonds or a chocolate biscuit with the same number of calories, which would be better for you?

👉 Are you really eating so called “healthy foods” that are highly processed i.e.?

• Yoghurt… check the sugar content
• Muesli bars, granola and protein bars… have a look at the sugar content, hydronated fats and separated ingredients such as soy protein isolate

👉 Are you eating too frequently? 

Outside of sports nutrition, where higher calories are typically needed, it may not be appropriate for you to be eating 5+ smaller meals per day.  Especially, if you are on low calories.  Eating 3 larger meals per day helps your digestive hormones and sense of satiety.

Another way to trigger your satiety hormones is to fill up on foods that take up space without adding too many calories, such as leafy greens, konjac noodles, psyllium husk and green vegetables. These also add in fibre, which has heaps of additional health benefits.

3. Stay Hydrated

You may feel hungry when in actual fact you are just thirsty.  By the time you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated.

Taking small regular mouthfuls of water throughout the day will help keep you hydrated, feeling fuller and less likely to mistake thirst for hunger.

A good rule of thumb is to have about 35ml of water per kilo of body weight (capped at 4L) per day.  Obviously, if you have intensive training or work in heavy industries or outdoors you may need to drink more water.

4. Protein Power

👉 Protein is essential for lean muscle building, recovery, cognitive function and event mental health.

👉 Protein has high satiety, so you feel fuller for longer after eating protein.

👉 Protein also has a higher thermic effect, so it burns more calories to digest than the other macros.

5. Sleep is King

If you aren’t getting enough sleep then your body will signal that it needs more energy. You can either get this energy from sleep or from food, your body doesn’t really care which, so you get to choose!

Often when we feel hungry late at night, we can just go to bed rather than succumbing to a late-night snack.

Sleep also reenergises our cognitive function, resilience and assists our mood.  When it comes to exercising Willpower for example or not reacting to micro stressors we need to be fully charged up.

Sleep is one of the best ways to recharge. 

6. Is it Really ‘Time to Eat’?

Or simply a habit that is being triggered by the clock?

If you always eat at 10am then you are training your body to expect food at that time, whether you are truly hungry or not. Sometimes we just eat out of habit, for example as a reward after completing a difficult task, or whenever we have a cup of coffee, we also have a biscuit.

Habits can become deeply ingrained, but with a little bit of conscious effort for a short time they can replaced! The best way to replace a habit is to simply modify an existing one, so if you’re used to having a sugary biscuit with your coffee try replacing it with a less sugary one, a protein ball, some nuts or a piece of fruit and keep improving your choices until they become your new normal.

Another way is to crowd out old habits with new ones and setting up your environment for success.  Simply throwing out all food that you don’t want to be tempted by in your house is a good start.

7. Mindful versus Overfull

When we eat mindlessly, we usually end up consuming heaps of calories without experiencing any fullness from them. Have you ever sat down in front of a riveting TV show or movie and thought to yourself “I’ll just have a few lollies or chips or popcorn” and before you know it the whole bag is gone without you even remembering eating them?

Your brain is easily distracted by what you are watching and hasn’t registered what you’ve been eating.

Try taking time out to eat, turn off all distractions and really focus on what you are eating. Take your time, chew slowly, appreciate all the nuances of taste.

💡 As a bonus tip, have pre-portioned food ready to go…

then if you are in a rush or slip on the mindfulness break… you won’t have overconsumed.

9. Emotional Eating

Look… let’s be honest, most of us (yes including me) have used food as a coping mechanism to cope with stress and or other difficult emotions.

We may get a moment or 2 of relief and then we experience intense feelings of guilt and self-loathing.

The thing is with self-sabotaging behaviours are that they are usually self-comfort activities undertaken because we do not yet know a better way to cope.  It’s a survival mechanism.

Whilst you’ll need to eventually “lean in to lean up” to unpack the underlying pain point, trauma or difficult emotion deploying self-care strategies can help resource you.

To learn more read this mini blog –

why self-care is your weight loss secret weapon

At some point you will need to learn to become more comfortable sitting with or experiencing all of your emotions and finding a way of getting through them.

To do this you nay also need to try things such as talking with someone, journaling, setting clear boundaries or confronting a difficult person.

10. Does Your Calorie Intake Support Your Activity Level?

Quite simply, if you’ve added three intense weight training sessions a week and some cardio when you were previously inactive, then you are going to require more calories to support the extra activity!

11. ‘Empty’ calories?

If what you are eating doesn’t supply your body with the nutrients it needs, then it will keep telling you to eat more until it receives them.

Choosing, more nutrient dense foods more often will help crowd out cravings.

Aside from alcohol, which was covered in last week’s newsletter… drinking your calories can come in the form of fruit juices, soft drink, energy drinks and sometimes even protein shakes and smoothies do not register with your body the same way that eating minimally processed wholefoods that you have to chew do.

12. Trying to Fill

a Void Within Yourself

If the void is not physical, like genuine hunger, then no amount of food is going to fill it.

Most of us need a sense of love, safety, connection & belongingness to thrive and when this is missing it can create an emptiness that can lead to self-sabotaging behaviours. 

Furthermore, if our subconscious mind perceives a threat to any of those, it may drive you to self-sabotaging behaviours such as emotional eating.

For others, a lack of purpose, creative expression or spirituality can create a void that we try to fill with food instead of deeper, more meaningful activities.

For others a reliance on others or circumstances to fill a void disempowers us.  Whilst some of us have a higher internal locus of control, many do not and as such become a victim to things outside our control.  

Luckily, an internal locus of control can be fostered just like our resilience muscles can be.  Taking the drivers wheel in all areas of our life can be daunting at first… but after awhile driving becomes as natural and automatic as walking.

Remember you are the only person who is going to be with you for your entire life, and the only one who is always on hand to be your own best friend!

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