Check out the picture on the right.
Now I am not saying that you want to get as lean as I did on the right but it does illustrate the point, doesn’t it?
I have heard a lot from other women who believe if they take their calories low they will lose more weight and they are scared to increase their calories. I think this picture speaks for itself but I am going to explain the concept and why I advocate going higher in calories than 1500 per day.
Back a couple of years ago I went as low as 1300 calories per day, some days it may have been less. I was also exercising twice a day- lifting weights in the morning and then cardio in the evening. But you can see my body was retaining more fat than when I was doing the same regime but on higher calories. When I was on higher calories it enabled me to work harder in the gym.
If you take your calories too low, your body will adjust to those low calories and retain fat because you haven’t built your metabolism, you have decreased your metabolism.
Understandably, you would think the best thing to do is go lower in calories because you might be constantly told that as an older woman, your metabolism has changed, and therefore to get around this – you should eat less, right?
WRONG.
Yes, you need to eat in a calorie deficit but the cornerstone of my method (which has been proven right time and again) is:
- Build metabolism through strength training.
- HIIT workouts to burn fat.
- High protein diet with a healthy balance of carbs and fats.
Number 1 is particularly important as that is what is going to change your metabolism. BUT if you don’t have high enough calories, you won’t be able to build the muscle that burns fat. This also means eating a good amount of carbs.
So please, especially if you are on one of my programs, eat everything that is on your plan. Don’t skip meals and don’t go below 1500 calories. You need the food to fuel your workouts so that you can burn more fat.
Yes, you may put on more weight on the scales but no one cares what your weight is, and nor should you. Take measurements, and photos and feel how your clothes fit. If everything is getting loose and you need to buy more clothes, what does it matter what you weigh?
Have a look at my YouTube video if you want more information about why you shouldn’t go too low on calories: