By fitlifemonthly 
If you want to lose weight, you might think it’s all about counting calories and eating less. But according to Terry Fairclough, a top personal trainer and co-founder of Your Body Programme, that’s not always the best approach.
As a personal trainer, Terry has heard all sorts of opinions on the best diet for weight loss. Should you count calories? How many should you eat? Low fat, low carb, high protein, fasting, or eating small, frequent meals – it can be confusing. But one thing is clear: seriously under-eating is not the answer.
Sure, drastically cutting calories will lead to weight loss, but it’s not necessarily the kind of loss you want. It’s more about losing water and stored carbs, not fat. Many people need a slight caloric deficit because they’ve been overeating, but under-eating isn’t the solution for everyone.
When you eat, your body breaks down carbs into glucose, the main fuel for your cells. If your body doesn’t use this glucose immediately for energy, it’s stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver. When you cut calories drastically, what you’re really losing is this stored glycogen and the water attached to it, not fat.
A long-term calorie deficit causes the body to hold onto fat and break down protein instead. Adequate protein intake helps burn fat by fueling muscle at rest. Therefore, it’s crucial to consume enough calories from a balanced diet containing fats, carbs, and protein.
Fat is an essential and long-lasting fuel source, providing more energy than carbs or protein. It is stored in muscle fibers, making it accessible during exercise. By cutting out fat, you won’t have the energy needed to exercise effectively and lose fat.
Moreover, severely restricting calories and nutrients can lead to deficiencies affecting your immune, liver, and digestive systems, and slowing down your metabolism. Health issues from under-eating include fatigue, malnutrition, osteoporosis, anemia, hormonal imbalances, and fertility problems.
Stress from extreme calorie deficits triggers cortisol release, increasing the breakdown of protein while the body holds onto fat. High cortisol levels can slow metabolism, lead to belly fat, cause thyroid problems, and impair digestion, all of which make losing fat harder.
Under-eating negatively impacts your ability to digest, absorb, and use the necessary nutrients for good health and training. Lack of proper nutrition can also disrupt sleep, triggering stress hormones that lower blood sugar and wake you up, which further affects your health and fat loss efforts.
Bodybuilding competitors may restrict calories to get lean but often increase calories again after competing. However, incorrect calorie cycling can lead to illness. Continually cutting calories will eventually lead to a metabolic slowdown, making it harder to lose weight.
The key is to eat the right number of calories, carbs, fats, and proteins for your body type, goals, activity level, age, height, and weight. Your Body Programme helps people determine their specific caloric needs. Eating the correct amount and maintaining a balanced diet is essential for optimal health and metabolism.
Instead of cutting calories drastically, focus on eating plenty of lean proteins like beef, chicken, eggs, and fish, and plant-based options if you’re vegan. Include healthy carbs like fruits, vegetables, sweet potatoes, quinoa, brown rice, and whole wheat pasta. Also, incorporate healthy fats from avocados, nuts, seeds, olives, and olive oil.
Terry Fairclough, co-founder of Your Body Programme, emphasizes that eating the correct balance of foods and calories will help you lose fat more effectively. He advises a diet rich in lean proteins, healthy carbs, and fats to keep your body healthy, energized, and ready to burn fat.