My advanced chart in this image shows that the person dieting downhill is failing.
A quote from the book Metabolism Made Simple. “Antiquated “wisdom” around the idea of calories, energy, and traditional diets—and, more specifically, their execution—has failed our society. I call this linear subtraction of calories and increase in activity level “downhill dieting” because there’s never a pause or an attempt to prevent the metabolic downregulation that occurs as we attempt to achieve fat loss. This method, where calories are subtracted and increased activity, has failed our society, as evidenced by the dietary rebound statistics. It’s not that we shouldn’t diet, count calories, or exercise, but we need to understand how to leverage, manipulate, and time these tools properly to achieve long-term results.” (Miller, 2022)
Dieting down an endless hill to nowhere will not result in the body you want. We must stay from ample calories (the higher, the better), low energy expenditure (cardio and training), and low stress. A good weight loss starting point is the same as starting at the top of a high hill. Can you keep going down a mountain if you start at the bottom? If you said no, why do you think you can begin to diet and lose weight when stressed out, doing hours of cardio and training seven days a week? Doing more and eating less WILL NOT WORK for people starting from a poor state (at the bottom of the hill).
We need to be Metabolically balanced (at the top of our hill) before we enter into a weight loss period. Taking 3, 6, or even 12 months in a maintenance or surplus phase, depending on how long you have been trying to downhill diet, is the best thing many people can do to lose weight. YES, EAT MORE AND GAIN SOME WEIGHT FOR A WHILE TO LOSE WEIGHT.
When you wonder why “FAD diets” don’t work, why you are at 1200 calories daily for months with no fat loss or started training and doing cardio to see no changes in body composition. You need to examine the amount of time you’ve spent trying to lose weight with a downhill approach. Here lies the issue of most diets, TDE calculators, and coaches that don’t understand these more complicated issuess; they don’t look at diet history and the current starting point.
We can help you find your starting point and get you where you want to be. Just set up a time to meet one of us from Success. We will put you with the best coach for your needs.
Book reference
Miller, S. (2022). Metabolism Made Simple: Making Sense of Nutrition to Transform Metabolic Health. Lioncrest Publishing