5 Signs Your Calories Are Too Low (You MUST Know This!)
Summary
TLDRThis video discusses the potential pitfalls of setting calorie intake too low for weight loss, such as losing muscle mass and slowing metabolism. It outlines five signs to identify if your calorie intake is too low: decreased gym performance, rapid weight loss, frequent cheat days, uncontrollable hunger, and impaired daily functioning. The video advises adjusting calorie intake, focusing on sustainability, and suggests a more balanced, long-term approach to achieving and maintaining a lean physique.
Takeaways
- 🔍 A daily calorie intake of 1500 might be too low, and 1700 could be more appropriate for some people.
- 🏋️♂️ Consistently getting weaker in the gym could be a sign that your calorie intake is too low, affecting training performance and muscle mass.
- 📉 Losing weight too quickly can lead to muscle loss and a slower metabolism, so it's important to adjust calorie intake based on your body fat percentage.
- 🚫 A common misconception is that eating very low calories will lead to faster weight loss, but it might be unsustainable and unhealthy.
- 🍽 It's crucial to find a balance between calorie restriction for weight loss and maintaining enough intake for daily function and workout performance.
- 🔄 Frequently falling off track with diet plans due to hunger and low energy might indicate that the calorie intake is set too low.
- 🤔 Constant hunger and obsession with food could be signs that your calorie intake is not sustainable and needs reassessment.
- 💡 The video suggests increasing calorie intake by 5-10% if you're experiencing signs of an overly restrictive diet.
- ⏳ A long-term, sustainable approach to weight loss is recommended over quick fixes, emphasizing lifestyle changes and healthy routines.
- 🚶♂️ Incorporating daily walking and hitting 7,000 to 10,000 steps can help create a calorie deficit without extreme calorie restriction.
Q & A
What is the main concern regarding a daily calorie intake of 1500 or 1700 for weight loss?
-The main concern is that such low calorie intakes may lead to under-eating, which could result in losing muscle mass, slowing down metabolism, falling off track with diet plans, and potentially regaining lost weight.
What are the five signs that suggest your calorie intake might be set too low?
-The five signs are: 1) getting objectively weaker in the gym, 2) losing weight too fast based on your body fat percentage, 3) consistently having cheat days, 4) hunger getting completely out of control, and 5) not being able to function properly day to day.
Why is it important to not just focus on the number on the scale when dieting?
-Focusing solely on the number on the scale can lead to losing muscle mass, which is counterproductive for achieving a better physique and sustainable weight loss. It's important to maintain muscle while losing fat.
What is the recommended rate of fat loss to protect lean muscle mass?
-The recommended rate of fat loss is between half a percent to about three quarter of a percent of your body weight per week, depending on your current body fat percentage.
How can you tell if your calories are truly set too low based on weight loss?
-A more precise way to tell if your calories are too low is by monitoring how much weight you are losing week to week in relation to your body fat percentage. If you're losing weight at a rate that's too fast for your body fat percentage, it might be a sign that your calorie intake is too low.
What is the significance of the 10 calories per pound rule for target body weight?
-The 10 calories per pound rule is a guideline suggesting that one should not consume fewer than 10 calories for each pound of their target body weight to avoid unsustainable and potentially harmful calorie restrictions.
Why might someone experience an increase in cheat days if their calorie intake is too low?
-Low calorie intake can lead to increased hunger and cravings, making it difficult to stick to a diet plan and resulting in cheat days. These cheat days can disrupt progress and lead to feelings of guilt and failure.
How can consistently low energy levels affect your daily life and diet adherence?
-Consistently low energy levels can lead to tiredness, lethargy, and difficulty focusing, which can negatively impact your work and daily responsibilities. This can also make it harder to adhere to a diet plan, leading to a cycle of unsustainable eating habits.
What is the advice for someone who is struggling with extreme hunger while trying to lose body fat?
-If extreme hunger is an issue, it's advised to increase calorie intake to a level that allows for consistent adherence to the diet plan without feeling deprived. Eating whole, healthy, unprocessed foods, getting enough protein and vegetables, and drinking enough water can also help manage hunger.
What is the recommended approach to creating a sustainable and healthy lifestyle for long-term weight management?
-The recommended approach is to take a long-term, patient perspective that focuses on creating a new lifestyle and building healthy routines rather than crash dieting. This includes maintaining a calorie intake that supports a gradual and sustainable rate of fat loss while also incorporating activities like walking 7,000 to 10,000 steps per day.
Outlines
🏋️♂️ Signs of Too Low Calorie Intake for Fat Loss
The first paragraph discusses the potential issues with setting a daily calorie intake too low for fat loss. It highlights that a significant number of individuals might be under-eating, which could lead to loss of muscle mass, slowed metabolism, and regaining weight. The speaker introduces five signs to identify if one's calorie intake is too low: 1) consistently getting weaker in the gym, 2) losing weight too fast, 3) frequent cheat days, 4) uncontrollable hunger, and 5) inability to function properly day-to-day. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of not prioritizing scale numbers over muscle retention and suggests increasing calorie intake if these signs are present.
🍽️ Balancing Caloric Intake for Effective Fat Loss
The second paragraph continues the discussion on the pitfalls of a too-restrictive diet, focusing on the psychological and physical effects of extreme calorie restriction. It points out that such diets often lead to a cycle of cheat days and feelings of deprivation, which can negatively impact body composition. The speaker advises increasing daily calorie intake to prevent frequent urges for high-calorie foods. Additionally, it addresses the issue of constant hunger and the importance of satiety, suggesting that a more balanced approach to dieting is necessary for long-term success. The paragraph concludes with a recommendation to increase calorie intake to a level that supports daily function and suggests a diet break if one has been on a restrictive diet for an extended period. The importance of a sustainable, long-term approach to weight management is emphasized over quick fixes.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Calorie intake
💡Body fat percentage
💡Undereating
💡Metabolism
💡Lean muscle mass
💡Cheat days
💡Sustainable weight loss
💡Diet break
💡Diet composition
💡Training performance
Highlights
1500 calories per day might be too low for effective weight loss and muscle retention.
A recent survey showed 28% of respondents consume between 1500 to 1700 calories daily for fat loss.
Undereating calories can lead to muscle loss, metabolism slowdown, and weight regain.
Five signs are presented to identify if your calorie intake is too low.
Sign 1: Consistently getting weaker in the gym indicates potential overtraining or under-eating.
For beginners and intermediates, strength should increase until reaching around 10-15% body fat.
Sign 2: Losing weight too fast can be a sign of too low calorie intake.
A general guideline is not to consume less than 10 calories per pound of target body weight.
Recommended weight loss rates depend on current body fat percentage for sustainable fat loss.
Sign 3: Frequent cheat days may indicate that daily calorie intake is too restrictive.
Sign 4: Uncontrolled hunger suggests that calorie intake is too low to be sustainable.
Sign 5: Inability to function properly daily due to fatigue or other symptoms is a red flag.
A balanced approach between effectiveness and sustainability is key for long-term success.
Increasing calorie intake by 5-10% and re-evaluating can be beneficial if signs of under-eating are present.
A long-term, patient approach to weight loss is more effective than crash dieting.
Walking 7,000 to 10,000 steps daily can aid in creating a calorie deficit without extreme calorie restriction.
Engaging with the content through likes and subscriptions can provide further guidance and support.
Transcripts
is getting 1500 calories per day too low
how about 1700 calories well in my
recent survey 28 of you said that you're
between 15 to 1700 calories per day when
you want to lose body fat and a lot of
people would consider those to be very
low numbers so could it be that you're
in fact under eating calories and now
risking losing muscle slowing down your
metabolism frequently falling off track
and even regaining all the weight that
you've lost well calorie intakes are
pretty individual so in order to answer
this question in this video i'm going to
share with you five signs that your
calories might be set too low and what
i'd like you to do is take these signs
and then honestly evaluate your current
plan and see if you need to make any
changes now diving into sign number one
which is that you're objectively getting
weaker in the gym and i mean just a
one-off workout a bad day can happen
even in a closed surplus but if you
notice that you're consistently getting
worse training performance and you're
not even that lean well then you have a
problem and this usually starts with
getting fewer reps than you did before
and then eventually having to reduce the
weight that you use on your main lifts
and it can escalate to a level where you
have such low energy that the second
half of your workout is terrible you can
barely finish it and this is a real
issue poor training performance is how
people end up losing lean muscle
becoming more skinny fat and slowing
down their metabolism and if you're a
beginner or an intermediate lifter well
you should be able to get stronger all
the way until you get down that 10 to 15
body fat level this will not only
protect the lean muscle mass you
currently have but in case of beginners
allow you to build more lean muscle
while you're losing body fat now it's
important to note that it's completely
normal for strength gains to slow down
once you're at a very low body fat
percentage and for most guys that's
going to be around 10 to 12 body fat or
for guys that want to get under 10 body
fat but if you're not at those low
levels yet and you're seeing consistent
losses in strength well that might be a
sign that you're just not eating enough
so i would have you consider increasing
your calories by 5 to 10 percent and
then re-evaluating from there there's no
point in chasing a number on the scale
at the expense of losing muscle you'll
just end up with a much worse physique
and it's going to be much more difficult
to sustain anyway now moving on to sign
number two and that's that you're losing
weight too fast based on your current
body fat percentage so we know that the
more body fat you carry the higher your
body fat percentage the lower your
calorie intake can be and you can lose
weight faster without risking muscle
loss and this assumes that your training
is well set up that you're getting
sufficient sleep that's eating enough
protein and that you're hitting the like
button but there are some limitations
here it's often mentioned that the
lowest calorie intake you should have is
10 calories per pound of your target
body weight so if your target body
weight is 180 pounds which is about 82
kilos that you shouldn't be eating less
than 1800 calories per day now this
number doesn't describe a starting point
this might be an end point for last few
weeks of a cut if you're getting super
shredded but generally the rule stands
as a soft limit where if you get under
these levels you're probably doing
something that's unsustainable and what
i like about this is simplicity but i
already see some comments or some
problems here some people say well i'm
220 i'm eating 700 calories and i'm not
losing any weight and the problem is
tracking most people cannot accurately
estimate their calorie intake plus we
got labels that are a little bit off and
we also got eating out which can be off
as well so overall what i would say is a
more precise way to tell if your
calories are truly set too low
is to see how much weight are you losing
week to week based on your body fat
percentage if you're above 20 body fat
aim to lose one percent of your body
weight per week so for example if you're
200 pounds about 90 kilos at 25 body fat
aim to lose 2 pounds per week or about 1
kilo per week that's fast enough for you
to see great results but it's also not
too fast to a point where it becomes
unsustainable if you're losing double
that or a lot more than that it's
probably time to increase the calories a
little bit just so you can move to
something more sustainable now if you're
already at 20 body fat and you want to
get down to 15 12 or 10 body fat then my
recommendation is to lose between half a
percent to about three quarter of a
percent of your body weight per week so
if you're at 180 pounds which is about
82 kg this comes out at losing one pound
per week or half a kilo per week these
are recommended rates of fat loss that
will enable you to protect your lean
muscle mass and will make the whole
approach a lot more sustainable now the
third sign that your calories might be
too low is that you consistently end up
having cheat days and the common
scenario here is having four or five
days of very low calories followed by a
binge on the weekends and then returning
back to those low calories and if we
look at the average intake across
multiple weeks it's pretty close to
maintenance so you're barely seeing any
progress but you feel restricted most of
the time also your training performance
suffers due to those lower calorie days
and that then of course negative affects
your body composition and in this
situation most people tend to blame a
lack of discipline but the reality is
the plan itself is set up for you to
fail you need to start eating more on
those regular days so you don't have
such an urge to rebel against your diet
on the weekends now sign number four is
that your hunger is getting completely
out of control
and look some hunger when losing body
fat is completely normal and if you eat
whole healthy unprocessed foods get your
protein get your vegetables drink enough
water sleep well you'll be able to
manage it well but the problem is when
your calories are so low that you're
hungry all the time when you're
consistently obsessing about food no
meals leave you satiated and you
eventually reach your breaking point
where you just start snacking away your
calorie deficit so even though your goal
might be sixteen hundred calories per
day you're consistently eating more than
two thousand you may as well plan for
that and then increase your calorie
intake instead of going quote-unquote
off the plan all the time and then
dealing with the mental disappointment
that comes with that the ultimate goal
is to find a balance between
effectiveness and sustainability so
rather than trying to prove to yourself
that it can be ultra disciplined for a
few days just to fall off track aim to
prove to yourself that you can be
consistent for months that you can stick
with a plan long term now the fifth sign
that your calories might be too low is
that you're not able to function
properly day to day and the most common
symptom here is feeling tiring lethargic
most of the time where you can't focus
on work you end up falling behind that
causes more stress which makes
everything else worse some people
experience dizziness headaches not being
able to fall asleep they basically can't
keep up with their day-to-day
responsibilities at that level the diet
started affecting quality of life in a
very negative way and a lot of people
just say it's not worth it and they're
gonna quit and if this has happened to
you i would highly recommend that you
increase your calories by 10
and then you recalibrate from there and
if you've been in the stage for a long
time you felt like this then i would
even suggest doing a diet break to
maintenance calories for two to four
weeks to let some of that diet fatigue
dissipate i know that getting lean is
very important but it should not come at
the expense of your career your family
and your life in general there's a
better and more balanced way of doing
this instead of trying to fix a decade
of bad eating habits in 2-3 months of
crash dieting take a more long-term
patient approach it's not just about
getting into your goal weight as quickly
as possible it's about creating a new
lifestyle and building a healthy routine
that will help you stay lean which
doesn't happen overnight so instead of
cutting calories to the lowest amount
that you can possibly eat aim to keep
your calories as high as possible while
you're losing that half a percent to one
percent of your body weight per week and
if you're not doing it already i highly
recommend that you start walking seven
thousand to ten thousand steps per day
which will help you create that calorie
deficit without having to starve
yourself and another thing that's going
to help you with a calorie deficit is
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