Why A 1200-1500 Calorie Diet Will Make You Fatte

I get a lot of people talking to me about what particular diet they are on. They try this diet or that diet, see initial results, and then nothing happens or it is slow to happen. Rather than blame it on the diet, they blame themselves for not being 100% perfect with the diet and that is why the weight loss slows down.

I'm here to tell you that isn't the case. It is the diet you chose. A lot of those diets are 1200-1500 calorie diets and folks, that just isn't enough calories for most individuals to lose body fat (notice I didn't say weight). Unless you are 120 pounds to begin with (and why would you want to diet), 1200-1500 calories won't cut it.

But, Adam, aren't you supposed to eat less calories than you burn.

Yes, you are, but a lot of people underestimate how many calories they burn throughout the day. Take your bodyweight and multiply it by 10 and that is a rough estimation of how many calories you burn throughout the day if you were to just lie around doing nothing (your resting metabolic weight). But most of us don't do just that, so you have to factor in more calories to compensate for your daily activity level, plus how many calories you burn exercising.

That is your total and for some people it could be between 2200-2500 calories or more a day. So that could be 1000 calories or more a difference between what you are consuming and what you are burning. You need that caloric deficit to be between 300-500 calories. Greater than that, your body thinks it is starving and will go into survival mode.

Survival mode means your body starts burning muscle and stores fat because fat is emergency energy. This is the initial weight loss people see, but it is slowing your metabolism down and you're not losing fat. Because you are keeping the fat and losing muscle, your bodyfat percentage is either staying the same or rising.

Obviously, that is not what we want to have happen.

So once you figure out how many calories you burn throughout the day, you can then be put on a proper meal plan with the right caloric amount that will allow you to burn bodyfat, keep your muscle which will make your metabolism faster, and then see the weight loss you desire.

So the next time you want to try getting slim, fast, you might want to avoid those diets that have you take a shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch, and a sensible meal for dinner. The weight might fall off quick initially, but is it worth getting an increase in bodyfat and having mushy arms??