| Copyright (c) 2009 Neal Spruce | | | | you're not giving your body the fuel it needs, not |
| MYTH: Eating a diet that is too low in calories will | | | | because your metabolism is slower. In other words, |
| cause the body to go into starvation mode and not | | | | you become less energetic, forcing a reduction in your |
| burn any calories | | | | daily activities, therefore burning fewer calories overall. |
| FACT: Severely cutting calories will cause the | | | | Crash diets and low caloric intake leads to low energy |
| metabolism to adjust slightly, but not enough to prevent | | | | levels ' meaning you burn less calories throughout your |
| fat loss | | | | day and less intense workouts due to your lack of |
| Remember that people around the world who truly die | | | | energy. This means more hunger; and as likely as not |
| of starvation are not overweight when they expire. It's | | | | backsliding into binge eating and other unhealthy habits. |
| true that when you severely cut calories your | | | | This can result in a calorie intake that temporarily |
| metabolism will make a slight adjustment, allowing your | | | | exceeds your pre-diet intake, leading to a rapid |
| body to run on fewer caloriesâbut it's not a | | | | re-accumulation of weight. This is easily misinterpreted |
| large compensation. If you need to lose weight and | | | | as the results of a "damaged" metabolism. It is worth |
| you are not, eat less and/or move more and forget | | | | noting that any temporary, minor reduction in metabolic |
| about slowing your metabolism. | | | | rate due to excessively low caloric intake is regained |
| That said, the point is not to lose weight too quickly by | | | | once caloric intake is increased. Your metabolism is not |
| drastically reducing calories because that method is | | | | damageable. Take home message: Never blame |
| generally not sustainable. While a low calories diet does | | | | failure on metabolism, no matter what anyone tells you! |
| have a slight slowing effect on the metabolism, but it's | | | | Simply move more. |
| more likely that you feel sluggish on the diet because | | | | |