Contrary to belief, cutting calories is only one part of the weight loss process.
Your body needs calories to operate and perform it’s daily functions so severely cutting calories has a negative impact on the body. When calories are cut the body will effectively go into starvation mode and try to retain calories in the form of fat.
This is especially important for those that only have 1 meal a day as this will significantly increase the chances of entering the starvation mode.
The other thing to remember is that snacking is not necessarily bad. While it is important to remember that snacking on high calorie foods could potentially lead to problems burning off the additional calories, having snacks throughout the day will help stabilise you food supply and prevent the body entering the starvation mode.
Monitoring your calorie intake throughout the day allows for the balance between exercise and food intake.
However when eating more frequently it’s important to remember that portion sizes should reduce. The body can only determine it is full after 20 minutes of eating. Yet the speed of how we eat has an additional factor on how full we feel and how well we digest our foods. Digesting food is important as the calories stored in the food need to be steadily released when eating.
Eating too quickly results in delays to the digestion process resulting in the likelihood of the body entering starvation mode before the food has been totally digested as the body is hungry for calories but it cannot consume the ones in partially digested foods fast enough to supply the calories for the bodily functions.
Thoroughly chewing the food and taking breaks between each mouthful allows for the body to generate the needed enzymes to help digest the food. There are recommendations of one mouthful every minute which also accounts for the short breaks between mouthfuls but it would depend on the type of food being consumed and the time it takes to chew the food being consumed properly.
Another key thing to remember is posture when eating. I mentioned how eating too fast leads to partially digested food, but slouching when eating also impacts how much time it takes for the body to digest the food properly.
It is often recommended that when eating sitting at a table is preferable because it firstly allows you to correct your posture. It also allows for the people around the table to have conversations which helps with the breaks between mouthfuls. But there is a third reason, and this is dependent upon whether or not there are any additional distractions happening in the room. When I mentioned about eating properly to improve digestion it requires the attention of the individual to be mindful of how much they are eating and how fast they are eating. However with the presence of distractions like television the attention is brought away from the food. This leads to issues with determining whether you are full or whether you are chewing correctly.
Many people forget they have even eaten a meal because their attention is drawn to the distraction. A lot of people say we eat with our eyes and while it may sound strange this could potentially be the reason why drawing the eyes away from the food allows us to forget we have even eaten.
Our bodies were developed from scavengers that would identify plants and animals suitable for eating mostly by sight alone. As time has progressed food is no longer scavenged but our attention to food has increasingly been diverted away from it.
I would recommend turning off devices like phones and televisions when eating as this allows for the individual to fully appreciate the meal at hand.
These tips are more as recommendations with some of them being partially connected to scientific research. I would always recommend to go with your own judgement when deciding which tips to follow.
I hope this helps some people.
