Why You Aren’t Losing Weight on Your Low Calorie Diet

How can you be eating only 1100 calories and NOT losing weight?

Now, 1100 calories is an example of a low calorie goal that I have commonly seen. But this applies to any low calorie goal that seems to not be helping you lose weight.

When you are actually taking the time to track your calories, it is reasonable to expect to see the scale go down. Especially when the calories you are aiming for are low and you feel like you are basically starving yourself.

Adding to the frustration of meticulous tracking and feeling depleted all day is the fact that the scale is not budging! 

The belief that most people have in this situation is that they probably need to eat LESS.

This causes anxiety because you already feel like crap, and now you think you need to cut calories even lower. No wonder why dieting hasn’t worked for you yet.

In reality, the best way to lose weight is NOT to eat less, the solution is to eat more!

Don’t slam your laptop shut in fear just yet.

If you are aiming for anywhere between 1100-1400 calories per day, your lack of weight loss is being caused by:

1. Not burning enough calories
2. Not being as consistent as you think
3. Likely both 1 & 2

And these are solved by eating more.

When you are aiming for an overly restrictive amount of calories, the chances that you are actually being 100% consistent are slim to none.

What actually happens for most people is they are aiming for 1200 calories 5 days per week.

They are only actually hitting 1200 calories 3-4x per week.

There is at least 1 out of 5 weekdays where something “comes up” that causes you to not track or go over.

By the time Friday night comes, you feel that you have earned some leniency, so you maybe allow yourself an untracked dinner with some wine (which bumps you to 2000 cals for Friday)

Then Sat & Sun are erratic, unplanned, and you end up eating low protein which leads to a few overindulgences.

You go out dinner Saturday and unknowingly eat 2000 cals in pizza and wings (which is only like 2 slices and 4 wings) so you total that day at about 3000.

Sunday easily adds up to 2000 calories as well (which is honestly underestimating it)

So let’s do some quick math:

Mon, Tues, Wed are 1200 cals each which is 3600 cals total.

Thurs was hectic and you end up at 1600.

Fri-Sun are 2000, 3000, 2000 cals which is 7000 cals total.

That is 3600 + 1600 + 7000 = 12,200

11,200 divided by 7 days = 1742 cals per day. 

1742 cals is still not high!

But because all week you are stressed and restricting yourself to 1200 cals, your workouts feel awful.

You can’t lift as heavy.

You are only able to give 60% effort.

And you feel tired all of the time.

Your body is in survival mode so it is conserving resources aka not burning unnecessary calories.

So now your body is only burning 1400ish cals per day but your daily average is 1742….

This is why you are not losing weight.

Now, picture if we worked through your fears about food and actually started increasing your calories.

Instead of 1200 calories and being afraid of carbs, we start adding more high quality balanced meals that bring your daily intake up to 1700 cals per day.

Mon-Thurs you are eating 1700+ cals.

Your workouts feel great.

You are getting stronger each week.

You have way more energy, so you are easily getting more steps.

You sleep better, so you build more lean muscle.

When the weekend comes, you don’t feel like a starved prisoner, so you don’t feel the need to overindulge.

This scenario leads to your daily calorie burn drastically increasing.

So now you are burning 2000-2100 cals per day.

The weekends, we allow flexibility.

So now on Fri, Sat, & Sun, you are eating 1900 calories because you learned how to setup your day for success while also allowing fun foods in your life.

Let’s do some more math:

Mon-Thurs is 1700 cals x 4 days = 6800

Fri-Sun is 1900 x 3 = 5700

6800 + 5700 = 12,500

12,500 divided by 7 = 1785.

But now since you are burning more calories, this is a deficit!

You feel better.

You lift better.

Your body starts changing.

The 1200 cal diet is a thing of the past that you can look back on with humorous embarrassment like your college ex.

This is exactly how eating more can help with fat loss.

I hope this makes sense

Want more FREE coaching tips to help you lose 20-30lbs in 4-6 months? Check out my podcast TALKIN FIT with Adam Badger

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