Increasing Calories to Lose Weight
Why when I increase my calories do I lose weight?!
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Well it can be a few reasons. The whole dieting process & low calories (particularly for long periods of time) is a stressor on the body which can attribute to a raise in cortisol. Giving someone more calories can lower cortisol and with it aldosterone which is your hormone responsible for water retention. So in summary more calories is equaling less stress and losing water weight.
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Throughout a dieting process as well as you may have felt you tend to become more tired, lethargic and lazy which leads to a decrease in NEAT levels, having those extra calories gives you that bit of energy to get up and do more. So even though you are consuming more calories your energy out increases also.
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More of a extension of the first point but by reducing stress as well it can lead to a increase in quality and duration of sleep. Allowing better recovery, more energy for NEAT (see second point) and having positive affect on fat loss.
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By increasing calories you may also still be in a deficit which is needed for fat loss. If your maintenance is 2000 cals and you’re eating 1000cals and then trial the above by increasing calories to 1500, you are still in a 500cal deficit with hopefully less stress on the body.
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Disclaimer: if you’re someone who can’t stick to your diet then the above to is not a “excuse” why you aren’t dropping, the reason you aren’t dropping is cause you can’t stick to the plan. This is for the people who are on point and have plateaued and unsure why!
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