I encountered someone who told me they needed to drop 20 pounds and that they are eating 1000 calories to do so. My mind was blown. Let’s do some quick math. Let’s just say that they really need to lose 15 pounds to achieve their ideal physique. There’s roughly 3500 calories in one pound of fat. So 15 pounds is 52,500 calories. If this client were to lose 15 pounds based on caloric change, they would hit 0 calories within 2 weeks of dropping .5-1.0 lb of fat within a week (500 calorie deficit/day then decreasing by another 500 calorie deficit/day the next week). Then they’d turn to cardio or intense group fitness classes to manually burn calories. Sadly, this is the most common way most people try to lose weight.

This type of client is one my favorite clients to train. They have cycled through this endless loop of yo-yo dieting and cardio to the point that they eating 1000-1500 calories a day to maintain their weight. What is very unfortunate is that this type of person is already overweight or obese. How can someone who is considered overweight or obese be eating 1500 calories to maintain their physique? It’s because they have slowed their metabolism. When you force your body into a calorie deficit, you are essentially telling your body that food is scarce and that the body needs to slow down and conserve energy. Couple this diet with cardio and you’ll slow your metabolism even more.

So how do we break this cycle? Besides ruling out hormonal issues and any underlying medical conditions that could impact your metabolism… You break this cycle by building muscles and having a healthy lifestyle. Muscle increases your metabolism. It’s a lot denser than fat, too. So when people say they want to be “toned”, they are often referring to gaining muscle. A part of being able to build muscle is to also be healthy. A healthy body also equals an optimal body. You’re more likely to look and feel better if you get the full amount of sleep, be reasonably active throughout the day, and eat a variety of foods. Generally, and I’ll say this all day, an aesthetic body will follow a healthy lifestyle.