Your Body Has a "Low Battery Mode"

Have you ever heard "1200 calories is the magic number to lose weight"? Raise your hand if you've heard this, and thought for even a second that this was true (cue everyone raising their hand). Here's the thing about following any kind of low calorie diet for an extended period of time -- it may work for a little while, but eventually that low calorie consumption is going to become your new maintenance, and your weight loss will plateau (resulting in frustration that you are not continuing to lose weight). When this happens, your body will begin to experience something called metabolic adaptation. Metabolic adaptation is your body's survival / protective mechanism. When you are not consuming enough calories for your system to operate at its most optimal level, it begins to slow down in order to conserve energy.

Let's use an analogy to better illustrate how this works.

Everyone has a cell phone -- right? I'm sure you've experienced your cell phone going into low battery mode and alerting you that there is only 20% battery remaining. Some phones let you know when there is 10% remaining, and some even let you know when there is 5%. As the phone battery continues to decrease, so does your phone speed and operating system. Your phone is trying to conserve energy in order to stay alive. Browsing the internet all the sudden takes 10x as long as it normally does, and sometimes your keyboard lags behind the words you are actually typing. This is your phone's way of slowing down (using less energy) but still staying on (or alive).

This same exact thing happens to your body. When you are not consuming enough food in order for your system to thrive, your body goes into "low battery mode" (aka: your metabolism slows down). You burn less calories throughout the day. You have less energy to move, which means your step count is lower. You have less energy to workout, which means you aren't getting as strong. Your metabolism has down regulated itself and is only tapping into it's most essential functions in order to simply survive - rather than thrive. Remember, things like breathing, blinking, talking, fidgeting, etc all require energy (calories). So when your metabolism slows down, there is not enough energy to do anything other than stay in survival mode.

So how do you get out of the plateau and continue to lose weight? The only way to lose weight is to eat in a calorie deficit. HOWEVER, if you are consuming 1200 calories (and that 1200 calories has become your new maintenance), you now have two options: (1) cut calories even more so that you are in a calorie deficit again (don't do this please); or (2) REVERSE DIET.

Reverse dieting is the only SUSTAINABLE way to improve your chances of weight loss success down the road. If you slowly and incrementally increase your calories, you are simply taking your body / system off of "low battery mode" and allowing it to come alive again, and start THRIVING. Then, after your metabolism has picked back up and you have been eating at maintenance, then you can enter a MORE REALISTIC calorie deficit (aka: you can enter a fat loss phase while still eating more calories than you ever thought possible!)