Eat Less Move More? Or Eat Less Move Less? Or Eat More Move More?
July 29, 2021
When we want to lose weight we’re supposed to Eat Less, Move More, right?
If only it were that easy. But it’s not. Why not? And what can you do about it?
It’s not easy because…. in my view, we’re designed to Eat Less Move Less or Eat More Move More. So by eating less and moving more we are going against our biology. Some evidence suggests that exercise may suppress appetite in the short term, but there is also evidence to suggest that this does not last, and that the body fights back.
There is various evidence pointing in all different directions on the subject but my own anecdotal experience and that of many people I know or have worked with leads me to draw some pretty firm conclusions that I describe below. This is not a scientific article. It is my own opinion based predominantly on: my own personal experience; that which I have observed in others; and what I have learned through formal and informal study. There are lots of such articles available on the subject if you want to explore it further and form your own views, but I do believe my position on it is quite compelling, and understanding what might be going on can make a huge difference in being able to manage this conundrum.
My experience
I have ALWAYS struggled to lose weight when trying to eat less and move more at the same time. In my experience, my success has only happened when I have eaten less and moved less, or eaten more and moved more. In the pictures above, in 2009 and 2011, I didn’t lose any weight while marathon training. I lost it in the periods of time between my marathon training, when I was able to cut right back on my activity and focus my attention fully on my diet whilst maintaining some daily movement. I was still active, but I wasn’t using exercise as the mechanism to lose weight. I was using it to compliment it. Then in 2012 and 2015 I was eating a lot more and exercising a lot more, especially weight training, and my body composition significantly changed, in that I shed the remainder of my excess body fat as I built muscle, while remaining the same weight, but it took a lot longer; the changes took place over several years.
I am not for one moment suggesting that we shouldn’t exercise when losing weight. Of course it has huge benefits in supporting our bodies and minds to function properly. And ‘move more’ means different things to different people. Yes we need to move. Absolutely we need to move. It’s SO important for our good health that we are not sedentary. So for sedentary people, ‘moving more’ may simply mean ‘moving’, to begin with, and gradually building up their tolerance for exercise. For those who are already quite active, ‘moving more‘ can be counterproductive when trying to lose weight. It is not necessary to take a huge amount of exercise to lose weight, and indeed it’s not really realistic for most of us. Just being moderately and consistently active ( eg the UK government’s recommendation of 150 minutes a week, spread over most days) is enough. Here’s why…
Our fat stores are there as a survival mechanism; only we were never supposed to have quite so much.
We store fat to tide us over until our next meal is available. It is our body’s very useful survival mechanism. But in the Western World we live in a society where there is an abundance of food, and manufacturers have made it almost inevitable that we will eat it. We’re only supposed to lose our fat when food is not available, but it’s available for us ALL THE TIME, and in vast quantities, of manufactured, highly delicious, extremely-calorie dense varieties that are extremely difficult to say no to, and we often have no idea just how much energy is in the food that we eat.
Our body’s survival mechanisms are slowly killing us because they work too well as we can store an unlimited amount of fat on our bodies. And many of us are eating more than our bodies need on a daily basis because we are not fully aware of how much energy is in the food that we are eating. It’s like going shopping with the contactless credit card. We don’t pay attention until we look at the statement at the end of the month, if we even look at it…then wonder what went wrong.
So we see the extra pounds have crept on and we don’t like it, and try to do something about it by going on a diet and hitting the gym, often too hard. But our bodies are not going to let go of this excess fat without a fight, as it is there for our survival and there is no mechanism to say when enough is enough. The more we eat over and above what we need over time, the more we will store, and as I said earlier, it’s only supposed to be shed when food is not available. The body’s defence mechanism against this is to make us hungry and to desire to find food and eat it, and this becomes stronger than everything else. In today’s society that’s pretty dangerous if we are not careful.
When we eat less, we start to lose our fat stores, which triggers us to get hungry, and we are driven to search out more food. When not able to search out food and eat it, we are naturally inclined to move less, without even realising it, as it’s the body’s way of preserving energy. For example, we will fidget less, and feel more tired.
When we move more we also get hungry. Maybe not straight away… it can take a few hours or days, or even a couple of weeks, but in my opinion and experience, and that I have observed in others, we generally do, and again we move less later on, to compensate. This often coincides with the novelty of a new regime wearing off.
So when we eat less AND move more, we get even more hungry eventually, and while we might be very active in an exercise class, the rest of the day many of us will be inclined to move even less, and so our overall energy expenditure over the whole day may not really be any more overall.
And hunger is a very powerful, biological force, designed to drive us to eat. Add to that feeling tired, sad, upset, grumpy, happy, sad, it wont be long before we give in, and often over-eat.
Also if we have cut our calories right back, we have also cut our nutrition right back, unless we are following a prescribed diet which has the nutrition finely balanced to support good health, and so our brains and our bodies may not be getting all the nutrition they need, especially if we have been at all chaotic in our eating patterns.
This affects how we think and feel. And then it’s oh so easy to fall into the trap of justifying that it’s ok to reward ourselves for our hard work in the gym … with food. And if we are relying on our fitness tracker to tell us how many calories we have burned, we are in for a shock, as they are very inaccurate and we are likely to eat back more than we have burned if we rely on what they say.
In addition, asking our bodies to be more active on less nutrition is potentially going to cause problems with our health, another reason why our bodies may be crying out for us to eat more. They may not be getting sufficient nutrition.
A perfect storm is brewing.
We need to be realistic here, not idealistic. If we ask too much of our bodies, it doesn’t matter how determined and disciplined we start off, how motivated we are, how much willpower we are trying to use. It will eventually catch up with most of us. We’ll break that magic spell and fall off the wagon, and sometimes in spectacular fashion. And then we beat ourselves up for our lack of self-control, resolve to do better next time but continue to set ourselves up to fail, as we think we are doing the ‘right thing’.
The good news!
The good news is that there is a middle ground, and just by being aware of what’s going on, we stand a much better chance of managing it. And we have a choice.
When our aim is to lose weight we can either eat less (but not too much less than what our bodies need) and move enough but not too much to get too hungry, or eat more and move a lot more, or a mixture of the two. Sounds complicated but it’s not.. we just need to spend some time experimenting with the right combinations for ourselves.
Either way, it’s about being able to sustain the changes by being active but not getting too hungry, providing our bodies with sufficient nutrition to meet the demands we are placing on them while maintaining a realistic and sustainable calorie deficit to lose weight, managing any hunger that we do experience, and learning what approach suits us best.
So what can we do to stay active and avoid sabotaging our efforts because of hunger?
Here’s your 12 point plan.
- Move every day, throughout the day, as often as you can. Just getting up and walking around regularly, walking to the shops instead of driving, using the stairs instead of the lift… every opportunity there is to move, use it. And resist the temptation to lie on the sofa later in the day after exercise – unless you are genuinely fatigued from a medical condition. Moving our bodies is VITAL for health – being sedentary is one of the biggest killers when taking into account all conditions that are related to it.
- If you are eating less, and want to take formal exercise, taking shorter bursts and not TOO strenuous or for too long, can help to prevent triggering extra hunger for some people. You will find the level that is right for you, and you can build on it as your body adapts.
- If you want to exercise more, allow yourself to eat a little more, in a measured way to manage the increased hunger and provide your body with the nutrition it needs to recover from the exercise, (as opposed to rewarding yourself with no limits), and follow points 6 and 7 closely.
- Make sure you are not asking too much of your body too soon, build up gradually, and make sure you’re doing something you enjoy.
- Ideally include some regular resistance training as this will remind your body that it still needs your muscle tissue which will help to preserve your basal metabolic rate which dictates how much energy your body uses. If it goes too low it can become much harder to lose and maintain weight. See the final note at the bottom for more on this.
- Make sure you have eaten 2 hours before exercise with a good source of slow-release carbohydrates to provide you with enough energy so that you don’t have a big crash afterwards, and get too hungry.
- Eat as soon as possible after exercise, as healthily as possible, with all the food groups, getting as much nutrition as you can from within the energy intake boundaries you need to maintain to lose weight (see below for more info on this). Eating soon after exercise is ideal as your body will use it most efficiently then, and repair your tissues ready for the next session.
- Don’t eat any larger a portion than normal after exercise, and make sure you eat slowly, allowing yourself to notice when you become satisfied.
- Don’t count the calories you burn when exercising, as they are not accurate and will tempt you into thinking you have more calories to eat. If you are counting calories, only count the food and drink, and be accurate about the quantities.
- If you are eating less, focus mostly on your food and drink intake when making your plans. Yes absolutely make sure you are exercising regularly if you are able to, but what, how much, and how intense will not matter anything like as much as what and how much you are eating. So don’t get hung up about it, just know that doing something is enough.
- Drink plenty of water and keep an eye on what else you might be drinking when exercising, as many sports drinks contain hidden calories and various chemicals that may not be necessary.
- Be aware of the strong biological forces at play, learn how your own body works in relation to exercise and appetite, and have strategies ready for when you notice their effects.
A final note
Exercise absolutely comes into its own after losing excess weight, as a brilliant way of keeping it off. More to come about this in another blog post…
For information about what and how much to eat to lose weight, check out my blog post on: https://www.youronelife.co.uk/post/no-bs-how-to-lose-weight
For more information about the benefits of resistance training check out my blog post on:
References and Further Reading
- ‘Burn: The MisunderStood Science of Metabolism’ by Herman Pontzer
- https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/04/20/how-to-balance-increased-working-out_n_9725892.html
- https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/80/5/1230/4690426
- https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/
Many scientific journal articles are available that have studied this subject, which can be found on the internet if you are interested in learning all the different views, opinions, and conclusions on whether or not exercise makes it easier or harder to lose and manage weight.
If you found this helpful, check out more about me and what I do at www.youronelife.co.uk
Or read my other blog articles at www.youronelife.co.uk/blog
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