Are your maintenance calories stifled?
Hey hey!
Today, I wanna talk about maintenance calories, what are they, could yours be suppressed, and the KEYS to overcoming suppressed maintenance calories!
What are maintenance calories anyways?
Maintenance calories: The number of calories that you need to consume in order to maintain your current body weight. This number takes into account various factors such as age, gender, weight, height, and activity level.
Also, your maintenance calories aren't a static number, they will fluctuate day to day. So it's good to find a range. ie. 2000-2300 calories.
Clear?
Okay, so how come some people (maybe even you) will say something like,"I'm not losing weight and I'm only eating 1300 calories!!"
To be clear, 1300 calories is not enough for a grown ass woman, especially one that's active.
But, this is a real thing for many women.
Some of the common culprits:
Chronic dieting/under-eating
Hormone imbalances
Health condition(s)
Suppressed maintenance calories can happen when someone has been in a prolonged calorie deficit, which can slow down their metabolism over time.
If this is resonating with you, keep reading, I have some suggestions!
1. First off, should you even focus on weight loss right now?
When was the last time you weren't trying to lose weight, control your weight, or restrict calories? If you can't remember the last time you weren't trying to control your weight, then that's a good sign it's time to give your body (and brain) a diet break.
If there are unrealistic expectations on your eating and body, then you'll always feel like you're failing, obsessing over food, and never finding peace.
2. Give your body a break from calorie restriction periodically. This can be done through "diet breaks," where you eat at your maintenance level or slightly above for a week or two to give your metabolism a chance to reset.
3. Phasic nutrition can also be helpful in preventing suppressed maintenance calories. This approach involves alternating between periods of calorie restriction and periods of eating at maintenance or slightly above, similar to diet breaks but on a larger scale.
4. Resistance Training is KEY for changing the shape of your body and keeping you healthy and strong af. Muscle burns more calories than fat and can help to boost your metabolism = metabolic flexibility babyyyyy.
I hope this helps clear up WHY you might feel like you're eating like a bird and not seeing any changes.
Let your metabolism come back to a healthy baseline, I promise it'll be much easier and enjoyable to pursue body goals (and live your life) when you have a healthy metabolism to work from.
Interested in 1:1 Health Coaching?
Apply HERE
Reasons why women reach out to work with me:
💛They want to improve their relationship with food and their body
💛They want help putting systems and a plan in place to get consistent with healthy habits (nutrition, sleep, stress, movement)
💛They feel like they're ready to pursue physique goals (because they've worked on the other 2 areas)
Sending strength + encouragement,
Alicia