List: Seven signs you need to eat more

Checklist

These signs might indicate your are not eating enough food.

Hungry and craving.
Hungry and craving.

Most of us jump into a new diet feet first and try to lose weight with lots of gusto. Then we tighten the screws when we hit the wall and stop losing weight. The next thing we know, we are tired all the time and craving the comfort foods we have been trying to cut back or avoid. Sure, eating too much or overeating is often the cause of weight gain, but eating too little can be just as much a problem.

Losing weight is a huge challenge, but eating too little can hinder weight loss results. Heck, too little calories cause harmful effects to your physical and behavioral health. Whether it’s due to a overly restricted food intake or extreme diet, eating too little food can cause our bodies to adapt. This adaptation will result is a slower metabolism that will make it harder to lose weight. Your body will be less able to break down food properly and thus your your energy levels will dive.

Weight loss requires our bodies to burn more calories than we consume so any thing that causes us to be more sedentary or burn less calories will result in less weight loss. The amount fo calories each person needs to consume is different from person to person bases on gender and size. This list below is some signs that indicate that you might be cutting the calories too much and need to eat more food.

Obesity
Obesity
  1. Fatigue: Lower energetic levels or fatigue can be a sign to indicate you ate not eat enough calories. Because this results in a lower metabolism, you will feel tired. There is a minimum number of calories needed to function and when you go below that number, you will feel fatigues and function with less efficiency.
  2. Wake tired: Walking tied could be that you just did not get enough sleep, but also, it can be a sign that you are not enough food. Too few calories disrupts sleep quality even when you get enough hours. This being said, eating too close to bed time can absolutely disrupt your sleep so eat enough calories and time it at least 2 hours before bedtime.
  3. Cold intolerance: If you cannot tolerate the cold or if you feel cold all the time while on a diet, you might be eating too little. Like a person with thyroid disorder, eating too little disrupts metabolism similarly and cause feelings that it is cold. You just are not eating enough calories and you body is lowering the temperature to burn less calories.
  4. Weight loss stagnation: Consuming too few calories can result in too few calories can result in a metabolic slow down and less weight loss due to few calories burned. There is plenty of research to back up the theory of weight plateau, but you have to look at your own endeavors for proof.
  5. Anxiety, Depression, and irritability: No doubt that this is true. Look at each time you are dieting and your lunch is delayed by a meeting in which your boss decided to pontificate or that customer service challenge just wont end. You will get irritable and have a much less outward mindset, As your blood glucose drops, so will you mood. Hangry is a real thing, trust me.
  6. Appetite is insatiable: If you cannot fill your stomach and that appetite is not calmed by your normal snack, it might be that you calorie restriction is too low. Add a little bit to your morning meal and see if it satisfied.
  7. Constipation: It is not always about calories. If you do not each enough, you will not get enough fiber. Not enough fiber intake will lead to gumming up you insides. If you are dieting, considering adding a few high fiber foods.

The bottom line: Overeating increases weight gain, but under eating is not devoid of it own risks. I recommend a balanced diet with plenty of fiber and protein to keep you full. You should get at least 1000 calories with 30% protein and 30-35 grams of fiber. If you see these 7 signs, you might have cut your calories too far.

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About the Author

ChuckH
I am a family physician who has served in the US Army. In 2016, I found myself overweight, out of shape, and unhealthy, so I made a change to improve my health. This blog is the chronology of my path to better health and what I have learned along the way.

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