Ah, weight loss. What a great topic right? There is so much to it so I will try my best to give you one little snippet of something I’ve been learning about it.
Here it is, my one drop of knowledge: you don’t overeat because you’re fat, you get fat because you overeat.
Impactful right? Let's unpack that. We have a hunger hormone (yes your hormones control your appetite) called Grehlin, and a satiety hormone called Leptin. Let’s focus on leptin for now. When we eat adequate levels of protein, fat, and carbohydrates our hormones (leptin mainly, but also CCK and PYY) kick in and tell the body to stop eating because it has been fed an adequate amount. When we under eat proper nutrients, not enough protein and fats (usually a deficit in vitamins), our body will continue to signal that we are hungry for those nutrients. This leads to an “overeating” of empty carbohydrates and sugars, which can lead to rapid weight gain. The good news is that this is avoidable! How? By feeding your body the things it NEEDS instead of feeding it just the sugary things it craves! Getting great sources of proteins, fats, and vegetables in every single meal! It will leave you satisfied, and able to say no to the sweets that you were previously craving!
My encouragement: download cronometer (a free food journaling app), journal your foods for a week and find out the areas that your body is depleted, and also the areas where you are over-consuming and make adjustments based on your discoveries! This alone will impact your weight loss journey, and notice that I didn’t say on thing about counting calories 😉.