It's not a math problem

I was talking to my friend Craig the other day. Craig was sharing with me some information that I thought would be useful, so I decided to pass it along.

But let me start here. I’ve been saying for a long time that our health is not a math problem. The reason so many of us are unhealthy is because the information we hear is about calories in/calories out. And yes, that model is (kind of) true. But it’s much more complex that just calories in/calories out. There’s the complexity of the macronutrient breakdown of those calories, the complexity of social norms and psychological tendencies and environmental factors. Yes, it’s much more complex that just calories in/calories out.

But there is another piece of this puzzle that many of you may have run into that makes no sense from a math perspective.

What happens when you continue to drop calories? At some point, you can keep lowering calories and stop losing weight. This is what happened with Craig. He’s been crushing it at the gym, but at some point, he plateaued. And then he did the logical thing. He did what nearly everyone does. He lowered his calories. When that didn’t work, he dropped them further. Still nothing.

This is where the math breaks down because our bodies are much smarter than we give them credit for. I have to give the disclaimer that I’m not a physician, dietitian, nutritionist, etc., but I have studied this stuff for quite a few years and this is what I’ve learned and observed.

When we continue to lower calories, our body eventually hits a point where it realizes that you’re not feeding it enough calories to live healthily. So our body does an incredible thing. It conserves calories (the details aren’t important at this point). Our bodies become so good at conserving calories that it can become nearly impossible to lose weight when your calories are too low.

The math doesn’t work. It’s not intuitive. But it is true. There is a point where eating fewer calories is detrimental to your body. The answer? Eat more. Seriously. Eat more.

If you need help figuring out what that ideal calorie number is, feel free to reach out to me or check out one of the many calorie calculators online (this one, for example).

These are the nuances of weight loss and health that I’ve been exploring in much more depth over the last 2 years. We have got to take control over our health. It’s just too important not too. If you need help or want to get started, please reach out. I’m not trying to sell you anything. I just know that we have a generation of kids that are going to need their parents around more than ever… and we have to start taking better care of ourselves.