The #1 reason busy mamas struggle to lose weight and keep it off is because they’re undereating.

I bet you didn’t think that was your problem! Diet culture teaches that to lose weight, you need to restrict your calories. Which isn’t necessarily wrong. Science confirms that weight loss happens when you burn more calories than you’re consuming; however, there’s a small caveat to it. You need to already be eating at maintenance calories before you can take anything away. And most women aren’t eating at maintenance calories.

I see this all the time in my Macros Made Easy program. Mamas come to me desperate to lose weight. They’ve tried everything. They’ve cut, and cut, and cut their calories but they can’t lose weight anymore. Most of these women are eating 1,200 or fewer calories a day. And that’s exactly why they can’t lose weight!

Mama, 1,200 calories is a toddler’s amount of food. You are a grown woman. You need to be eating a grown woman’s amount of food!

If you want to burn fat, build muscle or lose weight, then you need to learn how to start eating the right amount of food. And I can teach you how. Keep reading!

Why cutting calories stopped working

The reason you stopped losing weight even though you cut your calories is that you are eating so little that your body thought you were starving. Like literally starving. Lost in the woods with no food starving.

Your body has one job: to keep you alive. And when you are chronically undereating, it assumes that food is scarce; therefore, it should hold onto every morsel of food.

Let’s go back to the caveman days to understand this better. Back in the day, cavemen and cavewomen would either be in a time of feasting or famine. They would find food and eat as much as they could. Then they would have to survive on those nutrients until more food came along.

The body learned not to burn too many calories in case it had to sustain the cavewomen for a long time. The metabolism would slow down and hold onto any energy it got to sustain these women until they could get more food.

Your body still works the same way.

So, if you’ve been dieting for years, your body thinks that you’re in a serious famine and it’s going to hold onto every ounce of food that it can. It’s slowing down all your metabolic processes to be able to hold onto any food, or energy, you give it.

Each time you took away more food, your body thought, the famine is getting worse! Hold onto more food. So instead of losing weight, you started to gain weight. Luckily, you can tell your body that it doesn’t need to keep storing food, simply by eating more.

How to eat more food without gaining weight

The diet industry acts like the metabolism is this crazy thing that we have no control over. It’s either fast or slow and you have to react to it. But it’s not. You can control your metabolism by adding or taking away food.

If you’ve been dieting for years and you’ve slowed your metabolism down, you can rev it back up by eating more food. Which will most likely also help you lose weight again.

However, you can’t go hog wild and eat whatever you want. If you want to lose weight while eating more food, then you have to slowly increase your calories in the right way.

The 4 stages of Macro Tracking

There are four different stages of healthy eating: reverse, maintenance, surplus and cut. You are supposed to move through each of those stages throughout the year to keep your metabolism healthy.

In a reverse, you’re going to be adding calories back into your diet. The point of reverse dieting is to repair the metabolism after being in a calorie deficit.

In maintenance, you’re eating the right amount of calories for your body’s needs. You know you’ve hit this phase when you’re no longer gaining or losing weight. You should hold steady for 3-4 weeks before you know you’ve hit your maintenance calories.

A surplus is when you’re eating more calories than your body needs. Usually, people go into a surplus to help put on muscle mass.

Finally, a cut is when you’re eating in a calorie deficit. This phase is used only after you’ve been at maintenance or surplus calories and you’re looking to lose weight. You do not want to stay in a cut year-round. Any longer than a few months can make it harder to lose weight.

Today, we’re going to focus mainly on reverse dieting and maintenance calories to help you increase your calorie intake while still losing weight. But please remember, that there are two other stages of macro tracking, the surplus and cut, that can help you reach your goals when done intentionally!

Reverse dieting can help you lose weight

Reverse dieting is the best tool you have to lose weight while eating more food. When you’re reversing, you’re going to slowly add more food to your diet until you reach your maintenance numbers.

To lose weight, burn fat and build muscle, you’re going to want to focus on more than just calories; you’re going to want to focus on macronutrients.

There are three macronutrients: protein, fat and carbohydrates. Each macronutrient plays an important role in your body. Protein is needed for muscle growth, fat is used to balance hormones and carbs are your body and brain’s first source of energy.

I wish I could tell you to go out and eat whatever you wanted in a reverse and watch the weight melt off, but that’s not quite how it works. A reverse diet works because you’re balancing your protein, fat and carbs to kickstart your metabolism, have energy, build muscle and burn fat.

The key here is that you need to learn what a balanced diet looks like for you. My macro needs are going to be different than yours. Yours are going to be different than your sister’s. Your sister’s needs will be different than your best friend’s. You get the point.

Mama, you’re a star and for far too long you’ve been trying to force yourself into square cookie-cutter diets. But it’s not working! You need a program that is tailored to you, and that’s what I want to help you with.

Inside the Macros Made Easy program, I help busy, on-the-go, mamas lose weight without restricting themselves. You can still eat your favorite foods, go to social events and enjoy your life while losing weight. Schedule a free discovery call to get started right now!