Eat More to Lose Weight

Although it may seem counterintuitive to eat more to lose weight nowadays, it is actually the healthiest method to accomplish this. In particular, because urban Chinese were so physically active and engaged in less manual labor than average Americans, researchers compared how many calories the average American consumes with the caloric intake by the least physically active Chinese. They discovered that the average Chinese person ate more than the average American did on an hourly basis. Interestingly, even though these people were active, they still consumed fewer calories than the Americans did. This study showed that there was a strong link between activity and calorie consumption - and activity was the key factor.

So why did this evidence show that more calories were being eaten by the Chinese than Americans? The researchers surmised that because the Chinese were so physically active, their metabolic rate increased along with their body fat. As their activity increased, their body fat decreased. Thus, instead of consuming the calories from food to maintain their activity level, the Chinese consumed more calories to maintain their bodies at their resting state. This means that instead of burning food to increase their body fat, the Chinese ate more to increase their activity level and burn up more calories in order to lose weight.

What's more, because of cultural beliefs regarding obesity, when an Asian person consumes any form of "calorie-rich" food, such as sugary desserts and fried foods, they become concerned about gaining too much body fat. So when scientists asked these people to consume a high-calorie dessert and asked them to follow a low-calorie diet for a few weeks, the test subjects ate significantly more food than those in the control group who took the other diet. This suggested that the difference in motivation to eat was actually the caloric content of the food - rather than the physical aspect of it.

Scientists have also studied the physiological differences between people who are slim and those who are overweight. They have found that while the overweight people had a low energy availability (they had no energy), the slim people's bodies were using fat as its main source of energy. This meant that when they ate, they used up more calories than they could burn off through exercise. This same phenomenon applies to people who eat more to lose weight. The only way for them to offset the excess calories is by eating more food.

But don't the Japanese people have it all wrong? Aren't they eating enough to lose weight? Don't they know that they should eat more to lose weight? The answer is no. Although these Japanese people do eat more to lose weight compared to the American folks, they eat less than Americans as well, and the reason is very simple: they have a low energy availability or low metabolic rate.

When their body clocks its calorie intake, it's programmed to burn energy at the soonest possible time. If their cellular energy stores are low, they cannot eat as much as they normally would. What they can and should eat is complex carbohydrates. These are high-energy plant foods such as beans and nuts that can be metabolized easily and don't provide a large number of calories. These plant foods give their owners a lot of extra energy, which helps them to burn calories even when they are not eating. So instead of worrying about whether you are eating enough to lose weight, focus on what you should be eating instead.

When you eat more to lose weight and do not allow your body to burn fat at a rapid pace, you will not experience any rapid fat loss. In fact, your metabolism might slow down a little bit while you are waiting for bMR to go back up to a normal level. But you will definitely feel better overall than if you are continuously loading up on carbohydrates.

Another benefit of eating less is that you won't feel hungry all the time. This is often times one of the biggest deterrents of people who want to start to eat less to lose weight. If you force yourself to eat, you may end up bingeing and eventually gaining back all of the weight that you had lost. This is something that happens in many diets that fail because the dieter is eating too much. It is much better to just wait until your bMR has returned to normal levels and continue eating according to your personal needs.