A guaranteed way to ensure you eventually end up in a caloric SURPLUS and GAIN weight is to layer a calorie deficit on top of a poor relationship with food.
This is true in virtually all situations, yet one of the first things people try to do when they want to lose weight is set a calorie budget.
And it does work, at least in the short term. You can white knuckle through and mask over your struggles with food for a little while.
But in the meantime, there’s always this upward pressure on your eating – like a beachball you’re trying to submerge underwater.
Eventually, your struggles with food that you ignored by following the “eat less, move more” advice boil back to the surface, and you end up eating more – leading to weight regain.
Think about it – how many calorie deficits have you been in over the course of your life? Have any of them ended your lifetime weight loss struggle? Or are you still struggling with your food and body?
It makes perfect sense if you think about it. After all, why would eating in a deficit fix your emotional eating problem? Why would it fix your binge eating disorder? Why would it suddenly get you out of the weekday/weekend or daytime/nighttime cycle? Why would it get you to stop fearing calories or get you to start trusting yourself around food?
A calorie deficit does none of these things. In fact, it makes all these situations WORSE!
If you’re overeating, that’s a SYMPTOM of your relationship with food. You don’t treat symptoms – you solve problems.
Until your underlying problem is fixed (your relationship with food), any arbitrary calorie deficit will be short-lived, and will eventually result in a caloric surplus and weight gain.
The evidence is your life.
Now, that’s not to say counting calories doesn’t have its place. Because when you use this tool in conjunction with a healthy relationship with food, it can be an amazing asset for whatever goals you have.
But before you get to that place you need to prioritize overcoming the actual struggles with food that have been holding you back.
That’s how you naturally eat less and lose weight by side effect – permanently.