If you want to lose weight, here's one mistake you should avoid

Dr Andrew Etuket

Today I’d like to answer a question: “What is the most common mistake made by people seeking to lose weight?”

The answer is… it’s eating too little or missing meals. You see, food contains calories. Calories are units of energy that aid the different processes performed by the body — what is collectively termed as metabolism.

Think of calories as “fuel” and metabolism as one’s ability to burn calories. Not putting in enough fuel regularly is going to reduce one’s metabolism. This will mean that even the little that one eats will most likely get stored as fat rather than be taken up for use or storage in the muscles.

In addition, eating too little food will result in a drop in the levels of thyroid hormone which is a major factor for boosting metabolism. In order to lose weight, one must eat less than they need but this shouldn’t be taken to the extreme.

I therefore advise people seeking to lose weight to avoid extreme diets like long duration fasting and juicing as these will definitely lower metabolism and cause loss of muscle mass.

This isn’t the healthy way to lose weight. In summary, if you seek to lose weight the healthy way, be sure to lower your calorie intake but ensure that it isn’t far below the calories your body requires to function.

Thanks for checking in. I hope you found this enlightening. Till next time, take care and stay healthy.

 The author is a Fitness and Nutrition Consultant

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