There are plenty of healthy habits that can help you lose weight, like eating more vegetables, getting enough protein, keeping a food diary, and moving more. On the other hand, some habits can get in the way of your weight loss goals, like binge eating and reaching for food when you’re stressed. But there’s one habit that’s ingrained in the dieting psyche of many dieters. And while most people think it’s helpful, it could be the number one reason you’re not seeing long-term results.
Why Eating Too Little Might Be Sabotaging Your Progress?
It may sound counterintuitive, but the habit you should quit to lose weight is eating too little. Eating too few calories, especially at breakfast and lunch, can hinder weight loss and weight maintenance. Many people still hear the advice to “eat less and move more,” but overdoing it often leads to eating 1,200 calories or less per day while trying to burn a lot of calories through exercise. The result is a lack of energy, leading to hunger, fatigue, irritability, and difficulty maintaining weight long-term.
How does this habit prevent you from losing weight?
Even if you don’t plan to lose weight, eating too little at each meal can still happen as a habit over time. When you focus on quantity and ignore quality, you end up feeling hungry and overeating later in the day.
For example, a nonfat yogurt for breakfast and a chicken salad for lunch can leave you hungry in the afternoon, leading to overeating or overeating at dinner.
Regular late-night eating also puts your body into fat-storage mode instead of burning it. When you eat, the glucose in the food increases your blood sugar, stimulating the release of insulin. If you consume more calories than your body needs, the excess sugar will be converted to fat.
How to break the habit of eating too little
If you realize that eating too little is hindering your weight loss, you can definitely change this habit. Quitting is not a one-day or two-day thing, but requires a clear plan and a gradual approach.
It is important to understand that sustainable weight loss does not mean starving yourself. Instead, you should learn to eat enough, eat smart and eat in a balanced way so that your body has energy and still maintains a reasonable calorie deficit.
1. Start with your mindset
Changing habits starts with your mindset. You need to break the belief that you always have to eat less to lose weight. Hungry people cannot lose weight and maintain their weight effectively; only full people can.
2. Eat Balanced Meals
When you eat balanced meals that keep you full for a long time, you won’t have to constantly think about food between meals. By the way, constantly thinking about food isn’t a lack of willpower. It’s just your brain’s natural way of alerting you to the need to eat more.
Eating balanced, filling meals will help your blood sugar levels rise steadily instead of spiking, keeping you energized for hours. Then, your blood sugar levels will naturally drop instead of plummeting.
3. Include Fiber, Protein, and Healthy Fats
Fiber, protein, and fat digest more slowly and help keep you full for a long time. Plus, they’re found in healthy foods like nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, chicken, salmon, whole grains, and yogurt. Eat every 3 to 4 hours instead of snacking all day. This prevents a constant release of insulin and allows your body to burn fat instead of storing it.
4. Build a Balanced Meal
Breakfast might include oatmeal with peanut butter and berries, or 2% Greek yogurt with fruit and nuts. If you’re craving something salty, try whole-wheat toast with avocado and two eggs. And yes, bread can fit into a healthy diet
For lunch and dinner, try to eat half your plate with vegetables, a quarter with whole grains, and a quarter with protein. Then add some healthy fat, like olive oil or nut butter. Eating half your plate with vegetables will fill you up with fiber, so you’ll feel full on fewer calories.
A common mistake is to skip whole grains at lunch because you’re afraid of carbs. But this can backfire and lead to eating fewer healthy carbs in the afternoon. Try adding a half cup of cooked quinoa or farro to your lunch salad or making a sandwich with whole-wheat tortillas. You’ll be surprised at how much fuller you feel.
Remember, because protein, fat, and fiber are digested slowly and suppress hunger hormones, they keep you fuller for longer. This slows the rise in blood sugar and the release of insulin.
5. Listen to your body
Eating intuitively helps you know when you’re hungry or full. Letting go of crash dieting helps you understand that it’s normal to have days when you’re hungrier due to exercise, stress, or your menstrual cycle. Eat when you’re hungry but not too hungry, eat slowly, and stop when you’re full but not too full.
In short, undereating is a common but counterproductive habit when it comes to weight loss. Instead of cutting calories to the extreme, build balanced meals rich in protein, fiber, and healthy fats, eat enough to feel full, and listen to your body. This approach will help you lose weight sustainably, maintain your weight, and improve your overall health, while still enjoying your meals without feeling hungry all the time.
