6 Signs You're Not Eating Enough Calories

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Feb 28

Not eating enough calories goes way beyond hunger pangs. Whether your goal is to lose weight, maintain your current weight, or gain more, calories matter. Yes, partially because they can affect your weight and fitness, but also, because they have the very basic yet hugely important job of helping you stay alive. Consuming just enough won't cut it, as your body and mind will suffer in plenty of ways without the proper nourishment.

Fruit Bowl Better Health by Accountability Ashley Carlotta

Here are 6 ways your body might be telling you it needs more food:

1. You're dragging all day long.

Calories = energy. When your calories are too low, your energy is too low. That lack of peppy-ness can show everywhere from the weight room to your morning meeting. Without enough calories, you don't have the energy to fire up tissues like muscle, or regenerate them once you've moved around.

That's because your body is allocating the calories you take in to its most important task: supporting parts of your body like your brain and heart. If you don't have much leftover, doing things that require tons of energy will seem so much harder.

2. Your weight won't budge.

If you're aiming for long-lasting weight loss, drastically slashing your calories isn't the best way to go. When this happens - your body is trying to hold on to as many calories as it can instead of burning at it's usual rate and thennn your weight might plateau. The good thing is that this can be fixed, so don't worry that you've messed up your metabolism for life because you haven't been eating enough lately.

3. You're constipated all the time.

First, if you're not eating enough, you may not be getting enough fiber, which is key for keeping your digestive system moving along. It's possible that even when you think you're drinking enough water, your body could still be dehydrated. Fiber can only do its job in helping you go to the bathroom if you have enough water in your system. Okay, on the the next.

4. You're constantly hungry.

Yes, it's a no-brainer symptom, but it's worth noting that you should not feel like you're hungry allllll the time. Hunger means your body is sending you a signal. When you're not eating enough, your hormones (leptin, ghrelin, and cholecystokinin) don't just shut up—they still stay active and prompt your brain to ask for more food. You gotta listen to them because they want you to feel satiated!

5. You snap at everyone who so much as talks to you.

You've seen the memes “I'm sorry for what I said when I was hangry”. Some of that irritability comes down to missing out on the enjoyable psychological component of eating.

6. You stick to your low-calorie diet most of the time, but sometimes you completely lose control.

When you go on that diet (that you'll never stick to long-term) and don't allow yourself to indulge in something yummy, you can end up spiraling and eating so much, you might make yourself sick - aka binge type behavior. Have you been there before? You want to make sure you're eating enough healthy food, but also that you're satisfying that psychological urge to have wonderful food that's going to give you pleasure. We aren't robots, there has to be a balance.