Will Eating Less Give Me More Energy?

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions. People are fatter now than ever before. In fact, statistics in the US show in that there are more overweight people than those at their ideal weight. Being fat is the norm now.

As a result, the stats for diseases such as diabetes, cholesterol, hypertension and many other health issues have skyrocketed. Despite advances in medicine, more people are sick now.

The root of this problem is simple – we’re eating too much.

That’s really all there is to it. Food has become therapy, instead of fuel. Eating when you’re happy or sad or bored or even when you’re full is very common. What many people don’t realize is that the body uses energy to digest the food that you’re consuming.

So, if you’re eating round the clock, your digestive process is continuously working. Eating before bed will make your digestive system work while you’re sleeping too. The body never gets time to rest.

This is why many people wake up feeling exhausted. The body didn’t have sufficient time for rest and repair because of all the food it was digesting. Contrary to popular belief, more food does not give you more energy. The excess food is converted and stored as fat for future needs. You can only expend so much energy in one day.

If you exercise often, you can burn off the extra food – but even then, there are limits. You’ll still gain weight even if you exercise because you’re taking in more calories than you’re burning.

• The power of Intermittent Fasting

One of the best ways to boost your energy levels is to adopt an intermittent fasting (IF) protocol. With this method, your day is split into two windows – the eating window and the fasting window.

The most popular split is a 16/8 split. You’ll be fasting for 16 hours. During this period, you can only drink water. You will NOT eat anything. This will ensure that your insulin levels are stable, and your body is able to tap into its fat stores for fuel. Your digestive system will also have a break.

After the 16-hour fast, you’ll have an 8-hour eating window. You may consume all your calories for the day during this window.

Following the intermittent fasting protocol will lead to weight loss (if you’re at a caloric deficit) and you will discover that you have much more energy. You’ll not be starving yourself because you’re still getting the calories you need.

You’re just eating in a different way. Thousands of people who have tried intermittent fasting swear by it. Their health has improved, and they feel much more energetic.

• Water fasting

Another technique that you can employ is a water fast. This can last anywhere from 4 to 7 days. During the water fast, you will only drink water.

It may seem scary and dangerous, but this is one of the healthiest things that you could possibly do. During the first 3 days, you’ll have cravings, hunger pangs and mood swings. Every bone in your body will be telling you to eat, but you must not give in.

On the 4th day, however, you’ll discover that your hunger goes away, and you achieve a level of mental clarity that you never had before. Your body is now in ketosis and burning fat for fuel.

Many people who go on water fasts report a sudden increase in energy from the 4th day onwards. They feel lighter and much more energetic because the body has ample fat for fuel. It’s also detoxing and getting rid of all the toxins that have built up over the years.

You may need to do a few 24-hour and 48-hours fasts to build up your ‘fasting muscle’ before you take on the several day water fasts. To conclude, you only need to eat for fuel. That’s really about 2000 calories or so a day, depending on your level of activity.

Anything above that taxes your system and depletes you of energy. So, eating less will give you more energy, if you do it right. Do not cut your calories severely. Just aim for a daily caloric deficit of about 500 calories daily.

Over time, you’ll lose the excess pounds and your energy levels will rise. It will take a while… Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they were laying bricks every hour. Stay the course and you’ll get there.

Disclaimer: This blog post contains affiliate links to products and services I am passionate about. Purchasing via these links won’t cost you any extra but it will help me enormously.

This website is written by a regular human. I am not a Health Professional. Please get professional medical advice for your specific health needs.