There is a good chance that you’ve heard someone talking about their stomach shrinking after they’ve slashed calories. It’s an old and false belief that your stomach will shrink because of eating less. Yes, the stomach has powerful capabilities when it comes to expanding when you eat a massive meal and thanks to its elasticity, it can go back to normal size not long after that massive meal is consumed. But, contrary to what some believe, it will not get smaller from decreasing your caloric intake. This is because your body was designed to take in enough calories to ensure that it runs properly, even during times when food is scarce, and your intake is less. Unfortunately, when you feed your stomach less, it does not shrink, and lessen your desire for food. Truth be told, our bodies crave food more when we cut back on the calories, because it starts to think that we are starving and responds by triggering our appetite. Meanwhile, when you eat too little, your metabolic rate and body temperature slows down to save that much needed energy.
Unfortunately, if you cut back on your calories too much, this starvation mode will cause your body to cling to fat and what calories it does have, storing them for later. If you do the math, your decision to cut out too many calories could backfire on you, causing you to gain back any weight that you lost in the first place.
The key is to cut back on food gradually, so your body doesn’t go into that starvation mode and feel threatened that it will never get food again. So, whatever you do, don’t crash diet and starve yourself in hopes of shrinking your appetite and stomach. Instead, eat the right foods, like those provided in Dr. Restivo’s meal plan, and ease into your weight loss journey. While crash dieting may seem like a quick fix, it’s a major deterrent when it comes to long-lasting weight loss.
As adults, our stomachs generally stay the same size, unless of course you have a surgery that is intended to make your stomach smaller. The good news is that when we eat less, our ‘appetite thermostat’ tends to reset over time, making us feel less hungry, which ultimately makes it easier to stick with our new and improved eating plan.
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