The #1 Sign Your Diet Has Gone Too Far

In order to lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit: this means consuming less calories than you’re burning. That said, sometimes, your attempt at cutting calories, types of foods or portions, can go too far. Restrictive dieting, or eating <80% of your daily nutritional needs, might produce fast weight loss, but it is rarely sustainable. Further, the longer you’re in this “starvation zone,” the more likely you are to see certain side affects such as fatigue, moodiness, trouble sleeping, hormonal imbalances, etc. Most importantly, and the #1 sign your diet has gone too far, is if your diet attempts are starting to affect your mental health and relationship with food.

Food scarcity can occur when your body has been deprived of it’s basic necessity to eat way too much and way too long. Symptoms include:

• Thinking about food excessively and a lot more than normal

• Chronic cycles of under and over-eating

• Feeling irritability and moody in between meals

• Increased cravings

• Frequent fluctuations in your weight

Here are some tips on how to overcome food scarcity:

1. Work on gradually re-introducing all foods you banished from your diet in the pursuit of weight loss. Deprivation only leads to increased desire.

2. Practice putting more food than normal on your plate and then eating slowly, while checking in with hunger and fullness cues. This gives you a chance to listen to your body's cues to determine how much food is enough, versus what your brain tells you is an "appropriate" portion.

3. If you're thinking about food, then eat. You can't only rely on hunger cues to tell you when to eat. Stress and other factors can impede this innate ability. 

4. Find non-food strategies to cope with uncomfortable emotions, fatigue, boredom, etc. 

If you’re struggling with food scarcity and/or your relationship with food, it’s important to schedule an appointment with a registered dietitian and a therapist who can help rehabilitate and restore your connection to food.