Are You Not Eating Enough? Recognize the 8 Signs

With such a huge focus on weight control and overeating, many of us don’t realize that it is possible to be not eating enough. Fad diets, the popularity of fasting, and efforts to try to lose as many pounds as possible as quickly as possible has made it seem as though the less we eat, the better. However, this is not the case. We each have our own minimum calorie requirement for every day. Not reaching that level is typically not healthy and can lead to surprising side effects.

The Risk of Not Eating Enough

There are a huge number of variables that dictate exactly what your minimum number of calories for a day will be. Moreover, that number not only changes from one person to another, but even for the same person, it can change from time or day to day.  This is because some of the factors to be taken into consideration – such as activity level – can change from one day to the next. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that someone who spends the day running, lifting and doing other intense exercises would need more calories than someone who spent the day binging their favorite show.

When you want to lose weight, creating a calorie deficit is an important step – whether you’re counting your calories or not. That said, the numbers that we often see for creating that calorie deficit aren’t necessarily healthy or sustainable. For instance, there is a common recommendation that women shouldn’t eat any fewer than 1,200 calories per day and men shouldn’t fall below 1,500.  While that may seem to make sense, trying to hold onto that bare minimum can be unsustainable and can even be problematic for many people’s health. Research has shown that women need at least 1,400 daily calories to support their menstrual cycle – the whole thing, not just during menstruation.  Therefore, if a woman were to be focusing on trying to maintain 1,200 daily calories to create the “best” calorie deficit, she could be causing harm to that cycle.

Furthermore, this doesn’t even take into account the additional caloric needs of a woman who exercises regularly, who is trying to become pregnant or who is pregnant, for instance.  In those cases, far more calories are required.

Are You Consuming Enough Daily Calories?

If you’re not eating enough, there will be signs that you can watch for. They’re the result of too few calories for your body’s organs, systems, metabolism and hormones to function properly. They can include the following:

• Chronic fatigue
• Spiking and crashing blood sugar (glucose) levels
• Unhealthy nails and hair
• Brain fog (weakened cognition)
• Mood swings
• Irregular or absent menstrual cycle
• Constant thirst
• Feeling cold all the time