Who Should Not Be in a Calorie Deficit

We are back! This week we are both on the podcast chatting about who should NOT be in a calorie deficit. Before you get tempted to skip this one, listen to make sure you don't fall into the category of people we are talking about

If you have questions, or topics that you want to hear about, head over to our Instagrams https://www.instagram.com/bayleethedietitian/ or https://www.instagram.com/brianna.dietitian/ and send us a DM! You can also follow the podcast https://www.instagram.com/mocktailminutes/

Featured Mocktails: 

Ultima 

Popz

Click play, sip back, and be empowered.

Transcript

Baylee 0:21

Hello everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Minutes. This is Bailey.

Brianna 0:27

This is Brianna.

Baylee 0:28

We're back. The dream team.

Brianna 0:30

We're back. I feel like it's been so long.

Baylee 0:33

It has been so long. Like we just sat here for an hour talking

Brianna 0:37

Yeah. Literally you.

Baylee 0:39

both, we're both so bad at texting and so I feel like whenever we come to record it's like we have to catch up each week.

Brianna 0:46

Yeah. Oh, I'm the worst at texting. Like I have to put my phone on Do Not disturb because if I see how many notifications for texts I have, I get overwhelmed. And it's stupid things like it's things where like, I want to talk to those people or like spam, I could just ignore, like delete it. No, not really. It's fine.

Baylee 1:03

it's okay. But we are back and this week I am drinking, it's called pops. It's a prebiotic drink. This one is the half and half. It's actually pretty good. Like sometimes when you get tea flavored things that are also carbonated, they get a little weird. But this one I like, I got it from Aldi.

Brianna 1:22

Hmm. I'll have to try it. I am doing, I'm doing the grape Ultima. I don't know what it is. I've been loving grape lately, like grape, lollipop, grape, this, and I didn't ever really thought I liked grape, but here I am.

Baylee 1:34

I don't think I've tried the grape Ultima. We have the grape just ingredients, and that one really grew on me, but I'll have

Brianna 1:40

Yeah,

Baylee 1:41

at that one.

Brianna 1:41

it's pretty good.

Baylee 1:42

Today we are talking about who should not be in a Galled episode. I feel like a lot of people might skip this episode for a weird reason because everyone thinks they need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight, or it's are as bad to everyone,

Brianna 2:00

Or, yeah, or if you hear someone say like, you don't need to be in a calorie deficit, it's instantly like, oh, they don't know what they're talking about. I. All right, but not everybody should be in one.

Baylee 2:12

and I think we get a very confused where it's oh, so we don't have to eat less to lose weight. Yes. Yes. Da dot,

Brianna 2:20

Yeah. But.

Baylee 2:22

But if you were undereating and we've done an episode about undereating versus calorie deficit. you were undereating and your metabolism is already tanked, your metabolism has adapted to where you, when you may have previously been in a deficit, but now you're at a very down-regulated maintenance level.

Brianna 2:43

Hmm.

Baylee 2:43

So when we say you may need to eat more to lose weight, it's not because a calorie deficit doesn't work, it's because if you just continue to drop your calories just gonna keep. Getting metabolic adaptations. You just can't stop eating type of thing. You're gonna get very sick, you're not gonna feel good. So that's where when we see people undereating for weight loss, it's like that's starving for weight loss type of thing. We work your calories up and what's called a reverse diet because that's what's gonna increase your metabolism. So that way. After your maintenance. Once you get to there, then you do a strategic calorie deficit. But some

Brianna 3:22

Yeah.

Baylee 3:23

are not ready for a calorie deficit when they come to see us.

Brianna 3:25

No. And it really is those people who have been eating really low calorie for a really long time. And again, it's like the, are you in a calorie deficit or are you eating underneath your BMR? Because your body's really good at adapting until it's not. And you can't just like not live off 400 calories, like so now you have to go back And I think people forget like maintenance and surplus too. Like if you are. Trying to figure out like, well, am I undereating? And we've talked about this, like doing A-T-D-E-E to see what is my, in theory, basal metabolic rate. Am I eating under that? If so, I need to work my way up to maintenance. And if you're someone who's like, I'm, I've been in a calorie deficit for a long time and it is apparently above my BMR and I'm in a good spot, but I have not been losing weight. And you've tried like reverse sign, you've tried like a bunch of different things, getting a DEXA scan. So that you know what your real BMR is is so important because I've had a couple of those lately and one of my clients got a DEXA and her BMR is like 950 calories, which based on her TDEE, it should be like 1200. So now I'm like, wow, eat 1100 calories, which is, I feel really like, I don't feel comfortable saying that, but I have the data saying like, we gotta work you like back up. And she's so terrified of gaining weight that we gotta like do it slowly, but. You could have really just jacked up your metabolism and now you gotta work your way out of it. Like calorie deficit may be off the table for you for a little bit.

Baylee 4:55

I feel like I'm reverse dieting so many people right now. I would say probably I. I think I've had two in the past four months been overeating

Brianna 5:08

Yes. I try to tell people that so many people are not overeating.

Baylee 5:12

yeah, and I usually see it happen more with guys. Actually guys are more overeaters. Women are very good at being undereaters and then we're stuck in this loss, weight gain cycle, but. In reverse diet. It's so crazy how it works. But like everyone's this is just magic. I don't understand it. I'm like, it's because our bodies are not as simple as we're taught that they should be type of thing. And then we get so stressed out about the calories aren't a watch. Do we need to subtract the 200 calories that you burned or the 500 calories that says we burn for the day? No, not since we are overcomplicating something and just we're just plain focusing on the wrong thing. But absolutely if you are someone who's already under eating, like eating less is just gonna suppress your metabolism further. And going along with that, I would say another person who should not do a calorie deficit sim is if you were in like a high. point of your life. So like under six hours, just like constantly feeling fatigued, feeling like your life is super chaotic. Whether it's like work stress, emotional stress food restrictions, overall training, stress, like if you're training to do a triathlon or whatever, like that's a lot.

Brianna 6:25

Yeah.

Baylee 6:25

a great time to just start a calorie deficit right now.

Brianna 6:28

Yeah.

Baylee 6:29

adding this calorie deficit, that would be an additional stressor on the body, on an already stressed out body

Brianna 6:36

Yeah, and I think people don't realize it. Like when we're like, oh, manage your stress, and it's like, okay, like work stress, family stress. Okay. But we also mean like those physical stressors. Yeah. Like the lack of sleep. Like undereating is a huge stressor to your body. Huge. I would say the other thing too is thinking about like your thyroid function. And if you're someone who's had like a really underactive thyroid, like being in too small of a deficit for too long is not great, which is also why we see a lot of people kind of like lose weight when they start to eat a little bit more or they have better nourishment'cause you're fueling your thyroid and using those calories better and then you're actually getting results. So. It could just be your body is too stressed to lose weight. We don't need to lose weight to live. It's like counterintuitive, but you need to hold on to weight to live. So your body in a very high stress state is not gonna be like, sure, let's lose weight. And everyone always is like, but what about like famine? Okay.

Baylee 7:38

Very different.

Brianna 7:40

different, Karen. We're not in a famine. Okay. And famine doesn't have the option to go binge at the end of the week because they've been starving Different.

Baylee 7:50

they're like chronically ill, and they don't live a long, healthy life, like they're gonna die early. I don't think that's what you want.

Brianna 7:57

Yeah. And then people on social media who are like, well explain famine. I'm like, you're crazy. Right? We're not seeing that like we are. We do wanna live a little bit better. People who are experiencing famine.

Baylee 8:08

Yeah. I'm just like, you know what? I've seen so many people lose weight by increasing their calories strategically with a reverse diet. Like we're not saying go out and eat a tub of ice cream each night if you're under eating. Like it is a strategic process and unfortunately, it's not necessarily something we could just be like, oh, you're gonna work up a hundred calories exactly this week. You're gonna increase by 15 grams of carbs. You're gonna do this for five weeks, or whatever it is. Because it's a little different, I think for each person. Like I know a lot of times with a reverse diet, says to focus on protein first. I. Yes and no. Like for me, sometimes I don't start protein yet. If you're getting, if your protein goes like 140 and you're at like 110 and your carbs are only at one 20 this was like the other day, that's her carbs are like at one 20, which is very low. I like to see you at a minimum of one 50 carbs, so my first priority is to get you to that minimum carb amount even though we're not at your protein goal.

Brianna 9:14

Yeah,

Baylee 9:15

dieticians may do it differently. It doesn't mean anyone's wrong. I just personally try and get everyone to like minimums before I start, like optimizing each area.

Brianna 9:24

yeah, yeah.

Baylee 9:25

do it differently or do

Brianna 9:26

No, I do it the same because. Very few people especially'cause protein has been like a thing now for a while. And the keto and the carnivore, naturally you're eating a little bit higher protein. It's always the carbs first.'cause I think women have been so scared of carbs

Baylee 9:42

bad at carbs lately.

Brianna 9:43

so bad and people are like, oh no, I'm eating enough. And there's so many times that I'm like, I need you tracking'cause I need you physically seeing that like your quarter cup of rice, that one meal. Is not a lot of carbs. Like in your mind you think it's a lot because you've had rice and like, oh my God, you've had rice. It's not. And like you start eating more carbs, your thyroid's more supported, you feel better. You have the energy to go move More.

Baylee 10:07

Yeah.

Brianna 10:07

Weight loss is easier. Protein, I think it's very few that I see that are like way low where I'm like, oh, okay, let's work up. Most people are like pretty good at protein, also pretty good at fat. It's always the carbs.

Baylee 10:22

Was the carbs, which goes along with the fiber.

Brianna 10:25

Yeah, exactly. Which I'm like,

Baylee 10:27

I was undereating carbs, which

Brianna 10:29

I'll

Baylee 10:29

a lot.

Brianna 10:30

carbs, which is I love carbs.

Baylee 10:32

to.

Brianna 10:32

Like I'll be like, oh, that's probably a lot. And then again, this is where you don't know what you don't know. If you don't know how many carbs are in the bread that you like, like go look it up so that you can be like, oh, is this appropriate amount of carbs app?'cause you're probably just being like. Oh, that's a lot of carbs. I'm not gonna do that. And not realizing like your breakfast is five carbs, so you probably should have done the bread. Yeah,

Baylee 10:53

it slice the bread's 12 grams of carbs, so

Brianna 10:56

not that way.

Baylee 10:56

not that crazy.

Brianna 10:57

No it's not. Neither are potatoes, especially if you make'em at home, depending on the type of potato and what you have. But neither here nor there. Carbs, which will help your calories go up. And it's an easy way'cause it's like, okay, have a little bit more fruit. Fruit feels easy to eat. It's decent amount of calories depending on what you have. It's carbs. You could slowly work your way up with good quality food like Bailey said. Like don't be like, well I guess I can have a tub of Ben and Jerry's ice cream every night'cause I have the calorie room for it. This is why you're in the position you're in. Because we think things like that.

Baylee 11:30

absolutely.

Brianna 11:31

who else would you say should not be in a calorie deficit?

Baylee 11:35

So I would say this is one I was, I think definitely if you're pregnant, you should not be in a calorie deficit.

Brianna 11:42

Yeah.

Baylee 11:43

My other thing that I kinda, I think breastfeeding you shouldn't necessarily focus on a calorie deficit, or maybe at least like the first three months

Brianna 11:53

Oh yeah.

Baylee 11:54

But I mean, your body is already overworking and of times like you have that postpartum pressure of bounce back. So we start to look at weight loss and we have the calorie deficit mindset, but then like it starts impacting your milk supply it, we get more fatigued, we have more deficiencies. So I don't know, I was going back and forth like breastfeeding. Do we not go to calor? It. I.

Brianna 12:20

Say no. Like anyone that I have worked with that's like, oh, I'm considering it. It's like after they've been breastfeeding for like over nine months.'cause at nine months you're not nursing as often. You're probably getting a little more sleep. You're probably back into a workout routine. But most postpartum women, like the hormone situation going on, do so well with like eating at maintenance or maybe a little above strength training.

Baylee 12:46

Yeah.

Brianna 12:47

You will put on so much muscle that's like the best.

Baylee 12:49

on muscle. Yeah. So just'cause you're not going to calorie deficits, it doesn't mean you're not gonna fit into your clothes. Like you can walk, you can pay attention, eat enough. Because when we start that undereating process or start the calorie deficit plus we're trying to feed another human. mean you're, it's that stressor on the body again where we just get to the undereating and your metabolism's gonna tank anyway. So don't you just keep eating and keep your metabolism revved up.

Brianna 13:13

Yeah, you're burning calories, creating your milk supply. This is probably the only time where I'd be like, just consider yourself in a calorie deficit from breastfeeding, like eat up maintenance or maybe a little bit higher, and you're probably still in a calorie deficit because of breastfeeding. Not so much with pregnancy. It's different, but you should not be trying to be in a calorie deficit when pregnant, even if you are really overweight, I would say like a maintenance.

Baylee 13:40

Yes, and you can be strategic about fat loss during pregnancy.

Brianna 13:46

Mm-hmm.

Baylee 13:46

I've had someone lose weight during pregnancy. I've had someone not lose gain anything during pregnancy, both very healthy babies, but it was like we were targeting fat loss, not just calorie deficit.

Brianna 14:02

Yeah, it's just a whole different strategy of doing it. It's not, you're not the.

Baylee 14:06

I would say general rule of thumb will go no defic, no, no deficiency. We don't want a deficiency.

Brianna 14:13

Yeah.

Baylee 14:14

deficit for either of them.

Brianna 14:16

And then if you are currently dieting or anything and you are like low energy, dizzy hair loss, that's such a big one. Everyone is always like, what should I take for the hair loss? What is GLP one? I'm like, food. Food. That will help, you know, if you're getting really poor sleep, if you're super irritable, if you're having extremely quick weight loss, weight loss, your workouts are kind of sucking because you just, you're dragging. Or if you're starting to have like vitamin deficiencies, like all signs, you are just not getting enough nourishment and that's not a deficit. That's undereating. Yeah.

Baylee 14:52

and especially if you're super irritable, things like that. These are things we commonly see all the time and we feel like it's like our hormones or something crazy wrong with it. And I've been joking lately. I'm like, I could literally fix everything if you just eat.

Brianna 15:08

Yeah, in such a better mood.

Baylee 15:10

Yeah, like you don't have all these stomach issues, you don't have all these hormone issues we thought we had. You don't have like. All these things that we feel like we need to go to. Like functional metaphor, yes, there are things we do, but like this is your foundational piece. Before weight loss, you have to make sure you're eating enough

Brianna 15:30

Yeah.

Baylee 15:30

you do that calorie deficit. If you're already in a deficit and you try to do another one, you're just tanking yourself and you're going to get burnt out and yeah, all these, like the hair loss is super common because yeah, no woman wants to

Brianna 15:45

I want this to be bald. Yeah. Like I don't wanna be skinny and bald.

Baylee 15:49

you have control over it. I had someone, we were talking about this and she was losing her hair, and I, we brought, she brought this up and she's like, I was literally to the point where I was so desperate to be skinny. I wanted to be skinny and bald, so I just didn't care.

Brianna 16:03

Right, right. And then it's like, oh, I need to check in with myself. That's crazy. I'm being crazy. Yeah, I know.

Baylee 16:10

that's like where like disordered eating patterns, I think come into where. Not a good time for a calorie deficit either. If those are your mind, your, that's like your thoughts that come up. You're not in a good mental space right now. To eat less, you have to fix that relationship with food first, which I know you've probably heard a million times. It sounds annoying, have to fix that relationship with your food first before you challenge your body more.

Brianna 16:37

Mm-hmm. Because then it's just an unhealthy thing, you know, like

Baylee 16:42

You're gonna

Brianna 16:42

you.

Baylee 16:43

be fighting your body.

Brianna 16:44

Yeah, you're fighting your body, you're not feeling great. Then you're constantly thinking about food. You're obsessing over it like it's life's too short and that's not what you want. And I'm sorry. You'll become the type of person that even when you do have weight loss, you will never see it or get to enjoy it. You will always like want more, which is like, well then what was the point of that? You know? It's a lot. It's a lot. But yeah, if you are. Having any of those things, calorie deficit is probably off the table for you. It does not mean you're not gonna lose weight. It does not mean that you're gonna gain weight. Some people may not lose weight. Maybe they'll maintain, or maybe some will gain weight. But just because you're not in a calorie deficit and you have to work your way up to maintenance doesn't mean you are. Gonna not lose weight or gain weight. It doesn't always mean that, which is why you need to work with someone that can help you get up to that. Because yeah, if you're eating 900 calories and your maintenance is 2000, if you go from 900 to 2000, you will gain weight. If you're fine with that, cool. You know, you'll be feeling better more quickly. Cool. But. This is where it's like, and it's like Bailey said, it's an art. Like it's, I have a lot of places that I start with and a lot of things I'm looking at first, but it's really dependent on the person of like how quickly we increase, like where are we increasing? It's not.

Baylee 17:56

depends where you're starting. Like some maintenance phases could be five. Reverse phase, I guess could be five weeks up to maintenance. Some could be like 10 weeks. And then maintenance. I like to keep everyone there at least four weeks. Feel like the first round of maintenance is a little bit tricky'cause everyone's I just wanna lose weight and I've just spent 10 weeks and increasing and maintaining.

Brianna 18:16

Yeah.

Baylee 18:18

I do find people do okay around four to six weeks

Brianna 18:21

Mm-hmm.

Baylee 18:21

at maintenance. I tend to do a little bit lower. If they have a lot higher calorie needs. If you're up to 2,800 calories, I give you like four weeks because it, you just have more wiggle room, I feel like.

Brianna 18:34

Mm-hmm.

Baylee 18:34

I think getting up to maintenance and then fat loss phase around eight weeks, 12 weeks. Some people push it to 16. Have you ever done 16 week fells?

Brianna 18:43

I've never, I think maybe for one person, and this was a person who had a, a lot of weight to lose and they felt really good where they were at, like they were in their deficit. They were still having great workouts. She was also like. Tracking her body composition. And so it was easy to be like, okay, like you haven't lost a bunch of muscle, I guess is appropriate. But I've never gone over four months. Like it's at the point where I'm like, okay, again, our bodies adapt. You don't wanna end up, end up back where you were like, let's go back up and then reassess.

Baylee 19:18

Yeah. I like to do eight to 12, occasional 16,

Brianna 19:21

I think, yeah.

Baylee 19:23

on where they're at. And that's the other thing like. Yeah. Like you have to be able to see like, how are you feeling? And so it's not as simple as just do this for four weeks, do this for four weeks, do this for six weeks. Sometimes there's a little, there's some cognitive thinking skills. I go into it.

Brianna 19:39

And being honest too, right? With yourself like, Nope, actually I have been feeling like shit. Okay, Feeling like shit and you're not really losing weight. Okay, let's go back up. And that might be scary, but. Imagine being,

Baylee 19:53

thing.

Brianna 19:53

no, it's not.

Baylee 19:55

it feels like we failed if we have to repeat a week or something. Like sometimes your body's just not ready for that, and that's a win to be able to recognize where your body's at and what it's needing.

Brianna 20:05

Yeah, because that's how you're gonna achieve that. Like long-term weight maintenance is, you know what your body needs, you know how to tune into it. You're eating a proper amount, so like your body's using calories very well. I think it's a place that a lot of people think they can't get to, but they can. And I feel like a lot of times what's holding them back is they've just been drilled that you must be in a calorie deficit. And while that's not incorrect, what the hell is a calorie deficit? I don't know. Like that one client I had that got her dexa, I would've been like, yeah, girl, you're in a calorie deficit shirt. No she wasn't.'cause your metabolism sucked so bad. And then we're like, okay, I literally have to get you to a point of like building muscle and like being at a maintenance because there's no lower from here like it was.

Baylee 20:50

You, you literally couldn't build muscle there.

Brianna 20:52

No. Yeah, you can't. And now we're like jeopardizing your bone health. Right. And going back to what you said about like, I feel like I fix everything with food. Like if you do truly have hormone issues or all these issues, if you were not eating. Doing functional medicine isn't gonna help you. Throwing a supplement at it, trying whatever's, it's not going to help you. It's gonna be a big waste of money and time. And then you're gonna continue to think that something's really wrong with you when it's just like, you need to eat.

Baylee 21:20

We can solve a lot of your problems with food,

Brianna 21:22

yeah.

Baylee 21:22

people don't believe. It sounds too simple.

Brianna 21:24

Now. And they always be like, you don't know what you're talking about. You're so dumb. I'm like, okay. I have like$80,000 in student debt to tell you that I,

Baylee 21:32

Yeah.

Brianna 21:33

know what I'm talking about. So yeah, so there's our calorie Deficit Spiel. Spiel.

Baylee 21:40

should not be in a calorie deficit? Let us know what follow up questions you have to this episode. Send us a message over on Instagram and yeah, we'll be back next week for a brand new episode.

Brianna 21:53

Bye.

Baylee 21:53

Bye. I.