Why is My Coach Asking Me To Eat More If My Goal Is Fat Loss?
One of the hardest conversations I have with new clients goes something like this...
Client:"Lisa... if I'm trying to lose weight, why on earth are you asking me to eat more?"
I completely understand why they ask.
The reality is, the majority of clients I work with in their 40’s,50s and into their 60s are extremely under-eating.
For decades, women in this age group have been bombarded with the same message over and over: eat less, eat less, eat less. You've been taught that weight loss means starvation, restriction, and constantly skipping meals.
So when I tell a new client to eat three balanced meals a day, eat their carbs, and stop skipping breakfast, it feels completely backwards.
(Pro-tip: The easiest way to stay consistent with three meals a day without spending hours in the kitchen everyday is utilizing glass meal prep containers).
But here is what I want you to understand:
I’m not asking you to eat more than your body needs.
I’m asking you to eat enough to support what you are asking your body to do.
Calories Are Not the Enemy (They’re Fuel)
Most women have been taught to think of calories as the "bad guy"— the thing that makes their clothes fit tighter.
But calories aren't the enemy. Calories are simply energy.
Your body is like a car, and food is the gas. Even if you spent the entire day lying on the couch watching TV, your body would still need a lot of energy just to keep you alive and running. Your body uses that food to:
Keep your heart pumping
Help your brain think straight
Digest your food
Breathe and recover from your day
Walk around and get through your workouts (Tip: Make sure you're keeping your body hydrated with a reliable, insulated water bottle.)
Keep the muscle you already have
Food isn’t just something waiting to be turned into body fat. It is the literal fuel your body uses every single minute of the day.
"Eating Enough" vs. "Overeating"
This is where so many women get stuck. The moment I suggest eating a little bit more, the immediate fear kicks in: "Won't that make me gain weight?"
Not necessarily. There is a huge difference between eating enough to support your body and consistently overeating.
Eating Enough: This means giving your body the baseline fuel it needs to stay healthy, keep your hormones happy, and give you the energy to lift weights and move. It lets your metabolism work with you, not against you.
Overeating: This means consistently giving your body way more energy than it can actually use, which is what leads to fat gain.
My goal isn't to get you overeating. My goal is to get you eating enough so your body stops panicking and starts working the way it's supposed to. In fact, research published in the National Institutes of Health database on the Impact of Calorie Restriction on Energy Metabolism shows that extreme under-eating triggers biological defenses that actively slow down your resting metabolic rate.
Why We Must Focus on Consistency First
This is the biggest thing I teach my clients.
Imagine you hired me as your trainer and this is how your first month and a half went:
Week 1: You are right on track and show up for all three workouts.
Week 2: Life gets busy and you have to miss one.
Week 3: You only manage to make it to one workout.
Week 4: You're back on it and make all three again.
Week 5: You're away on holidays.
If you then asked me, "Lisa, why am I not getting any stronger?”
I wouldn't be able to give you a straight answer. Not because working out doesn't work, but because you aren't doing it consistently enough to know what your body is actually responding to.
Nutrition works the exact same way.
If one day you're eating 800 calories... the next day you skip lunch... the next day you don't track at all... and the next day you walk 20,000 steps and barely eat... your body is on a roller coaster.
Before we can change the plan to help you lose fat, we have to actually follow a baseline plan consistently. That is how we stop guessing.
Not sure how to balance your proteins, carbs, and fats to find that baseline? Grab my FREE Macros Guide to clear up the confusion and start tracking the right way today!
What Consistency Actually Gives Us
Once you are eating balanced meals, getting enough protein, lifting weights, and fueling your body consistently, we finally get something amazing: real information.
Instead of guessing what to do next, we can look at the facts:
If you are losing body fat? Great! We keep going.
If progress stalls? We know exactly where you're starting from, so we can make a small tweak.
If something isn't working? We can fix it based on facts, not wild guesses.
My job is to help you lose body fat while keeping the muscle you're working so hard to build. Sometimes, that means eating more than you expected. Sometimes, it means dropping your calories down. But I will never make those choices based on one "bad" day on the scale. I make them based on consistent habits and real data.
If you're ready to stop guessing and want a customized protocol, check out my Strong & Balanced Coaching Program.
The Bottom Line
If you have spent years believing that eating less is always the answer, I know this way of thinking can feel uncomfortable.
But remember: I’m not asking you to eat more just for the sake of it. I'm asking you to fuel your body consistently so we can actually understand how it responds. Because once we have that consistency, we can make the right changes and finally stop the guessing game for good.