As we shift towards promoting strong bodies rather than skinny bodies, our mindset surrounding dieting has to shift along with it… but it really hasn’t.. Yet..
The only way to change your shape (body composition) and look more lean or more toned is to increase lean muscle mass and decrease fat mass.
With not enough fuel, your performance will suffer in workouts.
When the energy (calories) you’re taking in are chronically low, your body will not have the fuel it needs to perform. Period. When your performance is mediocre.. So will be your progress..
With not enough fuel your body won't be as efficient at recovering.
When you do any kind of resistance training, you create tiny tears in the muscle fibers. In order for them to repair & rebuild, they need adequate carbs and protein available. If these are insufficient, recovery will take longer and muscle building will be inefficient.
With not enough fuel coming in to meet the needs going out, you may sacrifice lean mass.
Your body uses stored carbs (glycogen) to fuel moderate to high intensity workouts. But these stores are very limited (and are even more limited when your diet is low in carbs), when the stores are used up, your body switches to alternative fuel sources (like amino acids from protein), to make more fuel as quickly as possible. When you chronically undereat, at best will struggle to build more lean muscle, but at worst, you’ll burn through what you already have.
With chronic undereating, your body may shut down or slow non-essential functions.
When fuel stores are low, the body must prioritize what is getting the fuel. Therefore non-essential functions will slow or shut down completely. This could include digestive enzyme and sex hormone production. This would lead to gas, bloating, GI issues, period problems (ladies!), poor recovery, sleep issues, and of course big issues with fatigue! We are trying to sculpt some beautiful lean muscle mass here and shutting down these functions will not keep our bodies on point and firing on all cylinders, which could make the task at hand very difficult!!