How To Burn More Calories Than You Consume Without Starving Yourself
Your Weight
You consume calories and you burn calories. Calories are energy. If you consume more calories than you burn then you gain weight. If you burn more calories than you consume then you lose weight. When there is a balance your weight stays the same. Gaining weight causes a person to burn more calories like wearing a weight belt would. So the weight gain usually stops on its own. Losing weight causes a person to burn fewer calories.
When you lose weight your body is converting fat or muscle into energy. When you gain weight your body is storing the energy as fat or using it to build muscle. Skinny, light people can consume more calories than big heavy people. I eat more than people that weigh over 50 pounds more than me. They consume fewer calories than I do but they also burn fewer calories.
Overeating
People often overeat. They feel full but eat some more food anyway or they eat too fast. When you eat fast your body does not tell you that you are full fast enough. Boredom and stress are other reasons people overeat. When you get bored you may start eating just for something to do. When you are stressed you may eat to comfort yourself. If you stop overeating then you can consume fewer calories without going hungry.
I eat slowly so I can tell when I am full, give myself permission to snack later and plan for dessert. That way I don't overeat during meals. I eat just enough. To avoid eating out of boredom I keep myself busy. If I feel bored I find something to do. If I feel stressed I find ways to reduce the stress. So if I do feel like having a snack it is because my body needs more food.
Eating a lot during meals or snacking a lot does not mean you are overeating. Overeating is when you eat significantly more food than your body needs. Sometimes people tell me I eat too much because I eat a lot but I don't overeat. Active people that have more muscle need more food than people that are not very active.
What You Eat And Drink
The foods and drinks you consume contain a different amount of calories. Choose to drink a can of pop and your could be consuming around 150 calories. Choose to drink water and you consume 0 calories. So if you make some changes to your diet you can significantly reduce the number of calories while eating around the same amount of food.
You don't need to eat less food to consume fewer calories. You just need to make smarter choices. I don't count calories but I know I consume more calories when I have fast food for lunch than when I have peanut butter sandwiches. Pay attention to what you eat. You should also pay attention to the size of the portions. When people are given more food than they need they usually eat more than they need rather than wasting the food. Make sure the food does not contain a lot of calories and that the portions are not too big.
You don't need junk food or dessert and they don't do a good job of satisfying hunger. So one of the easier ways to consume fewer calories is to skip the junk foods and desserts or reduce the portion size. You don't need beer, pop and other high calorie drinks. So another easy way to reduce the calories is to stick with water and low calorie drinks.
Muscle
If you build muscle you could become a fat burning machine but dieting can prevent you from gaining muscle or cause you to lose some. If you start consuming fewer calories then you are more likely to lose muscle than to gain it. Losing muscle means you burn fewer calories. Gaining muscle means you can burn more calories. There are people that weigh over 50 pounds more than me even though I consume more calories than them because I burn more calories.
Consuming fewer calories than you burn does not mean you need to consume fewer calories. It just means you need to burn more calories than you consume. Exercise burns calories and building muscle uses calories. Large calorie deficits are bad for your health. So it is not a good idea to try to lose weight by eating less than you were and exercising more unless the changes are very small.
Limiting your calories can limit the muscle. So if you want to be muscular you may need to consume more calories than you do now. I eat more food now that I have more muscle and I am more active.
My Results
I lost weight without starving myself. That means I burned more calories than I consumed without being hungry. My body converted fat into energy even though I ate until I was full and snacked when I got hungry between meals. The theory is a little confusing but the results are what is important. Lots of people lose weight. Some starve themselves but many people lose weight while satisfying their hunger. You should be satisfying your body.
Some people think they need to overeat to gain muscle. I gained muscle while getting rid of fat and my weight decreased. My muscle weight increased but my fat weight decreased more. Of course I have also increased my bodyweight by building muscle. When I want to get rid of fat I exercise more and build muscle. If I keep building muscle after most of the fat is gone I gain weight.
Being active and building muscle does increase my appetite but it does not prevent me from burning more calories than I consume when I have extra fat. If I get hungry I eat. So I don't think I am hungrier than people that are consuming more calories than they burn or people that burn as many calories as they consume. If my idea of burning more calories than I consume involved being hungry then I would be starving myself and my body would respond by burning fewer calories but I don't do that.
How many calories I need to eat and drink to lose weight, gain weight or maintain my weight depends on the number of calories I am burning.
