Woman's Side-By-Side Photo Proves Cutting Calories Doesn't Make You Fitter

Most people think that the best way to get skinny is by going on the age-old "starvation diet" for a week or two.

In fact, for most of my life, I've been a firm believer in the "The Devil Wears Prada" diet, where you basically don't eat anything and when you feel like you're about to faint, you eat a cube of cheese.

If you're someone who turns to crash diets every time you to start tip the scale, it turns out that cutting extreme amounts of calories might not be the most effective way to get the beach bod of your dreams.

Fitness blogger Madalin Frodsham recently set out to debunk the calorie restriction debacle by posting a side-by-side comparison photo on Instagram.

The photo shows her body on an 800-calorie diet versus a 1,800-calorie diet.

The difference between the two photos is pretty incredible.

It's not hard to see that Frodsham looks much more fit and muscular in the photo that showcases her body on the 1,800-calorie diet.

Frodsham wrote on Instagram,

800 calories seems absurdly low as now I need minimum 1500 calories to be full, but at the time 800 calories was keeping me full because that's what my body was used to. After a while though, salad simply wasn't cutting it, and for all the restrictions I was placing on my diet, I simply wasn't seeing the results I had anticipated.

The fitness blogger eventually sought the help of a personal trainer and nutritional coach.

She was then advised her to increase her daily calorie allowance and get at least half of her calories from healthy carbohydrates in order to increase her energy.

According to Frodsham,

If you're under feeding yourself in an effort to lose weight, don't do what I did for so long… Don't waste your time eating salad when you could be eating sweet potatoes and banana pancakes. Eat more and get fit. It actually works.

Apparently, the reason over-restricting calories doesn't work is that once you dip below a certain calorie threshold, your body goes into a "starvation mode" and tries to conserve as much energy as possible.

So, if you're trying to get a banging bod, you should aim to fuel yourself with the proper amount of nutrients rather than go on an extreme diet where your body is simply running on fumes.

Citations: Fitness Blogger Posts Photos To Debunk The Myth That Under-Eating Makes You Fit (Design Taxi)