When you want to lose weight as quickly as you can, it seems reasonable to start skipping meals and exercising as much as you can to try to force your body to burn stored fat. In fact, this is among the most common strategies that beginner dieters will attempt in order to shed those pounds. Unfortunately, if that type of strategy isn’t taken on with a very high knowledge of the metabolism, it can actually make your weight loss efforts much harder, not easier.

The reason is that skipping meals without the proper balance of nutrition and fitness can actually slow down your metabolism. This places your body in what is often called “starvation mode.” Your body registers that you’re not eating, so it starts saving the energy it would otherwise receive from food by reducing the rate at which it burns calories and fats.

Furthermore, when you try skipping meals and slow down your metabolism, you risk starting to burn not just fat, but muscle. While you will initially see weight loss with this technique, the rebounding fat can be sudden and fast. Without the additional lean muscle on your body, your metabolic rate will slow down even further, causing every calorie you eat to have an even greater impact on your weight than it did before you started dieting.

It is true that it’s possible to use strategic fasting to lose weight. That said, it needs to be accomplished extremely carefully in order to be successful. Moreover, it can often bring on only short term results as it is not a lifestyle that the majority of people are interested in or able to keep up over the long term.

If you aren’t sure how many calories you’re supposed to be eating in a day in order to remain healthy and yet lose weight at the same time, speak with your doctor. He or she can also provide you with guidance in terms of balancing your meals and understanding your intake of macronutrients when it comes to the ratio of proteins to carbohydrates to fats.

Many people find that it is very helpful to track their nutrition using an online program such as ShareFit in order to better understand what they’re eating and when. This can also assist in identifying problem eating trends so they can be better overcome.

You may also find it helpful, particularly at the beginning, if you use a high quality weight management pill such as TRIMTHIN X700 to help you get on track and reach your goals.