Are You Eating Too Little to Lose Fat? Why More Consistent Fueling May Help

Sep 16

Coach Erin McDonald explains why aggressive calorie restriction can create a difficult weekday-weekend cycle and how consistent fueling can better support body composition goals.

Eating less sounds like the obvious answer when fat loss is the goal. But when weekdays are built around skipped meals, very low calories, and trying to “be good,” only to end with intense hunger and higher-calorie weekends, the bigger picture can look very different.

This Energy Shift With Erin episode, Coach Erin McDonald of 8 Wellness Collective explains why she encourages women to look beyond a single low-calorie day and pay attention to nourishment, consistency, muscle, and average intake over time.

Her message is especially relevant for women navigating body composition changes through perimenopause, menopause, and beyond: a fat loss phase does require a calorie deficit, but Erin does not believe that deficit needs to become a lifestyle of chronic underfueling.

Eating Less Is Not the Same as Creating a Sustainable Calorie Deficit

Erin makes an important distinction between needing a calorie deficit for fat loss and assuming that a bigger deficit is always better.

In her coaching, she says women are generally eating well above the 1,000 to 1,400 calorie levels commonly associated with aggressive dieting. Instead, she focuses on giving clients enough food to support energy, protein intake, training, and consistency while still creating an appropriate deficit when fat loss is the goal.

For Erin, the problem with jumping immediately to a very low intake is not that a calorie deficit stops working. It is that an aggressive approach can become extremely difficult to maintain.

Low energy may lead to less movement throughout the day. Hunger can become harder to ignore. Cravings may increase. Training quality, sleep, digestion, and mood can also become part of the struggle.

The result can be a diet that looks strict on paper but becomes difficult to follow consistently.

Maintenance Calories Matter More Than Many Women Realize

Before starting another fat loss phase, Erin encourages women to understand approximately how much food they need to maintain their current body weight.

In the episode, she shares a simple starting estimate: multiply current body weight by 13, 14, or 15 depending on activity level.

She describes 13 as a starting point for someone more sedentary, 15 for someone who trains regularly and gets a higher number of daily steps, and 14 for someone in between.

Erin is clear that this is an estimate rather than an exact measurement. Individual needs can be somewhat higher or lower.

She uses herself as an example. At the time of recording, Erin weighed 134 pounds, typically walked 10,000 to 13,000 steps per day, and strength trained four days each week. Using a multiplier of 15 put her estimated maintenance intake at roughly 2,010 calories, although she said she was currently eating closer to 2,100 to 2,200.

Understanding maintenance provides context before deciding how large a deficit should be.

A Moderate Deficit Can Leave More Room for Energy and Consistency

Erin walks through another example using a 165-pound moderately active woman.

Using a multiplier of 14 gives an estimated maintenance intake of 2,310 calories. Rather than immediately dropping to 1,200 or 1,400 calories, Erin suggests considering a more moderate deficit.

In her example, subtracting about 400 calories results in an intake of approximately 1,910 calories per day.

Her goal with this approach is not simply to make dieting easier. She wants women to preserve as much muscle as possible while losing body fat.

Erin emphasizes strength training and adequate protein during a fat loss phase because the goal is not simply making the scale move as quickly as possible. She distinguishes between fast weight loss and slower body fat loss that prioritizes retaining muscle.

Why Strength Training and Protein Are Central to Body Recomposition

For women who want a leaner, more athletic appearance, Erin says muscle needs to be part of the conversation.

During maintenance phases, the goal can include building muscle. During a calorie deficit, strength training and protein become tools for helping protect the muscle already there.

That is one reason Erin considers maintenance such an important part of long-term body composition work. Fat loss phases reveal muscle, but constantly dieting leaves less opportunity to focus on building it.

She also cautions against responding to stalled progress by automatically adding more cardio, HIIT classes, or exercise while simultaneously eating less.

Exercise still has a place. Erin points to strength, cardiovascular health, and increased energy expenditure as benefits. But in her approach, nutrition drives the fat loss strategy while training helps support muscle and overall health.

The Weekday Restriction and Weekend Swing Can Change the Math

One of the most useful ideas in Erin’s explanation is that calorie intake needs to be considered over time, not just one “perfect” weekday.

Someone might eat 1,600 or 1,700 calories Monday through Thursday and feel confident that she is dieting. But if weekend meals, drinks, snacks, and restaurant food push intake much higher, the weekly average may end up close to maintenance.

Erin shares a personal example from a trip to the Grand Canyon. A restaurant dinner of sirloin steak, corn, mashed potatoes, chips and salsa, and two margaritas came to roughly 1,100 calories. Even though the foods did not feel excessive and she had eaten a lighter lunch, her total intake for the day exceeded 2,200 calories.

Her point is not that restaurant meals or margaritas need to disappear.

It is that calories can add up quickly, even with foods someone considers “clean” or healthy.

A steadier intake throughout the week may actually allow someone to eat more Monday through Friday while bringing down the overall weekly average.

Consistency May Work Better Than Trying to “Be Good” All Week

The psychological side of dieting matters too.

Erin describes a familiar cycle: restrict heavily during the week, arrive at the weekend ravenous, feel that a treat has been earned, eat significantly more, then respond by cutting calories even further the following week.

That pattern can repeat without the person realizing that her weekly average has barely changed.

Erin’s alternative is much less dramatic: eat enough throughout the week, keep intake more consistent, include nutrient-dense foods and adequate protein, and leave room for enjoyable foods too.

That could mean fruit, vegetables, lean animal protein, carbohydrate sources, and enough flexibility for a cookie, latte, or another food someone simply enjoys.

The goal is a way of eating that does not require five days of depletion followed by two days of trying to recover from it.

Fat Loss During Perimenopause Does Not Have to Mean More Restriction

Erin acknowledges that women may notice changes as they move through perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause. Her response is not to push harder with endless restriction and exercise.

Instead, she encourages women to pay attention to nourishment, recovery, strength training, protein, carbohydrates, fiber, and overall consistency.

If fat loss is the goal, the calorie deficit still matters. But so does whether the plan allows someone to live her life, train effectively, maintain muscle, and follow the strategy long enough for it to work.

The bigger lesson from Erin’s approach is simple: eating the fewest calories possible is not the same thing as having the best fat loss plan.

Sometimes the more useful question is not, “How little can I eat?”

It is, “What can I consistently eat while still supporting the result I want?”

🎧 Watch Energy Shift With Erin Conversation 🎧

In the full conversation, Coach Erin McDonald explains how she estimates maintenance calories, approaches moderate calorie deficits, protects muscle during fat loss, and helps women recognize how weekday restriction and weekend eating can affect their true average intake.