5 Signs Your Calories Are Too Low (You MUST Know This!)

How many calories is too little? In this video I share 5 signs that your calorie intake is too low and that you need to adjust your diet to create a calorie deficit that’s more sustainable.

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About the video:
I often get questions such as “is 1800 calories a day enough” or “is 1500 calories good for weight loss”... and while calorie intakes are specific to each person there are also signs we can look at to ensure you’re not under-eating. Not eating enough calories can lead to muscle loss, low energy, and worse body composition. So how much calorie deficit is too much?

In this video, I share 5 signs that you can use to see if your calories are too low. Make sure you honestly evaluate your diet plan and adjust if you realize you’re not eating enough. Even though in the short-term it feels good to lose weight fast, it’s important to use an approach to losing body fat that’s sustainable long-term. This is especially true if you have a lot of body fat to lose. Apply these diet tips and I’m confident you’ll see great results on your fitness journey.

About Me:
My name is Mario Tomic. I specialize in helping busy entrepreneurs and professionals get their ideal physique in the most efficient way possible and turn it into a lifestyle long-term.

Since 2011, I've spent over 10 000 hours practicing, studying, and coaching fitness, nutrition, and high performance.

Most people don't know that my native language is Croatian and that I worked in computer science before I started my fitness and personal development coaching company.

#calories #caloriedeficit #fatloss

Disclaimer: Mario Tomic is not a doctor or a medical professional. Always consult a physician before starting any exercise program. Use of this information is strictly at your own risk. Mario Tomic will not assume any liability for direct or indirect losses or damages that may result from the use of the information contained in this video, including but not limited to economic loss, injury, or illness.

[JS-hioo]

"sufficient sleep, protein and that you're hitting that like button"

That was pretty slick Mr. Tomic

[hrishikeshjadhav]

Last time I got to 10% body fat in 3 months and faced an extreme relapse with some severe side effects. Recently started watching your videos and realised my mistakes. Starting the journey again after 2 years and will be progressing gradually this time.Thanks!!! and keep up the good

[nwaldrop]

Finally under 15% BF for the first time in my life thanks to your videos. Your content has undeniably been a key. You the man, Mario!

[solidsn]

I was constantly consuming way too little calories in the past while trying to lose weight which always led to plateau and eventually to give up. I’ve been on keto diet for like 4 month now (-500 calorie deficit at 1700 total calories per day for the past 2 months) and I feel great! For me it is really important to track macronutrients daily. I feel extremely focused all day and I am also getting stronger at the gym lately which is great. I noticed that since I stopped obsessing about losing fat and made this info a lifestyle that I enjoy changes come faster than before!

[wizthejoshua]

Mario, this video couldn't come in at a better time. After a little out-of-hand bulk where I ended up at 25% BF I started cutting in March. Lost nearly 15KG until now but recently I've started getting tired and sick way more frequently. At 88KG I'm running a 3300-2300=1000 calorie deficit and I think that was manageable just fine above 20% BF but now it's just draining. After watching this video I decided to do a 2 week maintenance period followed by the last part of my cut in a 500-600 calorie deficit. Think that this will put me back on track!

[fuzzybear]

I am working to get to 15% body fat. Was at 35% nine months ago. Now down to 20%. Watching this video now is perfect timing for me, helping me to be realistic and pragmatic. Thank you.

[petebowen]

Wow! Can’t tell you how many times I’ve fallen into the too low calorie trap! Excellent content! Thanks!!

[samsoniteprosser]

This has been so helpful. Your description of too many cheat days resulting in staying at maintenance but also reduced gym performance has been super true for me lately. Thanks for including those "descriptions of symptoms" as well as the number estimates for how to set reasonable goals.

[lionrays]

Thank you so much for the video! It has been really hard for the past few weeks with a really extreme plan of low intake with the binge of the weekend due to lack of knowledge. This really helped inform about the signs of a bad diet and way to create a consistent diet as well as bounce back from a bad one.

[finurra]

the way you describe things is so easy to understand and I appreciate it so much!! Thank you for this!! I am a woman (34 yrs old have been on fitness journey since Jan 2022, was 185, now 158) and have finally gotten into the new habit of burning 900 cal per gym sesh but was at a 1300 cal intake per day and I was dying...legit was having headaches and I'm trying sooo sooo hard to get down to the 120's but am stuck in the mid-150's. It sucks so much :( have been in the 150's since March and have been honestly working out like 5-6 times per week nonstop, doing 500 cals burns to 800+ cals, until now. This last week I started the new cal intake at 1300 and started trying to burn as much cals at the gym as possible, hitting the 900 cals, but was quickly faced with major headaches, fatigue, and even started hallucinating. Sucks so bad..I figured it was the adjustment period but after last night's migraine, have decided to move up to 1700 cals and will try my best to watch my macros as much as humanly possible. Thank you for this video!!

[stevencote]

This video could not have come at a better time, Mario. I'm definitely struggling with my calories and some of these are quite relevant to me. The walking bit is definitely something I need to get back to. I've lost close to 70 pounds since I started my journey at 299lbs and I've hit a wall like no other with slipping around and eating stupid crap again here and there. But I'm trying to right myself back up and videos like these help. As always I'm glad to have found your channel. Take care!

[erwinlommer]

One of the things I learned the hard way is that it is not just about calories. Macros count as well. I spent couple of years losing weight and gaining muscle and towards the end when I was almost at my target weight I started having these huge eating craves every couple of weeks. Totally uncontrollable hunger. I'd binge huge amounts of calories for a day or two. I'd eat everything I had in my cabinets, fridge and freezer. Then when it passed I'd go back to my 1700ish calories a day and be fine with it for couple of weeks until I got other one. It was a total uncontrollable hunger like you wouldn't believe.

But the problem didnt go away when I went to to 2000 calories. Even at 2500 I was still getting the binges. I upped my proteins, spread them out more evenly around the day, tried more scheduled eating routine, more sleep, better sleep, better recovery, more fiber in my diet, all the usual healthy advice. I was not doing anything crazy either. Cooked all my foods, no processed foods, ate a lot of vegetables, wasn't avoiding anything. Had carbs, ate fruits, sometimes ate unhealhty foods too so I wasn't being overly strict and eating was not controlling my life. But nothing really worked. Every one of those changes made a small improvement but didnt fix my main issue.

Turns out I was not getting enough fat in my diet. So now I eat about 40% more fats per day. I don't really feel any difference in my day to day but I have not had a single binge since then. Not once. The worst part is that I knew I was low on fats on my diet. I just wasn't able to make the connection between low fat intake and the binges because 13 days out of 2 weeks I was not hungry, low energy or brain fogged. When you google low fat intake issues these binges are never mentioned. How could not eating enough fats only trigger this kind of episode every 2 weeks? I don't know but for me it did.

[ParvParashar]

Absolutely amazing video as always. Thank you so much for sharing your valuable wisdom with us! It’s greatly appreciated. 🙌

[becw]

Found your video the other day and haven’t stopped watching them. Thanks again it is really easy to understand

[sucraloss]

I'm slowly trying to get to 10% body fat, probably around 14% now and it's definitely hard. For me, prioritizing protein intake helps a lot and I haven't lost any strength in the time I started cutting, in fact I've made some slight gains, though not nearly as much as when I ate around maintenance.

I've got a long way to go still, but this is a good video! Definitely if you're feeling completely starved all the time you're not doing it right, satiety is an important metric, though not as easy to measure as the number of calories or the number on the scale.

[alexleung]

What seems to be working for me is every time I lose around 10 pounds I stay there for a while and recompisition to build the muscle back before heading lower. Not really what I was planning on but seems like my appetite demands this

[tomahawk]

One of the best advice videos I've seen in relation to fat loss. Thank you.

[prancer]

Thank you really helpful and 100% what’s happening to me thank you 🙏🙏😀😀👍👍from Australia 🇦🇺

[romainauberon]

Great video Mario! These tips are just what I need right now. For couple of months I have been following some meal plans from Nextlevel Diet and I lost so much fat but I need all these kind of advice just to boost things up as much as I can.

[DanielGiuseppeDiNiro]

Since I re-started my fitness journey 7 months ago, I've always been in a caloric deficit because of the 20kg I gained during the pandemic. I'm using a sort of a "cycle strategy", which allows me to switch from a caloric deficit of 300 to 600 based on my routine, motivation, social life, etc...
Right now, since it's summer and I'm really close to a 15% BF, I switched again to a caloric deficit of 600, eating ~1650 calories per day (which, in my case, is less than "10cal per lb"); of course, during these phases I feel more lethargic and I need lighter weights and more rest during each set, but I still think it's really useful when you feel you reached a plateau