Too Little Food Is Also a Mistake
The logic of “since the food is healthy, I’ll just eat less of it” doesn’t work. Meals that are too small cause daytime weakness, evening overeating, and muscle loss—in other words, exactly the opposite of what you started out to achieve.
What does this look like in practice?
Coffee and a couple of eggs in the morning. A salad with a piece of chicken for lunch. By five o’clock, your head stops working; by seven, you start hunting through the fridge; by nine, you have eaten more than you would have on a normal day.
The next day, you decide that you “overate yesterday” and make breakfast and lunch even lighter. The cycle closes.
Yet your character gets blamed, even though the reason is arithmetic: there wasn’t enough food during the day.
What signs show this?
- You feel like eating in the evening, even though you were barely hungry during the day
- Weakness and irritability in the second half of the day
- You are constantly cold, especially in your hands and feet
- Your cravings for sweets grow from week to week
- Workouts feel harder, and recovery takes longer
- Your weight is dropping, but your body looks softer than before
Why does this slow progress?
Because protein and muscle suffer first during a deficit, not fat.
Protein preserves muscle while your weight is going down, and the guideline is 1.2-2 g per kilogram of body weight—that is pure protein per day. With small portions, you almost never reach the target: for a woman weighing 70 kg, that is 85-110 g, and one serving of chicken does not cover it.
The second issue is evening overeating. It consumes the entire daily deficit and adds more on top because a hungry person eats faster than they can feel full.
How do you understand how much you need?
By the evening, not by the app.
If you do not feel drawn to the fridge between meals, do not want “something” in the evening, and wake up without ravenous hunger, your portion size is right.
An even simpler check: count your protein for two ordinary days. If you get 50-60 grams instead of 85-110, the question is settled without any scales—there isn’t enough food.
How do you increase the amount of food?
Add a serving of protein to every meal
Meat, fish, eggs, cheese, or cottage cheese—in every meal, not just one.
Fill half your plate with vegetables
Up to 300 g of green salad per day, plus vegetables in hot dishes.
Do not be afraid of fat in your food
Olive oil, avocado, fatty fish. This means food itself, not spoonfuls of oil on top of it.
Keep three meals until things feel stable
Reducing it to two only makes sense when one meal really is not needed for several days in a row.
When this is not appropriate
If restricting food is accompanied by fear of food, counting everything obsessively, guilt after eating, or episodes of overeating with attempts to compensate, these are signs that you need a specialist, not portion adjustments.
During pregnancy and breastfeeding, energy needs are higher, and a deficit is unacceptable here. For older adults, sufficient calories and protein become the priority, not strict restriction.
Why does it seem like you are eating enough?
Because on a low-carb diet, hunger is dulled, and this works both ways.
When blood sugar does not fluctuate, the usual “time to eat” signals come less often and are weaker. You honestly do not want to eat during the day—and conclude that your body has enough. But by evening, the accumulated deficit comes to the surface.
That is why relying only on appetite during the first few weeks is unreliable. Counting protein once and looking at portion sizes is more honest.
How is this different from a normal deficit?
Because there is a difference between “a little less than you burn” and “much less.”
A deficit is needed for weight loss—there is no debate about that. But it must be large enough for you to fully meet your protein needs without your well-being falling apart. The protein guideline is 1.2-2 g per kilogram of body weight, and that means pure protein per day.
A sign that the deficit has crossed the line is constant cold, weakness in the second half of the day, growing cravings for sweets, and evening binges. This is not “a lack of willpower”; it is a signal to increase the amount of food.
What happens if you do not correct it?
There are usually two outcomes, and both are bad.
The first is a cycle: a week of severe undereating, a binge, guilt, and undereating again. Your weight stays the same or increases, while your relationship with food deteriorates.
The second is that you manage to endure it but lose muscle along with fat. Outwardly, this looks like “I lost weight, but my body became softer,” and restoring it takes longer than building it back up.
Both outcomes are addressed in the same way: increase meal sizes and get enough protein.
What to read next
How the approach works as a whole is explained on the main guide page: low-carb diet: the complete guide.
The other materials in the section are collected here: body and well-being.
Related topics: Where does swelling go on a low-carb diet? and Stress and sleep deprivation: why your weight is stuck.
Reviewed by Anastasia Zhukova, Fitness Trainer • Author of a Nutrition and Training System • Creator of an AI Personal Support Platform
A human has reviewed this material against the method and real client practice.