Why Eating Less Isn’t Always the Answer: Understanding BMR and Fat Loss
Written by Sophie Lamb
As a personal trainer, I spend a lot of time talking about nutrition and calories.
One of the most common things I hear is:
“If I eat less, I’ll lose more weight.”
And while that might seem logical, it’s often where the confusion starts.
To really understand fat loss, it helps to understand something called your BMR - your Basal Metabolic Rate.
In simple terms, this is the number of calories your body needs just to keep you alive at rest. Even if you stayed in bed all day, your body would still be working hard behind the scenes - breathing, circulating blood, supporting brain function, maintaining body temperature, and keeping your organs functioning.
All of this requires energy. And that energy comes from calories.
A simple way to think about it is like a car engine that’s always running. Even when the car is parked, the engine still needs fuel to keep everything ticking over. Your BMR works in the same way, it’s the energy your body needs just to stay running, even when you’re not doing anything.
Then everything else - walking, training, daily tasks - is like actually driving the car. That’s where your energy needs increase.
A lot of people think calories are only burned during exercise, but that’s not the case. Your daily calorie burn is made up of several things: your BMR, your daily movement (like walking or doing jobs around the house), your workouts, and even the energy your body uses to digest food.
All of this combined is known as your total daily energy expenditure, or TDEE, and your BMR actually makes up around 60–75% of that total. So even without exercise, your body is burning a significant number of calories every single day.
Your BMR isn’t the same as someone else’s, even if you weigh the same. It’s influenced by things like your age, your muscle mass, your body size, and your hormones. Muscle plays a big role here, the more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns at rest.
This is why two people can look similar on the scales but have completely different calorie needs.
Where this becomes really important is when people try to lose weight by eating as little as possible.
If you consistently don’t eat enough, your body adapts. Instead of burning more energy, it starts to conserve it, slowing things down to protect you. Your body doesn’t know you’re trying to lose weight, it just knows it needs to survive.
Let’s take a simple example.
Sarah decides she wants to lose weight, so she cuts her calories right down to 1,200 a day. At first, the scales might drop, but very quickly she starts to feel exhausted. Her workouts feel harder, her strength drops, and she’s constantly hungry.
Because her body isn’t getting enough fuel, it adapts - slowing her metabolism and conserving energy. Progress stalls, and she feels frustrated, thinking she needs to eat even less.
In reality, the problem isn’t that she’s eating too much, it’s that she’s eating too little to support her body properly.
The goal isn’t to eat as little as possible, it’s to support your body properly.
That means building strength, staying active, getting good quality sleep, and most importantly, eating enough to fuel your body.
Your BMR is your baseline - the minimum your body needs just to function. But your body needs more than that to train well, recover properly, and feel good day to day.
Calories aren’t something to fear. They’re fuel.
When you’re under-fuelled, everything feels harder. When you fuel your body properly, everything works better.
Your body is constantly working for you, every second of every day. The least we can do is give it what it needs.
Fat loss isn’t about eating as little as possible. It’s about understanding your body, fuelling it properly, and creating a sustainable approach that works long term.
Because when you support your body properly, it will work with you - not against you.
Training Through Grief: Moving Your Body When Your Heart Is Heavy
Written by Sophie Lamb
Grief is one of the most powerful emotions we experience as humans.
Most people associate grief with the death of a loved one, but the truth is we grieve many things throughout our lives. The end of a relationship, losing a job, a major life change, or even the loss of the life we thought we would have.
Grief can often feel like a taboo subject. We tend to think of it simply as sadness, but grief is far more complex than that. It can affect us emotionally, mentally, and physically.
What we don’t talk about enough is the impact grief can have on the body.
Grief can disrupt sleep, which in turn affects appetite, food choices, mood, and energy levels. It can create muscle tension and leave us feeling anxious, overwhelmed, or completely drained of motivation. Our nervous system is under enormous stress while we process the emotions that come with grief.
It’s no surprise that workouts can suddenly feel harder than they used to.
During these times, moving your body might be the last thing you feel like doing. And that’s completely understandable.
Sometimes the most helpful thing you can do is adjust your expectations. Exercise doesn’t always have to look the same. On some days it might simply be a short walk, a gentle stretch, or ten minutes of movement just to get out of the house.
On other days, you might feel the need to move more intensely. To lift something heavy or push yourself physically. Sometimes those emotions need an outlet too.
Exercise can’t take grief away, but it can help support us through it.
Movement releases endorphins and serotonin, which can help ease feelings of sadness and anxiety. When everything feels uncertain or overwhelming, exercise can also bring a small sense of structure to the day. It gives the mind a break and helps bring attention back to the body and the present moment.
But perhaps the most important thing during times of grief is learning to be kind to yourself.
Listen to your body. Lower your expectations if you need to. Rest when you need to. And remember that some days, the best thing you can do is simply get through the day.
There can be a strange feeling after a funeral or a big loss that life is supposed to return to normal very quickly. But grief rarely works like that. It can hit like a steam train at the most unexpected moments - weeks, months, or even years later.
Grief isn’t linear, and no two people experience it in the same way. Not even when grieving the same person or the same situation.
Grief changes us. Sometimes temporarily, sometimes forever. It can change our routines, our priorities, and the way we see the world.
But one thing remains constant.
The gym will always be there when you’re ready. Movement will always be there when you need it. And sometimes, the most important thing you can do is simply rest… and eat the cake.
Your Future Self Is Counting on You
Written by Sophie Lamb
I was sitting in a hospital waiting room recently when something struck me.
The walls were covered in posters about balance, bone health, exercise and vitamin D — all things designed to help people stay strong as they get older.
And it made me wonder: how often do we really think about the health of our future selves?
That moment really made me reflect. For generations, the idea of looking after our younger selves in order to protect our older selves hasn’t always been something we’ve focused on.
The waiting room was full of reminders about how important it is to maintain good balance, eat well, stay active, and get enough vitamin D. All simple things that can make a huge difference to our health and independence later in life.
It also made me think about the pressure the NHS is under. So many of the conditions treated every day — falls, fractures, mobility problems — are linked to things like poor balance, weak muscles, and reduced bone density. While not everything can be prevented, it did make me reflect on how much difference small lifestyle choices can make over time.
Someone said something to me recently that really stuck with me:
“We are so important, yet we are always last on our own priority list.”
And sadly, that’s often true.
Life gets busy. Work, family, responsibilities — they all take priority, and our own wellbeing is often the first thing to slip down the list. But when we neglect our health for years, the impact doesn’t just affect us. It can affect the people around us too — our loved ones who may have to care for us, and the healthcare systems that support us.
We’re living longer than ever before, but that doesn’t always mean we’re living well.
Exercise isn’t the only piece of the puzzle, but it is one of the most powerful things we can do for our future health. Regular movement helps improve heart health, strengthen bones, support posture and balance, and make everyday activities easier. It helps keep us independent, mobile, and able to continue doing the things we enjoy.
One of the things I love seeing is younger people in the gym looking after themselves early. They might be training for strength, fitness, or even just the muscles right now — but whether they realise it or not, they’re also investing in their future health.
And the truth is, it’s never too late to start.
The truth is, we can’t stop ourselves from ageing. But we can influence how we age.
Every time we move our bodies, build strength, improve our balance, or take care of our health, we’re investing in the person we’ll be in 10, 20, or 30 years’ time.
Your future self is being shaped by the choices you make today. And the good news is, it’s never too late to start looking after them.
When Was the Last Time You Doubted Yourself?
Written by Sophie Lamb
When was the last time you doubted yourself?
If you’re honest, it was probably more recent than you’d like to admit. Self-doubt has a habit of creeping in when we least expect it. Especially when we’re trying something new, pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone, or stepping into a space where we feel a bit exposed.
Self-belief is often talked about as confidence in our abilities and trusting our own decisions. But it’s not something we either have or don’t have. It comes and goes. Even people who look confident have moments where they question themselves.
These feelings tend to show up during times of uncertainty. Maybe that’s starting a new fitness routine, walking into a gym for the first time, getting back into exercise after a break, or comparing ourselves to people who seem miles ahead. That’s when imposter syndrome kicks in and the inner voice gets louder: What if I can’t do this? What if I’m not good enough?
When that doubt takes hold, negative self-talk isn’t far behind. We start replaying past “failures”, comparing ourselves to others, and worrying far too much about what people might think. Suddenly everything feels harder than it needs to be.
But here’s the thing, we are almost always way harder on ourselves than anyone else is.
Most people aren’t judging us anywhere near as much as we think. In fact, a lot of them are dealing with their own self-doubt too. They just don’t always show it. What looks like confidence from the outside is often just someone choosing to keep going anyway.
The key isn’t getting rid of self-doubt altogether, it’s learning how to handle it when it shows up.
That might mean catching yourself when the negative self-talk starts, reminding yourself how far you’ve already come, or giving yourself credit for simply showing up. Progress doesn’t come from being perfect or confident all the time, it comes from consistency, patience, and being a bit kinder to yourself.
When it comes to fitness (and life in general), confidence is built through action. Every workout you turn up for, every time you try again after a wobble, you’re building trust in yourself. Even on the days it doesn’t feel like it.
So if you’re doubting yourself right now, you’re not failing. You’re human. Self-doubt doesn’t mean you can’t do something. It usually means you’re stretching yourself and growing.
And that’s exactly where the good stuff starts.
The Trainer Who Once Hid in the Back of Class
Written by Sophie Lamb
For a long time, I was the person who tried to blend into the background at the gym.
After major brain and spine surgery at 12, fitness never felt straightforward or accessible. As I got older, I found other ways to move - dancing, nights out, keeping busy, but the gym was somewhere I never really felt I belonged.
In my early twenties, I did what a lot of people did and bought a gym membership. I’d pop in after work, maybe have a swim or walk on the treadmill, but lifting weights felt intimidating and completely out of my comfort zone. The truth? I didn’t feel like I knew what I was doing, and being surrounded by people who looked confident made it even harder.
Years later, I found myself joining another gym. The nerves were still there, so instead of heading onto the gym floor, I signed up for a circuit class. It was busy, which suited me perfectly. I could stand at the back, follow along, and hope no one noticed me too much.
That first class was uncomfortable. Not because it was hard (although it was), but because I felt out of place. My instinct was still to hide, to tell myself the gym wasn’t for people like me.
But I kept going.
With encouragement, patience, and a lot of quiet persistence, things started to change. I still wasn’t confident on the gym floor, but I found something I could do. Then I discovered boxing and something finally clicked.
The turning point came when a close friend got engaged and there was talk of white bikinis in Ibiza. I hadn’t worn a bikini in years, and suddenly I wanted to feel stronger and more confident in my own body.
I asked the one person I trusted most for help, the circuit instructor who’d seen me hiding at the back of class.
We started training away from the gym, taking things slowly. I was starting from scratch: low strength, poor cardio, and very little belief in myself. But I showed up. Once a week became twice a week, and before I realised it, training became part of my life.
I started lifting weights I never thought I’d manage. I took on challenges like Nuclear Rush and the Welsh Three Peaks. Somewhere along the way, the gym stopped feeling intimidating and started feeling like somewhere I belonged.
At the time, I was working in primary schools and became really aware of how intimidating movement and PE can feel for children too. Combined with my love of boxing, it pushed me to train as a gym instructor and later as a personal trainer.
And that’s why I do what I do now.
I’ll never forget what it feels like to hide at the back of a class, to feel unsure, and to believe you don’t belong. My goal is to make sure my clients know the gym is their place and that strength, confidence, and capability are built over time, not expected on day one.
Because everyone deserves to feel like they belong.