4 Key Tips To Loving the Way You Look and Feel
Struggling to lose weight? Feel like you are constantly dieting? Constantly in a calorie deficit and no results?
Feeling tired all the time?
Workouts struggling?
Gaining weight in the mid section?
By restricting your calories you could be causing yourself to GAIN MORE WEIGHT!
I’ve been having these conversations quite a bit and mostly with our women clients. We’ve been trained to eat less to lose weight. We’ve been trained to think of this diet mindset. I am going call BS on it all!
Here’s a case study…
A female in her 40’s has been trying to lose weight and also get strong and be overall healthy. She has cut carbs from her diet and is eating less. She has started fasting and doing workouts fasted. Her workouts feel like she’s tired all the time and she’s just not making any progress.
When looking at her routine, right away we found she wasn’t getting enough protein, she sure as hell isn’t getting enough food, and the the fasted workouts are only hurting her!
Any of this sound familiar?
Here’s what could be hurting you from getting your ideal body:
Eat your carbs. Your body needs carbs! Especially women. Especially women entering peri-menopause, pre-menopause, and post menopause. Sure you do become more carb sensitive as you enter menopause and beyond but you absolutely must have carbs, healthy carbs, in your diet if you want results from your workouts and to be able to recover from your workouts.
Move your body! You do need to exercise and move your body. You need to get at least 150 minutes of exercise per week.
Strength train 2-3 days a week to gain muscle. Cardio will not get you the body or results you want.
Eat ENOUGH! So many of our clients are just not eating enough especially if they are exercising and want to gain muscle.
1. Your body Needs Carbs
We’ve been taught carbs are bad but that’s just not true! So many of our clients reduce and/or cut carbs and they are doing more harm than good!!!
I want to share with you this article from Precision Nutrition Low Carb Diets . Here’s a summary in case you don’t want to go read it.
“The problem with not eating carbs
As a weight loss strategy, cutting carbs (while reducing the total number of calories) clearly works pretty well for some people. If it didn’t, then Atkins would have never been popular in the first place.
Here’s the thing, though: Carb reduction costs us.
You see, most of us require some level of carbohydrates to function at our best over the long term.
Sure, we can cut carbs temporarily if we need to lose weight quickly. But for most of us, keeping carbs too low for too long can have disastrous consequences.
This is especially true for those of us who work out.
If you’re sedentary, your carb needs are lower. So you might be able to get away with more restriction.
But if you like to exercise regularly and enthusiastically, restricting your carb intake too drastically can lead to:
decreased thyroid output
increased cortisol output
decreased testosterone
impaired mood and cognitive function
muscle catabolism
suppressed immune function.
In other words: Your metabolism might slow, your stress hormones go up and your muscle-building hormones go down.”
If you are cutting back on carbs in hopes to lose weight, you’ll want to rethink that strategy as it can actually cause you have an increase level of cortisol in your body and start to gain weight!
2. Move your body
You can’t sit on the couch all day and expect to lose weight! Sorry but its’ true. You need to move your body and it can be as simple as starting with walking. Start with a 30 min walk and build up to an hour to two, then if you want to add more, start adding in strength training or more strenuous cardio. P.S. there is also a point where you have too much exercise and stop seeing results. More is not always better. Better is better. Here’s one of my older blog posts about recovery and rest days.
*Physical activity is anything that gets your body moving. According to the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition, adults need to do two types of physical activity each week to improve their health–aerobic activity and muscle strengthening.
3. You MUST strength train 2-3 days a week to gain muscle. Cardio will not get you the body or results you want.
I’ve been writing a lot about this because I see it too much. I want to lose weight so I am going to spend hours on the treadmill, elliptical or rower each day. Sure cardio does burn calories but it will not help you build the muscle you need to actually make changes in your body. Read one of my last posts about too much cardio. Strength training is a key component of overall health and fitness for everyone.
Use it or lose it…it’s true!
Lean muscle mass naturally diminishes with age. Actually once you reach 30 years old it starts to happen. Sad huh?
Strength training may also help you:
Develop strong bones. By stressing your bones, strength training can increase bone density and reduce the risk of osteoporosis. Read that again women! The sooner you start, the better long term it is for your bones. You can’t reverse damage from osteoporosis but you can prevent it.
Manage your weight. Strength training can help you manage or lose weight as it increases your metabolism to help you burn more calories.
Enhance your quality of life. Strength training may enhance your quality of life and improve your ability to do everyday activities. Building muscle also can contribute to better balance and may reduce your risk of falls.
Manage chronic conditions. Have chronic pain? Strength training can reduce things such as arthritis, back pain, obesity, heart disease, depression and diabetes.
You don’t need a ton of equipment and it can be done at home or in the gym and if you need help, schedule a call with us. We have both virtual and in person options that may be a good fit for you.
Body weight. You can do many exercises with little or no equipment. Try pushups, pullups, planks and leg squats.
Resistance tubing. Resistance tubing is inexpensive, lightweight tubing that provides resistance when stretched. You can choose from many types of resistance tubes in nearly any sporting goods store.
Free weights. Barbells, kettlebells, and dumbbells are classic strength training tools. If you don't have weights at home, you can use soup cans or load up a back pack.
Weight machines. Most fitness centers offer various resistance machines. You can invest in weight machines for use at home, too.
There are so many options and more coming out every day.
4. You MUST eat ENOUGH!
This is the biggest one! Almost everyone I talk too is eating way too little if they want to truly change their bodies. They are thinking the less I eat the more I will lose because I am in a deficit. WRONG!!!! You need to be eating the right things and the right amount! Looking at your protein intake is typically where we start for anyone over 30 years old, then veggies, then carbs such as fruit, grains and legumes. Here’s a great resource for portion control. PS its a lot more food than you think.
Need some help? Schedule a call with us and we can get you the blueprint to you finally fueling your body properly, feeling satisfied after meals, and not having to restrict.
I threw a lot at you in this post. If you are feeling confused schedule a FREE consult with us. We’ll learn more about you and your goals and can create a plan to get you results.