Three Mistakes To Avoid If You Want To Get Leaner ✨
Here are three mistakes every woman needs to avoid.
Technically, these are three mistakes everyone who wants to improve their body composition, lose fat and get leaner needs to avoid.
But biologically and physiologically women are more sensitive to stress.
What can seem “unfair” is only evolution. Women are more important to the survival of our species than men. They have the ability to carry and nurture generations to come.
To get back your edge, the 3 wrongs we want to make right……
MISTAKE #1. FASTING OR “SKIPPING BREAKAST”
Let's first put to bed the myth that fasting is a silver bullet for fat loss. It's not. Fasting isn't even a nutrition protocol. You can fast and do keto, you can fast and track macros, you can fast and eat 10,000 calories per day.
The fasting followers say that if you shorten the feeding window, you're more likely to eat less because there's less time to eat. Certain things sound good in theory but don't hold up to real life application when you need to be consistent.
Fasting is one of them. Studies show that people who fast tend to eat a lot more later in the day and it's easier for them to over indulge. They also report higher hunger and cravings. And there are certain metabolic disadvantages that can occur due to fasting.
This is especially true in women over 40 who are more sensitive to stress. Cortisol is highest in the morning and fasting is a stress on the body (lack of energy coming in). During the season of life when hormonal changes are happening, it's not the time to disrupt things even further. And remember you are “naturally” fasting from your last meal to breakfast.Why prolong the pain to your body? Your body needs help, not more stress.
My recommendation: wake up and eat within an hour of getting out of bed. Make it a high protein breakfast and a well-balanced meal (with some carbs and fats) to reduce cortisol and keep blood sugar stable.
MISTAKE #2. HIIT / GROUP CLASSES/ CARDIO
This is a dose dependent thing but based on my experience working with clients, a lot of individuals overdo it when it comes to this style of exercise.
I'm talking about Orange Theory, F45, boot camps, HIIT, cardio, etc. Anything where the main goal of the workout is basically a manual "calorie burn" and you often feel rewarded with a pool of sweat on the floor.
Now, before you stop doing all forms of cardio, there's absolutely a time and place. Improving your cardio capacity is great for overall health. Sweating is a wonderful thing.
However, it's easy to get hooked on the feeling and continue to believe “no pain no gain.”
This style of exercise is not exactly great for your metabolism or hormone health. It's a stressor like any form of exercise (increases cortisol and adrenaline) but it DOESN’T come with a metabolic advantage like lifting weights does. Because you're getting more efficient with calories each time you do that same workout or form of cardio.
That means the calorie burn gets less and less. Not only that, but studies show that HIIT and cardio can drive hunger and cravings up and our bodies also subconsciously move less throughout the day to compensate for the calorie burn that occurred during the workout.
My recommendation: this style of training is not great for body composition improvements. If you want to get leaner, do some form of resistance training as the foundation of your workouts. Use cardio in smaller doses and be sure to pay attention to recovery, hunger, and cravings. Notice how you're impacted when you work out like that.
If you're training to get better at cardio (like running a marathon or ironman etc.) then you'll obviously need a much higher level of frequency. In that case, you better be prepared to fuel appropriately to counter balance the amount of stress you're putting on your body. Always remember what is more important and in line with your goals: performance or aesthetics? Meaning if you are training for a marathon it’s not the time to diet. You need to fuel for your desired outcome.
MISTAKE #3. DIETING TOO FREQUENTLY/ TOO EXTREMELY/ UNSUSTAINABLY
Once again, this is a problem across the board but when you're more sensitive to stress, it becomes an even bigger issue.
Dieting is a major stressor on ALL bodies. Consider that your results, your metabolic health, and your hormone health are all dependent on having the appropriate resources to meet the demands you place on your body.
Food /energy is an important resource. Recovery is a resource. Sleep is a resource. Self-care is a resource.
Dieting impacts all of the above. You're removing energy, impairing recovery, making it more difficult to get adequate sleep, and potentially sacrificing self-care.
A lot of women get frustrated when they're told to basically starve themselves and then don't see progress. Why don't they see progress and in some situations gain weight? Because the diet is too extreme and your body fights to preserve energy: sadly by dumping muscle and holding onto fat.
Think about it like this. Do you really want a fast and effective metabolism when very little energy is coming in? Of course, you don't. You'd starve to death quicker.
So, your body has built in emergency breaks which adapt by down regulating metabolic function, suppressing certain systems in the body like immune function, sexual function, etc. It’s job is to keep you alive.
The more frequently you diet, the more stress you place on your body. The more extreme your diet is, the more of a stressor it is. The more you try to be perfect, the more unsustainable the results are.
My recommendation: diet smarter, not harder. IT DOES NOT HAVE TO HURT TO WORK. Have a dedicated fat loss phase that lasts about 12-16 weeks (the timeline will be highly dependent on the individual). Keep it very moderate and if you're going to be more aggressive, you better have recovery and stress management on lock otherwise you won’t get the results you think you deserve.
Eat mostly high-quality foods and incorporate things you love in moderation each day (or at least each week). Avoid the half in, half out approach where you kind of sort of diet but then indulge and want to keep dieting forever. You are either dieting or you are not. If you are not – stop until you can consistently.
Unfortunately, these three mistakes which sound simple are the most common I see.
In fact, they're often all done at once: fasting, dieting, excessive amounts of cardio.
Almost daily I speak to women who are trying to fast, eat 1200 calories, and are attending tons of classes or doing a whole bunch of cardio/HIIT.
When you reach a point where you want real change you need to address the fact that your hormones are sensitive and not a fan of stress. If you are or aren’t going through biological changes it’s important to focus on foundational habits that go a long way in your overall health and body composition.
Food quality should really be a primary focus. It's incredibly important for hormone health.
Walking is like the gift that keeps on giving. Do it frequently.
Protein is your best friend. Eat it.
Carbohydrates. Fats. You need to heal that relationship.
Muscle is your metabolic best friend. Invest in it. Build it. Take care of it.
Sleep and stress management are non-negotiable. If anyone gets in the way of your sleep and self-care, you have permission to Bruce Lee them.
Above all else, prioritize yourself. I just spoke to someone this morning who said that she's spent over 30 years of her life putting everyone else first. She said that she's always made decisions based on everyone else and always felt like she needed to apologize.
She said, enough is enough. I'm worth it and I deserve to be happy, healthy and strong. The most impactful thing she said in our conversation was...
"I can’t be my best self if I don’t truly love myself. And I don’t love myself. Not because of my looks or body but I feel disconnected. I lack confidence in myself and feel miserable in my own body and its abilities. I deserve to feel good and look good."
You don't have to put your own goals on hold for the sake of everyone else. Not only do you deserve to look, feel and perform how you want but the people you care about the most deserve the best version of you.
And that requires prioritizing yourself. Investing in yourself. And spending your time accordingly.