Here's 5 things that could be holding you back
I speak to so many women who begin their health journey with me because they want to lose weight. Firstly, I just want to caveat that I consider myself to be a body positive coach and personally believe that there is far too much pressure on women to achieve unrealistic body ideals. There are literally 1,000s of benefits that having a healthier lifestyle will give you that have nothing to do with how your clothes fit! If you're hoping to lose weight because you think it will make you happier or give you something you don't already have like confidence or self esteem, it won't. You genuinely can't hate yourself thin, or expect your insecurities to disappear with the kilos. You can only make lasting changes from a place of love.
However I do also recognise that women deserve autonomy of their own bodies and that for many, changing their body composition is a valid goal.
Often when weight loss is a goal, women go straight to diet and exercise as providing the answers. But they are only two pieces of a much larger puzzle, and often one of the last things I advise women focus on.
Here's 5 things that could be holding you back from achieving the results you desire:
1. Sleep
Almost all the women I see aren't getting enough deep, restorative sleep. Studies have proven that regularly getting less than 7 hours sleep (the CDC cites less than 7 hours as 'short sleep') is linked to higher BMI and a lower rate of fat loss.
Lack of sleep produces higher levels of cortisol, the hormone that kicks in when we need to fight or flee. But it also slows down your metabolism, creates more inflammation in your body and makes you more likely to store fat around your middle. You're also 55% more likely to store fat and waste muscle when you're getting less than 7 hours sleep.
Lack of sleep also increases the hunger hormone Ghrelin and makes you crave more energy dense foods like sugar, carbohydrates and fat. MORE sleep has been proven to increase HGH (Human Growth Hormone) which is responsible for cell repair and muscle growth, which in turn increases your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) which means you burn more calories at rest.
This is the first place I look with women who are looking to lose body fat. If you're finding it difficult to shift body fat and are sleeping less than 7 hours a night, sort out your sleep FIRST
2. Stress
Almost every woman I talk to tells me she's not stressed.
But that sense of urgency you’re feeling as you bang out a few more tasks before pickup? That’s stress.
That zing in your gut when you realise you've missed an appointment or are running late? That’s stress
The sinking feeling when your boss has dropped another task on your overloaded plate? Yup, that’s stress too
Those little physical sensations you’re experiencing are your body releasing adrenaline and cortisol into your system. Lot’s of those little moments in your day add up to big problems and are often referred to as low-grade chronic stress.
Whether it's running late or an angry email from your boss, everyday stressors are perceived by our bodies as a threat to our lives and our body releases cortisol. High cortisol levels are associated with increased body fat, slower metabolism, increased inflammation, increased cravings AND muscle atrophy (wastage). Our muscles are sometimes referred to as our metabolic motor, meaning that muscle tissue is metabolically active and actually burns fat at rest. The more muscle you have, the more fat you burn.
In addition, increased stress creates more inflammation and stops our cells from repairing, including muscle tissue so if you're trying to lose fat and gain muscle, managing your stress is an absolute must.
In a nutshell: more stress = more fat storage = less fat burning
3. Not enough NEAT
Non Exercise Acquired Thermogenesis is the movement we do outside of training. Even if you diligently trained for an hour a day 5x a week, that's still only 4% of your day. If you're sedentary for the rest of the time it will virtually cancel out any benefit you get from that hour of exercise.
If you are training 3-5 times a week but not doing any other movement, it might be worthwhile looking at stepping up your step count.
4. Low Energy Availability
It's not just about calories in vs calories out. We've already looked at stress being a contributing factor to fat storage, but we need to look at other stressors too. This includes under eating, overtraining and not allowing for adequate rest or recovery. If you're reducing your calories, then adding in high intensity exercise on top other stressful lifestyle factors like a high pressure job, family commitments, an overloaded schedule, too much booze or not enough sleep, your body thinks it's in danger and can begin to store fat.
Women that feel tired, sluggish and tell me they want to feel more motivated usually have drains on their energy they aren't aware of. We simply look at what is draining their energy container, then put together some simple strategies to help stop those energy leaks before adding in some practices to help GIVE them more energy and voila! More motivation, more energy and more vitality!
If you want to go from slow and sluggish to vital and energised in just 5 days you can take our FREE feel fab by Friday challenge.
Conversely, if you're overeating and under training, that's going to hamper your fat loss results too. We need to find that sweet spot of adequate training to build lean muscle mass and burn calories, an appropriate amount of nutrition to fuel the body without overloading the digestive system and appropriate energy management and recovery practices.
5. TGTL - Too Good Too Long
You start your day with the best of intentions, a light breakfast of maybe fruit and some yoghurt, just a latte at morning tea and a salad for lunch. You've then got a busy afternoon and don't get a chance to eat anything else, suddenly it's dinnertime and you're absolutely ravenous! You wolf it down and eat way more than you had intended. Even though you're full, you still find yourself reaching for the chocolate or chips later because you 'just feel like a little something else.'
Sound familiar?
So many women try to be 'good' and undereat all day, have no more willpower left by the evenings, overeat at dinner and over snack afterwards. If you're finding you are bingeing or overeating at dinnertime, take a look at what you're eating during the day. It could be as simple as making sure you have a substantial lunch with some protein and healthy fats and a small snack to tide you over until dinnertime to mitigate this.
If you're feeling frustrated you're not getting the results you're after, you can book a chat here and we can brainstorm whether one of these things might be getting in the way.