Have you been working out rigorously and limiting your calories but found that you’ve plateaued on your weight-loss journey?
This is a theme that I’ve noticed in the despaired women coming to be for support on their weight-loss journey. They’re over exercising and under eating.
If I told you that reducing the intensity and frequency of your exercise routine and eating MORE could be the missing piece of your puzzle, would you laugh? It does sound counterintuitive doesn’t it?
Here are the reasons:
1) High cortisol levels
Cortisol is your stress hormone. Under eating causes stress on your body, subsequently increasing your cortisol levels. What makes this 10x worse is when you’re under eating AND running on caffeine. The stress this causes on your body is a weight-loss blocker.
Adding over exercising into the mix is only adding to your overflowing cup of cortisol levels. Over exercising is when you’re doing high intensity exercise such as running or HITT workouts too frequently with too few rest days. Everybody is different, has different limits and different levels of cortisol so you will need to intuitively feel what feels healthy to you.
2) Dysregulated blood sugar levels
Under eating can dysregulate your blood sugar levels and this is also a weight-loss blocker. Studies have shown that eating 3 meals a day help balance blood sugar levels and subsequently support a healthy weight and balanced energy levels[1].
On top of this, we need to ensure that WHAT we’re eating is not going to spike our blood sugars too much, or leave us with empty calories (meals low in nutrients). A quote that I share with my clients is that “you can over eat, yet be under nourished”. You need to be eating the right quantities and quality of food.
Solutions:
1) Having no less than 2 meals a day
2) Meals need to have the right balance of protein, fat and unrefined carbohydrates
3) Ensure your exercise routine isn’t just HITT, HITT, HITT. Try incorporating a variety of different workout intensities throughout the week. Perhaps weight-training, yoga, swimming, walking etc. Have rest days and listen to your body to intuitively figure out your limits.
If you're looking for support on your weight-loss journey, you can find out how you can work with me here. I guide my clients on forming healthy lifestyle habits, provide them with personalised nutritional advice, hormone testing and hormone rebalancing protocols.