Tag: metabolism

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Food & Nutrition Spiritual Health

The Worst Health Advice I’ve Ever Received….Part 2

and Truth I know now…

We are midway through this 3-part series I’m sharing on the “Worst Advice” I have received from fitness “professionals” that I have learned is simply BAD ADVICE.  
 
Last blog (link here), I shared with you the fact that some professional football players told me that "I shouldn’t do so many lunges since I already had “thick thighs.”'  So not only was this RUDE advice, but it was very BAD advice because as I went over, the LEANEST my thighs ever got was also the MOST and HEAVIEST amount of lifting I had ever done!    It is backwards to our female intuition, but it is the TRUTH about women’s bodies.  We need muscle to burn fat. 
 
Today’s story is also some bad advice from another male trainer who really offered me some terrible advice while I was beginning to thinking about training for the bikini competition. 
 
This was when I was 29-years old and I was working part-time at my favorite gym in the whole world, Bodies by Perseverance in Denver, CO.  
 
A trainer that worked there at the time (before he was let go) had offered to train me for free for a few sessions and was one who was pushing me to consider doing a bikini competition.  
 
At this time I was very suspicious of the whole process (which proved to be good intuition on my part that I should have trusted) because I was seeing a lot of girls lose a TON OF WEIGHT, but they were REALLY CRANKY and irritable the whole time.  Then, once the show was over, I saw the grand majority GAIN ALL THE WEIGHT BACK and then some.  
 
Well, when this trainer revealed to me his master strategy for how he was going to train me, I knew this was the reason why!   
 

He told me, and I quote,  “You need to burn as many calories in exercise as you eat in the day.”  End quote. 

 
So, his “diet plan” for me would include a menu of 900-1200 calories total (which for me an my 5’10” frame is WAYYYYYY too low) of virtually no carbs, and he also expected me to BURN about 900-1200 calories a day doing EXERCISE!  
 
This is not only BAD ADVICE but this is DANGEROUS advice that can seriously harm your metabolism.  
 
I obviously did not hire this trainer to do my competition and I did still suffer some of the effects of the more extreme diet and exercise programs all warrant for doing a show, but at least I didn’t cause grave, sometimes irreversible damage that his advice could have cause me. 
 
Let’s set the record straight on your METABOLISM and HOW MANY CALORIES TO EAT or BURN each day. 

METABOLISM TRUTHS: 

—If you starve your body either by eating too few calories or burning too many calories (or both) you will slow down your metabolism and will have an incredibly hard time speeding it up again.  This makes it nearly impossible to burn fat and lose weight again.  If you were to lose weight this way but then gain it back (because your body thinks it's starving so it kicks up your appetite and cravings) you will have a MUCH HARDER time losing weight again.  Your body does not forget the times when you’ve starved it.  It won’t be so quick to lose its fat reserves next time.
 
—Metabolic experts have research based evidence that says that to avoid slowing down of your metabolism, your goal should be to eat as much as possible while still showing signs of weight loss.  The process will go in a stepwise fashion of slowly decreasing calories or increasing calorie burn via exercise to "test and see" how much you can eat while still showing results.  This will take TIME and PATIENCE but will be well worth the effort in order to maintain the metabolism as much as possible.     
 
So, at my size (5’10”, 157 lbs) and age (34 years), I burn about 2,000-2,100 calories a day just from my everyday life (taken from my Apple Watch).    If I exercise for 30-45 mins and take a leisure walk, I may get up to about 2600 calories burned per day.  This means, to keep my metabolism revved up, I need to eat no less than 1600-1700 calories per day on non-workout days or 2100-2300 calories per day on workout days.  (This is if I want to lose weight).
 
The fat loss process needs to go much SLOWER than you think it does.  For example, if I have a rough deficit of 500 calories per day over the course of a full week, I will at most lose 1 lb of fat per week.  Now, hormones and inflammation, and all that will sway the “weight” part, but you can rest assured that this will allow for fat burning that you will notice more over time. 
 
—Metabolic damage is very serious that shouldn’t be taken lightly.  Because of the surge of women deciding to do bikini or bodybuilding competitions, we are seeing a rise in the damage done.  Things like autoimmune disorders like Hashimoto’s (Thyroid), adrenal fatigue, and whacked out estrogen/progesterone (from any extended stress) can all result  from this aggressive approach to weight loss.   Your hormones matter!!  Take caution. 
 
While all this physical effects are important to address, but to me these consequences of physical and metabolic damage is small in comparison to the SPIRITUAL damage and the condemnation you feel when you lose weight and gain it all back because your body is fighting against you “starving” it for quicker results.  It only took me 5 months to lose 7% of body fat, but it took me OVER A YEAR and a LOT OF GOD’S GRACE to help me forgive myself for doing it and gaining the weight back.  
 
 

This is why I ever started A. Wright Fit as a fit and FAITHFUL business and created my her Health Lounge to be:

8 WEEKS OF BODY (Nutrition & Fitness) EDUCATION
8 WEEKS OF MINDSET INTENTION & 
8 WEEKS OF SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT
 
When you change anything physical about your body you will do so by either BUILD-UP your Spiritual muscles or BREAKING-DOWN your Spirit.  It's one way or another.  And the way that society teaches us usually ends up on the destructive side toward our Spiritual growth.  
 
The reason why women take such drastic measure to change their body is because of an unhealthy relationship with their body.  There are so many mindset barriers and lies that women will believe about themselves that this program can help set you straight.  It also teaches you how to strengthen your Spirit which builds the patience, endurance, and self-control that are all pivotal in winning the fat loss game long term!  
 
 
I’m REALLY excited to invite you to join!  Again, doors open on April 3 and the close on April 9th!  So don’t miss your chance to transform your life!  Please join the waitlist HERE to learn more!  

her Health Lounge opens April 3!

The 26-week journey to a LIFETIME of health success starts on April 10!  The her Health Lounge will be open for limited members starting April 3!  To be the first to know, put your name on the list HERE.  You'll get a nice little discount too!   

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Fitness & Training Health Coaching

The Worst Health Advice I Ever Received…Part I

and Truth I know now…


This week, I’m going to be sharing a 3-part series on what I’m calling the “Worst Health Advice I Ever Got” and how I have learned the REAL TRUTH that I will share with you.  

Before I start, let's be clear there are no VICTIMS of bad advice.  Ultimately we all make our own choices and have to take personal responsibility and that's exactly what I was able to do here.  So, if you take nothing else away, I want you to know you are your best "expert" of your body.  Own that right and responsibility!   

Nevertheless we know that the health and wellness industry is quite NOISY.  There are many self proclaimed “experts”of things they have no real experience with outside of their own experience or a limited number of clients.   So, the moral of this story is to look beyond the scope of who is giving you advice and make sure they really are qualified to advise YOU. 

So my first story kicks off when I was 26-years old and I was living in San Diego, CA.  As a hardcore football fan, I had scored what I thought was the job of my lifetime as a intern in the Community Relations department of the San Diego Chargers team. 

This wound up being a really *interesting* 2-years of my life, and very challenging for reasons I won’t get into with this story, though it was an exciting opportunity overall. 

The unfortunate part of this time in my life is that it was also my HEAVIEST WEIGHT I have ever been.  The combination of being emotionally stressed, working 2 jobs full-time plus a third part-time job to make ends meet in San Diego meant that I was exercising little  and “eating my feelings” and thus put on a good 25-30 lbs. 

Now, due to my hormone structure, my body shape is certainly pear and I carry the majority of my weight in my thighs and my butt.  So, I was up to about a size 12 pants and was not happy about it. 

Finally, having enough of feeling so unhealthy, I decided to push myself back into regular exercise.  I was able to use the Chargers facility to workout after all the of NFL players were done for the day.  So, I began going down to their training room, doing a little bit of running on the treadmill and then some weights and exercises afterward.   

I was in the middle of doing a crazy set of body weight lunges up and down the football field outside when I noticed some shadows in the building and heard some snickering.  

Lo and behold there were 3-4 of the NFL players there watching me and laughing.  One of the players I knew a little more personally because I had started to work with he and his wife helping them with their nonprofit charity.  So, it was this player who shared with me what they were laughing about.

He told me, and I quote, “You really shouldn’t be doing so many lunges when you already have such thick thighs.”  End quote.

So, first of all, yes I really wanted to smack him and I was MORT-I-FIED to know that this was the reason they were laughing. I CAN’T EVEN get into the rant about the sexist jerks because the more important factor was all about his “ADVICE.”    This just goes to show you that even people who are trained to be professional athletes don’t necessarily know WOMEN'S BODIES!

It is WHOLLY INACCURATE to believe the lie that if you already struggle with carrying extra body fat in a certain body part of yours that you shouldn’t do strength training on that body part.   

ESPECIALLY given the fact that I was doing BODY WEIGHT lunges, which means it’s nearly impossible to grow that much muscle that would warrant concern about the size of my thighs.

It’s literally the OPPOSITE of what you should be doing.  If you want to lose body fat in any given area, you need to strength train that area!  

——> MUSCLE BURNS FAT <——

Even HEAVY WEIGHT TRAINING will ultimately help you (eventually) LEAN your problem areas, and I have proof.  

~2ish years after this incident many of you know I trained for 5 months to do a bikini competition.  I started my training process having been training regularly, but still carried my weight in my thighs (as you can see from my ‘before’ picture).  

To get my legs to get as lean as they look in the 'after picture', I lifted weights….HEAVY WEIGHTS.  I was squatting nearing 200lbs, leg pressing 450lbs plus hundreds and hundreds of weighted lunges every week!  Because this was my “problem area” I lifted this area MORE than any other area.  Seriously!  

If you don’t build the muscle of that specific area, you are going to have a much harder time in burning that fat in that area.     

Now, TO BE CLEAR, my fat loss was MORE about my DIET and even the cardio that ultimately helped me lean out so quickly for the competition (though, I admit this was a very unhealthy part of doing these shows that I now work with my clients in a much WISER and slower pace to ensure they don’t have the unhealthy rebound weight gain and potential metabolic damage.)  

So, this is a very common misconception I deal with all the time with my clients.  

My client who carries weight in the back of her arms is afraid to lift upper body and triceps.  My client who carries it in her butt and thighs, is afraid of lifting weights in her lower body.  

Women are STILL AFRAID OF “BULKING" in these areas, so let me lay to rest what really does happen when you lift weight and why it’s an investment WORTH doing and ignoring any BAD ADVICE that tells you otherwise. 

TRAINING TRUTHS TO LEAN OUT:

—Building muscle boosts your metabolism which helps you burn fat. In fact, muscle has MORE of an effect on your metabolism than even your eating does!  

— Building muscle the right (i.e. at higher intensity) way can help you burn more fat than cardio alone.  It’s such a misconception to women to only do “light weights and cardio” to try to lose fat or "tone up."   Though there’s no denying that cardio can help you lose weight, these efforts can actually help you lose muscle which will ultimately do you a disservice as you age by slowing down your metabolism!  Building muscle, called hypertrophy, is a necessary component of getting lean and staying lean.  You will love your CURVES MORE when you have more muscle. 
 

— For women, truly getting “BULKY” is nearly impossible without a very intentional process that includes diet modifications.  Some women do have slightly more testosterone, so they might be able to get certain body parts larger, but they’ll also have to eat a substantial amount of calories to do that too.   Most women don’t have the hormone structure (testosterone and growth hormone) that will help you truly “bulk out.”  
  

—The truth is that when you lift heavy weights, women do have more short-term inflammation which makes you “think” your muscles grew overnight, but the inflammation will subside and they’ll go right back down and may even have some less body fat around them!

—Leaning out IS a process of BUILDING and BURNING that takes  AWHILE and you’ll have to pay more attention to your diet.  I coach on a practice I learned from Metabolic Effect that’s called a “toggle” of Exercising More and Eating More to help you BUILD some muscle for 2-weeks in a row and then Exercising Less and Eating Less to help you BURN more fat for 1-week.  I toggle these 3-weeks throughout my STRONGher Fitness and Mobility Programming and app!

 

—You CAN strengthen a muscle without building the size!  This is what I coach in my PERIODIZED STRONGher Fitness program  The key differences is knowing how heavy of weight to lift (a % of your 1 Rep Max), the number of reps to lift, and the amount of time you spend resting in between each set.    These are my areas of expertise as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. 

So, if you too have realized you were believing some BAD ADVICE in regards to the value of strength training and fat burning, I encourage you to join us in the her Health Lounge where I will coach you through 26-weeks of this extended weight training programming to ensure the loveliest, leanest and strongest body you’ve ever had!   The h2L is available April 3!

her Health Lounge opens April 3!

The 26-week journey to a LIFETIME of health success starts on April 10!  The her Health Lounge will be open for limited members starting April 3!  To be the first to know, put your name on the list HERE.  You'll get a nice little discount too!   

Categories
Food & Nutrition

5 Nutrient Based Eating Recipes I’m Going Nuts On!

Mmmmm…..

 

 

You might think that because I am a certified nutritionist and creator of a nutrition program, called Nutrient Based Eating, that I must love cooking and recipe development. 

Well, my dear, you would be WRONG. ? 

I have so much respect for the food bloggers out there!  Truly, BLESS YOU!  I have created some recipe books and ideas before and I find the whole process (on that level) to be exhausting!  

So EATING….YES.  

RECIPES….not so much.  

But, I think this works out quite well as a nutrition coach because my clients now know that I am all about simple, delicious food that is NOT overly cumbersome to create.  Every once in awhile a detailed recipe is awesome, but unless it can last me for more than one meal, I usually will defer to the easier meal ideas.  

I like SIMPLE and QUICK meals that are BALANCED, HEALTHY, AND TASTY.  So that’s what I’m going go give you today with my….

TOP 5 (CURRENT) FAVORITE NBE RECIPES!

But first, a little 101 on the Nutrient Based Eating program so you understand the necessary components to make a meal truly #NBEapproved!

  1. Nutrient Based Eating is a LIFESTYLE-based approach to eating that takes you through the individual habit-formation steps toward holistic and balanced meals.   Meaning, these meals are ones that your family can eat too (or at least a modified version of it, with serving sizes varying).  
  2.  NBE has 5 Phases, the first of which, Phase 0, guides you through building up the “NBE Plate.”  These plates/recipes I will be showing you today are all under the “Phase 1” context, meaning that the habits are all already assumed.  If you were just starting out, this is not where I would start you, but eating this way would be where you would wind up after 1-6 habits are formed to automation. ??
  3. NBE components are as follows:  Water + Green Vegetable + Colored Vegetable (or low sugar fruit) + Starchy Carb (or high sugar fruit/sweets) + Protein + Fat.  You will (eventually) eat your meals about every 3-5 hours (once you get to that habit).  The serving sizes or portions of each food group are adjusted according to a plate graphic and hand measuring tools.    

 

SO, if this is enough information to at least allow you to understand the general framework, let’s get to the food shall we?


NBE Breakfast Tacos

Ingredients:

1 Whole Egg (Fat), 1/2 Cup Liquid Egg Whites (Protein), Kale or Spinach (Green Vegetable), Zucchini (Green Vegetable),  Red Pepper and Red Onion (Colored Vegetable), 1 Blue Corn Soft Taco Shell (Starchy Carb).  Served with fresh berries (colored veg/low sugar fruit).  

Directions: 

  1. Saute the kale, spinach, zucchini, sliced red pepper and onion on a hot skillet with light olive or avocado oil for 1-2 mins on medium heat. 
  2. Add in 1 whole egg and the liquid egg whites.  Cover with a lid to cook it “frittata” style.  You can also simply scramble them lightly.
  3. Heat up the corn tortilla in the microwave for 20 seconds.
  4. Once the eggs are cooked to your liking, put half of it in your corn tortilla shell and the other half on the plate to eat alone.  Add some fresh salsa (with no sugar added) if you like a little spice.
  5. I also enjoyed some fresh berries after for a fulfilling breakfast. 🙂

NBE Power Smoothie

Ingredients:

Handful of Spinach or Power Greens, Frozen (Green Vegetable)
1 Zucchini (Green Vegetable)
Frozen Berries (Colored Veg/Low Sugar Fruit)
1 Carrot (Colored Veg)
1/2 Frozen Banana (Starchy Carb/High Sugar Fruit)
Unsweetened Almond Milk (some fat)
Avocado (or coconut) (Fat)
Plant-Based Protein (or pasteurized egg whites) (Protein)
(Optional– chia seeds (fat), hemp seeds (protein), flax seeds (fat), cinnamon (n/a))

Directions:

Place all items in your blender and blend away!! You can add more or less liquid based on how thick you enjoy your smoothie. I own a blender for protein shakes so it can cope with lots of frozen fruits and tough foods however if your blender is a little more delicate, leave the fruit to defrost. Some blenders are fragile! Sometimes the frozen items can get stuck in your blender, to which I use the Vitamix wand to break it up.  You may need a wooden spoon or spatula.  



Taboule Turkey Salad

Ingredients:

Finely Chopped Parsley, flat leaf or curled (Green Vegetable/Herb)
Diced Cucumber (Cucumber)
Diced Tomatoes (Colored Vegetable)
Bulgar Wheat, or Quinoa if GF (Starchy Carb)
Lemon Olive Oil Dressing (Fat)
Smoked Turkey (Protein)

Directions:

  1.  Buy as much pre-made for you!  Lol.  I bought an organic sliced turkey breast instead of cooking my own.  I also bought a fast-cooking bulgur wheat (or quinoa) that I made a large batch of.  This entire salad keeps really well, so make it large and eat it throughout the week!
  2. Bulgur Wheat is made much like rice or quinoa. 1 Cup Bulguar to 2 Cups water.  Bring to a boil on stove top. Then reduce the heat and allow to simmer on low for ~15 mins until you can fluff with your fork. 
  3. Finely chop the parsley or use a food processor for even greater ease (minus the clean up!)
  4. Chop the tomatoes and cucumbers. 
  5. Mix 1/4 cup olive oil with fresh lemon juice and a pinch of salt.  
  6. Toss all ingredients together and top with some sliced turkey.  

Lettuce Wrap or Regular Tacos

Ingredients:

Butter Lettuce or Romaine Lettuce Hearts (Green Vegetables) for taco shells
Ground Turkey or Grass-fed Beef (Protein)
Red Bell Peppers & Onions (Colored Vegetable)
Portobello Mushrooms (Green/White Vegetable)
Refried Black Beans (Starchy Carb)
Sliced Avocado (Fat)

Directions:

  1. Cook the ground meat of choice all the way through stovetop on medium-high heat. 
  2. Saute lightly in olive oil the peppers, onions, and mushrooms.
  3. Cook the refried black beans (from a carton or can) in a saucepan or even the microwave!
  4. Slather the lettuce wrap with beans first, add on the meat and the veggies.  Top with the sliced avocado and even some salsa! 
  5. Enjoy!


Zoodle Pasta Primavera

Ingredients:

Butter Lettuce Cups or Romaine Lettuce Cups (Green Vegetable)
Sliced Peppers, Onions, Garlic, Portobello Mushrooms (Green/White Vegetables)
Red Peppers, Fresh Red Salsa (Colored Vegetables)
No Sugar Added Marinara (from a jar for me, but you can make homemade with crushed tomatoes) (Colored Vegetables)
Sliced or Ground Protein of Choice (Chicken, Turkey, Lean Grass-fed Beef, Grass-fed Bison) (Protein)
Olive Oil (fat)

Directions:

  1.  Cook the meat stovetop all the way through.
  2. Saute in olive oil the vegetables until the onion is translucent on medium heat.   (You can blend these or finely chop them if you live with family members who are more vegetable opposed).  
  3. Add the vegetables and marinara together in a saucepan on medium heat.  
  4. Spiralize or thinly slice 4-6 zucchinis for the “zoodles.”  For best results I microwave these on high for 2-3 mins to keep some “crispness” to the zucchini.  I find that boiled them leads to water retention and mushy noodles. 
  5. If anyone in your family is zucchini opposed, they can have regular noodles while you have zucchini (or another option which is spaghetti squash).  
     

 

Nutrient Based Eating eBook & eCourse for Sale!

If you are interested in learning more about the Nutrient Based Eating program that has led women to thriving lean bodies just one habit at a time, then this is YOUR week!  For a very limited time, I will be opening up this program for purchase outside of my normal coaching program!  

Cart OPEN on Wednesday, March 1 only until Friday, March 3!  But an early purchase opportunity (and discount) will be offered to my email subscribers on Tuesday, February 28!  To get on that early bird list, subscribe HERE.  

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Food & Nutrition Health Coaching Uncategorized

FAT LOSS DIARIES: These 5 Factors Can Mess With Our Metabolism the Most

Fat Loss Diaries

As I mentioned the other day, my road to the the ultimate LEAN life lead to a majorly disrupted Metabolism! I’m currently 2.5 years “post bikini-show” and I am still trying to help get my metabolism recovered! A lot of women struggle with their metabolism, especially as they get older so I know I’m not the only one with this issue. Some women struggle with metabolism so much that fat loss can seem almost impossible. Many prefer to take a surgical route in their weight loss journey, including things like liposuction offered by people like Dr. Paul Fortes. However, there are other ways to lose weight. There are lots of factors that affect our metabolism and weight gain so it’s usually very dependant on the individual. For example, my friend has to get Indolemax from Amazon to help control her weight because her estrogen levels aren’t correct. This also helps with her menopause so it helps her in two different ways! The importance of our metabolism is because we want to be able to EAT NORMAL amounts of food and stay pretty lean!

Our METABOLISM MATTERS big-time if we are trying to live a balanced life. We need to take care of our bodies and take things slow, showcasing the necessary patience and endurance to do this the (w)right way. (Click here for my favorite scriptures to help you with ENDURANCE!)

First, let me preface this next specific topic about your Metabolism by saying there is SO MUCH MORE to learn that I simply cannot fit into one blog. In fact, I wrote an entire MODULE PROGRAM in my Health Coaching programs that goes over all the important factors you need to know about your Metabolism (Module #2: WISE’her Metabolism).

To check out more information on my HEALTH COACHING programs, click HERE.

Nevertheless, in my QUEST TO FIX MY DAMAGED METABOLISM, I have learned the 5 BIGGEST VILLAINS TO SUSTAINABLE FAT LOSS EFFORTS.

Prepare to hate this list with me! But….knowledge is power and power provides excellence!

  1. ALCOHOL: Ok, this one can hurt most of our feelings. You might have read my journey to cut back on this in my WINE-NOT series a few months ago. But there is nothing more relaxing, in my opinion, then a nice glass of wine after a long day. Most of us do consider alcohol our ultimate stress reliever and while that part *does* have some benefits for your Metabolism (by reducing your cortisol levels for a short period of time) it is FAR counteracted by the negative affects alcohol has on metabolic processes.
    Alcohol by itself is an high calories (at 7 calories per gram), empty-calories, no-nutrient entity that is a sugar, but a sugar that is especially reactive in our bodies. So much so that our bodies STOP PROCESSING all other metabolic processes (like other food or even our fat metabolism) in order to process the alcohol and get it OUT of the body by detoxing it through our liver and kidneys.
    So, drinking just 2 alcoholic beverages will slow down your metabolism by 80% (!!) for the following 4-hours. That’s why you tend to gain a lot of fat when you drink too much—hello beer belly!

Recommendation: Overall, if you want to lose fat, you are more than likely going to severely cut back on all alcohol. It was recommended to me to limit it to just 2-3 glasses PER MONTH.

2. CAFFEINE: So, this one is not ALL bad news. But the deal with caffeine is that the chemical causes a huge rush of the “Fight or Flight” hormones to cascade into high gear for up to 14-hours! That is, Cortisol, Adrenalin and NorAdrenalin. These hormones by themselves ultimately SLOW DOWN your Fat Loss because these stress hormones go into “Sugar Burning” mode instead of “Fat Burning” mode. (Jade Teta, Metabolic Effect)
SO, if you OVER CONSUME caffeine, you might be sending your body into “Fight or Flight” mode quite unnecessarily, all day long! UNLESS of course, you consume caffeine and then actually go and USE YOUR BODY, for something like, WORKING OUT! Stress hormones in the presence of Human Growth Hormone and Testosterone (those hormones that are produced when you weight train) actually HELP in Fat Loss. So it does have a nice condition.

Recommendation: Overall, cut back on caffeine unless it’s just before your workout. Green Tea is a much more metabolically stimulating drink of choice!

Your Daily Dose of Caffeine should be 2.5mg/Kg of your Body Weight.
For women of child bearing age, it is recommended to limit yourself to about 300mg/day.

Here’s a little research I did to put this in perspective for you:

Screenshot 2015-09-25 08.28.42

3. SLEEP: We have all heard this one a hundred times, but sleep is SO VERY VITAL for so many things, including your Fat Loss efforts. One interesting thing however is that you have to be careful not to get TOO LITTLE sleep (anything less than 7 hours) or TOO MUCH sleep (over 10 hours) both have adverse metabolic affects on your hormones.

Also, ever wonder why those all-nighters made you so hungry? Studies have shown that getting too little of sleep affects your HUNGER Hormones by increasing your hunger-producing hormones (ghrelin) and decreasing your satiety producing hormones (leptin).

The benefits of sleep is not only in our energy production for the next day, but during our sleep we also experience our HIGHEST Growth Hormone levels and Testosterone (mainly for men) that significantly boost the FAT BURNING machinery in our systems.

Recommendation: Get 7-9 hours of sleep per night. To help yourself fall asleep and stay asleep, avoid caffeine in the afternoon and avoid your TVs and devices 1 hour before bed time (the blue light in them activate our “awake” responses in our Circadian Rhythm clocks). Try to go to bed and wake-up at the same time every day, as this has been shown to help you get in the proper Circadian Rhythm cycle flow.

4. REFINED SUGAR: Refined Sugar, or any sugar that causes a huge Glycemic surge, is an Fat Loss nemesis. The more the food spikes our blood sugar, the more it will send in a rush of insulin, and essentially slow fat-loss. Then, as your blood sugar gets too low (which inevitably happens after the bad rush of Glucagon to break down the insulin), this triggers a the HUNGER hormones (ghrelin) to come in full force again! This is why, when you eat refined sugary foods, you are not full for very long. It is burned quickly and makes you hungry sooner, all while NOT Fat Burning.

Recommendation: Eat foods lower in Fructose and low on the Glycemic Index charts, meaning, more complex and fiber rich starchy carbs. A great resource for low-glycemic foods is HERE. I copied a graphic from Low GI Health website too that I found really helpful.

Low GI Health

5. FOOD INTOLERANCES: This one was a surprise to me, but I learned very quickly after my bikini competition that I became very food sensitive and intolerant! I began experiencing very painful digestion issues that caused me so much issues that it’s taken over 2 years to truly figure out all of the “issues” I have (which are far and above just digestive issues by the way!).

But the reason why food intolerances can affect your fat loss efforts in a variety of ways. If our gut lining in unable to break down certain foods or the gut lining ins compromised in some way (leaky gut syndrome, for example) then it will limit the ABSORPTION of the vital vitamins and minerals (which is done predominantly in the intestines). Our vitamins and minerals are HUGE factors in making Fat Loss happen because they are the agents that “turn on” all of the “machinery” needed for Fat burning.

Not only that, but our guts also are huge factors in our stress responses (I carry my stress in my gut which has a huge factor on my digestion too!) and even our cognitive thinking!

RECOMMENDATION: At some point in your life, I recommend doing an Elimination Diet. I prescribe a specific one in my Health Coaching program (Module #3- Nutrient Based Eating) but there are many others. Whole 30, the Daniel Plan, Metabolic Effect, and Precision Nutrition all have varying programs. My friend Lisa Suazo, owner of also hosts a “CLEAN CLUB” that goes through this elimination process too she learned about from the book by Dr.Alejandro Junger, CLEAN.

Overall, these 5 factors can have SIGNIFICANT delays and negative delays on your Metabolism and Fat Loss efforts if not carefully considered.

With ALL things for your body, start with just ONE AREA and determine some new, healthy habits to focus on for a few weeks consistently. Then, as you get those down, add on another habit or two. Soon enough, you’ll be stocked full of all kinds of new habits that will start to really add up to some SUSTAINABLE, HIGH METABOLIC Fat Loss success!

As always, feel free to comment below or email me at amanda@amandawrightfit.com with any questions!

Categories
Food & Nutrition Uncategorized

FAT LOSS DIARIES: 3 Tips to Prevent Fat Loss From Biting You In the Booty

Fat Loss Diaries

To say that my history with Fat Loss has been emotionally “shaky” is a gross understatement. I’ve been frustrated more times than I can count by the slowness, stubbornness, and mental strain that I have placed on my ability (or inability, rather) to lose fat when I tried to the hardest. Have you ever felt that way?! Sometimes I just research the liposuction cost and consider having all the access weight sucked out of me. It’s something I’ve really considered because losing weight can be a very stressful and frustrating process, especially when doing it with just exercise and diet regulations.

The problem is that Fat Loss is NOT the same thing as “weight loss” and even so, for both categories, the old adage that you simply lose weight or fat by the mathematical sequence of “Calories In < Calories Out" is flat out WRONG.

The achieve a change in our physique through muscle growth and/or fat loss, we have to focus on our METABOLISM.

Our metabolism is COMPLEX to say the least! Yes, the Big Man upstairs has done Himself some kind of wonder in creating this amazing system that is responsible for both the break-down (called CATABOLISM) of our food into calories (that are used for energy in the body) as well as the build-up (called ANABOLISM) of all cells, such as muscle cells. It is a TRUE WONDER!

Even with my degree in Biochemistry and Biology, I did not understand the wonder of our body’s biochemical pathways and metabolic processes until I really devoted myself to studying it….and of course, experimenting with it (read: FAILING A LOT).

Yes, I have achieved the FULL SPECTRUM of what a high speed and perfectly ineffecient Metabolism does (our metabolism actually needs to be inefficient to promote fat burn and keep our system “moving” and higher speeds) as well as what a low speed and completely manipulated metabolism does.

Ironically, the time that I was at my LEANEST weight, when I trained for a a Bikini Competition, I was suffering from the WORST METABOLIC OPERATION that by Body had ever seen! So we cannot always associate a “smaller body frame” with a HIGH Metabolism! The opposite could be true!

Because I had WILL POWERED my way to see significant fat loss (losing over 10% in just 5 months) by EATING FAR TOO FEW CALORIES (especially carbohydrates that are out #1 quick energy source) and doing FAR TOO MUCH EXERCISE I stunted my metabolism to incredibly slow and yes, even damaged, levels.

Metabolic Effect calls this the EMEL method (Exercise More, Eat Less) which is a highway to metabolic damage and gaining ALL the weight back. Which is exactly what I did!

Metabolic Effect
from metaboliceffect.com

My metabolic damage was made worse yet by the fact that I promptly proceeded to GAIN BACK almost ALL of the body fat I lost (gained back about 7%), which took my metabolic damage to a whole. notha.’ level!

Yes, studies show that is is WORSE for your body to lose weight and gain it all back than it is to never lose it at all. Yes, that’s right.

Why? Because when we lose and gain, lose and gain (a la’ Yo-Yo dieting) your metabolism is slowed down. You simply won’t be as fuel (in)efficient anymore and your body won’t burn as many calories as you used to.

In fact, if you take two identical twins that are the same height and the same weight but ONE of the women had gained weight last year and had to ‘diet down’ to lose the weight again, HER METABOLISM will be slower than the other sister’s. Any time we gain and lose weight, we slow down our system. Frustrating RIGHT?! (By the way this is one of those questions on my list to ask God in Heaven, “What’s up with THAT?!”)

This is what I call, “Biting you in the Booty!” It’s both figurative reference and for me, quite literal because let’s just say, my BIG BOOTY has come right back to where it started from, and appears to be here to stay (to my husband’s delight, of course ;-)).

So, needless to say, now that I am 2.5 years POST-SHOW, I have learned a TON about metabolism in an effort to keep my body revved up and roaring as much as possible! This has helped me a TON understand MY BODY more of course, but it really helps me be a better Health Coach!

It’s a hard discussion to have with clients, because I know so many of us women want to see “results right away” but the truth is, you CAN’T speed up the process of Fat Loss to the point of it causing detriment to your Metabolism. You need to WORK WITH YOUR METABOLISM, not against it.

This means TAKING THE TIME to test your body and seeing what works. It is a PROCESS and if you’re doing it right, it’s a slow process! It’s hard, but if you consider the alternative, you would much rather have SUSTAINABLE FAT LOSS over quickly lost but quickly gained back fat loss? Yeah, me too.

My Top 3 Tips In Your Road to Fat Loss!

  1. Try the TOGGLE programs that Metabolic Effect Prescribes for a roaring metabolism– either Eat Less and Exercise Less OR Eat More and Exercise More. Toggle back and forth between the two phases depending on your scheduling and life!
  2. My 10% Method! Choose the “Minimum Effective Dose Method:” The goal is the eat as much as you possibly can while still seeing Fat Loss! You never want to take drastic cuts to your diet or make drastic leaps with your exercise. Just kick things up or down a notch, by about 10% of so. This is just enough to see if you see any results! When you cut too much, you probably can’t maintain that too well.
  3. Don’t STRESS! Adding more stress to yourself to do everything “perfectly” just increases the stress hormones which ultimately WORKS AGAINST you in Fat Loss. So take this Fat Loss effort slow and just keep SURREND’hering your will to God’s will. Your God power will get you through these challenges far greater than your will power! Have Faith and Endure!

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Food & Nutrition

Intermittent Fasting: Why I Do It and How I Do It (W)Right

The first time I heard of someone doing this, I thought they were crazy and were going to send themselves into starvation. I mentally judged them, immediately, and came up with a ton snippets of “health tips” that would disprove their practice as fallacy! Ha!

Cut to about 3 months later, when I decided to take a quiz from one of my favorite teaching blogs on all things Metabolism (Read: Fat Loss) related, Metabolic Effect, and guess what this quiz advised me to do? The VERY act that I so ruefully mentally judged others in the fitness industry for doing! Typical, right? (God was listening ;-))

 

Judgey

 

So now, every day, I don’t eat my first meal until about 11am. I eat my last meal by 7 or 8pm. Basically, I eat in a 8-9 hour window.

WHAT IT IS:

Watch Timing

So, I’m talking about Intermittent Fasting. Let me start by saying that I hate the term “Fasting” because anytime you say that, it makes people think of either a spiritual prayer practice (which is good, but not related), or a detox or cleanse. Which again, those two things can be good for you (if done right), but all these words seem to spark up a lot of “judgey judgertons” just like I admitted to being.

Intermittent Fasting is just a term used to describe going an extended period of time, every day, without eating. We ALL fast every day. This is called sleeping. So, intermittent fasting is a way to just extend the “non-eating” phase of your day because it essentially extends the Fat Burning period of your day.

Studies (and HERE) have actually shown that the TIMING of when we eat can have a bigger impact on our weight that the actual amount of calories we eat! In fact, I talked about this rat study on my blog on NUTRIENT BASED TIMING, HERE. The most recent study published in Cell Metabolism Journal, essentially tested two groups of rats who both ate the exact same amount of calories but one group ate all day long while the other group only at in a 10-12 hour window. The results showed that the group that ate at all hours of the day got obese while the intermittent fasted group of rats stayed at a normal weight. With the exact same amount of food!

The way our fast paced world has been operating lately, we can easily fall into the trap of GRAZING all day, every day. We need a snack at all occasions! I truly believe this contributes heavily (no pun intended) to the deathly serious overweight and obesity epidemic we have on our hands.

WHY I DECIDED TO TRY IT:

So, back to my decision to bite my own judgement and take the advice from the Metabolic Effect quiz I took. First, I have already done a lot of research on the Metabolic Effect website, read their books and know they are Doctors with credentials I trust. This is the most important part about taking advice from any health hack out there (myself included!).

Second, I had already been eating in a 12-hour window for 8+ months at this point. This was something I knew I needed to do not only because I had heard about that rat studies but also just by pure math. I have a large appetite and so if I don’t pay attention to the times and quantities I eat, I can (and have) eaten several hundred more calories than I need to in a day.

Third, the reason why this quiz advised me to push this fasting period back even further is because I had already taken several steps in the (w)right direction for my health and this was just the next best step in the (W)right direction for ME. Meaning, I was already eating a Nutrient-Based diet of clean, holistic foods CONSISTENTLY. While also regularly looking into different meal reviews so I have the option to change my meal plans up a little while still eating the healthy sustenance I need. I has also already practiced short periods of intermittent fasting first before by eating within a 12 and 10-hour window. I was also already active and healthy. I just had stopped seeing results, so it was time to try something new.

 

HOW IT’S BEEN WORKING SO FAR:

So, I decided this step would be something worth trying to see if it worked for me!

The way to TEST any new dietary change is to monitor 4 areas *H.E.C.D.* (a modified tool from Metabolic Effect as well): 1. Hunger 2. Energy 3. Cravings 4. Digestion. So as I made the change to move my first meal back to 11am and as I ate my meals, I monitored those 4 categories. I told myself I would try it for a full week to let my body adapt and get a real feel for how it was working (or not working).

PROS:
SHOCKING!

-My HUNGER actually went WAY down over the course of the day. I had been used to eating 5-6 meals per day and my body had been conditioned to get hungry when I had been used to eating. So where I thought that I would be building up several more hours of HUNGER from not eating at those times, I was SHOCKED to feel substantially less hungry. I believe this tactic helped to mellow out my hormones (ghrelin and leptin are your hunger and satiety hormones) . I don’t have the exact science as to why, but this is how it turned out for ME.

-Moreover, I actually had less CRAVINGS for sugar and other food items I normally crave as well! My hardest part is still at night more than in the morning, so I do still have a sweet tooth but I manage that with other tools anyway.

-My ENERGY felt about the same! I often found that by overeating so often before, I would put myself into a food-coma and feel lethargic. Now my mornings are my most productive time!

-My DIGESTION is on par. This one relies most on the quality of foods I eat, but going longer between meals helps move things along much better for my body!

On top of all of these factors, the other benefit of doing this is in those months where I was not really being careful about WHAT I ate (I had a ton more sugar, frozen yogurt, and BBQs during the month of July) but I still stuck to this 8-9 hour window, I DID NOT GAIN WEIGHT. At all. So this proves to me that the rat test they conducted is in fact on par with my this human body works too!

Overall, I AM eating enough food (almost the same amount of calories) just in the tighter time-frame. This is VERY IMPORTANT that I’m not starving my body as a crash diet. I am only changing the timing of my eating, not the quantity of food. Since I love big meals, this works great for me too.

CONS:

OCD Coffee

There are a few things I had to adjust and some ways to trouble shoot this that are not the easiest.

  1. I rely more on coffee and caffeine in the AM. I have been getting up by 5-6am to start writing and working, so I’m tired of course, but also that is a pretty long window of being awake without eating. So, coffee (without cream or sugar) and tea are my solutions to keep my stomach calm. If I do experience stomach growls, I’ll drink more water first.
  2. I had to move back my workout time: I was a morning workout girl for a long time but decided that working out fasted is not the smarted idea for me. This worked out though because I needed my mornings for productivity and writing anyway. It will always take an adjustment period to get hyped up enough for an afternoon workout. It also is harder to avoid the excuses of getting “too busy” to go to the gym. Good thing I only do 30-45 min workouts now!
  3. Breakfast is my favorite meal: The absolute hardest thing for me is going out for breakfast with friends and family and not eating. Maybe this is the O.C.D, way TOO self-controlled part of my life, but I am just a person that once I commit to something, I commit to it and stay as consistent as possible. So, when in a situation where we are out to eat or my husband and I are traveling and he is eating breakfast, I will have coffee and enjoy the company and order a meal to go if I have to. I admit this is challenging but only because of the social pressure and because I love breakfast food. Not because I’m hungry, surprisingly.

Give me all the bacon and eggs you have

The (W)Right Way Of Intermittent Fasting:

So, if you are interesting in exploring what this might look like for you, I encourage you to take the following steps:

  1. START 12-HOURS: Start with a 12-hour window of Intermittent Fasting FIRST. This is my Nutrient Based Timing strategy that will work wonders for you if you have not already been eating in this window of time. Stick with this FIRST for about 6-12 weeks. See if you get desired results and good H.E.C.D. results.

  2. SMALL STEPS: If you have already been eating in a 12-hour window, push back your eating window by 2 or 4 hours at the most. You can decide if you want to push back your first meal of the day, or stop eating earlier in the evening. Pay attention to the clock and adjust it if necessary according to your plans that day (dinner out, etc).

  3. STAY CONSISTENT: I don’t advise doing just one day here or there of intermittent fasting. I think this is how you start to confuse your hormones and metabolism into thinking you are indeed ‘starving’ on certain days. If your body thinks your starving, it will go into shut-down mode and slow your metabolism. No bueno.

  4. SATISFY YOUR BELLY: Eat well and eat enough! For the above reason, you should make sure you are eating enough food! You reasonably can have 3 solid meals and maybe one snack all within that 8-9 hour window. Eating causes a BOOST in your metabolism because you have to burn calories to digest. So a large BOOST followed by an EXTENDED FAST (Fat-Burning) period is why this science works.

  5. STAY TRUE TO YOU: If your H.E.C.D. is all off after trying this, then I don’t think intermittent fasting is for you and your body type. Some people with higher metabolisms will just have a harder time with this because their bodies need more energy more often. This is GREAT to learn and important for you to listen to! I think intermittent fasting works for me because I have a endomorphic/mesomorphic body type. (More on this another time!).

I’d love to hear your thoughts and/or experiences you have encountered with intermittent fasting! Every body is different and I’d like to hear what you like, didn’t like or if you are going to give it try and why!