Get Your Metabolism Back On Track!

Earlier this week, I discussed the symptoms you should look out for if you feel like you have done some damage to your Metabolism. Today, I want to share how to get your metabolism back on track.

1. Reverse Dieting: What is it? Reverse dieting is used as a technique to restore your metabolic rate. It's a progressive way for you to start adding calories back in to your diet. When reverse dieting, you should start by adding in about 5% more calories weekly, which equates to about 50-100 calories more per day. If you feel good after a week of adding in calories, you can add 50-100 more the following week. How long you need to reverse diet totally depends on how little you were eating & how long you were dieting for. The point is to get your body out of depletion and restore your body with nutrients. You gain energy, strength, speed up your metabolism, and see great results! Once you reverse diet for a few weeks and are at a place where you are maintaining your weight, then you can start tweaking your diet again - either continue slowly adding or decreasing calories.

2. Build More Muscle:

Strength train - you will speed up your metabolism. Switch up your routine every 4-6 weeks (change the sets, reps, weight and rest time).  Building lean muscle doesn't mean you will get bulky (men have 10 times the testosterone we do, so it's nearly impossible for us to bulk up unless we are eating crazy amounts). You can speed up your metabolism by 5 times if you build lean muscle. Muscle burns 5 and a half times more calories than fat, so the more muscle you have the more your metabolism allows you to eat. Girls often say, "well I eat less than her, why is she smaller than me?" Truthfully, she has a faster metabolism than you because she eats enough!

3. Recover fully from workouts:

Do I have to explain this? Stop wrecking yourself in the gym without stretching, recovering, or treating your injuries. Hydrate before and after, and fuel yourself properly! Think about your caloric intake both in terms of your resting metabolic rate and expended energy from workouts.  For example: if your resting metabolic rate is 1,500 calories and you burn 500 calories in your workout, then you need to eat 2,000 that day to simply maintain your weight. Make sure you SLEEP, because this will allow your body to recover and repair.  If you don't sleep enough, you won't recover properly.

4. Supplement:

I love Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs). They can help speed up muscle recovery and growth.  If you drink BCAAs in the morning and at night, studies have shown less hunger, higher calorie expenditure, and direct the energy being used to fat stores rather than eating up muscle.

5. Get blood work done:

If you have more of the severe symptoms listed in last weeks' newsletter, then definitely go to the doctor and have blood work done. Your doctor can check on your thyroid to see if it's too fast (hyper) or too slow (hypo), your testosterone levels (help build muscle & speed metabolism), and Leptin (satiety hormone). You might need a medication for a little while to regulate hormone function.

If you feel like you have done metabolic damage, you need to take yourself out of the routine you are in. Is it truly balanced and getting you to your goals? If not, let's switch things up!

Your Metabolism: Are you messing it up?

Many of us put in our time at the gym and watch what we eat. Some of us take it to the extremes to see results (eating less & working out more). It's always important to make sure you're eating adequate calories, not overtraining, and recovering from intense workouts properly. One hot topic I have been seeing all over social media is Metabolic Damage. Oftentimes, when people see the scale stall when trying to lose weight, they assume they have metabolic damage. I've done a lot of homework after dealing with some of these symptoms myself, and I can tell you most people are very unlikely to have Metabolic Damage. I do, however, highly recommend that you listen to your body when you're feeling "off" or have symptoms that would make you think your metabolism is "off".  You may actually be dealing with Metabolic Compensation or Metabolic Resistance. Read about the symptoms of Metabolic Compensation, Metabolic Resistance, & Metabolic Damage below.  

 

Metabolic compensation:

You are eating less and burning more, and in turn your body compensates by making you more hungry and slowing down your metabolism (calories you burn at rest).

- Metabolism slows down and weight loss stalls (you hit a plateau). 

-Hunger, energy and cravings (HEC) become moderately out of balance. 

-This is very much like the early signs of athletic over-training. Also called overreaching. (Over-training is EXTREMELY difficult to do (think of your workouts compared to Le Tour de France), but you might simply need a rest day)

Metabolic resistance: 

-Weight loss halts completely, and you can no longer lose weight with an eat less, exercise more approach. -At best you maintain your weight with hunger, energy & cravings (HEC). 

-Mood changes occur. Feelings of anxiety or depression. 

- Trouble sleeping. You may have difficulty going to sleep and/or staying asleep.

Metabolic damage: 

-All of the above 

-You can't lose weight and may even be gaining weight despite no change in diet. 

-Your body is taking on a puffy/bloated look. 

-You may be dealing with hypothyroid symptoms of dry skin, itchy scalp, and slow thinking. 

-You are exhausted & or depressed. 

-Your menstrual cycle is completely gone or irregular. 

-You may be feeling light headed & sensitivity to bright lights. 

-You may have developed multiple food intolerance's. 

 

Eating For Results

Although I had fun making a little joke about this  "not eating" phenomenon we see in our society, I do want to take this opportunity to explain the importance of the ofunit we use that measure how od when it comes to your training. Food is crucial to maximize results. Today, I am simply going to cover the topic of calories.

A calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. The amount of calories your body needs to perform its basic functions would be your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Once you know your BMR, you will then be able to manipulate your calories and adjust them according to your goals.

A great site I use to calculate my BMR and my clients BMR is this one. This site will tell you how many calories you need to maintain your weight (without exercise), what you would need to do to maintain your weight with exercise, how to lose weight or gain muscle. It all starts with calories, and later you can break it down to Macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fat) if that is something you can monitor.

Remember one thing: eating fewer calories doesn't necessarily mean that you're eating better! Calories are essential to fuel your body for the day, to recover from workouts, and also to keep your metabolism healthy. If you aren't fueling your body properly, you can do some major damage that is EXTREMELY hard to reverse. More on metabolic damage in a future post! 

Girls Are SIX Times More Likely To Drop Out Of Sports Than Boys

I read this statistic and was shocked. Then I realized, no, it isn't a shocking statistic. It's an unfortunate statistic.

Why are girls dropping out? Studies show 

1. Lack of access

2. Transportation 

3. Social stigma 

4. Quality experience 

5. Cost 

6. Lack of positive role models 

It's such a bummer for me to read a statistic like this. Sports have help shaped my life. Playing sports has taught be to be confident, work in a team, stick to my commitments, push harder than I thought I could, it taught me communication, sticking to a schedule, how to be social, how to be a leader, along with many other life skills.

I encourage all you women to pick up sports, or some sort exercise. The benefits go far beyond looking good! More women need to experience the empowerment of fitness and sports. 

Athletic Leg Workout

So you want athletic legs? My trick is to add in plyometric and cardio exercises in to my strength circuit. Why?

1. Burns more calories

2. Increases heart rate 

3. Kicks my butt 

4. Keeps the workout feeling athletic rather than standing around in a gym feeling bored waiting to start my next set

5. Makes me faster, stronger, and recover quicker.

Try this one out and tell me how your legs feel the next day. 

The goal is to get 5 rounds done as fast as possible. Right after you go through one time start right back up with your run. 

New Week New Mindset

Prepping for your week doesn't just mean updating your calendar, planning your meals, and having your clothes ready. Being prepared to means to me, getting mentally prepared. Easy to say, but sometimes hard to do.

Here are some tips I use to getting mentally prepared for my week:

1. Sunday alone time: 

I am someone who is extremely social. I often book my calendar morning until night without much time between. What keeps me in check and mentally prepped for my week is taking some time for myself on Sunday. I often wake up a little later (without an alarm if I can help it) then walk to get coffee and head towards the bridge. This allows me to think, relax, calm my mind, and enjoy my beautiful city.

2. Forget what bothered you last week at work:

Did your coworker annoy you? Even worse; your boss? Write it down, and move on. Seriously. We won't always agree with everyone, understand everyone, and you need to realize that your reaction may be debilitating your progress at work. If you can change the way you react then you might be able to diffuse any issues.

3. Didn't catch up on enough sleep?

Is Monday and you didn't get enough R&R over the weekend. Do not allow that to slow down your week! Make it a priority on Monday to get in a power nap. You need to manage your schedule!

4. Goals

What do you want to acheive this week? Besides chores & work you should be making a list of things you want to do and out them in your calendar. Sometimes we forget that is better to work to live than living to work. Make sure you prioritize doing something fun! 

5. Clean space 

I am working on this right now, but I've read a ton about having a happy clean space to come home to. This means decorating, dishes, and laundry. It's important to leave a stressful job space and come home to a relaxing spot. It's sometimes a chore, but will be worth it to kick off your shoes and relax after your place is tidy. 

6. Exercise 

You knew this was coming, didn't you? When I am stressed I usually call my dad. He will listen to me blabber, and if I am a little stressed he usually asks me one thing, "did you workout today?". My answer when I am stressed it usually, "no, not yet". He replies, "go workout, and call me after." Seriously?! That's not the answer I look for, but when I workout I usually figure out my own answers. 

I hope these tips help you find a positive mindset to start your week! Happy Monday. 

Doubting Yourself Is Setting Yourself Up For Failure

We've all heard of a self fulfilling prophecy. You believe something to be true and it sooner or later happens. It recently happened to my friend. She mentioned to me how tired she was, and how badly she didn't want to go to work the next day. She woke up that next morning and told me she was sick.

I believe by putting negative energy out there, she created her own destiny. 

People ask me how I stay motivated, and positive. My answer to them is 1. I am not always motivated and positive & 2. When I feel unmotivated or negative, I do what I need to do to turn my attitude around ASAP.

Some of my tricks are stopping what I'm doing and going for a 10 minute walk with some calming music. Sometimes that doesn't work, so I head home to write down my thoughts. If I'm still bummed out, I take a short nap (20 mins) to turn my attitude around. If that doesn't work, knowing myself, I most likely need to just vent. I'll call a friend and just talk it out. Once I do all those things I stop feeling sorry for myself. I've done all I can do and I move on to things that are more important or topics that are bigger than myself. 

It's ok to be down and feel sorry for yourself, but the trick is to be aware and moving right along. Your mind has the power to create you or wreck you. It's in your power to choose happiness or self deprecation! Start today with a beautiful mindset. 

Turn it Up Tuesday Workout

Need a total body workout? Don't know what to do to be time efficient? Do this one ANYWHERE! 

Try to complete 3-8 rounds! 

Tell me how it goes!