Category: Tuesday Tip

Tuesday tip: Balancing hormones 🚩 🤔

You will often see fitness or wellness coaches talking about you needing to ‘balance your hormones’ or promising that certain products can do this. This is a huge red flag. Fitness coaches, personal trainers, wellness coaches, life coaches etc should not be talking about hormones in this respect – it falls outside their scope of practice and I’m afraid in most cases they don’t know what they’re talking about. The wellness world is full of this sort or marketing quackery that preys on people – right now the main target is peri menopausal and menopausal women, though often it targets other groups too.

The only person qualified to tell you that you need to ‘balance’ your hormones is an endocrinologist. For example – balancing the levels of thyroid hormones, or the levels of oestrogen and progesterone has real and significant medical implications. Another example is cortisol production – if ‘imbalanced’ through chronic stress it causes oestrogen and androgens to be suppressed. These are facts, based on medical science, not conjecture based on the current social media hype that preys on vulnerable people.

Inevitably you’ll also see that these people talking about a need to balance hormones are also selling programs or supplements which will ‘balance your hormones’ …. Ta da! What a surprise…

There is so much fear and distrust for doctors and the medical community, and none whatsoever for non-regulated, unproven and untested products purchased over the counter or internet. If someone has a real hormone imbalance they need medical care – likely in the form of an endocrinologist but certainly not a collection of random supplements or diets.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip: Hunger Management 😝

Hunger management plays a crucial role in successful weight loss. People often over restrict and starve themselves which, whilst obviously may work temporarily , usually leads to cravings, binge eating, and hunger. All of which derail progress and of course make it unsustainable.

With a sustainable calorie deficit there will still be some mild hunger. This isn’t a cause for concern and it’s to be expected but it’s helpful to have some strategies to help manage this so you can stay on track. Essentially it comes down to making food choices which maximise feelings of fullness whilst minimising calories. Remember total calories still count when it comes to weight loss so these are all within that context.

Here are a few things that can help:

#1 Higher protein intake may lead to improved feelings of satiety and less cravings. But, if you already eat a high-protein diet (1.6g/kg+) then it won’t make much difference. Also be aware that prioritising protein too much may lead to to eating fewer carbs which you also need and can mean you end up low on energy and more hungry. So don’t remove carbs either!

#2 High fibre foods help by bulking food volume, slowing digestive time and increasing gut fermentation – all

Of which lead to feelings of fullness. Low energy dense high fibre foods like fruit and veg are a great option.

#3 Fats can help with feelings of fullness (especially when combined with protein) but

they may not be the best option for

hunger management, especially if you

have a tight calorie budget. Fat provides more then double the energy of carbs / protein so it easy to eat more cals with a smaller serving of a high-fat food, compared to a high-carb food

# 4 Go for high volume foods or combinations of foods. If you’re having a lower calorie snack bulk it out with things like fruit or veggies, or a zero cal drink (water or soft drink) to help.

#5 include whole , unrefined carbs as they aid in satiety, muscle recovery and training performance /energy levels (and they’re tasty!)

#6 Our beliefs and perceptions impact feelings of fullness. Perceptions of what a ‘normal’ portion size is impacts whether we feel full after eating it. Equally our beliefs about certain foods have the same effect e.g. if you believe a protein in bar is more filling it will feel that way. Increasing knowledge around calorie content can help with this.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip: 3 tips to help weight loss 🙏🏻

#1. Stop labelling foods GOOD or BAD

Foods don’t have a moral compass. No food is inherently bad or wrong but beating yourself up over eating foods you enjoy is bad. Yes, some foods have a higher nutritional value than others but it’s not helpful to demonise the less nutrient dense options. It’s always dependent on the context. Ask yourself – will this food satisfy me? Is eating it right now helpful to my goals or does it fill another need (emotional etc)?

Does it fit into my remaining daily calories?

#2. Stop depriving yourself of everything delicious in life!

It’s not realistic to avoid sugar, fried foods, pizza, alcohol and cake for weeks or months on end. It’s also not necessary. Instead embrace an 80/20 balance. 80% whole foods, 20% more indulgent foods like cookies and pizza (all within your calories)

You’ll feel less deprived and more likely to stick to your diet long enough to actually see results

#3. Learn your hunger triggers

Are you truly hungry? We’ve all eaten when we are not hungry. And that’s OK! But when you’re trying to lose weight, knowing the difference between physical and psychological hunger is helpful. Use the acronym BLASTED ( am I – bored, lonely, angry, stressed, tired, emotional, distracted) to identify emotional eating triggers and try to tackle the root cause rather than eating something which won’t fix the actual issue

These 3 simple mindset shifts can take some of the struggle out of your weight loss journey.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip: Weights won’t make you bulky 💪🏼

Many female clients often tell me they don’t want to lift weights because they’re afraid of getting too big or bulky. What they mean when they say this is that they don’t want to put on too much muscle mass – they have visions of chunky thighs, thick necks, huge biceps, heavy set shoulders etc.

The reality is that over 30 you’re losing lean muscle at a rate of 3-8% a year if you don’t regularly do resistance workouts. As you age oestrogen levels drop which contribute to this loss. So getting ‘bulky’ is actually a pretty big uphill battle.

To get to a bulky or body-builder level of muscularity, you’d not only have to train and diet in an extreme fashion, but you’d have to keep at it for years. I’ve got clients actively trying to ‘bulk’ and it’s a slow process that requires dedication to weight training and to eating … a lot! Body builders and those types of athletes work extremely hard to look the way they do; you won’t end up there by accident, I promise. If you want to gain significant amounts of muscle mass, you’re looking at five to six days of heavy lifting a week, every week for months and months. Doing a few weights workouts a week, or a few pump classes will not make you bulky. Gaining muscle mass comes from a combination of heavy weight training and an excess in calories.

So if you are aiming to lose fat and are at a calorie deficit (or even maintenance/ slight surplus ) then doing weights workouts 3-4 times a week won’t result in large amounts of muscle growth. What it will do though is increase your lean body mass. This has two benefits – it increases your metabolic rate which means you’ll burn more calories at rest. It will also help provide the ‘sculpted’ or ‘toned’ look many people want. By working those muscles you’ll create a solid muscular base so that as you lose fat you’ll start to see the shape you’re looking for. It will also make you feel strong – and that’s a great feeling!

So don’t be afraid of lifting weights – they’re an important component of any fitness program. They’re also vital – especially for women as we age – as a way to help protect against osteoporosis. So try to to get over the fear of getting “too muscly”, and step away from the obsession with thinness and instead focus on getting stronger!

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday tip: Calorie balance and Bank balance 💵

View your calorie balance like your bank balance and budget accordingly. I often use this analogy with my clients and some people don’t like the comparison because it over simplifies a complicated thing like why we eat/make food choices/ emotional eating etc. But that’s exactly why this analogy works – because how we spend money is just as complex and illogical (sometimes) as why we eat.

We spend money to impress people, to fulfil social norms we don’t actually care about, because it was on sale (even if we didn’t want it) etc. We refuse to look at our credit card statements because we don’t want to acknowledge debt; a bit like refusing to weigh yourself to see how much weight you’ve gained. We think about money differently depending on where it came from. You might go and blow the £100 you won on the lottery but you are far less likely to do that if you worked overtime for it. Yet it is the same £100 (this is known as mental accounting).

We experience loss aversion: we prefer to avoid losing money than to gain the same amount. Much like how when you lose 1kg ‘its nothing’ but when you gain 1kg

‘it’s loads!’

We over spend and over eat to make ourselves feel better or when we are bored/lonely/emotional/ stressed. We assume we will be happy when we earn X much like we assume that we will be happy when we weigh X.

My point is that many factors influence how we eat just like many factors influence how we spend money. We certainly aren’t logical in either but we would likely do better if we were. This is why it is so interesting to question your decisions.Understanding your own cognitive biases helps you make better and more logical decisions. So try viewing that calorie budget the same way you view your financial budget and see how you get on.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

xx