Are you ready to diet? No seriously, is your body actually ready?
Sounds like a simple ‘check yes or no’ answer, but it is far from that!
Typically when women decide they are fed up and want to drop a few pounds it goes like this…
- pick a fad diet
- read all the rules
- do all the things
- get pissed off when their goal isn’t met in 7 days like the headline said
We have all ‘been there done that’ at some point in our lives, right?
We live in a world inundated with diet culture. We scroll social media and are bombarded by images of women in their heightened states of leanness and strength.
(Spoiler alert! It’s most likely they don’t look like that ‘off season’ or outside of photoshoot lighting and professional cameras. Ask me how I know… LOL)
If these images realistically inspire you to new levels of fitness and wellness, then continue to follow. If these images spark any sense of imbalance, insecurity, or lack of worth then allow yourself to detox your news feed.
The most powerful place you can be as a woman is strong, healthy, and madly in love with your uniquely beautiful body.
Did you know that every zebra on the planet carries their own unique stripe pattern? Our female bodies are the same. We are all different. We come into this world with different genetics, different environmental exposures, different eating patterns, schedules, exercise history, and so on.
Therefore no diet is “one size fits all” – no matter what they tell you!
Guess what? If we all followed the same food and fitness routine we would still all look uniquely DIFFERENT!
A diet (although I hate that word) is essentially a cutting phase. A cutting phase places your body in a caloric deficit for a period of time. As a nutrition coach, it would be highly irresponsible of me to power forward with you without first finding out if you’re in a position to effectively and healthily go through a cutting phase.
First things first – protecting our current and long-term health should be our top priority!
Yes, this means letting go of the look you are going for and focusing on your health and vitality first. I promise the rockin bod will follow!
Biologically, our female bodies are designed to follow through with two vital tasks.
- Keep us alive! If you’re reading this, go ahead and thank your body now.
- Sustain life on this planet! This is where things get tricky. Hormonally our bodies NEED enough calories to keep our hormone levels high and healthy just in case we decide to add new life to the world.
Whether we want to procreate or not, our bodies thrive when our hormone levels are in an optimum, healthy range for our age. Constant calorie restriction will begin to change our hormones in an unfavorable way. Cue up thyroid problems, sex hormone dysfunction, etc.
The maximum suggested timeframe I would recommend for a cutting phase is 12-16 weeks…and no more than once or twice a year.
When you deprive your body for too long, it will adapt by slowing down your metabolism and that is the LAST thing we want!
When hormone levels get out of whack and our metabolism bottoms out, that’s when our bodies pump the brakes on ANY weight loss goals.
Our bodies are smarter than our dumb ideas!
This means that if you’ve been in a calorie deficit for a long time, hopping from one diet to another, then more ‘calorie restriction’ will simply not work for you!
You can’t kill what’s already dead.
You can’t withdraw from a zero balance.
You can’t derail what’s already off track.
You get where I’m going here….
So how do you know if you’re ready to commit to a cutting phase? Here is the checklist to consider before you say YES to yet another diet. Considering all of these will save you frustration and headaches no matter what course of action you take.
- Your energy levels are good
- Your mood is consistent throughout the day
- You sleep well during the night and don’t experience a chronic disruption in sleep cycles
- You rarely get sick
- You rarely deal with fitness-related injuries
- You recover well from workouts
- You feel great during exercise, you see your strength and/or endurance increase when following a training cycle
- Menstrual cycles are regular and occur every 21-35 days
- Sex hormone levels are good (estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, etc)
- Thyroid levels are healthy (I like to see Free T3 at 2.9 or higher)
- You are free from overwhelming food cravings, feel satisfied after eating, and have normal hunger cues
- Scale weight is mostly stable give or take 2-3lbs
If you can check off this list with confidence then it’s safe to say that entering into a cutting phase would yield the results you’re looking for, healthfully.
You will want to be smart, which means you need to be aware of your current daily calorie intake, then decrease that by 10-25% or you can test a 500 calorie drop. You should never drop your calories below 1200 for an extended amount of time– and if anyone tells you otherwise, they are not your friend!
You also want to focus on nutrient-dense foods. When your calories are limited, your nutrition needs to be on point to keep your body at optimum health. Remember, that is our #1 priority!
Remember it’s not sexy to have dull skin, thinning hair, zero energy and not to mention no sex drive.
If you’d like a straightforward, done-for-you blueprint to successful weight loss jump into a smart start with my 7-Day Food & Fitness Challenge by clicking the button below.
As always, if you have questions for me, drop them in the comments.
Found value here? Share this blog with your friends and family.
XXOO
Lauren
Show Notes
► 7 DAY FOOD & FITNESS FIX – Learn More Here
► DONE FOR YOU HEALTHY & AMAZING MEAL PLANS – WHOLLY FUELED FIT FOODIE – Learn More Here
► GYM WORKOUTS TO SCULPT + TONE – WHOLLY FIT – Learn More Here
► MORE COACHING VIDEOS ARE AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE – Check It Out Here