Living Lean
Our Dieting Prerequisites (do these things for quicker fat loss)
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- CHELSEA
Hey team, welcome back to the show. Today, it is Coach Natalie and I talking about a very prevalent topic to most everyone here, and that is what to do before dieting for quicker fat loss. So, basically, another way we could look at this is prerequisites for fat loss, because really, with the new year coming up, so many people are going to be hopping into fat loss diets. But the reality is, if you look at the clients that we work with and I know we've talked about this specifically, being someone who just manages the maintenance phase so well, but almost everyone starts with us wanting fat loss, but it is a lot more rare that immediately, right out of the eight, we will start a client in a fat loss phase. We want to really make sure that we are setting people up for success and there are a lot of different factors that we need to look into. Or, if you want the most affected fat loss phase, if you ultimately want to get the results that you've never been able to achieve before and sustain those in the long term. Again, making sure that you're in a good place for fat loss before we actually enter fat loss is so important and, again, a lot of times that is not the easiest thing for people to hear, but again, ultimately it allows for a better result and kind of gets people out of like.
Speaker 1:So many people are in the cycle of maybe like every new year you started diet right, or every six months or however often it is, and again, maybe we even lose body fat in the short term, but oftentimes long term because people are failing to like, take on or like approach the period before fat loss appropriately. They are either not getting the results they want or not able to sustain the results they want long term right. But when we do this successfully, the phase before the diet can really set you up for much more successful and sustainable fat loss. But we want to make sure you're both psychologically and physiologically ready to diet before we actually hop into that phase. So before we really get into the fat loss prereqs, natalie, anything you'd like to add there?
Speaker 2:I do have quite a few clients who are entering fat loss within the new year and I'm super excited because I know that we have laid such a strong foundation for that fat loss.
Speaker 2:Like they are mentally and emotionally ready, their bodies are primed to respond. So I am very much excited and, as you know and probably our listeners know by now, that is really the way that I like to run fat loss is I pretty much insist on a diet before the diet. For these reasons Because the last thing I want for you as a coach is for you to fail and I know we both said this before that as online coaches who specialize in physique transformation, it would be the worst business plan of all time If we had no intention of getting your results or getting you into fat loss, if that's what it will take to transform your physique. So don't be surprised if you are someone seeking online coaching and your coach pumps the brakes a little bit on you. If you are starting in January, I can only really speak for ourselves and, of course, many of the people that we respect in the space. It is only with your best interest and long-term sustainability at heart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. Again, it's kind of like the saying, and again, it's more than just the physiological, the psychological is also important. But a healthy body is a responsive body and that is so cool to see how well, almost uniformly, a client who has gone through the diet before the diet, so to speak, and done it well almost universally, will get a great result out of that fat loss phase, whereas if someone starts coaching and immediately they're like, hey, I just want to hop into fat loss, it's a lot more unlikely that that will go extremely well. So again, it's kind of like long game versus immediate gratification.
Speaker 1:But, as you said, we won't do anything, that it can be hard to hear like, hey, we're not going to diet immediately. But, as you said, it would be a terrible business model if we were just doing things that would allow you to get worse results. Then you could on your own. That is 100% what our success, what our company is based on. So again, but always you have to keep in mind we have your long-term best interest and results in mind. So from there, are you ready to kind of get into the prerequisites we're looking for?
Speaker 2:I am, are you?
Speaker 1:I am 100% ready. So, again, a lot of clients will start in a maintenance phase and there's a lot of boxes, kind of some things that we want to make sure have been ticked before we feel like you are ready to hop into the diet Now. As always, there is going to be some variability by the individual here, but in general I would say these are some things that we're looking for Now. Again, we're looking at both the psychological and the physiological. I think the best approach here is to kind of bounce it back and forth between the two, just to kind of keep it interesting. So I'll kick it off with the psychological side of things First. We're looking for you to be able to string together at least two weeks of hitting your food targets consistently, and that includes the weekends. I think this is a huge one, and you are actually I stole this from you because you're the person- who I would say this, but so I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 1:I turned it into a post as well and didn't give you credit here.
Speaker 2:Oh I guess I can start following you then.
Speaker 1:Yeah, blocked you, but within that, it is truly interesting to think and I think, even as a listener, pose that question to yourself. Right, have you ever truly tracking your food? Nailed it two weeks in a row? Right? Not just like, hey, monday through Thursday I nailed it, but your weekends included those meals out included. And again, not even the first thing a week two weeks in a row? Right, not just like that week where you were sick and you stayed home or whatever it is, but like if you have meals out and things of that nature. Have you ever truly strung together Two weeks in a row? We really nailed all those variables and I think, surprisingly, a few people will actually be able to say yes to that.
Speaker 1:And that's a great place to start. Right, because fat loss is kind of like playing the game at the hardest level. Right, those things like hitting your protein targets, hitting your food quality needs, managing meals out and social events and things of that nature. They're much easier at maintenance than they are in fat loss. So if we can't do those things in maintenance yet, we're going to have a bad time when we get into fat loss. Right? But again, a lot of times people like I've never done that. But I'll buckle down, I'll white knuckle it in fat loss, right, and either. How that's going to go is either A maybe you will, and white knuckle other fat loss, you'll just say no, you won't go out, or anything of the sort. And then that's typical when people just lose all their progress as soon as the diet is over because we never learned how to manage those things in the first place. Or B we just don't make much progress at fat loss, we just spin our wheels because we can't get consistent there. Anything to add to that point.
Speaker 2:I think we have to preface this whole thing with the fact that what is going to make you successful at fat loss or, to be honest, successful with any kind of physique goal is adherence to consistency. That is the crux of your success. If you are unable to exhibit those qualities on higher calories, if you've never in your life strung together two successful consistent weeks where you've literally just tick the nutritional boxes yes, including weekends this does not bode well for fat loss. It really does not Trust me.
Speaker 1:I know you described this as the weekend problem before as well. If you've never learned how to manage the weekend problem, which most people haven't, what are we doing? Dieting, because it's going to rear its head either during the diet phase or after the diet phase, and eventually we're going to have to learn how to manage that, and most of us are just better off doing so beforehand. From a physiological level, getting leaner will benefit your physique more than building muscle will. I think this is just a common misconception with a lot of individuals. Again, we talk about this constantly, but for so many of the ladies that we coach and the transformations we put out, it is so much more so about the amount of muscle that they build in this process. When you see, oh my gosh, her physique changed so much versus they lost a huge amount of body fat and so many people just think the physique that I want is just that last five pounds away. That last five pounds away, right when the reality is. At least the new clients that we start with is not just like. If we actually assess your goals, it's not just you want to be leaner, but also you want to have more shape, you want to have more muscle. You want to have a lot more definition, which does come with adding more muscle to your frame, right.
Speaker 1:And again, a lot of clients who start with us are already pretty damn lean, but again still feeling like man, I'm so far from that shape that I want. And again, if that's you losing more body fat's probably not it, at least at this time. Building more muscle is going to make a much greater change. So again, a lot of times that's where, like hey, we'll probably just focus on building more muscle tissue at maintenance, where you are better fueled, you can better recover, you can build more muscle tissue quickly. That might actually do more to change your physique than losing body fat would. Right. But again, oftentimes that is a scary thing because so many people are used to just like I'm. Always I feel like I need to always be dieting. I already don't have the physique I want and my calories are like 1300, if we could go into like 2000,. Right, that can be a scary thing, but again, for a lot of people that's what's needed. Anything to add there?
Speaker 2:I was waiting for your invitation. I've seen the scale fluctuate both with myself and clients. Five pounds. So for those of you out there that think that you just need to lose five pounds, or even 10 pounds if you're relatively lean already and you think 10 pounds is really going to make the difference, I mean it says to me that maybe we're prioritizing the scale a little bit too much. Maybe that's our definition of success there and so we can talk about that. But also consider the fact that if you were to lose 10 pounds, you might gain a little bit back in the reverse. So you net five pounds and if you think you're going to look wildly different, probably not. So to your point, unless there is something that will benefit, a reason that will benefit your health, where you could stand to lose some body fat. If you're a lean person, looking to get leaner, fat loss is probably going to be part of your equation at some point, but maybe not right away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's rarely as soon as people think it needs to be, Oftentimes on a total pull of what will make the biggest difference. Building more muscle is so much higher. Bringing it back to the psychological this ties into the first point. You have a working understanding of flexible dieting, especially if it's going to be a big part of your life. So, again, just bringing it back to solving the weekend problem, If you are someone who's going to be going out a lot, if it's not like A, like I'm just going to follow a meal plan.
Speaker 1:And again, no matter what, if that's part of your life, it's a good idea to understand how to use that and put it into practice to still manage things like meals out Well, again, still sticking within your targets. But again, especially if it's something that you're going to be doing a lot of during the diet, again, if we can't manage that before we're dieting maintenance it's going to be so much harder when we're in a deficit. So again, it really ties in with the first point. Do you have anything else to add to that one?
Speaker 2:Yep, this is one where you need to be ready for the unknown and the unknowable. How many of us like the saying the best laid plans often go awry, or whatever that is, I'm not saying yes.
Speaker 1:I think that was that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, ok For once. But seriously, you have to be ready to pivot always, because, I mean, how many times have we all made a plan for whatever? And plans change, like friends change. The restaurant on you or the store is out of your favorite protein or whatever you were planning on eating. These things happen especially if you're someone who travels a lot for work. I mean, good Lord, anything can happen, and you just have to be ready to go.
Speaker 2:I was just having a conversation with a client yesterday. I believe it was about the idea of good, better, best. We were talking about all or nothing mentality, where it's like, man, I really struggle when I'm on the meal plan. I'm on, I eat my meal plan, I'm great, but the second that something doesn't go according to plan, I'm off my plan and I don't know. And so I was talking to her about some different strategies and cards that we can play, and I'm not saying you play those cards all the time, but you need the tools in your toolbox for if and when it happens.
Speaker 2:Example being, let's say you were planning on going to a sporting events and having something at the stadium or whatever. This was actually the example that we were talking through, and the food wasn't what she thought it was going to be and it's like, hey, okay, maybe that day we just focus on calories and protein and not all three macros, or that would be pretty pretty good card to play. Or maybe we just focus on maybe you missed your protein and we just have to focus overall on calories. Those kinds of decisions and understanding all the different levers that you can pull to still pull out a win for the day. Going to go with the sports analogies today, apparently, that's really important. Again, this is a skill that you can learn but is best practiced. Again, at maintenance.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. But I think that all-in-nothing thinking does really come back to haunt so many people. And again, I think it can really be much more overplayed and it depths it because again, it's so easy to like, oh my gosh, I went. How many times do you have with the conversational clients where they're like emailing you, like, oh my gosh, I messed up, I went way over my targets. I set myself back for the weekend. You go, look at the food logs and it's like, hey, you're like 200 calories over. We're just in a little bit less of a deficit. We still made fat loss progress, but again, changing the perception of that is so huge because that really does kill so many people's progress. Yup, all right.
Speaker 1:Next up, and honestly I think these two go hand in hand they're onto signs that we need to address any functional health issues. Slash biofeedback is in a good place. I'm going to lump these together as one at the same point because, again, I think they're very much your hand in hand, because basically, these are going to be the biggest indicators that your body is in a healthy place and thus is going to be in a responsive place. So, first and foremost, we would be looking at things like hey, currently, are we truly tracking consistently and are we in a place where we can eat plenty of calories and still maintain? If you're in a place where it's like I truly do have these extremely low calories and or do a ton of cardio just to maintain, we're probably going to want to dig a little bit deeper in it here, into what could be going on, as there are some irredeigned relationships that we need to dig into a little bit more.
Speaker 1:But also, again, aside from just that, do you have a consistent menstrual cycle? For the ladies we're working with Now, of course this will be impacted, whether you're on hormonal birth control or not. Of course, then there are a lot of other variables that come to play. But if that's not the case for you, again, I really like in the book the Period or Perimannial, she describes the menstrual cycle as your monthly health report card, so to speak, and that is especially for your sex hormones. But also, are we giving your body adequate amounts of these fuels it needs, like these healthy fats, adequate carbs that it needs to really feel its best, to feel safe? That's a good sign that, if you don't have a consistent cycle, hey, we're probably not in a place for that, and that's just entering a calorie deficit, pushing you into a place of more food scarcity. We'll make all those things even worse. Do you want to jump in there before we dig into biofeedback any further? Can I keep rolling?
Speaker 2:No, it's so important, but I'm glad we're talking about it. It is one of the pillars of female health, so it's one of those things Like we have to at least address what may or may not be going on there before just pulling calories. The whole thing about menstrual health is that, as you pointed out, it's your body feeling safe, right In a safe place to reproduce. So if something is dysregulated there or maybe you're missing cycles, they're regular. You don't have cycles, something is off, and you would do well to address those things before taking away things like nutrients.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And even if it's like, hey, you have really bad PMS right, or you have like abnormally heavy cycles, a lot of times those are again things that will again signs that hey, something is off here and we pushing you into the deficit will likely just make those issues worse. But from there, from biophobieback, we're also looking at things like are your energy levels consistently in a good place, a good sign that we are getting in all your body's micronutrient needs, like we're managing stress while we're recovering from what we're doing currently. Again, that's the thing, like if there are no biophobies.
Speaker 2:Oh, 3PM crash Right.
Speaker 1:Right, but and of course, again, these are also things that in the context here is important, because for some people, if it's hey to get healthy, one of the best things we could do is lose body fat. Yeah, getting leaner may truly help, but again, we're generally speaking to people who are already at a. Again, we're typically speaking to people who are already in a pre-op place, trying to take things to the next level, and in that case, if your energy is already in a terrible place, again it's typically a sign that there are other underlying issues that we need to address to get your body in a healthier place before we push you into fat loss, which would just make that worse. Sleep quality is good, I really like pointing out to and this is again part of this is just from a habits perspective. Again, a lot of times this is more so. This is almost as another psychological, because this is more so often just like your sleep, hygiene needs improved. But I've shown clients constantly the study on sleep, sleep and muscle loss. I don't know if you know the one I'm referring to. I can't remember the specific numbers. I wish I would have had that pulled up before this, but basically within that and this was like for untrained individuals, but basically it was like, over, I believe, a six to eight week period, they measured the amount of muscle versus fat lost for people who slept less than six hours per night versus people who slept about eight hours per night. Right, I think it was like five hours and 20 minutes versus like seven hours and 47 minutes or something like that Right Now. They lost about the same amount of weight across the time period. But the group who slept less than six hours, it was insane how much more muscle mass they lost. And like the ratio of muscle to fat, it was like close to like 75% or more muscle versus fat loss versus the other group, while significantly less muscle, significantly more body fat. And of course, those ratios would be improved if we were also resistance training. But again, if we're going into this, our sleep quality is poor For some, just the stressor of dieting in itself can disrupt sleep further. But again, if, like, our goal is actually achieving your best body composition, which it always is not, if you work with us, not just losing weight, if your sleep is in a bad place, again, that's where, in a place where we're a lot more likely to lose muscle tissue, which is again when you get a hinder, you actually did the physique you want from this process.
Speaker 1:How to tie into this? Stress levels are manageable, I think. Just generally stress can impact our hunger. Typically in the short term stress will like longer. Chronic stress will typically elevate it a bit more, or rather cravings a bit more.
Speaker 1:But also within this and again, this kind of ties into the psychological, during extremely stressful periods of time, oftentimes people are struggling to the diet a little bit more Because it does require just more. Unless you set yourself up for a little bit of stress, unless you set yourself up for success, it does typically require a little bit more quote unquote willpower, and just making that and dieting itself is a stressor. So during extremely stressful periods of time, typically dieting doesn't go quite as well. So now also, some people are just going to have stressful lives and everyone's perception of stress is going to be a lot different. So again, this varies a lot by the person. But if you're perceived stress is very high currently, or your perceived stress is not high because your body is sending us the signals that hey, there are other things we need to address here Probably not the best time for us to diet.
Speaker 1:Digestion is good. This will really just tie into your body's ability to absorb and use different nutrients. So, again, like, the healthier your body is, the more responsive it is. But again, all these things are going to be a little bit harder for us to address, like if someone's digestion isn't good again from both, like hey, absorbing the nutrients we need to support, again, thyroid, sex hormones this is going to be vital to that your ability to build muscle. But again, all these things are going to be harder to address when your body isn't at homeostasis. So we want to address that beforehand.
Speaker 1:Then, finally, hunger is low. This is again very much tied into similar to the energy levels. If you're in a place where, like hey, just to maintain my hunger is extremely high, which is more often going to be a result of you being in a place where, like hey, maybe we just got done with another diet, maybe we do need to spend more time kind of just holding here and establishing this is your body's new settling point, especially if you, like, recently lost a large amount of weight. But again, if you're already extremely hungry beforehand, going into the diet can just be so much harder for us to actually be able to manage that, because it will just ramp up further from there. Anything else to add on the biofeedback side of things.
Speaker 2:I think a lot of those things go well. I know a lot of those things go hand in hand. You know lack of sleep, it's just going to perpetuate stress. If you lead a very stressful life, like think about, you know, imagine your most stressful situation. It's often so hard to think logically.
Speaker 2:So you know, like what we were speaking to earlier about, you know, like all the different cards you can play, even when you need to and you got to be ready to like pivot and kind of roll with the punches a little bit, your ability to manage those scenarios are reduced. You know, if stress is just high, and of course stress is going to be high with lack of sleep, and energy is going to be off. So these things are all very related. And then those things do in turn, as you pointed out, affect like our hunger signaling. And then the last thing I'll add on you know, having hunger in a good place is that there is such a thing as psychological or emotional hunger, right where calories might be very high but our perception of hunger or our perception of fullness might not be quite spot on.
Speaker 2:You know, and so if you're already you know if calories are kind of in a good place and like you're maintaining your weight, but your perception is that you're spending all of this time being hungry. There might be something a little bit deeper that we need to dig into there, because once you actually are hungry, you know, and calories get lower. That's just it's like throwing, you know, throwing like oil on a fire.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's a great point. Next up, adequate consistency with your food quality. This is again a huge one. I think, again, one more time, that idea that a healthy body is a responsive body.
Speaker 1:So much of that is dependent on your micronutrient intake. But also from a satiety perspective, right, if your diet is almost exclusively processed foods or largely processed foods, like you're mostly just even if it's like you're eating rice cakes and protein shakes and nut butters and protein bars and a lot more of the like flexible dieting foods, your hunger is going to be a lot higher. Again, we're not giving your body the micronutrient intake needs to support all these functions, for it to be as responsive as possible. Honestly, this one is a pretty hard one for a lot of people to master, right, I say honestly, for a lot of people, especially the people who have been dieting for a very long time or have been like trying to diet for a very long time before they start coaching. Again, a lot of times I see like they're almost like so reliant on like those like flexible dieting foods and like the protein bars and like this is my treat, or like the like nut butters not that those are like necessarily low quality foods.
Speaker 2:Protein balls are my least favorite.
Speaker 1:I just say protein balls.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, like all those like you know, like protein hacks, like, oh, like it's, you know, protein powder with like copious amounts of nut butter, which, as we know, is very high in fat and therefore calorie, and like maple syrup, and it's like they're called protein balls but they have like six grams of protein or something.
Speaker 1:So it's just not butter and maple syrup.
Speaker 2:Basically with like a side of protein maybe, but like that just grows like a Canadian thing.
Speaker 2:It's just I like, every time I see, you know, one of those recipes pop up on my feed, I just I like I roll and scroll or just it's. It's now so triggering, but anyways, yeah, you're totally right here. I think and I say this with love there are so many people that just do not know how to eat. You know their, their diet is just not set up for success from from the beginning, and you know there's so much information right now on social media about how to make this suck less and a lot, a lot of those things are like protein ball recipes and like here's a hack for like eating your favorite food and you know, and it's like a million ingredients and like man, like, first of all, like a protein cookie is still a cookie, right, and you're eating it to the exclusion of like so many other things that will give you more nutrients, will be more satiating and, ultimately, will actually be the thing that makes this less miserable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. And again, like all these things, it's crazy how much all these things kind of go hand in hand to individuals to eat in that manner almost always have terrible digestion, almost always like energies in a bad place, sleep quality is very poor, right, there's all these things very much go hand in hand. But I also think this really ties into the next point, which is you're not overly food focused and I think you can speed up this pretty well. But again, one of the most often ways I see this actually show up Andrea and I were talking about this in the last podcast. We recorded as well.
Speaker 1:But, like with this idea that a lot of people, especially people who train in the morning, are oftentimes so afraid to like I was training fast and I'm so afraid to add in like pre workout carbs Because usually what that means is I have to stop with like my after dinner free. And it's interesting, like how often I see that show up and it's typically because, like that person has again like been in a place for so long and again, like it's okay if this is you right, because probably like 50% of people listening like can resonate with that and it's okay. This isn't like me judging or anything the sort. I'm not saying like that's bad by any means, but a lot of times there's like such a fear. And again it's almost always like those flexible dieting foods as well, but there's oftentimes like such a fear of letting go of that Because many people have lived like for years and years in a place of like trying to restrict so much and keep calories as low as possible, but that's like the thing they look forward to at the end of the day.
Speaker 1:But also like I'm so hungry by the end of the day If I let go of that treat, how am I going to stick with my food intake Right, whereas like when we're better fueled, you just don't feel the need for it as much because you actually just feel so much better. Again we don't have like holy shit, I'm so hungry at the end of the day. But again, I think that's like one way that it often shows up. What else do you have to add there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think the flexible dieters.
Speaker 2:This shows up for them a lot because flexible dieting is often the thing that you know and again, we're speaking a lot to you know, the lean people trying to get leaner, kind of thing.
Speaker 2:A lot of people have found success, like in initial stages of nutrition, with flexible dieting and macros and like this has been the thing that has like clicked for them, like oh my gosh, like this is what a calorie is, this is how I can manage my calories and I can still eat delicious and tasty food. So this is the thing that has sort of like rescued them from that rhythm of like. I don't know about calorie manipulation, you know and use it to my nutritional advantage. So I understand psychologically why that's asking a lot for them to give that up, because that became their safe space and their their savior in a way. And now you're asking them to kind of like double back on it and it's like, hey, I want you to give up this thing that has actually given you so much. So I under, I understand, but you know, I suppose everything we're saying right now goes under the umbrella of.
Speaker 1:This is fat loss and this is temporary, it's not forever and again like it's not to say there's no flexibility at all. Right, we're never just like, hey, you're only eating quote unquote clean foods forever. That is a great point, though, and I think like this in itself could be an entire episode, but again, letting go of that is often so scary Because, again, so many people like that is like especially like a very flexible, like an if it fits your macro type approach. For so many people, that is again like typically the thing where, like hey, maybe I went from like very overweight to like a much healthier place. But it's interesting because I think a lot of people like have to move through phases, and almost everyone like seems like they go through that phase, but also, like long term, we can often see just following that approach perpetuate a lot of issues.
Speaker 1:Right, where, again, there's a balance, but again, oftentimes it's like hey, you are so low on the actual nutrient density that we need to support your body, that, yes, this worked for you, but now your body isn't responding anymore. Things aren't working as well. You have digestive issues, your energy is terrible, and a lot of times it is because, again, these foods are very void of nutrients again, and all the gums and things of that nature within them, for a lot of people will create some digestive issues as well. So it's interesting where it can be the savior but also sometimes end up, longer term, being the thing that keeps people stuck from getting to the next level if they're not willing to evolve. Now again, it's not to say there's no room for flexibility.
Speaker 2:No, it's a tool, and sometimes it's the right tool for the job, but you wouldn't use a hammer to try to screw in a nail right. So it's just one of those tools that goes into the toolbox, and it's a tool that we don't need to use every meal, every day.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Okay. Next up, you have a healthy relationship with the scale. I think this is pretty hard to define and honestly, I think for a lot of people it's almost like we're in a good enough place, versus this is ever like it doesn't bother me at all. Because I think even for both of us we probably say there's still times where the scale so bothers us right, like oh shit, why is it up? And again we might be able to work through it, but again at least the immediate reaction is like what? No?
Speaker 2:Well, I'll jump in there because I think it is a hard thing to define. But I think one of the traits that I would say would be like your mood for the day is not determined by the number you see on the scale. I'm not saying that I don't still get on the scale and I'm like what the you know like it happens all the time, of course doesn't make sense. It's really fun to like throw around ideas as to like why the scale is doing what it's doing, but ultimately you know being in a place where, like I said, your day is not ruined because you saw a number you didn't like. Likewise, you know you're not having your best day ever because you hit a new low or something like that.
Speaker 1:No, I think that's such a good way to sum it up. Yeah, and again, like a lot of times that does take a lot of working through and we talked about this on your podcast, we recorded together about the pain in its face and kind of how to primary body profile. It should be a very similar topic. But again, I think there's so much power to people seeing, like, even when we are at maintenance, even when we are consistently eating a very similar intake, how much your scale we can flush weight day to day. Kind of normalizing that is an extremely helpful thing for most people.
Speaker 1:So, next up, you haven't been underfueling or having dramatic swings between low and high calorie days for at least a few months. Honestly and I really think this ties into as well Like we haven't spent a significant amount of time in the recent past in the dieting mindset, right, so many people will start the process and it's like, hey, maybe you are that person who, four to five days a week, you're only 1200 calories or less, and then we have these dramatic swings in the other direction. Or and I get that very much ties into like you always kind of feel like you're dieting but and you might be in a deficit for five days a week, but your weekly intake is still enough to prevent you from losing body fat right. And in a place like that it is just so much more advantageous to just give someone a period of time, because oftentimes this ties into a lot of the other things you talked about. Right, you probably are a lot more food focused. We're probably not giving our body all the micronutrients.
Speaker 2:I guarantee your biofeedback is not in a good place. If you're bringing together like 1200 calorie days followed by 2500,. You know, on the weekends, I guarantee your hunger and satiety hormones are not an optimal place. Probably not sleeping well, you're probably having energy crashes throughout the day, like everything that we touched on earlier. I would, I would guarantee it. I would bet your life, not mine.
Speaker 1:Thank you for just playing with that, but truly, this is honestly one of the biggest ones that I would say we see as well, because a lot of people start in this position right and again, one of the most powerful things we can do by just spending more time at maintenance, focusing on fueling you well, and oftentimes this is a person who needs to build a lot more muscle also, but we can also remove, fix, like so many of these things, in the process.
Speaker 1:So the next time we do get into that loss, it doesn't have to be this like oh my gosh, I'm so miserable and then I just fall the wagon. It just goes so much smoother, whereas almost always, if you are starting in that place and we just try to yep, sure, let's just keep dieting from here, it's almost always just us repeating that cycle, so you're doing the same thing, but now you're just paying a coach money to kind of have you doing the same thing, right? So not something I would recommend. Next up, calories are in a good place. Basically, your calories are high enough. Do you want to take this one?
Speaker 2:Yep. So this is going to look different for every person. So there is no calorie minimum or maximum or anything like that. But you kind of touched on this a little bit earlier but definitely worth digging into a little bit more. If you're like, let's say, you're a female, you're like between five to five, four, you've been maybe chronically dieting or just really trying to get those last five, 10 pounds off or whatever, you know a little bit about calorie manipulation and you're really trying to hang out around like 14, 1500 or something like that and that's kind of where you're trying to live and you've been there for a while and you're not seeing progress. You know where are we going to go.
Speaker 2:You know, or even you know someone, let's you know someone who's maybe really trying to do the 1200 calorie thing or something and that's kind of become your quote new normal. You know, fat loss requires a calorie deficit that is intentionally under eating. That's what. That is Right, which means we have to be on lower calories. So if you are already on lower calories, where are we going to go from there? And I think that a lot of people are just so emotionally driven to lose that weight that they're like I don't care Like put me at 900 calories, put me in coach, and it's like no trust me.
Speaker 2:No, like that's not gonna go well.
Speaker 1:And again, like short term, it will be more gratifying. But again, there's not a set intake right that everyone should follow. This kind of reminds me of the podcast that Ray and I recorded together about her fat loss phase, or even like Andrea's fat loss phase or her health phase. But let's take it back to Ray, right, she is someone who, when she started she was doing a ton of movement. She's a tiny person, tiny Jack person.
Speaker 2:So small, so small.
Speaker 1:But she is jacked, she's so weak, but within that she was eating very low calories, right, and still like it was kind of a grind for her to lose. Now what that told us was and again, like there's no like cut and dry number, again like she's four foot 11. That's going to be a lot different, like what her intake should be, even like for someone else who's four foot 11, if they have a lot more muscle or a lot less, or they're more sedentary than her, right. But really that pointed us in the direction that like, hey, there's something else going on here that we need to solve, and there was right. But if we are just like, okay, I'm not losing a 1200 and I'm truly eating that intake or whatever, it is right and it is a very it's an abnormally low amount, so many people are just willing to like, hey, I'm going to just push that further, right, I'm gonna, it's fine, I'll just do 900 calories for the next like 12 weeks, right.
Speaker 1:But the thing is again like that what is it Like? We can't solve, we can't fix an issue in the environment. That it's do you know what I'm trying to say here. There's a saying something Shit, okay. Well, oftentimes like that in itself the deficit, very similar we talked about with, like the biofeedback, the functional health side of things. It will just make that issue worse, right, so you might like get the short, it's gonna dig its deeper hole Right.
Speaker 1:So it's again like, basically, yes, you might get, you might just be able to absolutely grind up that while you're at the other side of it, but that hole that we have to dig ourselves out of is going to be a lot deeper, right, and it might even entail you got the gains of body fat back Right. And then it's basically, I mean, for most people it's kind of just like you're setting yourself back even further when you eventually have to address this issue, versus if we just address it now. So again, like it's, it's, we just need to address those things before we're like, hey, let's just hop right into fat loss. Anything else to add there?
Speaker 2:And on the psychological side, which, again, we've been touching on this in varying degrees. But you know, coming making sure you're approaching fat loss from a place of abundance. You know because, again, if you really have been like truly living at 1200 calories I'm not talking about like perceived level, low levels of calorie but you know if you are truly like tracking to the gram and you're on very low calories, you know mentally you're also just not coming from a place of abundance and like fat loss is restriction. Like I know, like that might people might not like that terminology. People like to use the word restraint and like, yes, that is a restriction.
Speaker 2:Your restriction. Yeah, no, it's restraint and like, but it again like that loss is intentionally under eating to solve a short term problem, right. And so again you are coming, already coming from a place of scarcity and then we're just basically pushing you further into scarcity. That it's just not a fun place to be.
Speaker 1:Absolutely All right. Final point here You've mastered your schedule and are organized. I think this is one you can speak to very well. Also. Take that one away, I know.
Speaker 2:I think I just made a social post about this. I feel like I post about this like once a week because I want people to listen.
Speaker 1:And truly is, though, a lot of times the missing link, like I used to often times tell clients like hey, as much as anything else like coaching is about showing you how to be as organized as you need to be to be successful here.
Speaker 2:It's about putting systems in place Right and like. You are going to need systems for dieting and for success with nutrition. Anyways, do you know how many meals you're eating per day? Do you know roughly what those meals consist of? Can you regularly get protein at every meal? Well, guess what? That means that you've got to know what your proteins are, which means you've got to have those proteins prepped. You probably made a grocery list. You had to go shop for those proteins.
Speaker 2:Like, all of these things are a chain of events that need to happen in order for you to be successful. You mastered your own schedule. Where are you fitting in your grocery store runs? Or maybe you're placing a grocery order online or curbside pickup. What is your system there? Like, how do you decide what meals you're having? Are you ingredient prepping? Are you meal prepping? Are you picking out recipes? Do you have your training schedule ironed out?
Speaker 2:Like you know, with your work day, are you going to train early morning? Like, you need to know these things. Like how are you getting your steps in? I'm putting your, you know I'm jacking your steps up. We need, you know, a higher level of activity. How are you going to do that? You already can't even get in. Like you know 8000 steps a day. What are you going to do when I try to raise them to? You know 10 to 12 or something like that. Like you need these systems in place because these systems and foundations are what we build on to kind of like up the ante, you know, and titrate up and down as needed. So if you are quite of systems and foundations, if you are someone who is constantly running around like with your hair on fire, like every day is, choose your own adventure. Like you have no idea what's going to happen next. I don't know what's happening for dinner, who's picking up the kids? My bedtime is all over the place. I promise you will struggle Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And I tell you this because I don't want you to struggle.
Speaker 2:So it sounds like I'm being a little bit harsh and dogmatic, but I get really fired up about this one because so often we just see, you know again, people are very emotionally driven to lose this last five, 10, however many pounds. I'll do whatever. I'll do whatever, Except for get more organized.
Speaker 1:Except for make a plan.
Speaker 2:And you know they think that they're really just going to like wing their way to their goal physique. And I can tell you from my own experience, and I can tell you from my experience coaching many clients you won't, you are not the special one. You won't.
Speaker 1:That's so damn true, though. Like this is why meal plans are often I'm so helpful, because it just makes. Again, it's not that meal plans are necessarily superior to like us just tracking macros, but so many people just try to get by and just try to just try to get by and just wean it and it just never ever works out. Um, but again, that's such a.
Speaker 1:If you were going to hire a coach, I think it is so important to embrace the fact that they will ask you to create a lot more structure in your life, because, for almost everyone, again and this, this is different, I would say, though this is very specific to that loss, right, if you've already, like, just been able to get me right and maybe you're struggling to build more muscle, well, there's, there are a lot of other variables there, right, like with your training, there are a lot of things we can do. But, specifically, like with your nutrition, if you are very unorganized, um, if we don't have, like a staple, like hey, these are my go to meals, these are my protein sources, et cetera, that is almost always one of the biggest reasons that you're probably struggling with it. Right, and change there will also require changing that again, not just trying to weigh it, not go it, and that never, ever, ever goes well, so just something to be ready to embrace if you hire a coach. Anything else to add to all that before we wrap it up.
Speaker 2:No, but you know, I will say all of these things that we talked through today. Um, you know, there are two weeks left in the new year, or until the new year, if you want a head start. These are some things to start thinking about.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Um. Well, hopefully, this was helpful. Again, I know it can, especially if it's like how many of us are my diet and you work first. If you're listening to this and a lot of this resonates with you with. I don't have that in place. I'm not that bliss. I don't have that in bliss. Do yourself a favor, take some time to focus on these things first and then hop in a foul us, because I can guarantee you six months from now, where you're from now, you will be in a much better place versus if it's just I'm going to just do what I've done every other time and just hop into it, Despite, like, my body sending me signals that I might not be ready. So that is what we have for you all for today. As always, thank you guys for tuning in and we will catch you guys next time.