This is a subject I’m passionate about. The personal trainer who cannot understand why after teaching 3 classes a day she is still not lean. The 48 year-old who cannot work out why she still holds belly fat after following a stringent diet and exercise routine.
Are you holding onto excess fat despite your best efforts? Are you tired, fed up and just plain bored of thinking about what you are going to eat at your next meal?
You might be surprised when I tell you that you may not be eating enough and doing too much exercise! In other words, you are not eating enough to sustain your energy output!
The calorie in versus calorie out theory holds true when it comes to weight loss, there does need to be a calorie deficit. But, if you take this theory to the extremes you’re heading for a disaster.
There is nothing your body favours more than consistency. It works like a clock relying on the regularity of meals coming in. So even if you are eating badly, but consistently, it’s going to be better for your metabolism than an irregular eating pattern.
I learnt this lesson when I was in my thirties and teaching a lot of back-to-back classes whilst desperately trying to eat clean and healthy. I felt tired most of the time and often gave in to eating a bar of chocolate! Then the guilt would set in! I was not happy with my weight and decided to add running twice a week to my already grueling training schedule. To my dismay, within a couple of weeks I had picked up a further two kilograms. It was at this low point in my life that I realized my body had literally gone into shut-down mode.
To correct this, I cut back on my exercise and started to increase my food intake. I was very careful about eating mindfully and keeping to a healthy regime that would keep my blood sugar levels stable and my hormones balanced, and I was delighted with the almost instantaneous results! My energy returned and the awful afternoon fatigue no longer plagued me. I felt my weight shifting at a steady pace and everyone noticed the difference too. Within months my weight was the best it had ever been and to this day (many years later) it has remained the same.
Nowadays, I exercise three to four times a week with walking in-between. I eat regular, healthy meals, and have become intuitive about my intake, When I don’t exercise as much, I intuitively eat less and visa versa. The body truly is amazing when we just choose to listen to it.
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