By Weight Loss Lies Are Always lurking behind the scenes, constantly feeding our decision insecurity.
These so-called lies that have been around for years & can be highly detrimental to women, creating a sense of uncertainty regarding their bodies ability.
Sometimes I do blame this on scientists because most of their research focuses on studies with men. Therefore we’re not given some clear cut strategies.
The good news is that it is slowly changing and will keep progressing as time goes on.
I wanted to touch on some things that held me back and could be causing the same issues for many women out there who want to lose weight and change their body shape.
Lie One: Fasting for days is the quickest and best option for fat loss
I know I always turn towards fasting as the best lifestyle plan — and I still stand by that.
But when it comes to women, with all our hormonal complexities, we need to look at the big picture of how we can use fasting as a long term lifestyle choice.
There is no need to consider those aggressive approaches to fasting that usually require long periods without any food.
Instead, try the 10–16 hour window. Monitor how your body reacts to this, and then definitely add in longer fasts — but only if you need to, and not every day.
As women, we don’t want to mess with our reproductive hormones or increase cortisol levels. Doing this will work against us in the fight for fat loss.
Lie two: I need to finish my workout in an exhausted state for it to be effective
This theory for so many years plagued me.
Every one of my workouts had to be so intense that I would give it my all and some more. This isn’t a bad thing, but we do need to do our absolute best during each workout — there is no need to feel like collapsing after your session.
If you constantly push your body towards that state, you trigger stress hormones that become out of balance, and your nervous system gets overworked.
That combination alone can lead us towards insomnia and diminishes our metabolism.
Rather than subjecting yourself to this, you can do the following workouts:
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You can and should use the treadmill on an incline for HIIT workouts, but what about training against resistance? Think about using a weighted sled, sprint up some stairs or a hill. These provide some alternative means for making your workout harder and yet still very efficient.
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Keep watching your nutritional intake as it’s easy to become more hungry when training has increased. Opt for more protein in your diet to quench hunger and also give you a sustained release of energy during the day
Lie Three: It’s not easy for women to lose fat when compared to men
Women are lucky, as we are built to be metabolically healthier than men. We have much better insulin sensitivity, less visceral fat and overall, lower fat levels whirling around in our bloodstream.
Men only lose fat faster because they have larger bodies and tend to have more muscle mass than women. As you know, muscle burns more calories, and men have a lot more caloric needs than women.
However, there are a lot of external factors that can stop women from losing body fat. Those are usually exercising too much and not eating enough. We can all attest to doing either one or both of those during our lifetime.
Stress affects fat loss for both sexes, but with women, we tend to add caloric restriction into the mix for long periods and have the habit of doing way too much cardio. All this adds up to long term fat storage.
To combat this, all you have to do is trust you’re not going to put on weight if you increase the levels of protein and vegetables in your diet and make weight training an essential part of your life.
It would also help to take hold of those excessive stress levels by doing more things that relax and unwind your mind and body. Yoga, meditation, and even walking in nature help a lot. How about writing in a journal too?
Lie Four: I worked out today, so I don’t need to do anything else
It’s unfortunate that once some people complete their workout, they immediately assume that you require no other exercise during the day. It’s pretty easy to think that you worked out, and therefore it should be ok to eat a little more.
That mindset can altogether cancel out your training results and leave you wondering why things aren’t working.
It’s essential to create that “incidentally active” mindset again. We need to move constantly — especially those of us who are confined to an office chair and behind a desk. Even if you have a standing desk — you still need to move around often.
Over a day, incidental exercise will help to elevate your metabolism and increase the number of calories you burn. It doesn’t even have to be an aggressive form of movement -walking does suffice perfectly.
Perhaps it’s not hard, but a bit more of a challenge for us women to lose weight because of the old theories we’ve believed during our life.
If we can adopt a more holistic option for weight loss and maintenance during our life, it will therefore become a lot easier to trust that our bodies can cater to our fat loss success.
All it takes is to change your mindset on a couple of things and watch your results soar high above and beyond your initial expectations.