Something I get asked about a lot from the ladies just starting their 28 Day Kickstart is whether their metabolism is now ‘slow’ or ‘broken’ and that’s why they can’t lose weight.
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Some being told by slimming clubs to ‘eat more potatoes’ even when they are full up…
Eat more speed foods..
It can be confusing for some.
Now, it’s true…
That when you diet / try to lose weight
You may find that your progress slows down..
And that adaptations happen that make it ‘feel like’ you can’t lose weight / your metabolism is slow.
But something that is often overlooked is NEAT
AKA
The exercise / movement you do outside of actual exercise.
This could be gardening, walking, fidgeting, parking further away, walking around the house, your posture. Etc…
What the research shows is that some people are more prone to changes in this type of movement when dieting than others..
In fact, one study gave people 1000 calories more than they needed
And showed that weight gain ranged from 1-2kg to 6-7kg…
With the main difference between their everyday movement.
So what does this mean?
Well, if you have been exercising a lot and / or eating a lot less?
You may be subconsciously moving less..
You may be fidgeting less, walking less, not have that ‘get up and go’ that you maybe used to having..
And this could be the reason why your fat loss is slowing..
Rather than your metabolism.
And it’s for this reason why I often recommend just focussing on small changes..
1% better each day
Rather than going all in on some military bootcamp thing where you leave on your hands and knees, dropping with sweat haha not nice..
And research backs this up..
They gave people an exercise programme that burned 600 calories
Or
An exercise programme that burned 300 calories .
What did they find?
When people did the exercise programme that burned 600 calories they seemed to move 300 calories less during the day..
Suggesting that ‘more’ is not always better
And just being aware of your daily movement, no matter how small
Even if it is moving around on the hour in the office
Or going for a walk at lunchtime / parking further away at the shops..
This could be key..
And I want to stress that this also relates to the fact that if you do a super low calorie diet
Where you tend to feel pretty rubbish
You tend to move around less
Which may offset the weight loss you think you should get..
And you might even miss out on the benefits of exercise..
I guess this is the debate between eating enough and getting the nutrition you need to
Drop a dress size / get in shape
AND
Have enough energy to get fit and strong so everyday tasks get easier.
BUT…
3 things I also want to touch on
1 ) SMALL fluctuations in weight that you see weekly / daily
Even up to 6lbs
Can literally just be the results of a bit more veg / fibre in your diet, water, eating later, menstrual cycle, sleep, salt etc.
And probably shouldn’t be taken as some absolute measure of your success
(in fact, this is why I don’t say to weigh yourself if you’ve had a bad experience with slimming clubs starving yourself for the dreaded weigh in..)
2) IF you have lost weight…you are now a smaller human being and require fewer calories to live
(this may not be the case with more muscle / ‘tone’ so you may actually keep your metabolism slightly higher with this)
The good news is that your body adapts to this over time.
Higher protein intakes and resistance / muscle strengthening exercise seems to help with this as they help to keep you full up..
3) Low carb –
VERY low carb diets ‘may’ slow impact your thyroid..
However…
A lot of the ladies I work with actually find that it helps their hunger and ability to stick to a diet
By eating a lower carb diet.
Perhaps due to the higher protein that results from this?
So anyway..
What does this mean for you today?
- Keep an eye on your daily steps – track your steps and try to keep them the same even if you do exercise
- Keep protein higher – this can help your body hold on to muscle and be more likely to lose body fat
- Don’t take fluctuations on the scale as the absolute indicator of your efforts – after all…keeping going at 60% will get you better results than being 100% on it for a day…
- You don’t have to jump straight into some crazy high intensity exercise programme … start small, you might then keep up your other exercise and you might then enjoy it again to do it tomorrow and the next…
- And finally..
Small habits, compound effect…
Matt ‘1>0’ Fruci