Tag Archives: wellness

Weight Loss Resistance & Reverse Dieting Podcast Episode is out!

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I’m honored to be a guest on the ‘The Less Stressed Life Podcast’ this week!

We talk about periodized nutrition which includes the concept of reverse dieting and the psychological and physiological side of this and why it’s so important.
Each one of us has a different metabolic identity, depending on past and current behaviors, without proper context and nuance to your own individual situation to apply the concepts of ‘pro-metabolic’, it’s easy to end up doing too much too fast, entering into a “reverse diet” without actually intending to. There are factors that MUST be considered before increasing calories in a reverse diet.

In short, if you have a history of restrictive eating and/or a compromised digestive system and low metabolic rate, this will cause unwanted weight gain.

Looking forward to hearing what you think!

Read the Blog post here.

Click to listen on your fav app! 👂🏽 🔊

KEY TAKEAWAYS:
•What is periodized nutrition?
•What is reverse dieting and who is it for?
•Disguising food relationship issues with nutrition and fitness
•Red flags that you have disordered eating
•You’ve got to earn the right to diet!
•The importance of a maintenance phase
•Metabolic and hormonal adaptations of chronic dieting
•How body appreciation and gratitude are core elements of improving body image, not weight loss.

#reversedieting#reversediet#prometabolic#thyroidhealth#dietculturedropout#nutritionist#nutritioncoach#weightlossresistance#podcasting#podcastersofinstagram#podcast#nutritionpodcast#onlinenutritioncoach

The Biggest Loser Study and the metabolic consequences of extreme dieting

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The Biggest Loser study suggests that extreme dieting comes with consequences. Reduce your calories to an extreme and your body will likely fight back. Maybe for years. The severity and duration of your fat loss program can be the main drivers of metabolic adaptation.


🔄You should not diet continuously. Nutritional periodization (diet breaks, maintenance, and reverse diet phases) is an effective mitigation strategy for some of these adaptations.

ℹ️ For more info check out the two pinned posts and my story highlight “Earn your right to diet.” 👀 On Instagram profile!

Let’s master healthy self-talk and body image, optimize your metabolism, build muscle, and live life! And if the time comes when we can enter a fat loss phase, it will be an easier & HEALTHIER process!

Disclaimer: The Biggest Loser is a reality TV show. It’s not a controlled scientific research experiment. In this study, researchers are trying to make sense of what happened after the fact. The participants reported maintaining the Biggest Loser-approved nutrition regimen and exercise level over the six-year period. Yet, self-reported data is statistically unreliable. Enquire 1(1): 75-94 ©The Author, 2008.

Additional longitudinal studies need to be done quantifying the interrelationships between various components of energy expenditure and energy intake to better understand the dynamics of human body weight regulation.

Looking for more support navigating your cycle with fitness & nutrition? Check out my FREE guide & pro-metabolic strength training guide available for purchase!

Or check out:

A masterclass to help you feel empowered by your body, improve your metabolic health with weightlifting, and make exercise a natural part of your life!

PMID: 27136388
‘Biggest Loser’ Contestant Kai Hibbard Slams NBC Reality Show as ‘Fat-Shaming Disaster’ (thewrap.com)
Case study: The Biggest Loser. Is it impossible to sustain weight loss in the long term? (precisionnutrition.com)

TAGS:

#biggestloser #biggestloserstudy #metabolicadaptation #metabolism #dietbreak #nutritionperiodization #slowmetabolism #onlinepersonaltrainer #onlinefitnesscoach #fitnessjourney

Popular trends VS Effective approach in Strength Training

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It can feel overwhelming trying to navigate between the popular fitness trends and what is an effective approach—am I right? 😲

@estellecfitness and I notice there seem to be massive gaps in knowledge of how the process of getting stronger (building muscle) works, how does “toning up” work, the importance of following a program etc. With a lack of understanding, it can be easier for diet culture & gimmick tactics to pull one over on you!

That’s one of the main reasons we have teamed up to host our masterclass called Mastering Fitness & Mindset for the Pro Metabolic lifestyle which teaches you to feel empowered by your body, improve your metabolic health with weightlifting, and make exercise a natural part of your life!
⁣
𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿
▪️Common things that dictate mindset⁣
▪️How you can make long-term changes⁣
▪️Priorities vs. Excuses⁣
▪️General guidelines for selecting workouts⁣
▪️Red flags in workouts⁣
▪️How to make-over a workout⁣
▪️How is put on muscle and tone up⁣
▪️What a healthy nervous system can do⁣
▪️Myths & truths about muscle growth⁣
▪️Effective reps vs. junk volume (aka effective exercise vs. being exhausted with no results)⁣
▪️How 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗥 strength training is pro-metabolic⁣
▪️Fitness trends vs. effective fitness ⁣
⁣
⬆️ Start working SMARTER, not HARDER. You’ve put yourself through enough!⁣
⁣
⚡️ Link to grab your ticket to the replay!!

Looking for more support navigating your cycle with fitness & nutrition? Check out my FREE guide & pro-metabolic strength training guide available for purchase!

❤️

TAGS: #strengthtraining#strengthtrainingforwomen#prometabolic#prometabolicfitness#masterclass#dietculturedropout#personaltrainer#onlinefitnesscoach

Why the intention of your workout matters:

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❔Have you thought about WHY you are engaging in your fitness and nutrition journey? Is it to change your body? Or is it to build strength? To be less winded going up stairs? to Improve sleep? To improve insulin resistance, to release stress etc.

People may start their fitness journey to change their bodies but it’s hard to ever be mentally satisfied with the progress. There is always a little more to lose, or more muscle to gain.

When you start chasing performance goals, celebrating the small victories and personal bests in your lifts, you begin to see day by day, choice by choice, small changes create big results! Exercise, strength training, and movement are about so much more than fat loss!

Recreating the relationship that we have with exercise and why we do it is one of the most important aspects of shifting from disordered and restrictive-driven behaviors & cultivating a happy and lasting lifestyle that is pleasant to keep up.

Looking for more support navigating your cycle with fitness & nutrition? Check out my FREE guide & pro-metabolic strength training guide available for purchase!

Or check out:

A masterclass to help you feel empowered by your body, improve your metabolic health with weightlifting, and make exercise a natural part of your life!

Tags:
#dietculturedropout #bodyneutrality #bodyneutral #progressnotperfection
#intentions #goalsetting #motivation #fitnessmotivation #workoutmotivation #workout #strengthtraining #fitnessgoals #healthymindset #bodyimage #bodyimagemovement #mindsetmatters #mindset #onlinepersonaltrainer #personaltrainer #fitfam #motivationmonday

Are popular fitness lifestyles destroying our fertility?

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𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳!

In Summer of 2020, my health began to take a dive. Years of chronic dieting, over-exercising, negative self-talk, and hormonal birth control was taking its toll. I was eating next to no carbs, minimal sugar, low fat, no dairy, lean protein only, working out 6 days a week, hours of cardio & felt terrible physically, mentally and emotionally. I began to take a hard look at the way I was living/eating/training and how it was working against my physiology.

When I began my healing journey and found the “pro-metabolic” community, I wasn’t looking for more diet dogma, but to improve my overall metabolic function and support progesterone creation and a healthy ovulation. Gaining weight was a necessary part of the equation. and when Discussing this with @fundamental.nourishment she brought this research to my attention 🤓

We can easily fall into the traps of the diet and fitness industry. We constantly chase perfection and the desire to alter our bodies because we live with the belief that we are not good enough. We want to be a smaller size, a smaller number on the scale.

Recreating the relationship that we have with exercise and why we do it, is one of the most important aspects of shifting from restrictive-driven behaviors to cultivating a happy and lasting lifestyle that is pleasant to keep up.

✌🏼Looking for more support navigating your cycle with fitness & nutrition? Check out my FREE guide & pro-metabolic strength training guide available for purchase!

Or check out:

A masterclass to help you feel empowered by your body, improve your metabolic health with weightlifting, and make exercise a natural part of your life!

❤️


#womenshealth #prometabolic #prometabolicnutrition #prometabolicfitness #fitnessandfertility #fertility #womensfitness #dietculturedropout #hormonehealth #hormonebalance #fitnessforwomen #onlinenutritioncoach #onlinefitnesscoach #workoutplan #metabolism #progesterone

Diet Culture Fitness VS Body Neutral Fitness

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Where my diet culture drop outs at? 🙋🏻‍♀️

Re-evaluating our approach to fitness and exercise is a crucial part of any journey. But just because something like strength training or HIIT cardio can be abused, doesn’t make it “bad”.

Each one of us has a different metabolic identity, depending on past and current behaviors, and it can be very difficult to convey context and nuance for each individual through a social media post.

As you know, my message centers on shifting away from the diet culture mentality, over exercising, and “earning” your food, and refocusing on learning to properly and intentionally nourish, appreciate & respect your body.

We can easily fall into the traps of the diet and fitness industry. We constantly chase perfection and the desire to alter our bodies because we live with the belief that we are not good enough. We want to be a smaller size, a smaller number on the scale.

I’ve learned these lessons the hard way, as I’ve shared my fitness/health journey coming from a fitness/bodybuilding competition background & the health repercussion of competing.

Recreating the relationship that we have with exercise and why we do it, is one of the most important aspects of shifting from restrictive-driven behaviors to cultivating a happy and lasting lifestyle that is pleasant to keep up.

✌🏼Looking for more support navigating your cycle with fitness & nutrition? Check out my FREE guide & pro-metabolic strength training guide available for purchase!


LINK to apply for 1:1 coaching ❤️

More info on http://www.meganmefit.com

#bodyneutral#dietculturedropout#dietculture#bodyneutralfitness#onlinefitnesscoach#fitnesscoach#onlinenutritioncoach#prometabolic#workoutplan#fitnessjourney#fitnessmotivation#mindsetmatters#prometabolicnutrition#prometabolicfitness#womenshealth

Food as Medicine: How food and diet impact the treatment of disease.

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🍽 FOOD AS MEDICINE 🍽
My heart skipped a beat when I saw this report released last week, Which also includes 10 key recommendations to stakeholders to advance food as medicine practices in the prevention and treatment of disease which are all very impressive calls to action. 👏🏻

This is the first of MANY posts I’ll be doing on this.

Let’s dive in👇🏻
In the 18th and 19th centuries, scientific investigation and innovation dominated Western understanding of medicine During that time, American medical education underwent notable advancements. In 1745, the first formal course in human anatomy was established at the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1829, the first American textbook on pathology was published.

These innovations, among others, ultimately inspired a shift away from nutrition-based medicine towards allopathic medicine.

Allopathic medicine is defined by the National Cancer Institute as: “A system in which medical doctors and other healthcare professionals (such as nurses, pharmacists, and therapists) treat symptoms and diseases using drugs, radiation, or surgery. Also called biomedicine, conventional medicine, mainstream medicine, orthodox medicine, and Western medicine

However, the use of food as medicine is rooted in science and has been adopted and practiced by numerous cultures despite the fact that the history of food as medicine was largely ignored by academics until the 21st century.

Now, largely because of its increasing social media presence and online attention,academic study of the history and use of food as medicine has begun to gain momentum, finding its place in journals, conferences, and programs of study!

Last slide says it all 🙌🏻

SOURCE:
Platkin, C., Cather, A., Butz, L., Garcia, I., Gallanter, M., Leung, MM., Food As Medicine: Overview and Report: How Food and Diet Impact the Treatment of Disease and Disease Management. Center for Food As Medicine and Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center; March 30, 2022

Pro-metabolic Strength Training Guide 2.0

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🥁 Drumroll Please! 🥁I am so excited for this guide!

My intentions are to educate you on how to approach strength training while honoring your physiology.

When dealing with hormonal issues, PCOS, thyroid & adrenal issues, and autoimmune flare ups it’s important to be working WITH your physiology not against it.

👉🏻In these women, we typically see low thyroid hormone (either production, conversion or cellular uptake) and high cortisol. So, over-exercising or the KIND of exercise can potentially set you back, push you farther away from achieving hormone balance and reversing your symptoms. 🙅🏻‍♀️

As you know, my message centers on shifting away from the diet culture mentality, over exercising, and “earning” your food, and refocusing on learning to properly and intentionally nourish, appreciate & respect your body.

We can easily fall into the traps of the diet and fitness industry. We constantly chase perfection and the desire to alter our bodies because we live with the belief that we are not good enough. We want to be a smaller size, a smaller number on the scale. I’ve learned these lessons the hard way, as I’ve shared my fitness/health journey coming from a fitness/bodybuilding competition background & the health repercussions of competing.

Swipe through to learn more about it!
👉🏻slide 4 The Pro-metabolic Decision Tree: For clients and I, the top recommendations for non-negotiables prior to incorporating intentional exercise would be: close to ideal temps/pulses, adequate rest and nutritional intake. There is obvious nuance and context here, but this is a general guide.

If you’re low on rest, but really wanting to move your body more than walking/household chores, stick with the blue color-coded workouts which are more core & mobility focused, or a light yoga session. If you’re well rested and well fed, the purple color-coded Strength Training workouts are more appropriate.

LINK TO GUIDES HERE! Check out my FREE guide & pro-metabolic strength training guide available for purchase!

LINK to apply for 1:1 coaching 

#onlinepersonaltrainer #personaltrainer #prometabolic #fitnesscoach #onlinefitnesscoach #onlinefitnesscoaching #fitnessprogram #pcosfitness #womenshealth #womensfitness #strengthtrainingforwomen #strengthtraining #fitfam #womensfitness #thyroidhealing

REMINDER: If you’re a woman adding intermittent fasting on top of exercise, can be harmful to both your performance and health!

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⚠️If you’re adding intermittent fasting on top of exercise, you aren’t gaining any extra benefits.

Low energy availability is extremely common in females.

A 2019 survey of 1,000 female athletes across more than 40 sports published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine estimated the risk of low energy availability in women athletes at more than 47%.

Nearly half the performance-minded women may not be eating enough for their body to perform basic functions like creating muscle, regulating metabolism, and maintaining homeostasis after accounting for the energy they use for training.

💥 Diets such as intermittent fasting and keto disrupt kisspeptin production. Women are more sensitive to kisspeptin, neuropeptide that’s responsible for sex hormones and endocrine and reproductive function.

💥 Adding exercise to the equation just adds to the stress of denying our bodies important fuel sources. Our thyroid activity is depressed as a result, which messes with your menstrual cycle.

💥 The long-term effects of intermittent fasting with exercise for women athletes is endocrine dysfunction, increases in abdominal fat, more prone to depression, and subsequent fat gain.

Pretty much the opposite direction of your goals.

I think back on before I truly grasped this concept, not only was practicing intermittent fasting days, fasted workouts/cardio, I was also chronically under-eating and over-training in general. 😟 Never again!

👇🏻LMK What’s your experience with IF?

I’m excited to expand more on this topic for Wild + Well Fed wellness Collective in July! @iamannikanicole@wildlyonswellness

Looking for more support navigating your cycle with fitness & nutrition? Check out my FREE guide & pro-metabolic strength training guide available for purchase!

LINK to apply for 1:1 coaching 💜

Sources:
PMID: 29860237
PMCID: PMC4818825
PMID: 27046965
Front. Endocrinol., 28 March 2018 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2018.00123
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-020-0363-7
Dr. Stacy Sims
#intermittentfasting#intermittentfastingforwomen#womenshealth#womensfitness#onlinepersonaltrainer#personaltrainer#onlinefitnesscoach#fitnesscoach#fitnessmotivation#strengthtrainingforwomen#nutritionist#womenarenotsmallmen#womensfitness#fitnessforwomen#dietculturedropout#bodyneutrality#intermittentfastingdiet

How restrictive dieting (low calories) negatively impacts your thyroid

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Your thyroid is a 🦋-shaped gland that powers every cell in your body. It sets the pace for your body to function and operate.

Thyroid health can be so confusing, especially because you don’t need to be diagnosed with a thyroid disorder to suffer from thyroid issues. Hypothyroidism or sluggish thyroid is much more common in women than hyperthyroidism—see symptoms on slide 6.

Swipe👉🏻 to learn how chronic dieting, under-eating, under-nourishing can lead to impaired thyroid function.

It’s important to understand that the years of stressors (Like: undernourishment, overexercising, lack of rest, sunlight, constant stimulation, trauma, halogen exposure, etc.) will not disappear overnight.

Here are some areas to focus on to bring back balance:

Managing STRESS — Developing positive stress coping mechanisms like: journaling, getting outside, asking for help, breath work, taking a bath, therapy, &hanging with pets. Be sure to prioritize morning and bedtime routines, quality sleep, gentle exercise, and support your circadian rhythm by getting enough natural light (and less blue light exposure).⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
NUTRIENTS — Our thyroid requires specific minerals, like Vit. A, iodine, zinc, copper, selenium, etc. to properly function. Focus on nutrient-dense foods like shrimp, organ meats, bone broth, quality dairy, &fresh fruits.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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DIGESTION — We need to properly break down and absorb our food to get the nutrients our thyroid requires. We also need enough stomach acid for a healthy digestive process. Try adding in digestive bitters if you suffer from digestive issues.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
TOXINS — Specific chemicals called halogens (bromine, chlorine, and fluorine) compete with iodine and bind to thyroid receptors, preventing thyroid hormones from working properly. Filtering fluoride and chloride out of your drinking and bath/shower water helps those with thyroid dysfunction.⠀⠀⠀

Looking for more support navigating your cycle with fitness & nutrition? Check out my FREE guide & pro-metabolic strength training guide available for purchase!

LINK to apply for 1:1 coaching 🫶🏻

#onlinepersonaltrainer#onlinefitnesscoach#chronicdieting#hormoneimbalance#womenshealth#strengthtrainingforwomen
#thyroid#thyroidhealth#fitnessjourney