DO you find that your body is holding more fat even though you are doing all the right things?  You are eating right, exercising the same as usual, yet yourself feeling like you need to add in more time at the gym or more miles on the road. And now you have to start counting calories, AGAIN!

Maybe the pull to do more is not the right answer?  It may seem counterintuitive, but what if we actually have to exercise LESS and eat MORE?

The biggest myth when it comes to weight loss, is that you need to have a caloric deficit to be able to lose body weight.  Eating less is one of the worst things you can do to lose weight and speed up your metabolism.  Your body needs the right fuel to feed your hormones and keep the fire to your metabolism.  Processed foods and sugars actually rob your body of important minerals needed for your hormones to keep a strong metabolism.  Fueling your body with the right foods; one, keeps you from overeating, and two, keeps your hormones in balance with less stress on your other organs from depleting minerals and toxic burdens. When the body isn’t properly fueled, cravings and late night binges keep you in this cycle deprivation and overeating often processed frankenfoods.

We feel as if we have some control over this cycle, but often it controls us. In addition, we have external stressors from environmental toxins and negative feelings that can be experienced with life changes that burden our body by continuing to deplete your precious nutrients.  Even though we can’t fully control these, we can work on mindset and taking steps in our household to at least decrease the toxic burdens. Most importantly, having a goal of incorporating a variety of mainly whole unprocessed foods and eating enough for your activity level, will leave you satiated and full of energy.

I can go on many tangents here, but now to exercise.  Another big myth… more cardio upon more cardio will not make you more skinny, more healthy, nor more fit.  Spending hours on cardio or even a massive amount of reps won’t keep the belly fat from creeping on if you are experiencing mid-life weight gain.  Yes, exercise relieves stress, but it also causes stress. As said before, stressors and the quality of your food play the most important roles in weight loss, as well as how your treated your body in your 20’s and 30’s.  But we are not bound by our old habits, and they won’t hold you back from developing a healthier body and mind as you age.

So if you shouldn’t run, and elliptical yourself to death, what should you do? Cardio is wonderful in balance with using heavy weights and the maneuvering of heavy weights will provide the increase in your heart rate that you would get from a run.  As we get older, our body loses muscle tissue, so working at gaining more muscle provides many benefits especially during this time. More muscle helps you to better regulate blood sugar and helps to keep bones strong. Walking is wonderful fo the body and often over-looked, but a consistent walking routine is excellent exercise and reduces cortisol rather that raising it and depleting your body of minerals.

How do you put the rubber to the road? (all puns intended) Walking with a day or two of medium-weight HIIT training sessions, as well as 2-3 sessions focusing on just maneuvering mid- heavy weights. A couple of heavy days with lower reps, one upper and one lower, and the other one or two days with more mid to heavy weight with all muscle groups and compound exersices.  These sessions don’t need to be an hour long, based on the intensity they should run you 30-45 minutes.

Here is a breakdown of a good workout program for hormonal health:

Everyday – walking, 30 minutes, with making one or two days of the week longer in duration (an hour)

Monday – 30 min HIIT, compound weight movement

Tuesday – 30-45 min Upper body heavy

Wednesday – longer walk

Thursday -30-45 min Lower body

Friday – 30 min HIIT, compound weight movement

Saturday – Choose one of these days from long walk and the other for rest/active rest

Sunday –

So now you’re probably thinking, “well, she said it’s mostly what you eat, so WHAT should I eat?” Focus on getting the processed foods out of the diet and eating enough nutrient-dense whole foods for your activity level (which is usually more than you think). Get the confusion of “which diet is best” out of your mind.  Deciding which diet can be confusing and stressful, just focus on getting a variety of unprocessed whole foods and a balance of carbs, protein and fats.  The rule of thumb to start with is 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fats.  Begin with cutting out processed foods and sugars and see how you feel. Everyone is different and has different needs, so you may need to tweak your ratios here and there.  Just keep the focus on eating whole nutrient-dense foods. It is also helpful to keep a journal that documents your mood and food intake to help see what works and what doesn’t.

Here is a snapshot of what to eat in a day:

Breakfast:

Egg bake with spinach and sweet potato. 1/2 cup of berries

Lunch:

Spinach salad with lots of veggies leftover chicken thighs with pumpkin seeds and homemade vinegrette.

Dinner:

Wild-caught crème fraice salmon with lemon risotto and broccoli.

(if needed, a snack with nut butter and an apple or carrots and hummus are good choices)

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