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9 Tips For Faster MUSCLE GROWTH

9 Tips For Faster MUSCLE GROWTH

by | Aug 7, 2022 | Blog, Diet, Exercises, muscle-featured

Gaining muscle, especially without gaining fat is not an easy process. Especially if we’ve usually just focused on weight loss, it can require a very different focus for our training and fueling.

That’s why I wanted to share 9 tips to help you dial in your workout routine and diet to see the best muscle gains without doing a dirty bulk, causing you to ultimately gain a ton of fat you just have to lose later!

#1: Use All Three Drivers Of Muscle Growth

There are 3 drivers of muscle growth – muscle tissue damage, mechanical tension and metabolic stress. So often we try to rely just on muscle tissue damage, lifting heavy and seeking to be sore.

We even skip those silly looking pumper exercises with mini bands that have small ranges of motion and really burn.

But when we don’t use these different moves with different ranges of motion, different points where the muscle is under the most tension, we miss out on using all three drivers of muscle growth.

We have to remember that soreness not a great indicator of how hard we’ve worked, we also may constantly be beating ourselves down, instead of using all 3 drivers to allow for the best results as quickly as possible.

Don’t only just focus on those heavy compound lifts and heavy weights.

You don’t just want to use big range of motion movements that load the muscle most when stretched like squats and deadlifts. Also use moves like hip thrusters, where the muscle has the most resistance applied where it is strongest (mechanical tension). And even use moves that create that pump and burn to benefits from the hypertrophy created by metabolic stress. Think mini band moves and smaller ranges of motion where the muscle is constantly under tension!

#2: Don’t Fear Protein and BCAAs

Protein is the building block of muscle. We need to make sure that we’re giving our muscles what they need to repair and rebuild.

And especially as we get older, we become less able to utilize protein efficiently.

It’s why timing even more protein, and specifically amino acids, right around our workouts can be key to create that anabolic environment.

This is extra essential for any women in menopause. It’s why you may find it essential to supplement with BCAAs prior to, or during your workout, while following up your workout with a quick protein shake or lean protein meal.

With hard training sessions, and our changing hormone levels, we are actually at risk for catabolizing muscle mass if we don’t get sufficient fuel to support growth even while focusing on lifting.

So using this timing around workouts, and optimizing everything with a BCAA supplement can help us get better results faster by making sure you get your muscles the fuel they need to repair when they are primed to do so.

#3: Stop Cutting Down Your Rest Times

Too often we try to make our workouts harder by cutting out rest between moves. But the more we reduce rest, the less we recover which means we may be able to lift less each and every round.

When driving toward muscle growth, we want to avoid just turning our workouts into cardio by eliminating rest. We want to focus on making each round through moves or supersets or trisets as hard as possible through how much we lift and maximizing each rep so we NEED the rest to recover for the next round to keep maintaining, or even increasing the weight.

The heavier you lift, the more you should want and use that rest to recover between rounds.

So as you change from even weight loss as your focus to gaining muscle, consider increasing rest and upping those weights!

#4: Focus On A QUALITY Calorie Surplus

I know we see these bulks where people chow down on all sorts of crazy delicious foods, but these extreme calorie surpluses don’t lead to better results faster. And often they just lead to a ton of unwanted fat gain we have to deal with later.

Instead focusing on a moderate surplus of even 100-400 calories is enough. Starting smaller and increasing based on your results can even be a good way to go if you’ve been more focused on weight loss previously and haven’t maintained your current level of leanness for long.

It can also be key to keep the calorie surplus smaller, or even a very small deficit of just 100 calories, if you aren’t as lean as you’d like to optimize fat loss while gaining muscle. Just make sure that you’re focused on increasing that protein.

And of course, the more quality our fuel, the better our body will function. So while it’s super tempting to eat a ton more…well…not so whole, natural foods, remember to stick with your 80/20 balance.

We want to enjoy the foods we love, but also still make sure our body gets not only the macros, but micronutrients we need.

#5: Focus On Compound Lifts First

When lifting to gain muscle, you want to think about working in multiple rep ranges to not only create muscle hypertrophy or growth but also build strength. Let’s face it, the more you can lift, the better your muscle gains will be.

So when you’re freshest, start with your biggest, heaviest lifts. Focus on big compound moves for slightly lower reps with longer rest periods at the start of your workout.

You can even separate these lifts out to be done on their own before any supersets, trisets or circuits.

Think even about working in that maximal strength rep range of 1-5 reps for 3-5 sets. Consider rest periods of even 3-5 minutes.

If you aren’t as advanced a lifter or really don’t enjoy getting near those max attempts even 5-8 reps can really be a great way to go!

But use those heavy lifts to help you gain strength to then be able to lift more as you do other more accessory compound moves in the 6-12 rep range for 3-4 sets, with more like 1-3 minutes of rest.

Lifting heavy will NOT make you bulky but will cause your muscles to have to repair and grow!

#6: Cut Back On Cardio

If you’re an endurance athlete, I’m not asking you to stop your passion. BUT you do want to recognize that steady state endurance cardio can be catabolic to muscle tissue and make it harder to gain muscle.

So if you can reduce your mileage for a time, it may be key to making better muscle gains more quickly.

We also don’t simply want to turn our lifting sessions into cardio workouts. If you want to optimize your muscle growth, now is not the time for more metabolic strength workouts. It’s not the time for tons of high intensity interval training.

Now is the time for focused lifting and longer rest periods!

#7: Strategically Finish With Isolation Moves

After you’ve focused first on those heavy lifts, you can strategically use isolation moves to capitalize on all 3 drivers of muscle growth and really target those stubborn muscles to fully fatigue them.

If you’re short on time, compound moves should be your focus, but if you have a lagging muscle group or an especially stubborn area, isolation exercises that hone in and target this area are super key for better results faster.

When you include these moves, use them at the end to fully fatigue the muscle so you don’t compensate in earlier moves. Consider higher reps even for many of these movements (12-20) and just a couple of rounds 1-3 at the end. This will encourage more muscle fiber recruitment for better results.

And ladies, working to fatigue for muscles may actually be even more key for you to see the hypertrophy results you want!

#8: Don’t Fear Carbs

Especially when trying to lose weight, many will cut out carbs. But when we train hard, and our focus especially shifts to gaining muscle, we need those carbs to create that anabolic environment and serve as immediate fuel for our sessions.

While it can be hard if you’ve recently lost weight to see the scale slightly increase as you increase carbs, it is truly key to embrace the process.

To start even, you may not increase carb intake overall for the day, but simply time them more around your training sessions as you transition into a gaining muscle phase.

Some complex carbs prior to your training to make sure you have full glycogen stores followed by some simple carbs post workout to replenish depleted stores can really help you make sure you’re fueling growth!

But do not fear those carbs! They truly are key to optimize hormone levels and fuel that lean muscle growth which will increase our resting metabolic rate and even help us look leaner while being functional stronger!

#9: Increase Your Training Frequency

We see so many bodybuilding programs with body part splits, training areas even just once a week. But you may actually get better results by increasing your training frequency, especially for stubborn areas.

Consider designing your workouts progressions to work areas even 2-3 times a week. While this may mean not doing as much per session, this increase in training frequency can really pay off.

Hemisphere splits or upper/lower splits and even full body training sessions may be helpful, especially if you don’t have as many days to train.

But if you’ve got a lagging area, don’t fear working it multiple times a week as long as you’re working it in different ways and still giving the muscle time off to repair and rebuild!

Bonus reminder:

While it can be tempting to try to train more to get results faster, there will be a point of diminishing returns. A point at which we are beating ourselves down and NOT rebuilding. We do NOT want to waste effort and hard work doing more than is needed, especially if it actually holds us back!

I know it can be hard to take a day off, but you’ll only see the results of your hard work in the gym if you give your body time to repair! Dialing in our recovery, from our fueling to making sure we get enough sleep, is so key if we want results as fast as possible.

Remember to design your workout progression so areas get rest over the week and you’re not constantly beating down your body!

SUMMARY:

Use these 9 tips to improve your muscle gains and see better results faster without the unwanted fat gain often associated with traditional bulks!

And if you’re looking for help and guidance to get the best results as fast as possible, check out my 1:1 Online Coaching!

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INTERMITTENT FASTING – Yay or Nay?

INTERMITTENT FASTING – Yay or Nay?

by | Jul 17, 2022 | Blog, Diet

I actually personally don’t consider Intermittent Fasting to be a “diet.”

It’s a meal timing. One that can be used with a variety of dietary preferences and macro breakdowns.

You can be Keto and use it. Or high carb and use it.

And it’s actually personally a meal timing strategy I’ve found not only useful but freeing over the years.

But as much as I personally enjoy it and find it to be a useful learning experience for many of my clients even if they don’t stick with it long-term, I don’t believe that Intermittent Fasting is right for everyone.

That’s why I want to discuss what Intermittent Fasting is and when and who may benefit from it so you can decide if it is right for you.

Because from our meal timing to our calorie intakes to our macro breakdown, the systems all have to work together to get us results.

And we have to be willing to adjust and change as our needs and goals change over time.

You may even find that things like Intermittent Fasting work for you to reach certain goals but fight against you when your goals or lifestyle change.

And we can’t be so married to something we aren’t open to shifting!

So before I dive into whether IF is right for you, I want to give a bit of background on what it is…

What Is Intermittent Fasting?

There are a few different types of Intermittent Fasting:
– Time Restricted Eating – A daily set eating window
– The 5:2 Method – Two days of a 500 calorie cap
– 24 Hour Fasts – Once to twice a week of a full 24 hour fast.

Basically Intermittent Fasting is restricting when you eat.

While there are different length fasts you can include, a very common form of IF is the 16/8 time restricted fast.

You will fast for 16 hours and then have an 8 hour eating window.

For many, this is really just skipping breakfast.

While technically you can skip any meal, the key is that you’re keeping all your meals into a specific shortened window each and every day.

If you do one of the other set ups, you may have a calorie allotment or full day you aren’t eating over just skipping a meal.

So Why Is Intermittent Fasting So Popular? What Are The Benefits?

Intermittent Fasting has gained mainstream attention over the years as not only a great thing to do for your health but also for fat loss.

And part of the reason why it became so popular is because people claimed you didn’t have to change what you were eating at all to see results.

You just had to ONLY eat within this set window and POOF magically the weight would melt off.

And having a set eating window does to some extent often help people get started losing weight – it creates a calorie deficit for many without them having to track just like cutting out a food group can often do with other forms of dieting.

It can help cut out mindless snacking and when you are restricted to only a set amount of time, it is easier to fill up when eating your daily calorie intake in a condensed period.

Plus for many it can feel more satisfying when in a calorie deficit to have this bigger meals over more frequent snacking. You can slightly get that “eat till you’re full” feeling.

Not to mention there simply isn’t as much meal planning to do which can make it easier to stick with the healthy habits.

So many find the simple lifestyle change sustainable while leading to the habits they need to lose weight.

From a more “scientific” perspective of why some believe IF to be so helpful for weight loss….

It is argued that it can promote stronger insulin sensitivity and increased growth hormone secretion – both of which also can help with gaining muscle, which in turn leads to better fat loss results.

The more we are able to focus on muscle mass retention, the less metabolic adaptations we suffer from as we lose weight. Muscle mass is metabolically costly, meaning it needs a lot of energy to be maintained.

In a deficit, we can often end up using muscle mass for fuel, especially if the deficit is too great.

So by promoting an anabolic environment we can prevent metabolic adaptations and burn more calorie at rest by promoting better muscle mass mention and growth!

It can also lead to better fat burning results, especially when at the end of a longer fast, part of why that 12-18 hours is recommended for IF. Some even argue it is especially helpful when you have that last little bit you want to lose off of stubborn areas.

The argument for this is that the low insulin levels reached during a fast, and the more time spent in this low insulin state, equates to a great time spent where fat can be mobilized from stubborn areas. And this state is different than the one seen with a low carb diet because triglycerides inhibit HSL or hormone sensitive lipase in a similar manner to insulin. HSL is basically activated to shuttle the fat out of the cell to be burned off.

But because of this fatty acid mobilization and the fact that some studies have shown fasting to increase specifically abdominal subcutaneous blood flow, the argument has been made that IF can promote better stubborn belly fat loss as well. Which may be a reason for women especially during menopause to consider trying IF while dialing in their macros as estrogen levels decreasing during menopause can lead to more stubborn belly fat accumulating.

And while many turn to fasting for the weight loss benefits, other benefits people tout with fasting include….

* Reduces your risk for cancer.
* Decreases triglycerides and LDL as well as cholesterol and inflammation markers.
* Reduces blood pressure.
* Improves cardiovascular function.
* Improves your brain functioning and can even help prevent conditions such as Parkinson’s, Dementia and Alzheimer’s.

But as we know, nothing is a magic pill.

And part of the benefits often associated with fasting studies have shown may be achieved by simply creating a deficit and then maintaining a healthy weight overall regardless of your meal timing.

We have to remember that one size doesn’t fit all….

So….What Are The Downsides?

Now a downside is NOT that your muscle will melt off if you miss a meal.

And you do NOT need to eat every two hours and 6 small meals a day to keep your metabolism humming.

And no, breakfast is not the most important meal of the day and you’re doomed if you skip it.

So in terms of huge negative consequences from fasting, I just don’t really see that there are any, especially when it comes to weight loss.

But that still does NOT mean it is a magic pill or right for you.

You can’t just eat whatever you want in whatever quantity you want just because you are only eating in a set window.

Macros and calories still matter.

If you dial those in, any meal timing that fits your lifestyle is going to work.

Forcing a meal timing that doesn’t fit your schedule or lifestyle will backfire no matter how magical it is even touted to be.

And that’s all too often the main reason why Intermittent Fasting doesn’t work for people.

They’re forcing a meal timing that isn’t realistic or sustainable for them and then they don’t know how to truly dial in their nutrition to match their needs and goals when they take out the restriction of an eating window.

If you train first thing in the morning, trying to fast until the afternoon probably won’t work out. And while you can make your eating window earlier, many don’t find that lifestyle sustainable as it means you’re eating dinner earlier than you’d like to maintain.

For others fasting ultimately results in overeating. They become so hungry they end up overeating even though it’s during a set window. And they find that their cravings increase.

So if you aren’t finding that fasting makes your life EASIER, there is no point in doing it. Especially because you can simply achieve the same benefits through a calorie deficit and by dialing in your macros.

And if fat loss isn’t your goal, fasting may NOT be the ideal meal schedule, especially if you aren’t training late enough in the day to break your fast before your workout.

While fasted training can potentially help our fat loss efforts, it may backfire when we are trying to gain muscle.

Having full glycogen stores to create that anabolic environment and help your body repair and rebuild can be key, especially if you’re a hard gainer or advanced lifter who won’t see those newbie gains. Gaining muscle is a slow process and for many of us it requires really creating the right environment and having fuel readily available.

Not to mention fasting may mean your energy levels are lower than ideal so you can’t push your training in the gym as hard as you’d like to create that progressive overload.

Now that being said, many will still love IF even while trying to build muscle.

So now the question is….

Should You Do Intermittent Fasting?

There are two main reasons I most often use it with clients:

1. To help them better understand their true hunger cues because so often we just get USED to eating at set times over really understanding what our body is telling us.
2. To work around their schedule to make hitting their macros and feeling full and satisfied easier.

If this meal timing feels right for you, great. Use it.

Everything we include in our lifestyle should be focused on our needs and goals.

And for many of us, fasting allows us to eat when we are hungry and maintain the macros and calories we need to feel fueled while seeing results.

It gives us a freedom to adjust our meals around whatever works even that day.

But whatever your fitness goal, no meal schedule is going to get you results if your calories and macros aren’t in line with your needs and goals.

You still need to focus on overall macros and calories for the day. If those aren’t in line, you’re not going to see results PERIOD.

You can still overeat eating within a small window.

So it isn’t some magic fat loss fix.

Not to mention, if your goal is gaining muscle, and you’ve found you’re really struggling, sticking with IF no matter how much you loved it for fat loss, may work against you.

Change requires change and you may find you need to adjust your meal timing to help make sure you’re creating that anabolic environment.

While this could just mean a pre-workout meal to break your fast instead of eating first thing after, you may find you do need to swap to a longer eating window and more meals.

The key is finding what works for your current needs and goals!

And ladies, you may find you respond differently to IF than you men do.

Studies have shown potentially fewer benefits from IF for women, and even more adverse effects in terms of adrenal stress and even muscle mass loss in pre-menopausal women.

So it may be good, if you aren’t naturally a meal skipper, to start with a shorter fast and only build up to a longer length if it feels right.

However, for females, because of the changes we go through in menopause, Intermittent Fasting may become a more useful tool as we get older. Because we can develop insulin resistance during menopause and lower estrogen levels can lead to more belly fat being gained, IF may be a nice complement to changes in our macros to help us avoid that dreaded menopausal weight gain.

SUMMARY:

The key with IF is to realize that our meal timing needs to match our needs and goals. Experiment to find what feels best for you. But realize results come from all systems being dialed in focused on what you need. And that meals your meal timing, calories and macros all need to work together and you need to be willing to adjust over time!

Ready to create the perfect lifestyle for YOUR needs and goals?

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8 Odd Weight Loss Tips I Wish I Knew Sooner 

8 Odd Weight Loss Tips I Wish I Knew Sooner 

by | Jul 10, 2022 | Blog, Diet, Exercises

The secret to results is to be goldilocks and look for the thing that is “just right.”

And the best way to get that “just right” plan for ourselves, is to create it. We need to find that combination of what is RIGHT and what we can do CONSISTENTLY.

That sweet spot is where the magic happens.

Because what is “right” won’t pay off if we can’t repeat those habits consistently. Just like doing the wrong things consistently will only lead to trouble.

But to find what is right for us, we need to step away from seeking some perfect plan or getting caught up in some ideals of perfection when it comes to our training and nutrition.

It’s why I wanted to share 8 tips I’ve discovered really make the difference in creating that just right plan for you…tips that many people won’t like because they don’t promote clean eating ideals or even the no pain no gain mentality that is so popular!

Tip 1: Sometimes it’s better to just give into the cravings over fighting them.

We often waste a ton of effort fighting what we want. And while achieving results DOES mean some sacrifice, too often we just deplete our self control by constantly restricting.

Sometimes it is better to just give in, satisfy a craving and move forward. Often we feel better with our overall plan and less restricted and more willing to stick with things when we also get to include foods we really love and crave.

Sometimes indulging is what we need to be able to stay consistent, strike a lifestyle balance and stay on track.

Too often in our attempt to avoid the thing we want we end up eating more in the end or we end up eating things that honestly are just as bad. And on top of that we ultimately only eventually give in, which because we’ve felt so restricted, can lead to overeating the thing we initially wanted anyway.

Sometimes just preemptively having that thing can help us find a better balance and avoid that binge cycle!

Tip 2: Drink your diet drink.

Fake sweeteners have become super demonized. And while the data really doesn’t support that demonization, I’m not going to tell you that diet drinks are healthy.

However, I do feel like they can also be key to us creating something sustainable that we ENJOY.

Honestly, sometimes when you want something sweet or you want something to satisfy a craving, swapping in that diet drink can help us strike a balance. Having that diet soda may actually help you stay more consistent and be healthier overall. Too often we get caught up in the “one bad thing” instead of seeing the overall healthier balance it can help us create.

It may help you avoid other unhealthy foods and “cost” you less overall.

It may be the way you start to even transition yourself off of sugar filled drinks.

It’s all about small improvements and finding our balance.

So don’t fear sometimes swapping one not so ideal thing for something that makes an improvement in your life even if it isn’t yet “perfect.”

Also we have to find our balance. If a diet soda keeps you overall consistent, that vice may be what you need to actually hit that 80/20 balance not just for a few days or months but for YEARS…

Tip 3: Plan in meals out.

Often when we start a new diet we avoid going out because it isn’t as easy to stay on track.

But this can also backfire and make us always feel like that person on a diet. It’s what can lead to us becoming even burnt out with the changes.

If you enjoy meals out, plan them in. If you need the break with cooking, plan in your favorite restaurant meals.

Find ways to work in things you love, even planning in those meals out first to adjust the rest of your day around.

And then just log the best you can. Sure it may not be perfect, but logging as consistently as you can is key. And then watch how that meal impacts you. If you’re not seeing results, you can always adjust. You can always make swaps to dishes to more easily hit your macros.

Or you can even find new restaurants that list out nutritional info to make grabbing lunch on the go easier.

But don’t avoid habits and routines you love. Find ways to work them in.

Because completely cutting out habits and routines we enjoy ultimately derails us just to try to be perfect short term. But we need to be careful with that all or nothing attitude.

We need to remember that long-term consistency is key!

Tip 4: Want fast results? Be ready to sacrifice.

We all want to hear it will be easy to see results. And while we can definitely see results by making fewer changes to start, the faster we want to see results, the more we have to embrace some sacrifice and focus more on perfection in those new habits.

Basically the faster we want results, the more dedicated to the changes and the harder we have to be willing to push, especially to start.

And too often I think we gloss over this fact. We try to make things sound as easy for ourselves as possible, but I think this sets us up for failure because we then aren’t prepared for the challenges that pop up.

It does take more perfection short term and more sacrifice short term, the quicker we want to see dramatic changes and the further we are from our goal. Also the longer we’ve been in our current situation and the more we have working against us, the more we have to OVERCORRECT to start.

But we have to remember we have to base these changes on a solid foundation of those basics so that we can steer back to sustainable as we reach our goals.

It’s why macros and designing clear workout progressions are key. These fundamentals allow us to create sustainable habits even if we do more of a cut to start or shift into more of a muscle gaining phase. These fundamentals don’t change even as we transition into maintenance even if their exact implementation adjusts with time.

We have to remember that what it takes to reach a goal will NOT be the same thing we have to do to maintain it!

Tip 5: The longer you’ve struggled, the longer you’ll struggle….sorry this is just a reality.

If you just gained the weight recently and haven’t had it on for long, if you’ve done a diet or workout plan before and see results, you’re going to see faster results this time through. You know the pain, your body also isn’t content where it is, and so your body will respond quicker.

It’s why it isn’t really fair to compare your results to someone who just gained a few pounds over the holidays if you’ve been up in weight for years. It’s why you can’t base your results on that of a trainer or bodybuilder who gains and loses weight all of the time.

The longer you’ve had the weight on, the less you’re familiar with what you need to do, the HARDER it will be to really get the ball rolling.

So if you’re struggling with taking on a new challenge, if you’ve struggled with hormonal changes and with weight that has been on a very long time, get ready to really grind it out without seeing the progress you so desperately crave to start.

Realize it WILL be harder for you.

So set habit goals to give yourself daily things to focus on. It’s key to really create those changes that build toward the long-term results we want. And track those habits as you implement to celebrate those as wins because you have to find a way to embrace the process.

Tip 6: Stop feeling guilty.

I mean this in so many ways, but we’ve got to stop the guilt if we want to truly change our lifestyle. We are human. We’re never going to be perfect.

Don’t feel guilty if you want to fit something into your macros that isn’t healthy. Don’t feel guilty for a skipped workout. Don’t feel guilty for a day not going as planned or eating out of stress.

Often these things don’t derail us, it’s the guilt that changes our habits and mindsets for days after that adds up.

So focus on what you can always do to move forward. Focus on meeting yourself where you are at. Focus on 1% improvements and seeing everything as a learning process!

But stop sabotaging yourself by making yourself feel guilty for being HUMAN.

Tip 7: Stop trying to just exercise for longer.

Focusing on making your workouts longer is a waste of time. Period.

The only reason your workout should get longer is because you’re training for a specific competition or your rest times have to be ridiculously long for max attempt lifts.

Honestly, too often we make our workouts longer and just waste a lot of time and effort. It often also leads to us being extra tired and burnt out and hungry which ultimately leads to hormonal issues, metabolic adaptations and cravings that backfire and sabotage us.

So often us trying to train more as we eat less is what sabotages our weight loss efforts and makes us feel like we just don’t have self control.

It’s also what leads to more metabolic adaptations so we can feel like we aren’t losing while starving ourselves. Our body fights against what it sees as starvation.

So stop just trying to do MORE.

Use your training to build muscle and move well. Focus on using the time you realistically have to train wisely!

Tip 8: Don’t turn strength workouts just into cardio.

Too often we seek just to feel worked from our workouts. To be tired and burn a ton of calories.

But this is why we can feel our programs are unsustainable and we get skinny without looking leaner. It’s what can hold us back from actually seeing the body recomp we want, and getting the lean arms or toned abs we desire.

Because cardio doesn’t build muscle and can even be catabolic to it. It can ultimately make us look softer especially if we are in that calorie deficit to lose weight.

So when you do strength work, don’t fear rest. Don’t feel like you have to be destroyed and out of breath every single workout. Track your numbers and focus on progressive overload! Focus on lifting more and really challenging those muscles so they are forced to repair and rebuild stronger!

SUMMARY:

As tempting as it is to do more, to strive for perfection in our diet and workouts, results really come from 1% improvements and meeting ourselves where we are at!

You need to find the “right things” that you can truly be consistent with long term!

Set yourself up for success. Get the coaching and support you need to learn how to rock those results no matter your age…

–> Learn more about Redefining Strength’s coaching program!

 

10 Weight Loss Hacks (That Actually Work)

10 Weight Loss Hacks (That Actually Work)

by | May 22, 2022 | Blog, Diet, Exercises

You’ve lost the weight…now what? You can’t just go back to what you were doing prior, but you also can’t stay in a deficit forever!

Instead you’ve got to transition into maintaining, knowing that it will be a process as you find the balance right for you. But what does maintaining your results really mean?

Since it can be a challenging process, I wanted to share 10 tips to help you find the lifestyle balance you need to maintain your results forever.

 

10 Weight Loss Hacks To Help You Keep The Weight Off For Good:

1: Realize your weight will fluctuate.

Maintaining doesn’t mean there won’t be little ups and downs. The scale will still often fluctuate daily due to inflammation, water retention, even your meal timing the day before.

The key is realizing you have the tools to “catch” things before they become an issue or you start the trend backward.

But also be conscious that as you balance out, you may see a slight scale increase. Do not stress! And then use other forms of measurement as you maintain as the scale won’t show muscle gains which can be occurring as you go out of that weight loss deficit.

Focus on how your clothing fits and even take measurements at set intervals!

2: Don’t cut out processed foods.

The more you restrict foods, demonize things, the more you cause yourself to crave things and ultimately derail your consistency.

Part of why we can never maintain our results is because we don’t know how to work in the things we enjoy and love and WANT to eat at some point.

Food is not just fuel.

If you enjoy candy, find ways to work it in as you build those maintenance habits and transition into maintaining your results.

Find ways to work in the things you love first.

And also recognize we have to stop these sweeping undefined labels. Not all processed foods are just evil.

Heck, technically COOKING is processing a food so watch the labeling as it often only creates guilt instead of balance.

3: Create mini cycles.

Most of us don’t do well without direction, with just doing something “forever.”

Even when maintaining your results, set mini goals, set little cycles for yourself where you have a specific focus.

Test out ratios. See how calories impact you.

Experiment with cycles.

Focus a bit more on body recomp or more on gaining muscle. Not so much that you’re cutting or bulking but just so you have a focus for your fueling and training.

4: Set performance goals!

There is no better way to give yourself mini cycles with end dates than to set performance goals.

Not only can these give you direction in your training but they keep you training hard and fueling well which only promotes retention of your aesthetic changes!

If you want to achieve that first full pull up, design your workouts to work toward that. Even make sure your diet fuels that muscle growth and performance so you can train hard each and every session!

5: Track. Yup. Track.

I know we think tracking is just about weight loss, but learning to maintain our results is a process in and of itself and tracking allows us to make sure we are dialing everything in and slowly transitioning out of that deficit.

It also allows us to make sure we are eating enough to fuel our performance goals.

So while in maintenance you may not track as strictly or even every day, remember that tracking can be that accountability and check in especially if you do feel your energy dipping or your pants getting a bit tight.

You now have a tool you can use any time you need to tweak something and move forward!

6: Realize you won’t always be motivated.

Accept that maintaining means that at points you still want to do little cuts for that beach vacation or little muscle gaining periods to lift a bit more.

There will be holidays where you don’t care and times of year you want to lean down to feel extra fabulous.

Ebbs and flows should be embraced and we need to realize we won’t always be 100% motivated in the same way.

So while we want to set boundaries or bumpers so we don’t go to either extreme, we have to realize we will fluctuate with time.

7: Embrace minimums.

When trying to maintain our results, there will be times we really only do the minimum. But that SOMETHING is what keeps us on track and maintaining even if it isn’t driving us forward toward a specific goal.

Minimums may be calorie caps or protein minimums. It may be a Plan B to our workout routine if we’re busy or a modified schedule just so we do something.

But we won’t always be motivated and there may be times life and stresses need to take priority. These minimums help us avoid losing ground while striking a lifestyle balance.

Consistency is key and this helps us be better than we would have been otherwise to keep us maintaining the results we worked hard for!

8: Don’t diet on holidays OR vacations.

There are 300 days of the year you can focus on working toward a specific goal. But holidays and vacations are not one of those days!

Sometimes we may need to set boundaries for ourselves to keep moving forward as fast as possible, whether it is a calorie cap or even pre-planning what we will eat, but too often we worry about gaining weight or losing weight on the holidays or vacation.

When really that one day doesn’t matter. Heck even those two days don’t matter.

It’s all the days AROUND the event that matter.

Stay on track before the event and get right back to your healthy habits after.

It is 100% a-ok to just enjoy those days without guilt or stress or worry.

9: Always have the day after plan.

Often it isn’t the actual missed workout or day of overeating or stress eating that causes us to sabtoge our results. It isn’t the vacation or party.

It’s the fact that we feel guilty and that one day becomes two days or weeks or even months before we get back to the habits we need.

We let the old habits sneak back in and snowball.

Having pre-prepped meals for the next day already available to get us back on track or a progression, with even a plan b laid out, can help us get right back to our routines and habits.

Especially if you’ve gone on vacation or have a party, plan ahead for how you’re going to get right back to your habits the day after. That will allow you to make sure that one day doesn’t add up and you keep maintaining the results you worked hard for.

10: Try new things!

Often when we are trying to lose weight we get into very set routines and even very repetitive in how we are training and fueling because it is working.

But these same habits and routines can get boring. And when we get bored we are more likely to slip back into old habits.

So find new things to challenge you. Find new things to learn and experiment with.

Test out new macros and recipes. Experiment with new training splits and even moves.

Have some fun experimenting and learning to keep your training and eating interesting!

SUMMARY:

Just remember maintaining is itself a process. And with these 10 tips you can maintain the weight loss results you’ve worked hard to build!

Stuck and struggling to see the results you want and deserve?

Watch this video for my 3 Step Weight Loss Recipe.

Eat MORE And LOSE Fat?! Here’s How

Eat MORE And LOSE Fat?! Here’s How

by | Apr 24, 2022 | Blog, Diet, fat loss-featured

I know we’ve always heard calories in vs calories out is all that matters. And that you need to eat less and create that calorie deficit if you want to lose weight.

However, more is not better when it comes to a deficit, and trying to eat less and create a bigger deficit may backfire if we want to achieve sustainable fat loss results and our ideal lean aesthetic.

Because as much as your goal may be weight loss, you want fat loss. And fat loss can’t be rushed by eating less.

Actually forcing an extreme deficit may be why we’re even GAINING weight while under eating not to mention losing muscle instead of just focusing on fat loss.

I’m going to break down what happens when we undereat and why cycling ratios over cutting calories is key! And then I’m going to go into how to create the appropriate deficit for your needs and goals and why we may have to RE-TRAIN your body to eat more before we can focus on cutting!

Our Body Fights Weight Loss

The reason we need a deficit to lose weight is because we need to force our body to use its own energy stores to fuel. When we have less energy coming in than we need to fuel our activity and survival, we utilize stored energy. This is how we lose weight by using stored glycogen and mobilizing fat stores to fuel!

However, our body wants to maintain balance, even if the balance isn’t necessarily healthy or ideal. And the longer we’ve been at a certain weight, or above our ideal, the more our body doesn’t want to change from that point.

Our body wants to resist change and protect its fuel stores and avoid “starving” which is what it is so to speak “scared of” when you go into a deficit and start consuming less. It’s why our body resists losing weight.

And this is even when we do it in a HEALTHY way with a small deficit, nutrient dense foods and macro ratios matched to our needs and goals.

 Now…What Happens In An Extreme Deficit? Why Can It Backfire?

When you try to create a more extreme deficit and slash your calories extra low, you may see results faster to start initially. Your body immediately is depleted and needs to tap into stored energy.

However, your body adapts as quickly as it can to avoid this extreme deprivation impacting overall survival. While annoying for our weight loss efforts, this is a natural protection response.

When our body is continually under fed, ghrelin increases, which is the hormone that triggers hunger, particularly for sweet and fatty foods while leptin decreases, which is the hormone that regulates energy intake by telling the brain to stop eating. 

We also start to expend less energy to conserve our stores. So even if you’re trying to train harder to lose weight, you may find your workouts suffer and your output decreases.

Even if you do manage to train hard and push through, our bodies compensate by actually starting to burn fewer calories at rest.

Not to mention, underfueling especially if you aren’t conscious at all of macros, very quickly will lead to muscle loss. 

And losing muscle only further slows our resting metabolic rate.

If we’re under fueling and over training, our basal metabolic rate drops and non-exercise thermogenesis, or the calories burned from things like fidgeting decreases. 

Basically, we suffer from metabolic adaptations that allow us to function on the reduced calories. Which ultimately means that us starving ourselves with 900 calories a day becomes all our body thinks it needs to survive as it regulates all other functioning to match the intake you’re giving it. 

It leads to us NOT losing weight while under eating and feeling the need to slash our calories lower to get results. It also leads to us feeling extra hungry.

And when we then do overeat, we ultimately store this energy as fat because our body doesn’t “need” it to fuel. It’s adapted to the lower calories despite the hunger signals!

Have You Destroyed Your Metabolism?

The short answer is…not permanently. Yes you’ve created metabolic adaptations, BUT these can be reversed.

Will it take time and be uncomfortable and require you to sometimes go backward with your results before you move forward? 

Unfortunately, yes.

But if you don’t take time to reverse these adaptations, you’re going to keep undereating and still gaining. Your going to keep perpetuating the same cycle and not be moving forward anyway. 

While it’s hard to go against things we’ve been taught, like eat less to weigh less, you’ve got to step back and EAT MORE to reverse the metabolic “damage”

It’s the only way. 

And yes, it may lead to you gaining weight to start.

But A. This can be muscle you actually are starting to gain, which will ultimately HELP your metabolic rate and lead to better results faster.

And B. You’ve got to allow your body time to return to hormonal balance to then move forward if you ever want to see progress, and maintain those results long term.

So as sucky as it is to honestly take actions you know may move you further away from your goal to start, it’s the only way ultimately to truly move forward and see results.

So how do you get yourself out of this cycle of starvation and re-train your body to eat more?

Step Back – Re-Train Your Body To Eat More!

Variations of this retraining process are called Reverse Dieting.

Depending on your mindset with it all and how many big changes you feel you can handle at once, you may start by adjusting your macros before changing and increasing your calories.

First track what you’re currently doing no matter what. This allows you to make accurate adjustments based on your needs.

One way to approach first making changes is to adjust macros at your current calories, increasing protein, and then, as you dial in that ratio, start to slowly increase calories, 100 calories at a time.

A lucky few actually see weight loss during this, especially with the ratio change. But most, will see weight steadily creep on, even multiple pounds in the first few days, with the calorie bumps.

This will slow. 

Most of the time you should seek to increase by at least 500 calories from your starting point, maintain that for a week or two before considering re-creating a deficit. 

Adjusting your macros, and using specific higher protien ratios as you increase calories, helps use this extra fuel to build muscle and balance out your hormones. With the higher protein ratios, you will benefit from the thermic effect of that macro as much as possible to avoid you gaining any more fat than necessary.

Once you’ve gone through this process to train your body to use more calories, you will start to do small deficit adjustments, often only 100 calories lower than where you’ve built to. You will also adjust macros to more weight loss focused ratios to help kickstart those results.

Now occasionally if you’re super ready to just embrace the gain and risk more coming on quickly to help be able to jump back into losing faster, you can do a fast bump up right away. This also works out better if you’ve tracked in the past and are willing to potentially go higher protein or make a more dramatic macro change as well.

The downside, is your body doesn’t like change and this can lead to bloating or energy shifts and such. These can go away quickly BUT it’s something to be aware of.

This will often also lead to massive jumps on the scale to start but also a quicker leveling off. 

Neither one is really wrong, part of it is mentally what makes us feel best with the process, how far we have to go to really re-train our body and also appetite and activity level. 

The more active and hungrier we feel, the easier it is often to increase calories quickly.

If you have less of an appetite and are less active, it can be harder to increase calories dramatically all at once, making the slower increases more beneficial.

You need to be aware that it WILL feel like taking a step back at first and that often you feel like you’re losing ground, even having to start over so that you can ultimately progress forward.

Now Don’t Say You’re Too Old…

Often this whole process actually becomes more important to do the older we get, and especially during menopause.

As much as re-training our bodies is hard and uncomfortable and will especially lead to weight gain to start during menopause, we need to do it NOW to set ourselves up for long term success.

During menopause our apettite may also already increase as our metabolic rate slows. Throw in under fueling and overtraining in our attempt to reverse the menopausal weight gain and we have a recipe for disaster.

So as hard as it can be when you already see the scale increasing, it’s increasingly important you embrace learning to eat more!

Eating more and dialing in those macros will preserve your lean muscle mass and even help you build muscle. This is essential as we get older as it becomes harder to build and retain lean muscle, which is part of why our metabolism slows with age.

If you under fuel, you put yourself at great risk for muscle mass loss which can not only impact your quality of life and lead to a whole host of other issues including great risk for fracture, but it can make the weight loss process more and more of a struggle as you get older.

So do what you can as soon as you can. And realize that with getting older, learning to fuel correctly and eat more is even more key!

If you want help with this process to create a sustainable plan, click the link below to learn more about my 3-Step Recipe For Results!

–> The Simple Recipe For Results (note I didn’t say “easy”)

15 FAT LOSS TIPS That Changed My Life

15 FAT LOSS TIPS That Changed My Life

by | Apr 17, 2022 | Blog, Diet, fat loss-featured

Struggling to lose weight? Need that little tip to kickstart your results?

Well let me save you a lot of wasted time and effort experimenting to find what works and share 15 tips I’ve found to make all the difference in my results.

CHECK OUT THE FULL VIDDEO BLOG BELOW:

1: Working In Foods You Love First

For me this is dessert.

Often the thing we love most is the least healthy for us so we cut it out first. But we need to do the opposite and actually PLAN IT IN FIRST to work everything else around it and create a lifestyle balance.

When we cut out the foods we love, we sabotage ourselves. Restricting them just leads to us wanting them more and ultimately binging on them and falling off our plan.

Work in the foods you love so you want to stay consistent with the healthy lifestyle you are building!

2: Quality Does, And Doesn’t, Matter

Obviously whole natural foods are best for our health.

But you can STILL overeat healthy foods.

If you’ve been frustrated not seeing weight loss results while thinking “My diet is healthy and clean,” realize that your portions could still be off.

And we also need to stop making ourselves feel guilty for enjoying some not so quality foods as we strike the balance right for us.

Follow the 80/20 rule, consuming whole, natural, nutrient dense foods 80% of the time while still enjoying the not as quality foods you love.

And remember, portions still really matter!

3: It’s Not Forever

Nothing works forever.

While we want to make true habit and lifestyle changes, we need to realize that our needs and goals will change with time and our diet and exercise routines will need to adjust and adapt as well.

You’re building a foundation with the changes you’re making but you can’t get so tied to something you aren’t willing to adjust with time.

Focus on truly LEARNING the fundamentals and basics so you understand how things work for you so you can adjust as you need when your lifestyle and goals change.

4: Keep It Simple, Butthead

It’s so easy to get caught up in all of the options out there. And it isn’t stupid to want to overcomplicate things.

But we do need to keep it SIMPLE if we want the best results. As the more details we add all at once, the more our attention gets divided and the harder we make it on ourselves to dial in the big picture plan, which matters most.

We’re being a butthead, and I mean that as a slight term of endearment, if we start worrying about details like meal timing and supplements and best foods for fat loss before we first simply get consistent with our workout routine while dialing in our overall macros and calories for the day.

So set a few big picture things to start with and get consistent with before you worry about anything else!

5: Stop Overcorrecting

We’re human.

There will be days that don’t go as planned, days we just aren’t motivated, days that we just “mess up.”

But instead of feeling guilty, instead of trying to do more the next day to make up for it, we just need to get right back to those habits.

We need to do what we can as soon as we can to just MOVE FORWARD.

It’s like if we get a flat tire, we don’t slash the other three! Nope. We fix the flat or call a tow truck so we can get moving forward as fast as possible. Don’t make the situation worse.

Don’t try to do more to correct it as that will also often backfire.

Just move forward.

6: Focus On Strength Training Over Cardio

Our workouts should be about more than just burning calories. So while we may burn more calories in a single cardio session over a strength session, this shouldn’t really be our focus.

Training is about becoming functional stronger and moving our best.

And if we want to really improve our weight loss efforts, we need to focus less on how many calories we burn in a single session and more on how we can increase our lean muscle mass to raise our metabolic rate and burn more calories even at rest.

So focus on strength training to actually see better results faster, especially as we get older. Since it becomes harder to build and retain lean muscle, we want to do everything we can to promote better muscle hypertrophy!

7: You Can’t Just Listen To Your Body

We wouldn’t be struggling to lose weight if we could just eat intuitively. Intuitive eating needs to be learned.

So if you’re trying to achieve body recomposition, you won’t be able to just listen to your body and eat according to its cues.

Our body don’t like change and they believe the state they’ve been in, the weight you’ve been at, is normal. So your body will resist any weight loss efforts.

You’ll feel hungry.

There will be mental struggles as you make changes to habits you’ve always done.

But change requires change.

8: There’s No Quick Fix

Plain and simple, change doesn’t happen overnight. And even expecting to reverse 10 years of weight gain in a single year, is truly overnight results.

The longer we’ve had the weight on, the longer we’ve been repeating habits that don’t work, the longer it will take to see changes.

And often the closer we get to our goal, the slower the progress will be especially if we are trying to see true fat loss and not just quickly lose weight on the scale through glycogen depletion and water weight being lost!

So get ready to focus on consistency over doing more to get results faster. We can’t out exercise or out diet time!

9: Recovery Is Key

Often we try to do more by training longer and harder and cutting out more from our diet.

But often the MORE we really need is more rest and recovery.

Those “easy” recovery sessions, when we relax and sleep and de-stress, that is when we are actually repairing and seeing the benefits of our hard training sessions and changes in macro ratios.

Without recovery time, you are just going to keep beating yourself down instead of ever allowing your results to build up!

So prioritize sleep. Plan in rest days. Do that rehab work! It may not “feel” beneficial but it is truly what makes your hard work add up!

10: Avoid Restriction

Often we cut out more in an attempt to get results faster. But all this does is make our habits unsustainable.

It’s what makes us feel like we just don’t have the discipline, self control or willpower to see the results we want.

When really we just aren’t being realistic. We aren’t basing things off of our needs and goals.

Don’t focus on cutting out. First focus on small swaps that feel like the smallest changes and realize there can be a balance.

Even start by doing the MINIMUM, knowing results will snowball.

11: Be Active

The more you do, the more you do. And when we stay active, we often want to do more things that keep us moving in a positive direction.

It’s much easier to get lazy and eat extra crap when you’re just lazing around.

So get moving.

Go out for walks. They’re a great way to burn more fat and get in more movement without stressing your body.

But get active and stay.

Especially the leaner you get and closer to your goal you get, as you’ve been in a deficit for longer, the more your body may actually move less to conserve energy.

Be conscious of this and make sure to make an effort to stay active throughout the day!

12: Macros Over Calories

Macros matter most for sustainable results. The ratio you use may impact the calories right for you and impact how full you feel.

And higher protein ratios can help prevent unwanted fat gain if you are in a surplus while helping aid in muscle mass retention during a deficit.

Actually high protein ratios are the only ones shown to even help you build muscle while in a deficit.

So let your macros then dictate how you dial in your calories. Don’t just focus on calories in vs. calories out!

13: You’re Not An All Or Nothing Person

Often we think if we can’t do everything at once, there is no point in doing anything.

This not only gives us an excuse not to start but it makes us feel like we’ve failed if one thing doesn’t go as planned.

But results don’t happen because of what we do when we are perfect. From doing more for a week.

They happen because we stick with the minimum consistently day after day.

Remember that small changes build. And that the more we can ingrain one habit, the easier it becomes to replicate even on days we don’t feel like it.

So focus on those small changes and set some minimums you know you can hit so results can snowball.

14: Stop Doing More

The simple fact of the matter is, you can’t out exercise or out diet time.

And often the more we try to rush results, the more we simple deplete our self control and willpower so we can’t stay consistent long term.

Many of us have repeated this restriction, binge, guilt cycle.

We do so much, burn ourselves out with the restriction, end up binging, feel guilty, fall off, then can’t get back on track for a bit and even dig ourselves more of a hole to crawl out of.

Focus on small sustainable changes. Realize results simply take time and get ready for the long haul celebrating those daily habits as wins themselves.

And I saved the best for last…

15: Tracking

I know people hate on tracking for being restrictive, tedious, boring, annoying, time consuming, frustrating.

But what we measure, we can manage.

Tracking gives you an accurate picture of what you’re doing both diet-wise and in your workouts so you can make accurate adjustments.

If you want to create the right portion sizes for you without having to cut out the foods you love, you need to track.

If you want to make sure you’re getting stronger and progressing in your workouts, you need to track.

So as unsexy and annoying as it is to start, it truly is the best way to avoid wasting time and know what is and isn’t working!

SUMMARY:

So if you’ve been struggling to see results, start with even just one of these tips as your focus and BUILD. Because the hardest part is getting started and the more you do, the more you’ll want to do.

We just often need to get that ball rolling!

Ready to create your own recipe for results?

–> The 3-Step Recipe For Fabulous Fat Loss Results