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Best Exercise To Lose Weight With PCOS
One of the biggest factors I have found over the years in helping thousands of women with PCOS lose weight is that you need to reframe your thoughts on the role exercise plays in your life with regard to your condition.
Women shy away from getting in the Gym and lifting weights in a structured manner, for gruelling HIIT workouts and hours upon hours of cardio work because they believe this will burn the most amount of calories for them.
If you have PCOS and you are doing this, please see this Blog Post as a sign to stop.
One of the key aspects of your condition is raised testosterone and androgen levels. You should see this aspect of your physiology as an opportunity — an opportunity to stop focusing your exercise regimen on losing weight, but actually on getting stronger.
Due to your condition, you have this natural ability to build strength and muscle, which will make your whole weight loss journey a lot easier.
It will:
Improve your relationship with fitness
Build your self-confidence
Build your self-esteem
Improve your dietary behaviours
When you get these in place, your weight loss will come along as a consequence of your desire to get strong. Getting stronger will help you with dealing with your PCOS Belly Fat, weight loss with PCOS and getting a lot stronger in your mind, body and soul.
Building strength first and then achieving your weight loss goals, because no bad comes from getting stronger.
I have been working with women just like you, with PCOS for a long time, and this is the exact strategy I have used to help them achieve the changes in their life that they were after.
Just like my client Sarah who is on the Strong & Confident Program who lost two stone when getting stronger:
“The foundation of a leaner body is muscle mass, not the absence of fat. ”
My coaching program is called The Strong & Confident Program and yes, it does help people lose weight, but it also teaches you get stronger in your soul, body and mind.
If that sounds like something you might need help with either right now, or you think you might at some point in the future then it’s probably a good idea you send me a friend request. You can do that by just putting in your email address below, and we can stay in touch that way….
Thank you for becoming my friend.
Now let me show you the best way to exercise to lose weight with PCOS.
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Table of Contents
How This Workout Plan Works
The Best Workouts To Lose Weight With PCOS: Day 1 and Day 2
How To Lose Weight And Get Strong with PCOS
HOW THIS WORKOUT PLAN WORKS
How Many Workouts A Week Are You Going To Do?
This plan is two full-body workouts a week.
If you are new to working out, or even if you are just resetting yourself and getting back into it, the good news is you don’t need to be in the gym four to five times a week in order to get stronger and lose some fat.
You will make incredible progress if you can just get into the gym two times a week and work out with enough intensity for the next 3-4 months.
And this program is the start of that.
How Many Workouts Are In The Plan?
Two. Two Beginner Workouts.
I am aware that variety can be important when it comes to working out, but variety is also counterintuitive to your long-term motivation and your ability to be consistent.
I could very easily come up with 8 different workouts for you, but that would overwhelm you. Each week you would have to learn new movement patterns, you wouldn’t develop the skill to get the most out of the movements you are doing and thus you wouldn’t be working to enough intensity for progress.
So there are two workouts.
These two workouts are designed for you to grow within them. They are designed so that by the end of the month you can see that you have improved:
The weight you are lifting
The form with which you are lifting the weight with
The amount of confidence you have from executing the plan consistently.
If you want variety, gain it by adding more weight, improving your form, and by trying to push yourself a little harder each time you do another rep.
The variety comes from your skill and development to achieve.
If you manage that, you will indeed make progress you never thought possible.
Best Time To Exercise with PCOS
Don’t overthink this. In an ideal world, you would have a few days between each workout so that you can recover fully from your last workout, and manage to then put your most into the next workout you do - and the time of day you workout is totally irrelevant.
But we don’t live in an ideal world - we live in a world where you have to balance an awful lot of your life against your health and fitness - so in truth, you have to go back to back days, then do, it won’t hinder you anywhere as much as you think it might or that the internet would have you believe.
When coaching clients I am always telling them to remember to balance what is optimal with what is possible.
We don’t all have the privilege to be optimal all of the time.
How Much Weight Should You Lift?
I can’t answer this in the way that you would probably like me to. I can’t tell you how much you can Lat Pulldown or Goblet Squat - and any program you find on the internet that tells you how much weight to lift - you should find another plan. Like this one.
I have never seen you move. I have no idea how strong you are.
But luckily in the Fitness Industry, we have a way around this.
It is called the RPE Scale. RPE stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion and is a subjective scale upon which you can judge how hard you are working across a set.
Across both of your workouts, you want to work to an RPE between 8-10.
In terms of the weight you lift, I would say this:
You are probably stronger than you give yourself credit for, you are probably more capable than you think, and that capability will grow very quickly if you remain consistent.
READ MY ARTICLE THAT HAS HELPED HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE NAVIGATE THE GYM MORE SAFELY
Progressing Through The Workouts?
As the weeks roll on - you should be wanting to progress your workouts as much as possible.
This will mean one of three things - you either:
Increase the weight you are lifting
Change the weight you are using
Change aspects of the form to make the lifts harder
You will adapt to these workouts, and therefore I want you to feel empowered to make the changes you feel you need to in order to make sure they remain challenging.
With some exercises, an increase in weight will not be possible, and therefore I would recommend you change the exercise you do.
Here is a list of adaptations you can try:
DAY 1
Box Squat -> Barbell Back Squat
Lat Pulldown -> Assisted Pull Up Machine
Incline Push Up -> Push Up
Glute Bridge -> Single Leg Glute Bridge or Hip Thursts
DAY 2
Reverse Lunges -> Split Squats or Walking Lunges
Single-Arm Dumbbell Row -> Single-Arm Dumbbell Row with a 1-second pause at the top
You can also change from Kettlebells to Dumbbells or to Barbells to help change the intensity and the variety of the movements you might do.
Do I Have To Do HIIT Workouts with PCOS?
No.
Well, certainly not in the manner upon which you think you probably do.
I haven’t written any HIIT or Cardio in your workouts for you.
I personally am a huge fan of walking - and if your goal is to lose weight, you are probably underestimating the benefits that walking for 20mins a day can have, and overemphasising the effect that a workout can have on your ability to lose weight.
Put as simply, you don’t burn anywhere near as many calories working out as you think, and you burn a lot more calories walking than you think.
This is why at the heart of working out to lose weight, the conversation has to be changed from working out to burn calories and lose weight, to working out to get strong and once your strength is built, good things will happen from there.
If you want to do Cardio, of course, you can. It won’t hinder your progress, it will look after your heart which I am a huge fan of. It won’t burn away all of your muscles. I promise.
And here is another dose of good news - you don’t need to do hard 5kms or sit on the recumbent bike for an hour - that hardly will fit into your life, will it?
You need to do 20mins a day - walking - at a pace that makes you feel like you don’t need a jacket and do need a bottle of water if it is late Autumn or Early Springtime.
How Much Rest Should I Take?
Rest is quite a personal thing.
I personally like quite a lot of rest between heavy sets, usually at the start of my workout. Then I can put the most effort into what I am about to do.
Then as my workout progresses, I reduce my rest between each set.
See how you go. Work to the maximum rest you can take at 2mins and the minimum to 30secs.
In the workouts, I have put rest between each set or superset - but they are just guidelines.
What is a Superset?
I feature Supersets quite a bit in this 4-Week Beginner Strength Training Routine for Weight Loss. For, two reasons.
Firstly they save time - and long gone are the days where you should be spending hours on end in the gym working out.
Secondly, they are a great way to get variety into your workout - and help stop the feeling of boredom
It basically means that you do one exercise, then the next exercise with no rest between exercises.
You can also superset three exercises together as a little circuit.
Warm-Ups and Cool Downs
In the workouts, I have put “optional” warm-ups.
I strongly advise you do them, but if you are short on time, you will probably be ok if you skip them.
They aren’t “walk on the treadmill for 5 minutes” although if you are short on time, and you need to just get in and get out, that is an adequate warm-up.
The warm-ups focus on developing mobility and improving your ability to work out in a much better way that will improve your results over time, and thus actually end up costing you less time - as you will make more progress quickly.
The Best Workouts To Lose Weight With PCOS: Day 1 and Day 2
DAY 1 - FULL BODY
WARM UP
The Worlds Greatest Stretch - 2 Sets, 10 Reps on each side
Spiderman Rocks - 2 Sets, 10 Reps on each side
Split Stance Rock To Tall Split Kneel - 2 Sets, 10 Reps on each side
CORE
Bird Dogs - 2 Sets, 10 on each side
Russian Twists - 2 Sets, 10 on each side
MAIN MOVEMENTS
Box Squat - 4 Sets, 8 Reps - (use a Barbell, a Dumbbell or your Bodyweight)
1.5 Dumbbell Bench Press - 4 Sets, 8 Reps
Rest for 2 minutes between all sets.
SUPERSET 1:
Lat Pulldown - 3 Sets, 12 Reps
Incline Push Up - 3 Sets, 12 Reps
Squat Thruster - 3 Sets 12 Reps
Rest for 1 minute after completing one set of all exercises
SUPERSET 2:
Plank Shoulder Taps - 3 Sets, 10 Reps on each side
Overhead Press - 3 Sets, 12 Reps on each side
Glute Bridge - 3 Sets, 12 Reps
Rest for 30 seconds after completing one set of all three exercises
DAY 1: SUMMARY
Warm-Up:
The Worlds Greatest Stretch - 2 Sets, 10 Reps on each side
Spiderman Rocks - 2 Sets, 10 Reps on each side
Split Stance Rock To Tall Split Kneel - 2 Sets, 10 Reps on each side
Core Activation:
Bird Dogs - 2 Sets, 10 on each side
Russian Twists - 2 Sets, 10 on each side
Main Movements:
Box Squat - 4 Sets, 8 Reps - (use a Barbell, a Dumbbell or your Bodyweight)
1.5 Dumbbell Bench Press - 4 Sets, 8 Reps
Rest for 2 minutes between all sets.
Superset 1:
Lat Pulldown - 3 Sets, 12 Reps
Incline Push Up - 3 Sets, 12 Reps
Squat Thruster - 3 Sets 12 Reps
Rest for 1 minute after completing one set of all three exercises
Superset 2:
Plank Shoulder Taps - 3 Sets, 10 Reps on each side
Overhead Press - 3 Sets, 12 Reps on each side
Glute Bridge - 3 Sets, 12 Reps
Rest for 30 seconds after completing one set of all three exercises
DAY 2 - FULL BODY
WARM UP
The Worlds Greatest Stretch - 2 Sets, 10 Reps on each side
Wide Stance Rock on Forearms - 2 Sets, 10 Reps on each side
Toes Touch to Squat - 2 Sets, 10 Reps on each side
CORE
Plank - 2 Sets, 30 seconds
Air Bikes - 2 Sets, 30 Reps
MAIN MOVEMENTS
Deadlift - 4 Sets, 8 Reps - (use a Barbell, a Dumbbell or Kettlebell)
Barbell Bench Press - 4 Sets, 8 Reps
Rest for 2 minutes between all sets.
SUPERSET 1:
Reverse Lunges - 3 Sets, 10 Reps
Single-Arm Dumbbell Row - 3 Sets, 10 Reps
Rest for 1 minute after completing one set of both exercises
SUPERSET 2:
Romanian Deadlift - 3 Sets, 12 Reps
Seated Row - 3 Sets, 10 Reps
Hamstring Walkouts - 3 Sets, 10 Reps
Rest for 30 seconds after completing one set of both exercises
FINISHER: SUPERSET 3
Walkouts - 2 Sets, 5 Reps
Lunge Driver - 2 Sets, 5 Reps on each side
No rest between sets or exercises
DAY 2: SUMMARY
WARM-UP
The Worlds Greatest Stretch - 2 Sets, 10 Reps on each side
Wide Stance Rock on Forearms - 2 Sets, 10 Reps on each side
Toes Touch to Squat - 2 Sets, 10 Reps on each side
CORE ACTIVATION
Plank - 2 Sets, 30 seconds
Air Bikes - 2 Sets, 30 Reps
MAIN MOVEMENTS
Deadlift - 4 Sets, 8 Reps - (use a Barbell, a Dumbbell or Kettlebell)
Barbell Bench Press - 4 Sets, 8 Reps
Rest for 2 minutes between all sets
SUPERSET 1:
Reverse Lunges - 3 Sets, 10 Reps
Single-Arm Dumbbell Row - 3 Sets, 10 Reps
Rest for 1 minute after completing one set of both exercises
SUPERSET 2:
Romanian Deadlift - 3 Sets, 12 Reps (use a Barbell,m Dumbbells or Kettlebell)
Seated Row - 3 Sets, 10 Reps
Hamstring Walkouts - 3 Sets, 10 Reps
Rest for 30 seconds after completing one set of both exercises
FINISHER: SUPERSET 3
Walkouts - 2 Sets, 5 Reps
Lunge Driver - 2 Sets, 5 Reps on each side
No rest between sets or exercises
How To Lose Weight As Well As Get Strong with PCOS
Over the years I have been doing this job I have worked with people who solely wanted to lose weight.
I have also worked with people who solely wanted to get strong.
And I have found that those who work on getting stronger first, usually lose weight and maintain it at a much more successful rate than those who only focus on losing weight.
And those who have PCOS also realise a whole new world of movement and empowerment by focusing on getting stronger as well. They have learnt to work with their body as opposed to against it.
They also enjoy their movement a lot more.
I have written about this topic extensively and I have much more in-depth guide on losing weight with PCOS right here:
When you’re dragging yourself to the Gym as a means to lose weight it can often feel like you are doing it with a weight around your neck. It’s a chore, it’s something you “have to do”, and the results never seem to come quickly enough.
When you approach your movement as a way of improving your strength, and not just your physical strength…but your mental strength, your emotional strength and your overall resilience, movement takes on a whole other meaning.
You embrace the challenge, you embrace the gift of your body.
Which is pretty epic.
So if you want a workout plan to solely lose weight, I am very sorry that doesn’t exist.
Yes, you do burn calories in the Gym, but nowhere near as much as you would need to create a deficit appropriate for you to lose weight.
You control your weight loss by controlling your energy balance - also known as a Calorie Deficit. On this website, I have extensive resources educating you and empowering you on how to execute a Calorie Deficit.
Articles like:
Any one of those articles will give you a blueprint to losing weight - and the article you are now at the end of is the blueprint for getting strong.
What’s Next?
Well, I suppose you had better get to the Gym to start your journey of getting strong…
However, there’s also some other things I would love to draw your attention to.
The first is my Facebook Group - which you can now consider yourself personally invited to.
It is called Straightforward Fat Loss and I would adore you to join - you can ask me direct questions there, I go Live once a week and jam on a topic. It also has lots of resources to help you make your Fat Loss journey as straightforward as possible.
You can also let me know in the group how you are getting on with these workouts - which would be one of the greatest honours I would have as a coach - to see you sharing your work with me.
If you aren’t on Facebook, we can still become friends and you can get just as many resources from me for your Weight Loss Journey with PCOS as if you were on Facebook.
Just send me a friend request using the form below - and I will be in touch immediately with you.
Thank you so much for reading my work, and good luck with your new gym routine and your weight loss journey with PCOS
I cannot wait to see how you go!
Coach Adam
How To Get Past and Fix A Weight Loss Plateau
I absolutely love this image.
Because in one fell swoop it has summed up this horrible term that the Fitness Industry has perpetuated over and over and over again as a negative happening.
The Weight Loss Plateau.
Just the word plateau is horrible to say - “plateauuuuuuuuu….”. And the connotations of what it means are even worse:
If you are in a Plateau - you probably think:
You are failing
You are never going to reach “your goal”
You need to try something new
You chose the wrong path
You can’t seem to “crack” it
That everyone else knows something you don’t.
And not one single one of those feelings is true.
I can promise you that.
In this article, I am going to take you through How To Get Past and Fix A Weight Loss Plateau - and I almost guarantee it isn’t going to be what you were expecting.
Which is exciting - but not as exciting as what I am about to offer you.
I want to be your friend.
As your friend - I will obviously stay in touch, send you things, some educational, some thoughtful, and probably some that are a bit near the mark - but hey ho - I think that is the hallmark of a beautiful friendship: balance.
If you would like to be my friend also then please send me a friend request right here:
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR HOW TO GET PAST AND FIX A WEIGHT LOSS PLATEAU:
What is a weight loss plateau?
Why do weight loss plateaus occur?
How does scale weight actually work?
How to actually get past your weight loss plateau
What Is A Weight Loss Plateau?
If you’re in one…replace the word “fetch” with scale weight - and this GIF sums it up pretty well.
A weight-loss plateau (urgh) is when your body weight seems to have stopped going down on the scale - even though you have changed very little in your behaviour compared to when it was coming down.
It is normally regarded as a temporary stalling of scale weight.
There was a study done in 2021 called: Management Of Weight Loss Plateau [1].
In this study they define weight loss and a weight loss plateau thus:
“Studies comparing different diets have shown that a similar degree of weight loss can be achieved in an 8 to 12-week period, as long as a caloric deficit is achieved.[1] However, when looking at individuals in the longer-term, 24-weeks and beyond, only about 10 to 20% of those individuals successfully maintain their weight loss”
This doesn't mean they successfully maintain the weight they got to - this means the actual stats of the scale falling.
It also goes on to say:
“A misconception to beginners attempting to lose weight is that the process is linear. Therefore, one can expect that weight loss will occur more rapidly in the early stages. Still, then in the coming weeks, the weight may stay steady or even slightly increased despite maintaining the established calorie deficit”
This sets us up nicely for the rest of this article.
Why Do Weight Loss Plateaus Occur?
This is a very loaded question because as I always say “everybody is different” and every body is different.
And the solution to a weight loss plateau is likely not one sole thing for each person.
However, the most important point to this question is not a physical thing.
It’s not “your calories need to come down” or “you need to do more exercise”
It’s a psychological point that needs to be made - and it is so very important that I am putting it front and centre of this article.
Why do weight loss plateaus occur?
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You Have Been Conditioned To View Them Negatively
Let me be very clear here.
Maintaining your body weight is a true success.
Sadly, we live in a world where allowing you to actually be proud of what you have achieved thus far, and promoting the fact that the scale may not be going down - but by golly - it isn’t going up…that is a true success.
This is what you and the fitness industry has allowed you to view as a:
“Plateauuuuuuu”
As a negative happening in your life. When actually it is a true success.
I am sure you have heard the phrase: “80% of all diets fail”. The definition of successful weight loss maintenance is:
“Successful long-term weight loss maintenance is intentionally losing at least 10% of initial body weight and keeping it off for at least 1 year.” [3]
Therefore if you are currently in an active deficit, and you have lost 10% or more of your body weight and your weight loss has “plateaued” you are actually on the path of being in the top 20% of the world’s population when it comes to dieting.
“Research has shown that approximately 20% of overweight individuals are successful at long-term weight loss when defined as losing at least 10% of initial body weight and maintaining the loss for at least 1 year” [2]
Therefore you aren’t stalling, failing or just not good enough.
You are actually in an elitist group of people. A rare cohort of incredible success - and you have been told to see it as a failure.
That’s a damn fucking shame.
I am sorry that we have done this to you. I am truly sorry that you have been led to believe that it is possible to keep dieting down and down and down and if that process ever stops then you are simply not good enough.
This has led to many people getting frustrated, angry and feeling shame at their inability to see scale weight continuing to tumble and it has to stop. Right now. Right here. With this post.
How Does Scale Weight Actually Work?
Scale Weight is a very fickle thing. You may or may not be aware that scale weight when you are in an active calorie deficit and trying to lose weight, will fluctuate.
Wildly.
Up and down. It will be stubborn at times. One day you can weigh on things, and the very next 24 hours later you can weigh 5-7lbs more.
This is normal.
In fact let me show you some of my weight readings, when I was in a caloric deficit and weighed myself each and every day.
This is July into August of 2021 - I started at 85.4kg and then deficit down to 81.9kg.
It looks like the best rollercoaster you have ever been on.
But as you can see I was constantly trading peaks and troughs. This is actually a very normal graph of scale weight. If you ever see a graph that is more linear than this - that is indeed not giving you the full picture of someone’s body weight.
I have Coached many people through weight loss and every single one of them have had this experience.
These fluctuations mainly occur due to:
Hormones and Menstrual Cycle
Medications
Sleep
Types of food you consume
Digestion
Exercise
One of the most common reasons scale weight will fluctuate is because carbohydrates retain water. When you eat any Carbohydrate your body will absorb 3g-4g of Water to help store the glycogen from the food.
This is not body fat and is perfectly normal - and is a big reason you see a big reduction in scale weight when someone goes “low-carb”
There is just one other thing to say here and that is that when you are tracking scale weight as a marker of success or not when trying to lose weight, you must gather more data than weekly scale readngs.
This is another common reason that plateaus occur - you just aren’t getting enough data.
Looking at the same graph from my weight as before I have circled every seventh reading - to repllicate one a week weigh ins.
As you can see every other week my weight was up from the week before.
Looking at the last circle, which is seven days from the one previous if I was weighing in weekly, and weighed in on the 6th day I would have had a reading that was lower than the last reading 7 days previous as opposed to one that was higher.
This is when data can become your best friend - and the more you gather the more insightful you can be when it comes to analysing what is going on.
If you have Scale Anxiety then please read my article that has helped hundreds of people overcome gravitophobia:
How To Actually Get Past Your Weight Loss Plateau
I guarantee I could find someone on the internet telling you very opposing things in relation to this question. You will be told to:
Reduce Calories
Increase Calories
More Exercise
Less Exercise
More Water
Less Water
And each person is just confusing you more and more and more - adding to your frustration and not knowing where to turn.
In truth, each solution could be correct.
Reducing your calories may lead to a calorie deficit as you will be consuming less in the short term.
Increasing your calories may lead to a calorie deficit in the long term as you might be less likely to binge and more adherent to your calorie moderate calorie deficit as opposed to always reducing and cutting and restricting.
More exercise might lead to a calorie deficit in the shorter term by way of burning calories (but this is a very silly way to go about losing weight) but it might lead to more hunger.
Less exercise might lead to a calorie deficit due to less hunger from exercise - especially with things like HIIT.
And water might help reduce hunger, but it does have a weight to it, and that will show up on the scale.
But I understand none of this is overly helpful right now.
Therefore I propose these solutions to your weight loss plateau problem.
Reframe it as a Success
What is the opposite of weight loss not going down? It going up…
And if weight loss is your ultimate goal, but it is in a “plateau” then you are indeed doing a fantastic job as your weight is stable and you are learning to manage your new body and its new weight.
I do feel like I want to caveat the above statement.
A lot of people, women especially, but men too, do feel great shame when their weight increases. This is because they get so much praise when their weight is coming down. Praise from friends, family, coaches, and society at large. This leads them to feel like failures when their weight may increase again, even if it is only slightly. As I mentioned before learning to maintain weight loss is incredibly difficult, and there is no shame or failure attached to regaining weight - because what the scale doesn't show is how much you have learnt, how much more skill you have developed in the gym, how consistent you have been with your actions, how much better your mental health is as a result of working hard and trying, how much more energy you have and how much better you are sleeping.
Even if you learn to manage your new body at its new weight and it is slightly up from the lowest scale reading you have - you are still succeeding at so much more than you are giving yourself credit for.
Remember, 80% of people cant maintain their weight.
A plateau really isn’t a bad thing.
Trust Yourself
Look at it this way…you got to the point of which a plateau can actually occur. You must have done something right thus far.
So now you just need to trust yourself. Trust you know what you are doing, trust that your actions will lead to the result you are after. One of the hardest things for people who are trying to lose weight is this element of trust.
Usually, because they have been sent on a path of yoyo dieting and then been made to feel like they themselves are the thing that is broken - not the diet itself. And relearning to trust yourself is very hard
To get to the issues of a weight loss plateau, you have a process that has worked, you have a process that is sustainable for you and you have a process that you know you can trust - you’re at this point already - and now it’s just a case of making sure that you trust that process, and trust yourself.
Remain Consistent, Remain Patient
The more weight you lose the slower it will occur. This is because many people who want to lose weight probably want to because they view the body fat they now have as excess.
They are above their body’s settling point that they are used to for themselves.
This can happen for many reasons, mainly lifestyle factors like becoming parents or changing from an active job to a sedentary one.
At the beginning with a tiny bit of focus, and dialling up a few things in terms of their diet, increasing some steps, in fact living by my 5 Awesome Rules for Fat Loss Life (please excuse how cringy the video below is), they then manage to lose that “extra” body fat relatively quickly.
But the closer you get to the point upon which you’re near when you want to be - think the classic last 5lbs of stubborn fat - then it will take an awful lot longer to get there.
The curve will always level off.
There is more at play in terms of this as well - which I go into further down.
But generally - you will lose weight quickest in the beginning - and this is also why many people do 6-week challenges that are all about losing lots of weight in that time frame - it’s a safe and easy way for personal trainers to get all the glory without having to actually do the hard work for people - get them through the moments when it feels hardest for them.
It’s a huge reason I don’t do them. I’m a Coach and there is no glory in not supporting people properly.
I digress.
As the curve levels off (something you have been told to view as a plateau), the most important thing to do here is to be consistent. Is to not change anything drastic, and just keep ticking off the days and the process.
Begin to enjoy the process more, begin to appreciate that you are doing so much more good for yourself than necessarily losing weight.
And the more you focus on the process provided it has been set up correctly (preferably with the aid of a Coach - I know a good one wink, wink, nudge, nudge: head here) then the results will eventually take care of themselves.
Patience is a virtue - and I’m sorry but if your weight hasn’t decreased in two weeks you are not in a plateau. In fact, if your weight hasn't decreased in a month, you are not in a plateau. If you are executing the behaviours that constitute a calorie deficit and your weight hasn’t moved from month one to month six, and you have investigated the areas of your life that you think might be getting in the way, then we can look into the possibility that you are indeed in a plateau.
Without a doubt, one of the main ways to get past a weight loss plateau is be more patient with yourself and the process.
Realise there is so much more to celebrate
SO MUCH MORE!
I used to call my coaching program this - because the list of things you can celebrate and crucially should celebrate away from weight loss is so much more empowering than celebrating the reduction of your body.
Getting Stronger
Being Consistent with your own health
Better Sleep
Eating in a more balanced way
Having more energy
Improving your relationship with you
Improving your relationship with others
Being in nature more
Learning new skills and applying them
Improving your relationship with food
Improving your relationship with exercise - more on this here: How To Love Exercise Again
Building your confidence through keeping promises with yourself
Building your self-esteem
Improving your mental health
Burning more energy
Increasing your Metabolism
I’m sure there’s more - but I’m a little hungover today so let’s leave it there.
But look at that list.
It’s a bloody good one isn’t it?
Why would you want to give up all of those benefits simply because you aren’t losing weight? Or you have lost weight and it appears to have stalled.
If you are engaging in a health and fitness journey and you are not working on all of those things that I have listed - and only working on losing weight - you are setting yourself up for complete failure - because naturally, your weight loss will stop - and when that happens you will feel like you are failing.
I always say:
“Focus on production, not reduction”
I appreciate that list might look overwhelming, but many of it is the by-product of just engaging in physical movement and an active lifestyle appropriately - and only focussing on weight loss - that is not an appropriate way to engage with not just movement, but yourself too.
I understand and appreciate that weight loss might be a great tool for which people begin, get started and can discover all of this - but once you have got over that initial moment of engaging because of your body weight - you need to transfer your thoughts onto that list I have laid out.
Be proud of what you managed to lift and how you managed to lift it. Be proud of the fact that you are eating in a more structured way and that is having huge benefits on your relationship with food.
And if you aren’t doing those things and if you aren’t focussing on that list …it could be an indicator as to why your weight loss has plateaued.
Bodyweight Settling Points
Set Point theory is the premise that you have a predisposition to a certain body weight. This is due to a number of factors, but genetics and lifestyle are the two main ones.
It is only a theory, but it is backed by quite a lot of evidential studies. [3, 4, 5].
This doesn’t mean that you are predetermined to always be overweight if that is where your set point is. It means that changing it might be a lot harder than you ever thought possible. Having worked with thousands of people on weight loss over my career I have found this to be true as well. Very few people lose the 3 stone of weight that they were aiming to, and then also manage to stay there for the rest of their lives. Most people I have worked with, we are always trading around 5lbs here and 5lbs there - and those who do lose more, have to overhaul a lot in their lives both mentally and physically to manage it, and it takes a lot longer than you would ever believe.
Setpoint theory is also why we define successful weight loss as losing 10% of your body weight and keeping it off for at least a year. You may lose 17% initially - but that might be an amount too great for your body and therefore 10% is the marker of successful weight loss.
Because weight will come up and down.
You can change your set point - which is why I refer to it as a “settling point”. At different phases in our lives, we will probably have different bodyweights. Think of it like this - if I took you out of your environment right now and placed you on an island somewhere to live - it is likely that your bodyweight will change - as you have different access to different foods.
This happened to me - when I moved to Australia - trying to learn the nuances in the different foods here took a while - and it meant I stuck to things I knew a little more - which were obviously brands that generally pack their food with calories.
Added to that my activity levels were very different whilst I was trying to find a job, get used to being out of the sun for certain hours of the day and not having the money to be able to pay for a Gym whilst I was setting everything up.
Then once I got used to my environment, my body weight started to decline again back to where it nearly always sits at around 80kgs.
Therefore your body settles depending on its environment - and the more comfortable you are in an environment the more likely you are to hit a plateau.
Added to all of this, we also have mechanisms in our body that when it realises calories are being reduced, it changes your hormones to increase hunger to protect you. These hormones are affected by Adipose Tissue (Fat Cells) and the more of them you have the more the hormones will affect you making things just that little bit harder for you.
And as you can imagine, the closer to that point you get - the more your body will fight back - the more likely you are to be in a plateau.
This is exactly why you should focus a lot more on the list above than just the scale readings you are collecting.
Metabolic Apdation (check in with your numbers)
Metabolic Adaption [6] is the very simple fact of life that a smaller organism needs fewer calories to survive. As you lose weight, you will require fewer calories to maintain that weight.
Therefore if you have been losing weight, and that seems to have slowed down for a long enough period to quantify an actual plateau (at least a couple of months) depending on the amount of weight you have lost in that time, it could mean you need to check your calorie deficit numbers again.
The caloric maintenance of your body has literally changed - and it is quite common for someone to still be eating the same amount of calories that were designed for when they started their fitness journey as opposed to where they are now - as they have noticed a big slow down in weight loss.
So always check in with your maintenance numbers, which will then allow you to adjust your calorie numbers.
For more on Bodyweight Maintenance head here: How To Find Your Calorie Maintenance Level
And if you want a free Calorie Calculator then please head here: Free Fitness Goodies
Build More Muscle and Be More Active???
It would be remiss of me to write this whole article without touching on these points.
And I have put a question mark next to the points for very good reason. For this article, I have written it with the perspective that you probably already are being very active - and probably don’t have the privilege. to increase that part of your life too much.
If you are stuck, and you aren’t doing 2-3x strength sessions a week, you aren’t regularly hitting 8k steps a day at least, then yes - please do that.
By doing that I almost guarantee your weight will change again.
I also want to discuss the art of building muscle here.
Everyone is different - but building muscle takes time. It takes more time if you are female and it takes more time the more experienced you are at doing it.
For a woman, you are looking at about 1lb a month in the first year, then 0.5lb a month in the second year of training.
For a man, you are looking at about 2lbs a month in the first year, and then 1lb a month in the second year of training.
1lb of Muscle at rest burns 5kcal a day.
Therefore after your first year of training as a woman, you will have only added an extra 60kcals a day to your metabolism, and if you are a man, you can double that.
Yes, building muscle will help your metabolism because you will also burn calories as you exercise, and after you exercise. But in order to improve your metabolism enough to see it on the scale and to help break through a plateau you are going to have to be very dedicated to the cause of building muscle for a period of time a lot longer than you probably believed before you read this article.
Of course, I am an advocate of strength training for all people - I just wanted to bring to your attention that when people tell you to build muscle to improve your metabolism, it is true, but not in the manner you may interpret it, or the manner in which they believe it would help you also.
Just be aware, that building muscle probably isn’t the quick fix you are hoping for to break through a plateau - but it’s a blinking good thing to do for your health.
What’s Next?
I really hope you found this article useful, and that you feel a lot better about your struggles at the moment. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my work, it really does mean a lot to me to have you here.
If you would like a Free Calorie and Macro Calculator then just put your email in here:
References:
Sarwan G, Rehman A. Management Of Weight Loss Plateau. [Updated 2021 Oct 29]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK576400/
Wing RR, Phelan S. Long-term weight loss maintenance. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Jul;82(1 Suppl):222S-225S. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/82.1.222S. PMID: 16002825.
GEMA FRÜHBECK,, JAVIER GÓMEZ‐AMBROSI, Rationale for the existence of additional adipostatic hormones, The FASEB Journal, 10.1096/fj.00-0829hyp, 15, 11, (1996-2006), (2001).
Hoeger, W., Hoeger, S., Fawson, A., & Hoeger, C. (2019). Principles and labs for fitness and wellness. Cengage.
Liao, T., Zhang, S.-L., Yuan, X., Mo, W. Q., Wei, F., Zhao, S.N., Yang, W., Liu, H., & Rong, X. (2020). Liraglutide lowers body weight set point in DIO rats and its relationship with hypothalamic microglia activation. Obesity: A Research Journal, 28(1), 122-131. doi: 10.1002/oby.22666
Trexler, E.T., Smith-Ryan, A.E. & Norton, L.E. Metabolic adaptation to weight loss: implications for the athlete. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 11, 7 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1186/1550-2783-11-7
How Much Weight Will I Gain At Christmas?
I am sure you have seen the headlines and the memes all over the internet, in Gyms, and from Personal Trainers trying to win your business this year leading into Christmas that are shaming you into earning your Christmas Dinners calories. That its “the little black dress party season and you want to look good for it don’t you?” or one truly disgusting post that I found when searching “Christmas Fitness”:
Images like this:
Headlines that are just so shockingly Fat Phobic it makes me more passionate about trying to get regulation on speaking this way.
But I should expect nothing less from The Daily Mail.
If they aren’t focussing you on how much weight you will gain at Christmas, they are not so subtly telling you to prepare to have to lose weight after Christmas, or before Christmas, to help prepare you for what is about to happen at Christmas.
I think the less said about Micheal Mosely here the better. But he is traditionally fat phobic and promotes very unsustainable weight loss strategies - buyer beware.
I was also recently sent this photo from a friend in New Zealand. It’s an advert from her old Personal Trainer which he has plastered to the wall…
You can see why he is her old Personal Trainer right?
The internet is littered with messaging like this. Messaging that is trying to make you think you have to earn your Christmas Calories. That you can somehow get ahead of Christmas in terms of your calories, and if you work hard now, the effect of Christmas on your body weight will be diminished.
Or the complete opposite, where they try to create absolute fear into you about what will happen on the other side of Christmas you are literally unable to enjoy a Roast Potato without feeling like you’re doing something wrong.
These are all lies for a number of reasons - but the main one is that you can’t build enough muscle to protect your metabolism in time for Christmas with 6 weeks to go.
Also, if you actively lost weight in the 6 weeks before Christmas, you must expect to regain it during Christmas as you have become smaller, and your caloric maintenance is now less.
The short answer to the very simple question of: “How Much Weight Will I Gain At Christmas?” is simply this:
And that’s coming from Morgan Freeman.
MORGAN FREEMAN PEOPLE.
It’s all good and well this being my position on such things, however, that probably doesn’t help take away the anxiety you might be feeling about this time of year. Therefore I need to tell you and show why this is my position. I will do this using the wonderful tool of Science and my experience as a Coach for nearly 10 years having worked with people all over the world and helping them navigate Christmas guilt-free.
I hope this article succeeds in that, and helps you enjoy Christmas completely guilt-free, and take that huge weight of shame you feel off of your shoulders.
I hope that sounds like exactly what you were looking for when you typed into Google: “How Much Weight Will I Gain At Christmas?” and it’s my absolute pleasure to be able to help you with it.
Thanks for being here.
Before we begin, I want to ask if we can become friends.
As your friend, I’ll email you things. Sometimes they will be educational, sometimes they will be inappropriate, and sometimes I might just want to know how you are; either way…it would be delightful to connect with you.
Just send me a friend request by filling out the form below…
Oh, and I will also send you some free fitness goodies to help start our new friendship off on the best foot possible.
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR: HOW MUCH WEIGHT WILL I GAIN AT CHRISTMAS?
What does the science say?
What does the science actually mean?
Why you don’t need to worry about overindulgence at Christmas.
The best way to navigate your fitness through Christmas
What the Science Says…
There is a really wonderful Narrative study on this topic called: Effect of the Holiday Season on Weight Gain: A Narrative Review [1]
It went through research databases and analysed all of the results from all of the studies it could find on this very subject.
It literally did the work for me. Which is great.
The study reviewed six studies for the adult population dating from 1985 all the way to 2013 and here are the breakdowns in black and white.
A quick note, I personally find it really hard to read studies and the way in which they word things - therefore I have summarised them to make the data accessible. If you just want to skip past, and find out what I think it all actually means…I won’t be offended.
Number of participants: 22
Method: An observational study with repeated weighing and fasting blood tests from one month before to one month after Christmas.
Conclusion: Over the Christmas period in all subjects an increase in weight was observed (mean 0.8kg), which was maintained through January.
Changes in nutritional status in adults over Christmas 1998 [3]
Number of participants: 26
Method: Twenty-six adults completed anthropometric, blood pressure and total blood cholesterol measurements before and after the Christmas holiday.
Conclusion: An increase in mean weight occurred by 0.93 kg.
A prospective study of holiday weight gain [4]
Number of participants: 195
Method: We measured body weight in a convenience sample of 195 adults. The subjects were weighed four times at intervals of six to eight weeks, so that weight change was determined for three periods: preholiday (from late September or early October to mid-November), holiday (from mid-November to early or mid-January), and postholiday (from early or mid-January to late February or early March)
Conclusion: The average holiday weight gain is less than commonly asserted. The mean weight increased during the holiday period (gain, 0.37+/-1.52 kg), but not during the preholiday period (gain, 0.18+/-1.49 kg); or the postholiday period (loss, 0.07+/-1.14 kg)
Weight and body composition change over a six-week holiday period [5]
Number of participants: 13 men and 21 women
Method: Baseline testing occurred the Monday or Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving Day (November 24 or 25, 2008), and the post-holiday assessment was the Monday or Tuesday after New Year's Day (January 5 or 6, 2009)
Conclusion: Thirteen men and 21 women ranging in age from 23-61 years completed the study. The majority of participants (24 of 34) perceived that they had gained weight, and four did gain ≥2 kg. However, despite some changes to dietary and exercise habits, on average there was no difference between pre-holiday weight (74.0±17.8 kg) and post-holiday weight (73.9±18.1 kg), nor between pre-holiday body fat percentage (25.4±9.0%) and post-holiday body fat percentage (25.4±8.9%). Despite a perception of substantial weight gain, body weight and body fat remained unchanged over a six-week holiday period.
Number of participants: 443
Method: In a secondary analysis of previously published data, ΔBW normalized over 90 d from mid-September/mid-October 1999 to mid-January/early March 2000 was analyzed by sex, age, and BMI
Conclusion: Sixty-five percent of men and 58% of women gained ≥0.5 kg BW, with ~50% of both groups gaining ≥1% of preholiday BW. Obese men (BMI ≥30) gained more BW than did obese women.
Number of participants: 148
Method: A total of 48 males and 100 females (age 18-65 years) with a mean body mass index of 25.1±0.5 kg/m(2) were evaluated in mid-November (visit 1) and early January (visit 2; across 57±0.5 days).
Conclusion: Our participants gained an average of 0.78 kg, which indicates the majority of average annual weight gain (1 kg/y) reported by others may occur during the holiday season. Obese participants are most at risk as they showed the greatest increases in BF%. Initial BW, not exercise, significantly predicted BF% and BW gain.
What does the Science actually mean?
There are always limitations to studies - many of these studies don’t tell us the frequency of weighing their participants which could give greater insight into how much weight was actually gained (or not). During the holidays you are going to gain a lot of water weight due to eating more calories in general, and many of those calories come from an increase in carbohydrates through food and alcohol. Across all of the studies, the most amount of weight gained by a single person IS 4.3kgs. She is described as a healthy woman in the 1985 study but she was only weighed 5 times during the time period of the study. Chances are she was caught on a day of high fluctuation as well due to many of the other factors that control scale weight, especially in women.
Another limitation is that they have all been done in the Northern Hemisphere where it is usually colder during the holiday season, which does impact behaviour relating to weight. but my instinct would suggest that would impact bodyweight increases, not decreases.
I have only summarised the studies that were controlled, not that were based on self-monitoring. With the self-monitoring studies, the trend is very similar in that weight isn’t gained by anywhere near as much as you think. The highest weight gain in a participant was 2.4kg.
The bottom line here is that on average across all of these studies, people only gained around 1lb of bodyweight or 0.45kgs.
Only one of these studies found no increase in weight gain and that is Weight and body composition change over a six-week holiday period [5].
There are two phrases I think it is important to focus on when looking at these conclusions.
The first:
“The average holiday weight gain is less than commonly asserted”
Meaning that the world is lying to you with regards to how much weight you might actually gain over the Holidays.
The second:
“Despite a perception of substantial weight gain, body weight and body fat remained unchanged over a six-week holiday period”
We all perceive to gain fat over this period, however, we actually don’t gain as much as we think we do.
This statement is true in life. I see this in my clients all the time, they believe that they are causing more setbacks to their health than they really are from missing one workout, or overeating on one particular day.
The premise that is so often peddled by the fitness industry, in that you should “train hard so you can play hard this Christmas” just doesn’t hold true either. In the study Effects of exercise during the holiday season on changes in body weight, body composition and blood pressure [7] they find that the biggest predictor of weight gain at Christmas is the starting weight of a participant - not the amount of exercise they actually do.
This all comes down to the all-or-nothing mentality. If you adopt this mindset you will always end up with nothing, because you live in a world where you expect perfection, and you believe that perfection is the only path to success.
And when you encounter events that challenge that path, like vacations, holidays and Christmas, you feel like a failure because you weren’t able to continue your path of perfection.
You need more balance in your mindset towards your health and fitness, and then you will be able to put these events, like Christmas, into better perspective.
Why You Don’t Need To Worry About Overindulgence At Christmas
There is a difference between body weight increase and body fat increase.
Now as you are reading this, although you are concerned about weight, in general, I respect that, scale weight is made up of many many factors, whereas if your concern is related to health and body composition then we need to look at Body Fat Percentage.
Two of the above studies looked at BFP. This again is only a best guess because to truly know your Body Fat Percentage, you need to have an autopsy. That’s a little inconvenient.
But that being said, this is what they found:
In the 2012 study [5}, they looked at BFP and concluded:
“No significant changes were observed in weight before and after the holiday period (74.0 kg versus 73.9 kg, difference −0.1 kg, p = 0.87) nor in body fat (25.4% versus 25.4%, difference 0.0%, p = 0.97).”
In the 2013 study [7] they also looked at BFP and concluded:
“Participants gained 0.78 kg (p < 0.001) and increased their fat percentage by 0.5%. It should be noted that obese subjects showed a greater increase in fat percentage compared to normal-weight subjects (1.6% versus 0.2%, resp., p < 0.05), but no difference was noted in body weight compared to normal-weight subjects”
This doesn't surprise me.
On TikTok I have put up a couple of videos about Weight Gain from overfeeding - and the Science on overfeeding would back up these studies as well.
In both of the Studies, you see that overeating a significant amount of calories each day led to minimal body fat gain.
In fact, in the first video it led to only 500g of total body fat gained, and in the second study [8], after 8 weeks of overeating every single day, only 9lbs was gained by the participants.
Christmas lasts half of that time at most…
The 2000 study [4] which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine also concluded that:
“Average holiday weight gain is 0.37 kg, far less than commonly asserted. As this gain is not reversed during spring or summer months, the net 0.48 kg fall/winter weight gain appears likely to contribute to the increase in body weight that frequently occurs during adulthood.”
This conclusion, in my opinion, sums up one of the biggest and most common issues I find in working with people online with The Strong and Confident Program who have a goal to lose weight.
The hardest battle after an extended period of indulgence is always getting back on track - because if you are able to get back on track, at the earliest opportunity afforded to you after Christmas, then losing 370g, really isn’t that daunting.
But because you believe you have set yourself back a lot further than that, due to the headlines, the messaging you see in Gyms and in Fitness Marketing and the two months of incessant fat-shaming, getting back on track seems so much harder than that of 370g of body weight.
The emotional weight you have gone through with Christmas feels more like 10kgs.
That is why so many people find it so very hard to simply get back on track after Christmas.
Interestingly, as a one-to-one coach, I have always found January to be a really slow month for sign-ups, compared to February and March. I believe this occurs for two reasons, the guilt people are feeling after Christmas, and the massive uphill battle they believe they have, combined with the fact people in January are still getting over the debt of Christmas.
Please stop worrying about how much weight you will gain at Christmas. The science isn’t there to back up what you see in the marketing and the headlines at this time of year.
On average its a gain of only 0.45kgs and that’s from a sample size of nearly 1000 people from all different walks of life, and who all had different body’s.
The Best Way To Navigate Your Fitness Through Christmas
In fact, if you have got this far into the article, you have already done one of the best things I can suggest to help you alleviate the guilt and anxiety you might be feeling about this time of year.
You have educated yourself on the objective facts.
With that knowledge, you can establish great power. You can establish perspective, and begin to regulate your emotional centre with your logical brain.
Before I wrote this article I put a post up on TikTok which summarised some of the studies and explained what to expect at Christmas in relation to weight gain. The video got this comment:
During Christmas, whenever you have feelings of guilt creeping in.
Whenever you feel yourself resisting the urge to say yes to something that you want to eat because you are worried about whether it is “good” or “bad” for you, I want you to think back to this article.
Think back to those hundreds and hundreds of people who were in those studies and averaged a weight gain of just 450g. Not the one stone you think you will gain by eating that mini Mars Bar out of the Celebrations tin.
Actually, just on that, why do Celebration Tins even have Bounties in them? Who wants Coconut Flavoured Chocolate at Christmas??????? Some things never cease to amaze me.
Knowing all of this is one aspect of how to navigate Christmas.
But another is that the work starts right now.
You need to practice behaviours that will help remove the guilt around all food, not just during Christmas. This is hard work, this is an ongoing journey, and Christmas can bring with it more emotionally difficult situations as well which might lead to higher bouts of indulgence and more challenging feelings around food-associated guilt.
For example, this year 2021, is my first Christmas in Australia. My fiancee is having to work on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and I am without any of my family who always made Christmas such a special time of year for me. We used to have a massive Boxing Day get-together, and I remember every year I would just sit by the window on Boxing Day morning watching every car pass my house, hoping the next one was my Aunty, my Uncle and my Cousins.
I loved going to the park and playing football with my Cousin, my Uncle and my Dad after Dinner and after we all got our presents. I never had Grandparents to celebrate Christmas with, so each year whilst I was a child, my extended family and my parents would always try to make Christmas as special as possible.
And they truly succeeded. I probably haven’t told them that enough in my life.
So I am without them all this Christmas. I will be on my own. A client has invited me round for Christmas Lunch which is incredibly generous, but it won’t replace the emotional gap I will feel,
And it will be very easy for me to replace that emotion with food.
As it always is as a human being.
If you feel more disconnected during the Christmas Season, you will replace that connection with food, and are more likely to overeat and still feel hungry. Even to the point of physical discomfort.
Therefore start now.
Start questioning your hunger. Is it emotional? Is it physical? Is it boredom? Is it stress? Is it tiredness? Is it low willpower due to a stressful busy day?
We feel hunger under all kinds of pressures, and being able to denote whether it is actually physical hunger - or emotional hunger will truly help you navigate your way to less overeating at Christmas.
If anxiety is high about gaining weight at Christmas, then you need to stop restricting your calories in the build-up to Christmas, stop restricting your food choice in the build-up to Christmas and begin to reduce your negative self-talk around your food and your body.
You can do this by, practising mindful eating and spending time with your food. Stop eating on the go and when in a rush. Nourish yourself by sitting with your food, giving yourself time to enjoy your food and listening to your body about whether it is full or requires some more food to be satiated.
When you do overeat, use compassion with yourself. Do this by investigating your hunger more, and understanding the emotional cause of why you overate, rather than just berating yourself for doing it. This will over time help with your negative self-talk, as you are internally investigating why this is occurring more, and bringing more understanding to your behaviour.
I am a huge fan of exercising at Christmas. Not because I think it offsets your calories because I know that’s not why we move. But during Christmas, I think it can be very important to keep moving. Let loose off of your plan, but try to move. Whether that be a big family walk, playing football with the family, a Christmas Day Bike Ride, or spending some time down the beach.
Exercise helps us digest food.
And you will, without a doubt be eating more food at Christmas. By moving your body, you will help the food get through your system, and the feeling of bloatedness and “weight gain” will be diminished. You will have more calories in your system, because it’s Christmas, and therefore more energy to move, it would be a missed opportunity to not see what movement feels like when you have more calories to work with.
Movement, especially resistance training, is always easier when you have more calories, and you could use this holiday season to explore what that feels like.
Essentially the body feels better when it moves, and if you don’t move during this time then the barrier of entry to movement post-Christmas will feel so much harder.
With my clients on The Strong and Confident Program I talk about their fitness dials.
Imagine your fitness is like a soundboard in a recording studio. But instead of the dials saying “Master Volume”, “Bass”, “Treble”, “Fade”, “Reverb” they had terms on them like:
Movement
Nutrition
Structured Eating
Work
Family
Mental Health
You can add whichever terms to the fitness dials you want, as we are all influenced in terms of fitness by different things.
But the goal, just like your soundboard is to create a harmonious symphony.
At a time like Christmas, the fitness dial of “Nutrition” will be dialled up to a 10, and therefore you must balance that with a lower dial somewhere else. For many people it could mean movement comes right down to a 1.
However things like work are likely to drop down to a lower number during the holidays, so you can allow that fall, and keep movement up at around 4 or 5, it will be so much easier in January to get that dial back up to where it was pre Christmas.
Essentially the balance to create the fitness symphony might change slightly, but it doesn’t mean it has to stop entirely.
Enter: Sir Isaac Newton - who was actually born on Christmas Day in 1642.
His First Law of Motion:
“That an object at rest remains at rest, and an object that is moving will continue to move straight and with constant velocity, if and only if there is no net force acting on that object.”
The key message here with both your nutrition and your movement during this time of year is to try not to stop completely.
You can dial it down yes because other parts of your life will be dialled up.
But try not to halt entirely.
Because if you stop both in terms of your nutrition and your movement, then you will indeed find it so much harder to start again and the feelings of Christmas failure, the feelings of Christmas Weight Gain will be compounded, and the longer you stay stopped, the more and more energy it will require to get started again.
All you have to do, with any Holiday Season, be it, Christmas, a Vacation, Easter, Thanksgiving, your Birthday or anything else, all you have to do is get back on track once it’s done.
If you can do that, you will never ever worry about how much weight you will gain at Christmas ever again.
Did You Find This Useful?
Firstly I want to say a huge thank you for reading my article. I hope that you now have a much better perspective on everything. With this perspective, I hope you can enjoy Christmas with your family, with your loved ones, or even enjoy the merriment that exists around you, if you don’t have a family to enjoy it with, like me, this year.
Christmas is a time for thankfulness, peace and love for all.
My wish for this article is that it has helped you find some peace from your anxiety around the holidays, combined with showing you a path to be able to continue and practice self-love.
If you are able to feel that within yourself, then you will be able to carry that forward into the world and help make this Christmas more special for everyone you come across, whether that be online, in person or any other way you socialise this Christmas.
All that is left for me to say is that I wish you, your family and your loved ones a truly Merry Christmas if you celebrate Christmas. Or a truly peaceful and loving time of year if you celebrate in another way.
Eat the Chestnuts on the Roasting Fire.
Enjoy your Yule Log Cake.
Eat the Selection Box of Chocolate.
But above all, create Happy and Loving Memories - because that is what you truly deserve to do.
I would also love to invite you to grab some free fitness goodies from me,
The Free Fitness Goodies include:
✅ Get yourself a free month of workouts (Home and Gym-based options)
✅ Get yourself a free copy of my e-book ”27 Ways To Faster Fast Loss”
✅ Get yourself a free customized Calorie Calculator
Straight to your Inbox
All you have to do is put your email address in below:
References:
Díaz-Zavala RG, Castro-Cantú MF, Valencia ME, Álvarez-Hernández G, Haby MM, Esparza-Romero J. Effect of the Holiday Season on Weight Gain: A Narrative Review. J Obes. 2017;2017:2085136. doi:10.1155/2017/2085136
Rees SG, Holman RR, Turner RC. The Christmas feast. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1985 Dec 21-28;291(6511):1764-5. doi: 10.1136/bmj.291.6511.1764. PMID: 3936575; PMCID: PMC1419184.
Reid, R. and Hackett, A. (1999), Changes in nutritional status in adults over Christmas 1998. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 12: 513-516. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-277x.1999.00205.x
Yanovski JA, Yanovski SZ, Sovik KN, Nguyen TT, O'Neil PM, Sebring NG. A prospective study of holiday weight gain. N Engl J Med. 2000 Mar 23;342(12):861-7. doi: 10.1056/NEJM200003233421206. PMID: 10727591; PMCID: PMC4336296.
Wagner DR, Larson JN, Wengreen H. Weight and body composition change over a six-week holiday period. Eat Weight Disord. 2012 Mar;17(1):e54-6. doi: 10.1007/BF03325328. PMID: 22751272.
Cook CM, Subar AF, Troiano RP, Schoeller DA. Relation between holiday weight gain and total energy expenditure among 40- to 69-y-old men and women (OPEN study). Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Mar;95(3):726-31. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.111.023036. Epub 2012 Feb 1. PMID: 22301936; PMCID: PMC3278247.
Stevenson JL, Krishnan S, Stoner MA, Goktas Z, Cooper JA. Effects of exercise during the holiday season on changes in body weight, body composition and blood pressure. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2013 Sep;67(9):944-9. doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2013.98. Epub 2013 May 22. PMID: 23695203.
How Long Will It Take To Lose A Stone With Diet and Exercise?
In this article, I will tell you exactly how long it will take you to lose a stone with diet and exercise. It's a complex issue and I will hopefully take you through it in a very easy to follow and concise manner.
But before we get started I would like to invite you to become my friend by getting on my list.
I’ll email you things. Sometimes they will be educational, sometimes they will be inappropriate, sometimes I might just want to know how the hell you are; either way…it means we can be friends.
Oh, and I will also send you some free fitness goodies too, like a free calorie calculator, a month of in-home and in Gym Workouts and much more…but only when you send me your friend request:
Table of Contents for: “How Long Will It Take To Lose A Stone With Diet and Exercise?”
But first, I want to tell you a story.
Personal Trainers don’t know it all — and that’s ok
This question takes me back years. To a very dear friend of mine who I worked with on the Gym Floor in person.
I am actually Godson to her Nephew, and crucially she is the reason that I am about to marry the most wonderful person on the planet.
This is one of the greatest gifts of being a Coach, that no school or certification can ever tell you. The personal relationships that you build and the way these relationships can transform your life is incredible.
Back to Jess, one of the first friends I ever trained. She turned and looked at me when we were chatting, stressed as anything, and asked:
“How quickly will I lose this weight?”
Now, back then, I didn’t have the knowledge, the expertise, or crucially the confidence to stand back and say to her:
“As long as it takes. It will depend on far more factors than you can even fathom”
So I made the terrible mistake of running to the toilet, checking Google, and coming back saying:
“About 2lbs a week”
If I could have my time again.
It will come as no surprise to you that both Jess and I learned a lot over the course of working together.
And luckily we managed to get her losing weight and she achieved incredible things:
From left to right: Jess’ “Work in Progress Picture 2015–2017, Jess with my Godson on his Christening Day, and Jess on her Wedding Day to Matt (who is another dear friend of mine).
What I adore about all of these photos is Jess’s smile. She was also so full of life, and everything she does she puts her all into. Whether that is being a Teacher for little children, training with me, or now being a mother to her new family that she and Matt have. She is one of the most exuberant and fun people to be around, and looking at these photos makes me well up because being able to experience all of these memories with her as well means so much to me.
What I truly see in these photos is a woman full of confidence and life. And she deserves everything she worked so incredibly hard for, and for her to entrust me with getting her and her husband ready for their wedding was a true honor.
But I did let her down. If I knew then what I know now about how long it will take her to lose a stone my answer would be very different.
It would be what I am about to tell you right now.
So in a vow to never make that mistake again, I am writing this for you.
How to lose a stone with diet and exercise?
I am wholly encouraged that there is a new hashtag emerging on Instagram, and it is the following #caloriedeficitdiet
How To Lose A Stone With Diet
Whether you want Fat Loss or Weight Loss there is only one answer to the question of how you lose weight, and that is a “Calorie Deficit”.
This is the principle that energy in as calories must be lower than energy out, and this will create weight loss for you. You can create a Calorie Deficit in two ways:
Eat fewer Calories
Burn Calories through Exercise
In order to know how many calories is less than your body needs, therefore creating weight loss then use this equation for your “Upper-Calorie Window”
Goal Bodyweight in LBS x 12
For your “Lower-Calorie Window” you need to find out your Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR.
To do this you can download any number of Calorie Calculators from the Internet, but the one I think is the best one to use is available right here.
A couple of really quick strategies to help you manage a Calorie Deficit in terms of your Diet would be to do the following:
Eat Protein and Vegetables at every meal
Drink 3 liters of water a day
Snack on Fruit
Track your calories using MyFitness Pal or another tracking app
Avoid excess liquid calories from drinks like soda, alcohol, and very high-calorie smoothies.
Try to limit the number of times you eat out in a week, as when in restaurants you have very little control over the preparation and calorie content of your food.
These are quite general guidelines but they will stand you in good stead as you get started on how to lose a stone with your diet.
I’m not going into to it much more here as I have nearly 10 articles on it on my website, that explain a Calorie Deficit in great detail, what your expectations with it should be, and how to implement my system of a Calorie Window.
If you do need some extra help on it right now then watch this:
How To Lose A Stone With Exercise
Strictly speaking…you can’t. Calories In are what matter when it comes to adhering to your plan to lose weight.
Although, exercise does burn calories, but not as much as you think. In fact, a study [1] took 60 healthy adults and made them wear laboratory devices as well as activity trackers to see how accurate they were. The Fitbit Surge was the most accurate at calculating calories burned at an error rate of 25%.
Yup. It can be up to 25% inaccurate.
This is why you are driving yourself mad by checking your calories burned from exercise on your watch…and you aren’t seeing results.
This doesn’t mean that Exercise is a defunct part of the Energy Balance Equation. There will be some calories burned from exercise…so that’s good, and you are building some muscle on top of that…but again…not as much as you would think.
But exercising gives you so much more than a method with which to burn calories, and this is one of the reasons that weight loss takes so much time.
Lifting Weights, being in the Gym, doing something difficult is a very human thing to do because it keeps you being a productive person.
And a productive person is a person that burns calories. When you exercise regularly this gives you a feeling of wellbeing. It creates momentum for you, and that momentum will lead you to making better choices about yourself outside and inside the Gym.
You might walk more, you might be able to get an extra training session each week, you might just choose to stand on your commute as opposed to sit on the train, or take the stairs as opposed to the escalator.
When you start adding layers of exercise into your life, you will learn the positive effects that will have on your wellbeing…and that is very addictive my friends.
Added to the above, it will help your Calorie Deficit not just by calories burned from exercise, but by exercising more it will guide you into making nutritional choices more aligned with your goals each and every day.
The most important thing to remember when it comes to how to lose a stone with exercise is this one word: enjoyment.
Essentially it doesn’t matter what “mode” of exercise you do, if you aren’t enjoying it you will not stick to it. If you have loved running in the past…then go running. If you enjoy the Gym…then lift weights.
If you want to try something new and think that will be tons of fun…then go do that.
You don’t need permission from me to do any type of exercise, you only need to give yourself permission to focus on exercise that you enjoy.
My preference is weight training in the Gym for those I work with Online as it is more efficient but it is also more accessible. No matter what your ailments you will be able to lift weights to some degree or level. Every exercise can be adapted for your goals and your physiology.
Whereas running is just running. Cycling is just cycling. If you can’t do it…you can’t do it, and that is that.
Here are some Workouts you can do in the Gym which I took from the following article of mine: 4 Gym Based Workouts For Beginners both Male and Female
They are designed to help you burn fat and build muscle at the same time in order to facilitate the Weight Loss you are after.
They focus on what we call Compound Movements. Moving like this will be your best way to get the most out of your training as it will activate the most amount of muscle which will help your Calorie Deficit the most.
What if you are “Skinny Fat”?
Everyone I have worked with when we first started working together wanted to lose weight, and I think in truth this is because that is what you know.
Or rather, you didn’t know that losing weight and losing Body Fat were two different things.
Or, you didn’t think the difference mattered.
I do believe it is important to know the difference between these two things as many people who need to lose body fat, think they need to lose weight.
There are huge swathes of females out there who dislike the way look and feel. The best word I can think of to describe this feeling to you is “loose”. You just feel loose, and you want to feel tight and “toned”. And you believe the answer lies in losing weight.
If you feel like this, you need to decrease your Body Fat, not necessarily lose weight.
You are what we would call “Skinny Fat”.
Which is a term I really dislike, but it is the industry standard. So for you, today, reading this, as it does explain my point I will just go with it.
When you work on losing body fat, you might not necessarily lose weight.
Let me say that again: When you focus on losing body fat, you might not lose weight.
Weight Loss directly relates to the reduction of everything in your body:
Body Fat
Muscle Mass
Water
This is why you lose scale weight when you cut out carbohydrates because, for every gram of carbohydrate you eat, your body will hold 2–3 grams of water.
It’s doesn’t necessarily mean you are losing body fat.
If you aren’t activating and exercising your muscles you will lose muscle density and therefore you might lose scale weight.
When you focus solely on just a Caloric Deficit, without musclar activation then you will lose weight, but you will also lose strength and metabolic performance.
Which can lead you into a very trapped place in terms of your futurre caloric restriction and being able to sustain your Weight.
There is no easy way to directly know whether you are losing body fat or just weight overall. What I would say is this:
If you are feeling a lot better in your skin,
If you feel stronger,
If you feel more confident,
If you feel your clothes are fitting better,
If you feel like you have more energy
If you are finding your Calorie Deficit manageable and sustainable
Then what you are doing is working, don’t oveththink whats happening in terms of the scale and keep going.
If you think you are “Skinny Fat” then you need to focus on getting in the gym and building your body up, in terms of its muscular density is going to have the “weight loss” effect you desire, except the scale might not go down.
To conquer the “Skinny Fat” equation follow these steps:
Increase Calories to 110% of TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)
Strength Train 3–4x a week following a Training Plan
Focus on Performance Goals not Scale Goals
Reduce Cardiovascular output
Look for these markers of progress in your journey:
Are clothes fitting better?
Is the scale not moving down or up too much?
Are you lifting more weight each session?
Are you seeing muscle?
Are you eating enough protein?
Are you having increased energy?
Has your posture improved?
Are you less tired?
Are you more confident?
Do you feel more powerful?
But I Don’t Want To Look Bulky!
You can feel strong and empowered….without looking bulky.
Women have about 15–20 times [2] less Testosterone in their bodies compared to men, but they do make up for this difference in other hormonal aspects of their physiology.
Other hormones that help with muscle building for women is Estrogen [3]. This is a growth hormone that is particularly dominant in the first two weeks of a female’s cycle.
Find out more by reading this: How Does Your Menstrual Cycle Affect Your Fitness And Weight Loss?
Estrogen is great at:
Stimulating Growth Hormone Production
Preventing Muscle Breakdown
Increases Metabolism
This will more or less balance out your inability to build muscle because of a lack of testosterone. The reason you don’t see women with the same muscle density in the Gym as men is because they begin with a much lower (nearly half as much) amount of muscle as men, and can’t gain as much.
The more muscle you build, the less bulky you will look. Muscle on the female body provides definition, shape, and tonality. Therefore the more of it you build, and the less body fat you have (about 20%) you will have that shape and tonality that you desire.
But the path to what you desire isn’t dieting. It is muscle building.
How Long Will It Take?
I have literally just received a DM on Instagram of someone losing 13lbs in 30 days.
This is not what you should expect.
Some of the friends I work with online have taken 2 months to lose 6lbs.
So where does the answer lie?
Whenever someone new applies to work with me via Online Coaching I always ask them this question:
Would you rather:
a) Make very fast progress that you know is not sustainable?
b) Make slower progress that you know is sustainable?
This gives me a guide on where to set their Calories, Training, and how they will need coaching into the future.
I know that most people will want fast progress that will be sustainable, but it doesn’t exist. There comes a point where taking the fast track will always come to a crashing halt, and this could create a very testing path into the future.
Firstly, when you get seduced by fast weight loss, despite knowing that it can’t continue at the Cerebral Level, your imagination will keep saying to you:
“I am different. Look at my results. I am different. I can keep this up”
Your imagination can be your best friend or your worst enemy.
And oftentimes, with people, I have worked with over the years and those who are low on self-confidence, their imagination can be their own worst enemy.
When it comes to losing weight, these two words are without a doubt the most important:
Reality and Perspective
You must always root yourself in the reality of what weight loss is, and the best way to do that is to make sure you have a very realistic perspective.
The reality of weight loss is something you aren’t going to hear, but you really seriously need to listen to this point.
0.5lbs a week is fast weight loss. 1lb a week is terribly fast weight loss.
2lbs a week is beyond epic.
But these numbers can only be seen in this context with hindsight. When you look back over a year you will see an average weight loss of between 0.5lbs and 1lbs a week.
When you are in the thick of it, there is no way that it will be that linear. You will have weeks, sometimes months, when your weight goes up and stays up for whatever reason. You will have moments when it just drops out of control and you will think you are walking on the stars.
Scale Weight by its very nature is erratic.
And with all things erratic we must always give it space and time with which to actually process the results and effect it has had.
1lb of fat is equal to 3500kcal
“A total of 3500 calories equals 1 pound of body weight. This means if you decrease (or increase) your intake by 500 calories daily, you will lose (or gain) 1 pound per week. (500 calories per day × 7 days = 3500 calories.)” [4]
Do this for 14 weeks…magically that is how you lose a stone. Cue eye roll.
This is a conventional stance by many people who are just poorly educated in the field of weight loss. Although I am not denying the science about how many Calories makeup 1lb of weight, what I am calling into question is the lack of understanding this principle has for the human condition and crucially metabolic adaptation [5].
Metabolic Adaptation is the method upon which as you reduce the size of your body, you will need fewer calories to maintain it.
As you lose mass, you don’t just lose Body Fat. You will lose muscle, which will affect your Basal Metabolic Rate, you will also burn fewer calories as you move each day, because you are moving something with less Mass which means you are using less energy with which to do that.
Added to that, sticking to a Caloric Restriction of 500kcals each day for 14 weeks, without any variation on that number is very hard.
Let's look at this in more real terms.
A 40-year-old female who:
Weighs: 182lbs (12st/82kgs)
Height: 176cm (5ft 8in)
Leads a Sedentary Lifestyle
Has a Caloric Need of 1871kcal to maintain her weight.
If you then restrict her to 1371kcal a day (1871–500) in order to achieve this weight loss of one stone you are restricting her to below her Basal Metabolic Rate of 1559kcal a day.
This can then become dangerous and more unsustainable as time goes on due to the fact that you are not eating enough to fuel the basic needs of your body. Your Organs for example.
Five Ways in which restricting your calories to below your BMR level could be harmful are [6]:
It can lower your Metabolism
It will cause Fatigue and Nutrient Deficiencies
It may reduce fertility
It can weaken your bones
It may lower your immunity
And one I will add:
6. It might trigger Disordered Eating habits and behaviors
I’m not in the business of scaremongering, therefore looking at that list, I personally think the most crucial point in terms of your ability to adhere to the Caloric Restriction is number 2.
Fatigue will create havoc in your ability to lose weight. When you are tired you become stressed, leading to a desire for higher-calorie foods [7]. Then you will notice that you aren’t losing weight…and then you will feel like a failure…and then you will be inclined to quit.
Number 6 is also extremely important, as the restrict/binge continuum is something that is more common than you might imagine, combined with the possible effects of this on your Mental Wellbeing also.
If you do experience any behaviors of Disordered Eating please seek specialist help. BEAT is a fantastic charity available here: https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/
If only you actually implemented a sustainable Deficit in the first place and realized my next point…
Worrying About Time Is Your Enemy
When you focus too much on “how long will it take to lose a stone” you will end up putting yourself in a prison.
What happens is that you focus so much on the weight coming off within this particular, made up out of thin air, time frame…when the scale doesn’t comply because of factors effecting you that you didn’t even dream of when you came up with this made-up time frame, you start to feel like you are failing.
And when you start feeling like you are failing, you will start to give up.
And when you give up…you will never achieve what you want.
When you are truly trying to calculate by what point you need to lose this weight. Ask yourself “why”.
If your answer to why is any of the following:
Because I want to look better
Because I need it now
Because it will make me happy
Because it will make me more attractive
Because Karen at work managed it so I should too
Then you need to understand that the answer to these points lies in taking a lot more slowly than it does achieving it quickly.
Without a shadow of a doubt, if you want to make your Weight Loss successful and sustainable then you need to take it a lot slower than you imagined.
Slower than a 500kcal a day deficit. Slower than 1lb a week. Slower than you might really want it.
Because the chasm between wanting it and achieving it is layered with far more traps and potholes than you ever thought when you first typed into Google: “How Long Will It Take To Lose A Stone With Diet and Exercise?”
I believe the truth lies here:
You don’t actually need to lose a stone or any amount of weight by any particular date in the future.
The stress that a time frame will cause, will undermine your ability to actually lose weight. It also won’t take into account the craziness of this world.
Even if you try to lose weight by 1lb a week…that is still 3.5 months.
A lot of things can happen in 3.5 months, a lot of things that are out of your control, and will wildly affect how quickly you are able to lose weight.
So please, give yourself more time to achieve the weight loss you desire…and ironically it will happen more quickly because you won’t go through cycles of restriction/binge or success/failure/quit.
You will just keep plugging away.
You will learn how to balance your fitness goals with your very busy life.
and
You will find it empowering because you will see progress over a longer period of time which means you will keep going for a lot longer, and get results upon which you never thought possible.
Did You Find This Useful?
I have plenty more articles about weight loss throughout this website.
Here is a selection I think would make great further reading for you:
Added to that it would be AMAZING if you wanted more help from me.
Just can send me that friend request we spoke about earlier…and I will send you lots of help straight away.
References:
Shcherbina, A. et al., 2017. Accuracy in Wrist-Worn, Sensor-Based Measurements of Heart Rate and Energy Expenditure in a Diverse Cohort. Journal of Personalized Medicine, 7(2), p.3. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jpm7020003.
Encyclopedia, M., 2020. Testosterone: Medlineplus Medical Encyclopedia. [online] Medlineplus.gov. Available at: <https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003707.htm> [Accessed 25 September 2020].
Legion Athletics. 2020. The Ultimate Guide To Female Muscle Growth — Legion Athletics. [online] Available at: <https://legionathletics.com/female-muscle-growth/> [Accessed 25 September 2020].
Guth, E., 2020. Healthy Weight Loss. [online] Jama Network. Available at: <https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/1900513> [Accessed 26 September 2020].
Darcy L. Johannsen, Nicolas D. Knuth, Robert Huizenga, Jennifer C. Rood, Eric Ravussin, Kevin D. Hall, Metabolic Slowing with Massive Weight Loss despite Preservation of Fat-Free Mass, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 97, Issue 7, 1 July 2012, Pages 2489–2496, https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2012-1444
Healthline. 2020. 5 Ways Restricting Calories Can Be Harmful. [online] Available at: <https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/calorie-restriction-risks#:~:text=1.,8%20%2C%209%20%2C%2010%20).> [Accessed 26 September 2020].
Verywell Mind. 2020. How Stress Can Cause Weight Gain. [online] Available at: <https://www.verywellmind.com/how-stress-can-cause-weight-gain-3145088> [Accessed 26 September 2020].
How To Lose Weight With PCOS Naturally
This is a huge topic. Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome. Because there are a lot of women out there who are really struggling with it, this means that many many people in my industry have jumped on the bandwagon and have out some really very confusing information about the topic.
Which just makes everything harder.
And I don’t think that is fair.
This has also led to women not only struggling with understanding what PCOS is and how it works, but it also means that they are struggling specifically with their weight with this condition.
In this article, I will tell you how to actually lose weight with PCOS.
You could argue that having specialist knowledge about PCOS is out of the scope of your Personal Trainer.
But there are so many women out there struggling with this, and clearly, the Medical Profession is doing its best, but they are leaving women like you behind on this topic. Partly because many Doctors just aren’t specialized in this condition. Or they aren’t specialized in Weight Management. Let alone combining the two.
And if they are…
Good luck getting an appointment with them.
So here I am.
A humble Fitness Professional who has helped a number of women with this condition (and other hormonal conditions like pituitary issues, thyroid issues, and insulin issues) all lose weight.
But I had to sit down, learn all about the Menstrual Cycle first, then learn about how PCOS can interact with that…and then put it into the context of fitness.
And that is what this article is going to do for you.
At one point, when I was figuring all this out, one of my clients called me “The Menstuaration Guy”
Don’t worry. I’m not changing my brand over to that.
Before we get started, I would love for you to become my friend; as your friend, I will email you things. Sometimes they will be educational, sometimes they will be inappropriate, and sometimes I might just want to know how you are; either way…it means we can be friends.
So just fill in the form below and send me a friend request…
Oh, and I will also send you some free fitness goodies to help start our new friendship off on the best foot possible.
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR “HOW TO lOSE WEIGHT WITH PCOS NATURALLY”
If you would like to listen to an episode of The Fitness Solution Podcast on this topic, then check that out right here:
How does Your Menstruation affect your fitness?
In this article, I will keep it short and sweet.
For two reasons;
It's not entirely why you are here (you just need context)
I have already written a very helpful article on this topic right here
Let me start with a graphic:
In short, Week 1 and Week 2 are the weeks upon which you will most likely have more energy and be so much more adherent to your fitness regimen and equally as important, your nutrition.
This is known as your Follicular Phase.
During this phase, you have the highest count of testosterone in your system the closer you get to Ovulation, Day 14 of your cycle, and more testosterone means more strength for working out.
Once Menzies is over (around Day 5) your energy should be high, cravings low and this it the time of the month to really maximize your ability to stick to your nutrition and training plan.
Once you are out of your Follicular Phase and you have Ovulated, then Progesterone kicks in.
This is known as your Luteal Phase.
During this phase, things get tougher. Your body is using a lot of energy each day to help you build your uterine wall to prepare you for pregnancy (even if you aren’t pregnant!).
Because of this, cravings can increase, energy can be lower and adhering to a Calorie Deficit will be all-around a bit tougher for you. During this time I normally suggest increasing calories to your Maintenance Calories.
Read my Blog that has helped hundreds of people establish their maintenance calorie level
Your Luteal Phase comes with it some physical issues in terms of exercise as well. Progesterone can cause a slightly higher risk of injury as your joints might be looser, and therefore I wouldn’t expect you to hit PBs and feel your strongest in this phase. Focus on the quality of movement, not the quantity of movement.
Your Cycle is split into two 14-day phases.
And I think if you want to manage your fitness and fat loss with your cycle, then splitting your training up into two phases could be useful as well.
Phase 1 (Day 1– Day 14): Resistance Training with stronger lifts and more energy (especially Day 7- Day 14) and higher adherence to your Nutrition.
Phase 2 (Day 15 - Day 28): Resistance Training (but no PBs) and Maintenance Calories respecting your body and listening to its energy.
This is all very important to understand as PCOS can cause issues with the regularity of your cycle combined with other physical symptoms affecting the way your cycle might work.
How does PCOS affect you physically?
PCOS can come along with many different physical considerations [1].
An imbalance of the Female Sex Hormones Progesterone and Oestrogen
Increase in Testosterone and Androgens
Insulin Resistance
Cists upon the Ovaries (but this isn’t always the case)
As you can imagine. Each one of these can have a factor in your Fitness and especially your weight loss. I will go into this further in the next section.
But let's see how these conditions can affect you physically outside the context of weight loss.
An imbalance of the Female Sex Hormones Progesterone and Oestrogen
This typically causes a longer luteal phase (Day 15-Day 28) of your cycle where Progesterone is more dominant. This is because the cysts on your Ovaries are not allowing an Egg to be released therefore triggering Menstruation and the release of Oestrogen into the body again. [2].
Basically, your cycle will be all a bit stretched out in the latter part of the cycle
Increase in Testosterone and Androgens
If you have PCOS you will have more Androgens which are sex hormones. The most common Androgen is Testosterone, and this is prevalent in someone with PCOS. Testosterone is thought of as a Male Sex Hormone, although women naturally produce it anyway. Those with PCOS just produce more of it.
The higher amounts of Testosterone will lead to physical factors like acne, more body hair and an increase in weight.
The increase in weight occurs because of the relationship between Insulin Resistance and Testosterone. Testosterone increases your insulin resistance. [3], and insulin resistance can adversely affect your weight.
Insulin Resistance
This is a topic that seems to get hotter and hotter in terms of debate month on month.
If you are Insulin Resistant this could lead to weight gain. This doesn’t mean that because you are insulin resistant doesn’t mean you cannot lose weight.
Now to make this as simple as possible.
Imagine Insulin is a key to your cells. When you eat food this will increase your blood sugar levels, insulin is then released from the Pancreas, and makes your cells to open up to absorb the blood sugar.
Insulin basically tells your cells to let the sugar in your blood into your cells so that it can be stored until you need to use it as energy. [4]
If you are Insulin Resistant your cells can’t open as they are full already and therefore the Sugar gets stored as Body Fat [5].
Cysts upon the Ovaries (but this isn’t always the case)
Despite the name — Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome. Not everyone with PCOS actually has Cysts on their Ovaries. And this just leads to the mystique of the condition. That being said. It is there, it could be there and it might be affecting you.
From what I can establish the cysts on the Ovaries help delay the release of Oestrogen into your system, which therefore causes a delay in Menzies. This is why many women with PCOS experience a longer Luteal Phase of their cycle. So as you can see there is a lot to consider, and looking at that list it is no wonder that if you have PCOS you can often feel overwhelmed and at a loss about how to then go about losing weight.
If it was me, I know I would feel like the deck is stacked against me. And if you feel like that…then I’m here to tell you that it’s ok. And I am about to lay out an action plan for you that you can follow that will undoubtedly help you achieve your goals.
PCOS Weight Loss Diet and Exercise Plan
In this section, I am going to take each physical symptom of PCOS and give you workable solutions to help you work with your condition as well as move you towards your goal of fat loss. But first I want to show you how possible it is. Here is a graph of one of my friends and Online Clients weight loss journey who has PCOS.
And here is a screenshot of a text conversation I had just this week with one of my clients on The Strong & Confident Program - who has lost weight whilst dealing with PCOS (please excuse my french in this photo — but it’s damn appropriate)
The PCOS condition may make weight loss harder.
But both of these clients have adhered to the overriding principles of Fat Loss: a Calorie Deficit.
That is truly where their results lie, and PCOS can give you some advantages when it comes to losing weight, and it can mean we may just need to manage expectations a little more and adopt more patience and understanding.
But no matter who you are…you can lose weight with PCOS.
Increase in Testosterone and Androgens with PCOS
When I see this as a symptom of PCOS. I see the opportunity.
Testosterone will mean greater strength.
Greater strength will mean the ability to improve on a Strength Training programme much easier.
You need to use this to your advantage. Increased testosterone means you will have more strength and be able to lift heavier weights in the gym.
The extra Testosterone and Androgens are your superpower. You have this extra advantage that other women don’t have. It’s awesome. God has given you some stardust to kick ass in the gym lifting weights.
If you don’t do that…then it’s like being a superhero and not using your power.
Following a programme that is designed to improve muscle mass as opposed to just help you lose weight will achieve three things:
Burn more calories at rest and help you get into a Caloric Deficit
Improve body shape by having more muscle
Will make you feel like a bad-ass because you are lifting weights and taking control of your fitness.
Get A Weight Loss Workout For PCOS here:
Insulin Resistance and PCOS
In my experience, the best way to improve Insulin Resistance is to increase Daily Activity and follow a well-structured training programme.
Insulin Resistance is caused by a number of factors.
The first being a lack of activity. You need to free up space in your cells so that the sugar in your blood can enter it and then be used for energy. One of the easiest and most accessible ways to do that is to move more. Many people who are at risk of the effects of Insulin Resistance are just too sedentary.
They aren’t creating enough space in their cells through movement to allow the next load of glucose to enter the cells.
This is why it then gets stored as fat.
So let’s get moving, and by moving I don’t mean “training”. Prescribed fitness training will, of course, help you, and you should do that (utilising your Superpower) but movement means everything outside of that.
It’s whatever falls under the category of NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) and means:
Walking more
Standing more
Fidgeting more
Stop sitting at your desk for 8 hours a day and start scheduling in some walking lunches. Stand up when you have a phone call. Park your car further away from your office. Stand up on your commute. Climb the stairs when there is an ad break on the telly.
You will hear the term 10k steps a day. And it’s a nice figure. But if you only do 4k a day on average then it’s going to be hard to get to 10k. So try and focus your mind on steady increases over a period of time. Set yourself a bar that is achievable, but not defeating.
Best Diet To Lose Weight With PCOS
There is a whole host of research out there that backs up the fact that if you are Insulin Resistant then you need to use your diet to help you with that. The Diet is there to achieve two outcomes in this order of priority:
Help you lose weight
To keep your blood sugar in check
Weight loss will help you with Insulin Resistance because when you lose weight you will begin to lose fat from around your vital organs. This will then cause a knock-on effect of opening up space for the Glucose in your blood to be stored in the cells.
By reducing higher sugar foods, and moving away from foods that spike your blood sugar to a more controlled Glycaemic Diet you will keep everything more in check and it will allow your body to start normalising the role of the insulin in your system.
I can sit here and list the foods you should eat.
Foods you shouldn’t eat.
Particularly when it comes to dealing with Insulin Resistance
But let's face it. The restriction isn’t going to get you anywhere in a manner that is simple, straightforward and sustainable.
And the number one priority here is to lose weight…that is why you are here reading this.
So the key to doing this is the good old Calorie Deficit (Diet).
Take your Goal Bodyweight..this being a weight you have weighed before, something you know is achievable for you, and/or is something you feasibly believe you can get to.
This isn’t where you end up. This isn’t a pass/fail situation.
Goal Bodyweight is just a guideline for you.
Set your Calorie Deficit by taking your GBW in LBS and x12
This is your Upper Caloric Window. Your Lower Caloric Window should be set at your BMR (Basal Metabolic Weight).
Then you just need to land your calories each day between the two numbers.
This will give you flexibility, and sustainability, and it’s nice and straightforward for you to follow.
Getting your calories into this window will be made a lot easier by eating whole foods, more grains, more protein and more veggies.
Less of the sugary foods and simple carbohydrates will be useful, as they generally pack more calories and contain less volume.
And having a diet lower in more calorie-dense foods will help you control your Glycaemic Levels, but you can still lose weight eating foods you enjoy, as long as you keep within your Calorie Window.
Added to that, by eating more whole foods, and reducing sugar and more simple carbohydrates from your diet you may see an improvement in other symptoms such as Acne.
Ovarian Cysts
If you have this symptom of PCOS then it is likely that the Cysts will cause you to be in your Luteal phase for a longer period of time.
Dealing with everything this brings up is really very personal to each person.
From earlier on in this article, you will have seen that I have suggested the following for this phase:
Increase your calories to a Maintenance Level (find out how right here)
Focus on quality of movement not the quantity of weight in the Gym
You are likely to be a little more restless, tired, and drained during this phase…and the longer that goes on the more difficulty losing weight will be for you.
I’m sure you are very familiar with the usual cravings for chocolate that come along when you are about to Menstruate.
This is clearly going to have an effect on your ability to adhere to a Caloric Deficit.
I want you to avoid feeling like a failure at every turn.
Restricting yourself will lead to a binge.
Trying to do a Calorie Deficit during this time will lead to you not managing it and then again feeling like a failure.
So give yourself permission.
Give yourself permission to increase your calories during this time. Yes, it might slow down your weight loss, but it will be controlled, inside your plan and you will be able to stick to it for a much longer period of time.
This will keep you out of the cycle of trying to diet, and constantly slipping up every time cravings come along.
And besides, if you are still in the gym, with your extra testosterone superpower, then maintenance calories is really going to help add muscle, get strong, and improve your Gym performance.
You may have to be a bit more careful in the Gym during this time due to the effect Progesterone can have on the joints. But that doesn’t mean what you do can’t still be effective.
Does PCOS Make It Harder To Lose Weight?
This condition is always about managing your expectations. Because of the link with PCOS and the thyroid gland, then it does make weight loss harder.
Many people who have hormonal conditions believe that the condition is ceasing their ability to lose weight. I find a lot of these people have “tried everything” as well.
And that’s the problem.
They try. They don’t execute. They don’t “do”.
Doing takes time. Weight loss takes time — a lot longer than you honestly think.
In fact, weight loss is all about managing expectations.
The number of people I see that set their expectations far too aggressively because they come from a point of helplessness, and then end up failing even more because they don’t know what real, true weight loss looks like, is far too plentiful.
I see it with my Online Clients, I see it on Facebook Groups, I see it on Instagram.
If you follow the advice in this article then I have no doubt you will lose weight.
But it will not be fast.
It will not be magical.
It will not be instant.
But that is what we want.
I’m suggesting to you that you should think more about building muscle. I’m suggesting you should increase your calories for at least a quarter of the month.
These two things alone will interrupt your Weight Loss progress in the short term.
But it will allow you to be adherent and consistent in the long term.
And consistency will create results beyond your expectation.
But it might take a year.
It might take longer.
And it will be an up-and-down journey like all things are.
But it is possible I promise you that.
Here is my beautiful fiancee who has been following my online coaching for a number of years now. She focuses on her resistance training. She allows herself freedom with her diet but understands the principles behind what she needs to do.
And she has PCOS.
Her results have taken years. Years of ups and downs. Her physique comes and goes. But she stays the course. She works very hard on herself and is always very aware of what is going on within herself. She can be hard on herself.
To me, she looks strong, empowered and above all she is very happy. I’m so very proud of her. It’s easy for me to say, sat here, as her fiancee, but if you knew how dedicated to herself she truly is, you would be proud of her as well. She makes hard decisions, she allows herself freedom but the real secret to her success.
Is that when she goes awry, she doesn’t focus on it. She draws a line under it and moves on as quickly as possible. Gets back on track, and that is how she has been as consistent as she really should be.
Moreover, if I was to get you to guess her weight…go on…pick a number…right now.
What do you think she weighs?
Got it?
I promise you…it’s more than you are thinking.
The truth is…when this was taken…
She weighed: 77.3kgs
It looks very different from what it actually is, doesn’t it?
This is why having a target weight is important, but allowing yourself to accept the way you look compared to what that number says can make all the difference.
The scale is just one way of judging your progress…and it can very often be misleading between the number and what you see. Your challenge is to really see what you look like without letting the number interfere with your own personal thoughts about yourself.
I’m not saying at any point, you will look like this.
But it proves you can definitely lose weight with PCOS so long as you remain consistent with what you are doing.
I say to all of my friends and online clients who are trying to lose weight, that we don’t need to focus on how much and how fast. We need to focus on consistency and context.
You shouldn’t care if you lose 0.5lbs a week or 2lbs a week.
One is not superior to the other. Because at some point you will both end up at the same place: a feeling of achievement and accomplishment.
There is no rush. The speed at which you lose weight is the speed at which you lose weight taking into consideration all factors like:
Your home life
Your professional life
Your social calendar
Your health conditions
Your finances
Your mental wellbeing
These are all factors that aren’t created equal in anyone's life.
And they are all factors that help or hinder weight loss.
Conclusion
So how do you actually lose weight with PCOS?
Well, my biggest message from this article is the following:
You can do this
You need patience. PCOS can play havoc with your ability to adhere to a Caloric Deficit, not your ability to be in one.
It’s really important that you work with what your body is going through, allow yourself breaks when you need them in the Luteal Phase of your cycle. This might be longer than 14 days but that’s ok.
Allow yourself to be in a Caloric Deficit for your Follicular Phase.
Eat foods that help with your Blood Sugar Levels, not hinder them. But allow yourself some flexibility so that you can stay in this for the long haul. And move.
Get your NEAT up to make sure your cells are burning the glycogen in your blood and in your cells.
And go to the Gym. Get off the Treadmill and Stair Climber. Get under a Barbell. Give yourself goals based on what you can achieve in the gym.
Focus on Production of the body, not reduction of the body.
It will take time. There will be some months that go a lot easier than others. There will be times when you don’t need to increase your calories in your Luteual Phase…and that’s ok.
But above all stop thinking that your PCOS is the reason you can’t lose weight.
I’m no endocrinologist. But whenever I have ever looked into how much weight a hormonal issue can be attributed to and it usually comes out to around 5–10lbs.
Hormones do not cease weight loss.
They just make it a bit harder for you.
And that is why I have written a 3000-word article to try and help you with it as much as I can.
It requires understanding, education, and a plan of action.
And now you have all of that.
Good luck and don’t forget to let me know how you get on!
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Just send me a friend request below:
I hope you found this article useful and that my tips help you improve your eating habits.
I cannot wait to see you again soon…
Coach Adam
References:
Healthline. 2020. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS): Symptoms, Causes, And Treatment. [online] Available at: <https://www.healthline.com/health/polycystic-ovary-disease#causes> [Accessed 14 September 2020].
Pennmedicine.org. 2020. 5 Myths About Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) — Penn Medicine. [online] Available at: <https://www.pennmedicine.org/updates/blogs/fertility-blog/2020/march/five-myths-about-pcos> [Accessed 14 September 2020].
Sensitivity, <., 2020. Testosterone Increasing Insulin Sensitivity. [online] Diabetes In Control. A free weekly diabetes newsletter for Medical Professionals. Available at: <http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/testosterone-increasing-insulin-sensitivity/> [Accessed 14 September 2020].
Wa.kaiserpermanente.org. 2020. How Insulin Works With Glucose | Kaiser Permanente Washington. [online] Available at: <https://wa.kaiserpermanente.org/healthAndWellness/index.jhtml?item=%2Fcommon%2FhealthAndWellness%2Fconditions%2Fdiabetes%2FinsulinProcess.html> [Accessed 14 September 2020].
Harrar, S., 2020. Insulin Resistance Causes And Symptoms. [online] EndocrineWeb. Available at: <https://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/type-2-diabetes/insulin-resistance-causes-symptoms> [Accessed 14 September 2020].
How To Find Your Calorie Maintenance Level
I always feel like Calorie Maintenance gets a bad rap in the Fitness Industry.
It’s the one that gets forgotten. The reason for this is that we cannot sell Calorie Maintenance.
Imagine if you saw an advert for The Fitness Collective (my coaching program) and it said:
“I will teach you to keep your weight exactly where it is, so you can saty exactly as you are”
You’re going to look at it like this:
And I understand why.
But if you think that maintaining body weight is not something you should be concerned with…then you need to read on…because in taking a moment, hitting the pause button and understanding the role that Calorie Maintenance can play in your fitness, health and above all your Fat Loss, is crucial.
Yes.
I did just say that Calorie Maintenance can be crucial in helping you to lose weight.
But don’t worry. I haven’t gone mad and abandoned my Calorie Deficit principles…so let me show you what I mean by this.
But before I do just that… it would be wonderful if you got onto my email list and we became friends.
I will email you things. Sometimes they will be educational, sometimes they will be inappropriate, sometimes I might just want to know how you are; either way…it would be delightful to connect with you.
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Table of Contents for “How Do You Find Your Calorie Maintenace Level”
If you want to see this Article explained in Video Format then watch this YouTube Video:
What is Calorie Maintenance?
Time for a quick science lesson recap about your Metabolism.
I promise. It will be quick.
As you can see from the infographic your Metabolism is made up of four components:
Basal Metabolic Rate
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
Thermic Effect of Food
All combined these four things make up your Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE.
Simply put that means how many calories you burn each day.
Once we know your TDEE we know how many calories you need to eat to be in Calorie Maintenance.
If you want to understand your Metabolism so much more, and begin to understand why you can’t break your Metabolism then please do more reading and join 100s of other people by reading this: https://www.thegymstarter.com/articles/is-your-metabolism-broken
There you go.
I told you the lesson would be quick.
The issue we have with just looking at our TDEE, finding out the calculation and going from there is that the factors are variable.
For example, you may not exercise, you may not eat foods that have a good TEF like High Protein Foods, you may not keep your NEAT high enough each day.
So knowing your TDEE is one thing, and it’s a great starting point…but when figuring out Maintenance Calories we need to be a little bit cleverer than that.
I will come back to this point later.
How Do You Find Your Calorie Maintenace Level
When should you go into Calorie Maintenance?
At this point, it would be useful to tell you that there is another term out there for Calorie Maintenance…and it comes from Jordan Syatt (who is basically my Coaching Idol)
He calls Maintenance the following:
“Momentum Calories”
And this is important when we are figuring out when to move into a Calorie Maintenance phase.
In my experience with clients when we bring this topic up they think it is a comment of failure. When I say to them, I think we need to start considering a move into Maintenance, they look at me all puppy-eyed and plead me not to say it.
This is an actual photo of one of my clients
There are two overriding reasons this reaction occurs when talking to someone about Calorie Maintenance:
You think that because you aren’t at “Goal” weight I don’t believe, as your trainer, you will ever get there and therefore I want to just “try something different”
You are petrified you will “put it all back on”
Neither is true.
The truth is you cannot Calorie Deficit forever. It’s too stressful, it can be too restrictive and it’s just a downright pain in the backside.
If it’s not the hunger annoying you….
It might be a lack of energy…
Or the lack of improving strength you can build in the Gym…
Or the simple fact you want to enjoy the Holidays.
All perfectly valid reasons to get frustrated with something.
This is where Jordans “Momentum” term comes into its own.
Because you are simply taking a moment, giving yourself some time to pause, relax and gather up the energy you need before you go again.
The analogy I like to use in this situation for you is the following: Every professional Sport in the World has seasons. Off and On. The reason these are in place is that demanding certain things from your body creates stress and we all need a break from that stress.
It's perfectly normal. And if professional athletes need it, then we can bet your bottom dollar its probably a good idea for you as well.
As for being petrified, you will “put it all back on again” this is a very understandable worry.
But Calorie Maintenance isn’t a free pass. It isn’t an excuse to go and eat whatever the hell you want.
Yeah sorry about that.
Its a controlled break from the Calorie Deficit and Weight Loss, one upon which you slowly but surely figure out how to stabilize the scale and enjoy the benefits that brings to you before you decide what to do next.
Added to this is that we know Fat Loss isn’t linear and using Maintenance as a way to accept that more might be just what you need. By cycling in some Maintenance moments over a much longer time frame for your Fat Loss Goals then you are going to be able to be so much more consistent for a lot longer.
So truly at what point should you go into Calorie Maintenance/Momentum?
Well, you have to first earn the right to do it.
This isn’t an excuse for you to step away from your Deficit because you want cocktails with your friends each weekend. It’s not what the “Cheat Meal” has become where people just eat what they want and excuse their behavior not being congruent to their goals with two simple words.
If you want to truly lose weight you must be in a Calorie Deficit. You must also be truly consistent with that Calorie Deficit and give it the due care and attention it deserves.
You cannot simply move into Maintenance when the going just gets a little tough, and you’re finding it hard to figure out.
I personally would say this: You can move into Calorie Maintenance once you have been in a Calorie Deficit for at least three months, hitting your Calorie Deficit numbers at least 24-26 days out of 31 in each month.
That is a consistent Calorie Deficit following the 80/20 rule.
I do think many people can sustain a Calorie Deficit a lot longer than that…and you probably should if you are still not getting towards your Weight Loss Goals.
Others moments when you should go into Caloric Maintenance are:
You are truly exhausted of the Calorie Deficit, you are irritable and more and more you are noticing that you are really struggling to stay within your numbers.
When you have reached your Goal Weight and want to start figuring out how to get greater flexibility in your diet at that weight.
Your goals are changing and you want to focus more on strength and PBs on the Gym Floor
There is a high Social Calander on the horizon…like the Holiday Season…and you need more flexibility in your Calorie Allowances.
When you feel like you need a little more Brain Space for what life is throwing at you…for example times of higher stress.
When you want more energy on a day by day basis.
When you want to experience less hunger each day and you have noticed it increasing.
These are all perfectly good reasons to move into Calorie Maintenence and maybe a few of them have rung true for you.
This is also a wonderful path away from Yoyo Dieting.
How many times have you lost weight, and then put it all back on again, because you couldn’t figure out the flexibility and the parameters you needed to exist in since your body has changed so much?
Yeah. Me too.
How Do You Find Your Calorie Maintenace Level
What to expect when you do go into Calorie Maintenance
The first and most important thing here is that:
The Scale Will Go Up:
Now please don’t freak out.
You must keep in mind four things.
One, we know it's going to go up, we know the scale will increase and you are entering into this knowing that is the outcome you want.
Two, you aren’t stopping your fat loss journey. You are simply hitting pause to explore new options, and go back into a Calorie Deficit anytime you like.
Three, there is no time limit on when you need to lose weight and there is no rush. So taking a pause will be great, and allow you to move further forward in the future.
In a lot of technical things sometimes you must regress in order to progress.
Four, you aren’t increasing your calories by that much really. It’s going to be a slow build of adding in about 27kcal a day for a few weeks.
It’s hard to say how much the scale will go up, because we are looking for that moment on the scale where it stays true. It will always fluctuate up and down and that will probably be anywhere between 1lb-5lbs.
You Will Have More Energy:
You are eating more! That means more calories, which means more energy!
Obviously the extra calories should still come from foods congruent to your goals for health. So just helping yourself to an extra 200kcal a week of Haribos might not lead to more energy overall.
Your Strength In The Gym Will Increase:
You know that in order to gain muscle you have to be in a Caloric Surplus. Therefore any increase in calories will help you with the goal of gaining muscle.
You won’t look like Arnie.
But you should notice your workouts feeling a bit more full of energy and strength, and that progressive overload is a touch easier obtain.
You Will Have More Brain Space:
A calorie deficit is stressful and tiring. That takes up CPU power in the brain. But the truth is that by removing the pressure to lose weight for a small period of time, by renewing your focus and changing your goal for a brief period it will give you more vigor and motivation.
How Do You Find Your Calorie Maintenace Level
How Do You Go Into Calorie Maintenance?
The first and most important thing here is that I recommend you do this after a phase of being in a Calorie Deficit. It makes life easier once you know what you need to eat to lose weight, to then increase from there.
You will need to figure out your numbers. For which there are three methods I recommend. The first Method is the way you should do it…but its not the most simple or most effective.
Method One:
Once you have decided to go into Calorie Maintenance then, you need to start adding in 200kcal per week. From there, you will see the scale increase.
Don’t forget to weigh daily, because without that you will never know whether the weight has stabilized, dropped, or spiked for no reason.
If you want to improve your relationship with the scale then head right here to my article which has helped hundreds of people learn how to use the Scale Every Day: https://www.thegymstarter.com/articles/2020/5/2/your-scale-strategy
Then just keep building your calories up, until you have regular weigh-ins that hover around 1–5lbs above your starting Maintenance Weight: that is the window we are aiming for.
Method Two:
Download my Calorie Calculator right here: Free Calorie Calculator and other Weight Loss Goodies
Fill out all of your Data on there and then follow the guideline laid out for “Maintain Weight”. This is basically a Free TDEE Calculator for you.
Method Three:
Bodyweight in LBS x 14.
Just take your current body weight in pounds and times it by 14. You will get a fairly rough estimate of where you need to be.
In truth, its probably wise to do all three, and figure out your averages, and what sits best with you. That way you are keeping well educated and in touch with your body.
How Do You Find Your Calorie Maintenace Level
Conclusion
Remember if you decide to come away from your Calorie Deficit and come into a controlled period of Calorie Maintenance then it doesn’t mean any of these things:
That you have failed
That you can’t lose weight
That you aren’t focussed on your Goals
What it does mean is this:
You need a little rest
You are assessing new possibilities
Your goals have aligned differently
You are finding balance in the Calorie Deficit process
Calorie Maintenance is hard to get right because your Daily Activity will change from time to time. So it’s like an ongoing and fun experiment.
The scale will go up, but that's ok, as it’s part of the plan and its nothing to freak out about, plus you won’t lose all you lost again because you are putting your extra calories and extra energy into the Gym and what more the body can do.
I genuinely believe that Calorie Maintenance is the answer to “what now” once you hit your Goal Weight, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it as a tool to help you continue working towards your goal weight and your Fat Loss if you aren’t quite there yet.
Calorie Maintenance is where to go when you feel lost, confused and frustrated with the constant yoyo of what modern-day dieting has become.
It can help give you balance all the way along the journey.
And as we know, balance is the most important word in the English Dictionary and in Fitness it is important to exercise it at every opportunity you get…because that creates consistency.
And consistency leads to success.
With a healthy dose of balance too.
Did you find this useful?
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Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
We all hate that view, right? Well hopefully not anymore.
This week I spent a long time writing a book called Your Scale Strategy for my Online Clients on The Strong and Confident Program, and it got me to thinking that this information needs to be more “out there”.
Too many people are losing their desire, goals, and success because of two massive issues with the Scale.
They do not know how it works
They do not know how to make it work
My book is called Your Scale Strategy, and I wanted to share my strategy from it, to hopefully help you understand how to make the Scale work in a much better way for you.
Table of Contents for: Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
My aim is to give you a strategy for the Scale. This is what we will cover:
We will discuss your perspective of the scale
We will discuss the science of the scale
We will discuss A Workable Plan for you to move forward
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
Before we get into it though let show you what effect this Strategy has had on my client. Case Studies are great because they demonstrate to you that this works for people like you. People who are struggling, people who need real answers to real results, and people who are figuring it out. Slowly by surely.
Let’s take my client, Beverley. Beverley has had limiting beliefs about her weight all her life. She is aware it makes her feel very unhappy, and actively avoids being in photos or videos with friends and family. Bev made a commitment to me to implement this Strategy as it is laid out in my book for at least 30 days. She went from not knowing what her weight was for over 2 years to adopt this plan and is now being consistent in both her behaviors and her fitness regime.
She's incredible. I’m so damn proud of her. But more importantly, she is proud of herself.
Here is what she found in 14 days in terms of her scale weight:
DAY 1 (15 stone 6lbs) and DAY 14 (15 stone 4lbs)
Beverley said the following two weeks in:
“To go from never knowing my weight because of what I thought it meant to me, the judgement that was wrapped up in the number and the ideas of self-disappointment, lack of confidence and constantly feeling like a failure…to now not caring what the scale says. Literally accepting it is just a number, and one that will mess with your head if you let it has been such a huge weight off my shoulders. For years knowing there was something about me I couldn’t confront because of the shame attached to it, meant I wasn’t willing to admit I was ashamed of myself. The scale represented that. But now…after implementing this strategy, it's all gone. All the worry and the angst. The number is just that, a number. Of course, I have goals I want to reach, but knowing I am doing the work each day to ensure that one day in the future it will take care of itself and that I have to be patient, respectful and understand truly how it works is life-changing. I’m no longer scared of the scale. I’m no longer ashamed”
I also made a video all about Beverly’s journey. There are two parts, and in it I discuss the ups and downs of this strategy and what she went through when trying to heal her relationship with the scale.
You can watch that here:
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
Your Perspective of the Scale
I love this meme. Perspective is everything. Is the cup half-full or half-empty? I’m sure you know the “correct” answer to that but this can be so hard to implement in terms of weight loss.
Let's look at your previous unsuccessful journey in terms of weight loss.
You decided to take action — gym, slimming club, eating “clean”
You lost a few lbs
You had a social event you couldn’t avoid
Stepped on the scale again
Gained a few lbs
Thought this will never work
Gave up
Felt awful
Realized this “healthy” ‘thing was never for you
You might do this a few times over…in the course of a month or two…but eventually steps 7, 8, and 9 are the winners. Sound familiar?
Before you shoot me just hear me out. Please.
I am not stalking you. I promise. I’m not a fortune teller (although I did used to be a Magician at the biggest Toy Store in the World — Hamleys) but I promise you I am not reading your mind.
Want to know how I know you have done this time and time again?
Because you are normal. Because I have seen it happen with 99.99999% of the population.
But you think its just you. You think you are the slightly broken one…when you are not. When you are just perfectly normal. Its all about perspective. When you realise that everyone is going through the same struggle as you, when everyone is not actually losing 60lbs every three months, and they are in truth trading lbs day in and day out, up and down every day until over a long period of time they reach a goal (a much smaller goal than they initially thought) then you realise that you aren’t the problem.
The system might be.
Here is a thought:
Maybe the Diet failed you, you didn’t fail at the diet.
Know how I know this? Traditional restrictive diets fail everyone.
And see that shift in perspective, when you start seeing it change thus…you can begin to see that actually what you want is out there. Your goals are achievable.
SUMMARY: Perspective is really important when it comes to the scale. You need perspective with what is relaistic with yourself compared to what you see on Social Media, and you need perspective with the journey as well.
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
The Self Perspective: Empathy
In terms of your perspective, you also need to embrace this word. You need to give yourself a hug a lot more often. In your story of previous unsuccessful attempts, between 6 and 7
6. Thought this will never work
7. Gave up
You need a 6.5: Empathy.
In your 10 point story, you never gave yourself a moment to reflect. The 10 point story happens over a period of time. A one-off example might not be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, but this is a big picture example.
However, I am willing to bet you are doing the same thing not only every time a new diet fails you…but:
Every time you have “bad” food.
Every time you drink some wine.
Every time you chose to go out as opposed to the Gym.
Every time you step on and off the scale.
And over time it all accumulates to you stopping, losing motivation and just wishing it was all a hell of a lot easier.
That number you see, without empathy and love, is a judgement. It's your High School bully laughing at you, it's your greatest fears about how you look and how sexy you feel. It’s a reminder of you being a “loser”, not a winner. It’s a judgement on the food you ate, the wine you had, and the fact you slept in as oppose to work out.
It’s a judgement of your own self-talk saying: “You are useless. Why are you even trying”
And that is all you hear in yourself. You don’t take into account all the other factors that are at play in your ability to adhere to a Calorie Deficit. Things like:
How much sleep you are able to get?
Your personal Finances?
The support of your friends and family?
Your accessibility to be able to exercise?
How stressed you are?
How your mood is?
These few factors alone will have a huge impact on your Calorie Deficit and therefore the number you see staring back at you.
Your whole perspective on the scale is imaginative. And that's not your fault. It’s the fault of the Fitness Industry, The Media, I’m sure you are even thinking that it could be your Mum’s fault or your Partners.
But looking for fault isn’t going to help anyone. You need to change your entire outlook. And when you do, you will be able to treat yourself with the empathy you deserve.
SUMMARY: Empathy is your number one priority when it comes to healing your relationship with the scale. You need to realsie your factors in your life that will impact how adherent to a Calorie Deficit you can actually be, and allow the results you track from that Calorie Deficit to allow for these factors.
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
The Outside Perspective: Comparison
One of my favourite quotes is:
“Comparison is the death of joy”
And it is quite simply because we can’t compare evenly. You spend your life comparing people instantly on Social Media, but the issue with these platforms is they pander to your confirmation bias.
You only see people who have:
Been Succesful
You don’t notice all the people struggling, all the other people not making it…all your brain sees is the successful ones.
My best example of this from my life is what I call “London Underground is Ruining My Life”.
It’s storytime.
Now when I was a young buck at Drama School I got my own flat in London in my third year. Until that point, I didn’t need to spread my wings and fly. But in Third Year enough was enough. And my parents and I managed to afford a flatshare for myself. Of course, this came with the usual expectation of a 21-year-old living in London wanting to live the high life as an “up and coming actor” So obviously I wanted to seduce the women. Luckily I had one who actually said “Yes”.
We had an enjoyable evening. And then I had to spend the next two weeks riding on the tube. And the tube had changed. I promise you. For those not familiar with the London Underground…there is a LOT and I mean a LOT of billboard adverts on the tube.
And I promise you, hand on heart, every single advert, that evening henceforth, was for some sort of Pregnancy thing.
Whether it was Well Woman Vitabiotics, Clear Blue Pregnancy Testing, or even an advert for a West End Show…every advert was about pregnancy.
All 16,000+ of them.
This is a prime example of Confirmation Bias. My world ie: my brain was showing me my fear. All I was looking for was things to back up my own silly hypothesis that I was about to become a Dad.
…
And when you are on Social Media this is what your brain is doing. It is only finding things you want it to find…to confirm your preexisting thoughts about yourself.
To conquer the scale, you must realize that you are normal. You are like 99.9% of the world out there. That is why you have got this far into this article because it resonates with you…and you are not alone.
For example, we are in the midst of an “obesity crisis”. This literally tells you that more people in the world are struggling with this than are succeeding.
So embrace your normality. Understand everyone is in the same boat and the minority is what you believe to be the majority. From there…you can begin to see the wins you are achieving, as opposed to only Stop comparing your Chapter 1 to someone else’s Chapter 14.
Just focus on your journey, your progress, and how far you are coming.
SUMMARY: When we look at ourselves through the prism of comparison we will only ever compare to someone who is doing better than us. We never look down, only up. The more you compare the more your brain will be conditioned to only seeing who is doing better than you, not the reality of society at large.
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
The Science of the Scale
So you have spent the majority of your life being all consumed by this little square block on your bathroom floor, and in truth…you know very very little about what makes up that number.
Which when you think about it…it's crazy.
You don’t really know what it represents, you don’t know what makes up that number and you don’t know all the factors involved in what it says and why it says it.
So let me break it down for you:
The human body as weight is made up of Bone, Organs, Muscle and Fat, and averagely this is split thus:
Bone: Men: 15%; Women: 10%
Muscle: Men: 45%; Women: 37%
Organs: Men and Women: 25%
Fat: Men 15%; Women 28%
These are estimates as its really hard to know the true figures, and we will never know our actual Body Fat Percentage unless we have an Autopsy…which is really inconvenient. Your Body Fat Percentage may well be higher than the average…but its never 100% of what you are.
That's really important to remember.
This is what should strike you the most from those figures:
Your body really isn't made up of much Fat at all…With the Body Fat Percentage figure, you must remember you cannot get to 0% Body Fat as you will die, and it is extremely unlikely you will ever get to >8% Body Fat (Men) and >21% Body Fat (Women) unless you become an Athlete. So what we can realistically effect in terms of Body Fat Percentage is about 8% Body Fat (Female) and 7% Body Fat (Male) based on the above averages. If you carry more Body Fat, this figure will be increased but can be affected more easily.
Your Muscle is Heavy…you have more muscle than you think you do. And Muscle is really hard to lose and really hard to gain. We lose about 3–5% of our Muscle Mass per decade over the age of 30 unless we train to keep it. We can gain muscle at a rate of 0.5lb per week. But even that is rare and takes extreme dedication.
Your weight gain over time isn't likely to be muscle gain. You might have heard that muscle weighs less than fat, which isn’t true.
What weighs more? A tonne of feathers? Or a tonne of bricks?
They are exactly the same weight, and the same is true for 1lb of fat and 1lb of muscle. They both weigh one pound.
Muscle takes up less space over a bone and therefore you can fit more of it onto the space you have available.
Muscle is incredibly hard to build - it's a little easier if you are newer to training but the longer you have been strength training, the longer it takes to build.
In the early days, some of your weight gains might be due to the muscle being built, but if your weight is increasing, and you are in a Calorie Deficit, past the three-month mark as a new gym goer, then it will be due to a caloric surplus and is likely to be fat gain, not muscle gain.
Time for a little PSA.
If you have a Trainer that is telling you, past these parameters, that your weight gain is because you are getting stronger and that it's not due to your Caloric Intake, then you need to get rid of your trainer and hire a better Coach.
I'm sure you have heard that scale weight is affected by a number of factors...and it is. These are:
Water retention from Salt in your diet
Water retention from lifting weights
You need to poop
You ate more yesterday than usual
You had more Carbohydrates than normal in your diet yesterday
Your Menstrual Cycle
This means that the Scale will go up and down like a rollercoaster - even if you are in a deficit.
But it is only water - I promise you. For example, if you eat 1g of Carbohydrates your body absorbs 3g of Water. This si why when you go on a “Low Carb” Diet you lose Scale Weight very quickly. You are indeed losing water - not actual Body Fat.
I recently did a 60 Day weight loss challenge. I lost 4.1kgs in about 60 days and I decided to weigh myself every day for the last 30 days so I could show you what it really looks like:
What a rollercoaster!
Looking at that you can see just how much scale weight fluctuates. There are peaks and whooshes everywhere, and in fact, I don’t think it whooshed on repetitive days once.
Added to that, I wasn’t in a deficit every day either, and the peaks were a lot harder to stomach on the days after I knew I wasn’t in a Deficit.
Even though I knew I wasn’t actually gaining weight, I had more than likely eaten more carbohydrates, it still felt incongruent to my goal, to lose weight.
I knew deep down the result would come provided I was in a Calorie Deficit for a consistent (25/30 days) period of time. I also only managed to make this a success, because I gave it enough time to succeed.
Even after consecutive days of the scale going up, I didn’t give up and therefore allowed myself to see the success I deserved from the work I was putting into it.
I also adopted the following mantra, which I highly recommend you follow:
“All you have to do is get back on track, and you haven’t failed”
I have spent the first half of this article educating you on the Scale - so that you can take all of this knowledge into implementing a plan to help you heal your relationship with the scale.
How Does My Menstural Cycle Effect my Fitness and Weight Loss? <<< Read My Article that has already helped over 100 women understand their Cycle and the effect it is having.
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
So What Is Your Plan for the Scale?
This is your plan. Your schedule is really important, and it has to be easy to follow, otherwise, you won’t continue to do it.
You are going to weigh yourself daily. Every single day.
This study tells you why: HOW WEIGHING YOURSELF MORE REGUARLY WILL KEEP YOUR WEIGHT OFF
But allow me to pull out one key conclusion of the study:
“Findings from the registry suggest six key strategies for long-term success at weight loss: 1) engaging in high levels of physical activity; 2) eating a diet that is low in calories and fat; 3) eating breakfast; 4) self-monitoring weight on a regular basis; 5) maintaining a consistent eating pattern; and 6) catching “slips” before they turn into larger regains”
All of these points are really very important. Although it can be argued you do not need to eat breakfast in order to lose weight as all you need is a caloric deficit, although in this study when they refer to breakfast they refer to cereal (which surprised me!), it doesn’t define what kind at all — cereal is a very broad term, and fruit. It would be my suspicion that it’s due to an increase in Fibre in their diet which is helping here.
Added to that this Study took a cohort of people, and got them to weigh themselves over a 51 week period reducing the frequency of weighing as time went on. The three groups were split thus:
High/Consistent equalling 6 days/week of weighing over 51 weeks
Moderate/Declined equalling 4-5 days/week of weighing and then a gradual decline to 2 days/week over time.
Minimal/Declined equalling 5-6 days/week until Week 33 and then 0 days/week thereafter.
The results were:
“The high/consistent group achieved greater weight loss than either the moderate/declined and minimal/declined groups at 6 months and 12 months, respectively. The high/consistent group had a greater mean number days per week of adherence to calorie intake goal or step goal but not higher than the moderate/declined group.”
And they concluded:
“This is the first study to reveal distinct temporal patterns of self-weighing behavior. The majority of participants were able to sustain a habit of daily self-weighing with regular self-weighing leading to weight loss and maintenance as well as adherence to energy intake and step goals”
The key takeaway here is that weighing yourself every day leads to better adherence to the behaviors that create weight loss: Calorie Deficit and Step Targets to name a couple.
I need to interject here, also. You can lose weight as well if you only weigh yourself once a day. But you need to think of weighing yourself daily as Data collection - not a judgement on what you are doing each day.
The more data you collect, the more informed a decision you can make about what is happening.
You also need to control the variance that can effect the scale reading as much as possible.
So. in order to do that this is your schedule
Wake Up
Go to the toilet
Weigh yourself
Then eat your breakfast / Drink your Tea or Coffee
Always try and weigh yourself in this manner each and every morning.
Before we go any further please read the following:
Don’t get me wrong, there is a cost to every behavior we partake in as humans, and although I am in favor of weighing ourselves daily, I am not blind to the fact it can have negative repercussions too. If you have ever suffered from an Eating Disorder, and/or Mental Health Issues then using the scale in this way should be discussed with your Doctor and your Medical Team.
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
Stop Playing The Scale Lottery
Weighing yourself once a week, once a month or less than this is like playing the lottery.
You will lose.
You are shooting in the dark. You aren’t collecting enough data.
Blindly hoping you get a down day…as opposed to an up day with your weight fluctuations. Even if you hit a down day 50% of the time…the other 50% will be the percentage you focus on…the percentage you remember and essentially the one that will stop you in your tracks.
You need regularity by weighing yourself daily. Weighing yourself daily does mean that you will have to see the number go up - but that’s okay - because you aren’t gaining body fat.
This study took 29 men and made them eat 40% above their Maintenance Calories, which was about 1200-1500kcals extra a day. Over the 8 week period, they gained 9lbs of fat, equivalent to 0.16lbs a day.
Added to that another study took participants and made them eat 1000kcal/day above their maintenance for one week, which lead to a scale weight gain of 1kg for the whole week. This kilogram was then split up into two sections - half of it was muscle glycogen, and the other half was body fat - which means they gained 71g of body weight a day.
This is why we must be very careful about how you look at and analyse the scale data you collect.
With my clients I implement this:
We compare every two weeks. Not every 2 days. Not every 7 days. Not every 10 days.
14 Days. And it’s a lot longer than you think it is.
There is a reason the studies I have spoken about in this article track people for 51 weeks - because weight loss takes time.
Or if you are overly concerned with your Menstrual Cycle and you know that affects your adherence to a Calorie Deficit you can use this model:
And again, we work on a 14-day schedule of comparison.
If you aren’t seeing the results you are happy with you will then need to analyze what you have been doing and amend one of these factors:
Track your Calories more accurately
Increase your NEAT
Increase your Sleep
Increase your Hydration
Increase your adherence to the Five Awesome Rules For Life:
Increase your Caloric Deficit
The Five Awesome Rules for Fat Loss Life <<< Watch my Video on how to nail your Fat Loss every day
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
Metabolic Adaptation
One last thing we need to be aware of in the plan for your progress is Metabolic Adaptation. As you lose weight your Caloric needs will change.
Smaller bodies need fewer calories.
Therefore make sure you go back to the Calorie Calculator every two months and if you have made progress re-evaluate your numbers and see what it says. The change might not be huge, but it will be good to make sure that you are keeping a check on what your body needs and that changes over time.
You can mitigate the effects of metabolic adaption by making sure when you lose weight you continue to strength train with the goal of preserving muscle mass - and eating enough Protein each day.
Grab My Calorie Calculator Right Here <<< I will email it straight to you
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
And That’s It…
It is my belief that you shouldn’t use scale weight as a determinate of who you are unless you know everything there is to know about the Scale. I hope this book has opened your eyes to what goes into the Scale and why it can be a very flippant and testing thing to use to mark your progress and who you are.
So remember these Take-Aways:
You have to gain a better perspective on what the scale is and how weight works otherwise you will lose motivation really quickly.
99.99999% of people find this really hard and struggle to maintain motivation because of how their perspective is.
Give yourself more time - don’t give up before you see your success from your consistency.
One day of a spike isn’t actually fat gain
Get away from the Prison of Time — allow yourself the time this needs and deserves, so you can empathize with your humanity and the stresses of normal life whilst losing weight
Set a sensible Goal Weight and remember that is based around being active as well - and download my Calorie Calculator to make sure you do that.
Weigh yourself Daily this will keep you accountable.
Stop playing the Scale Lottery.
Track your progress every two weeks and be disciplined in this as it will tell you the real picture.
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
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