Has Your Body Given You Permission To Diet?

12/03/2021


HAVE YOU EARNED THE RIGHT TO DIET?

YEAP, I'M GOING TO NEED TO SEE YOUR PERMISSION SLIP

YOU'RE THINKING...

LV, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT?

Let me explain:

It's like this, you can't kill something that's already dead.

If you have zero dollars in the bank, you can't go make a withdrawal.

You can't break what's already broken.

AND you can't diet what's already restricted.

When you're in restrictive caloric intake and you decide to 'diet' by cutting more calories (decreasing energy input) and/or doing more cardio or exercise (increasing energy output) you actually downgrade your metabolism, your body begins to burn muscle tissue and store body fat!

A NOTE TO THE LADIES:

Biologically, all our bodies are set up to do (other than keep us alive) is to reproduce. You know, sustain life on this planet. Our bodies want to hold on to the fats we need to make sex hormones so that we can ovulate, and healthfully carry a baby. This is why it's vital as a female that you're working with a quality coach or following advice from someone who is going to keep your hormones and metabolism healthy.

Follow along, I'm going to teach you how to maintain happy hormones, AND get lean.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF PROLONGED DIETING

Topping your diet off with a diet leads to some pretty nasty side effects such as:

  • Low Energy
  • Blood Sugar Crashes
  • Chronic Hunger or No Hunger
  • Disturbed Sleep
  • Inability to Stay Asleep
  • Inability to lose weight
  • Unable to gain muscle mass or hit new PRs
  • Wacky Menstrual cycles
  • No Menstrual Cycle
  • Hair Loss
  • Infertility
  • Poor Mood
  • Subclinical Thyroid Labs

Therefore, before deciding you're going to go morph into a bikini-ready goddess let's check in on whether or not you've earned the right to enter the "DIET ZONE"

There are typically three types of people:

Person 1: "Low Cal Laura"

Undereating your way thru life

Person 2: "Yo-Yo Yolanda"

Swinging from bouts of undereating to overeating.

Person 3: "Cram-it Cathy"

So busy all day you forget to eat, until the evening and you get it all in then.


The question of the day still remains, have YOU earned the right to diet?

Following maintenance calories + your body weight being stable during maintenance calories should be the name of the game for at least four-eight weeks prior to shifting into 'fat loss mode'.

How to figure that out? So glad you asked...

Baseline or maintenance calories are the fuel that your body uses each day to keep you alive with no major loss or gain of body fat or skeletal muscle.

You may fall into one of 3 categories of 'under eating'

  • You just undereat... thinking that's going to help you reach your goals.... (sorry sis, but it does the opposite)
  • You swing between under and overeating. You undereat for several days and then you go crazy for a day, then guilt pulls you back to restricting.
  • You may only eat 600 calories all day because you're busy or unprepared... then ya get home and the sun goes down and, well, 'the freaks come out at night'... hehehe.... And you eat 2000 plus calories in fats and sugars, because well... you're HUNGRY!

P.S. Your body doesn't LOOOVE this plan... Exercising more and eating less is the fastest way for your endocrine system to 'flip you the bird', then set out to make you suffer!

Thank you, God, for making our bodies smarter than our occasional 'not so bright ideas'. Here's what happens. You slow down your eating for a period of time, your body goes, OH! We must be in a desperate situation and unsure of our next GOOD meal... ok, let's slow down the metabolism, we can't burn thru these calories this fast, oh, and let's store extra fat just in case things get WORSE etc. etc.

SO, HOW MANY CALORIES DO YOU NEED?!?

FIRST-

Download MyFitnessPal App or Carb Manager and a food scale. Weigh and track your food over the next 4 - 7 days. This will show you your average caloric intake plus your macronutrient ratios and how consistently you are landing at the same calories/macro breakdown daily.

A simple guide that's easy to use is the TDEE Guide (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)

FIND MY DAILY CALORIE NEEDS


* side note, this is just a reference point, NOT a crystal ball!

Punch in your details... Age, height, energy expenditure, and POOF it will give you your daily maintenance calories.

Take my info for example:

Age: 35

Height 5'5"

Weight: 140

BF% 13%

Activity Level: Moderate Exercise

Calories:

Basal Metabolic Rate 1,563 calories per day
Sedentary 1,876 calories per day
Light Exercise 2,150 calories per day
Moderate Exercise 2,423 calories per day
Heavy Exercise 2,697 calories per day
Athlete 2,970 calories per day

So if my average logged intake average is between 2,350 and 2,550... then I'm pretty perfect.

If you're drastically undereating, having a plan of adding back in calories in increments may be smart. If you're confused or still suffering from symptoms, consider hiring a nutritionist or health coach.

HOLD ONTO YOUR PANTS GUYS.... (MAJOR WISDOM NUGGET ON ITS WAY..... FOLLOWED BY A MIC DROP)

*If your goal ranges anywhere between losing lots of weight, all the way to lean and sexy...like Instagram model abs and a toned tooshie... you can't get that accomplished by restricting the restricted!! That's like saying I killed the dead.... If you're already in a caloric deficit, your attempts at a diet will fail you.

SAY WHAT???

If you're drastically undereating, having a plan of adding back in calories in increments may be smart. If you're confused or still suffering from symptoms, consider hiring a nutritionist or health coach.

Focus on stability first.

If you're already here, rock on! I will see you back next week and we can get this party started!

What's your caloric intake?

Need some accountability with getting enough calories? Want to learn how to adjust them appropriately so you don't gain body fat? Come check out our Wholly Fueled Communities.


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