Ladies, you and I both know our bodies work differently from men. So… how come we accept the blogosphere recommendations (which, if based on science, rarely, is based on studies on men, mostly)? Or the short “tweets” about this nutrient or herb (based on… what? One size fits all?).
Could doing so be a reason why you watch your significant other easily lose weight while you struggle and plateau?
Are your energy, hormones, and health goals being sabotaged by applying to yourself what seems to work for a man?
“The new secret to weight loss” books are top sellers, so are weight loss supplements. Could this confusion be promoted by vested interests?
I think so. And so does the science. And so do the many ladies I’ve helped achieve a healthier weight.
Let’s take weight loss for example:
Women have very different needs from men. Not only that, our needs are extremely different at times during our monthly cycles and different again after menopause. But everyone focuses on the first law of weight loss, solely, and that’s incomplete.
THE FIRST LAW OF WEIGHT LOSS: If you want to lose weight, you must eat fewer calories than you burn. That is a hard and fast rule, a basic law.
- “Calories in food” means the amount of energy your body can make out of the food you eat.
- “Calories you burn” is energy at rest + energy used for activity
- If you want to weigh less, you must eat 10-25 percent fewer calories than what you burn
Crash diets will wreck your hormones, some for months to years after you resume your former caloric intake.
The unspoken SECOND LAW OF WEIGHT LOSS FOR WOMEN (and how I work out goals and targets for my slimming-down clients who want to look good naked—or in shorts).
Here we go…
Women, you MUST take your menstrual cycle into account
Your hormones follow a predictable pattern every cycle, unless they don’t—and there are definite reasons they won’t:
- chemicals or metal toxicity can interfere
- too much carbs and sugar can interfere
- not eating enough calories (energy) is a big signal to throw off your hormone balance
- menopause
During the first half of your cycle, starting with the first day of your period, assuming you don’t use birth control pills, estrogen creams, progesterone creams, have a chemical or metal toxicity, and are eating clean… you have low estrogen and low progesterone. IMAGE
During this “low hormone” phase, your body uses carbohydrate well. You may even crave it. You will feel balanced.
And then… craziness???
The post-ovulation phase is different. We call this the “high hormone phase” because *both* estrogen and progesterone are released at much higher levels. You have *both* hormones at high levels Both are released together. This is normal.
As long as you have zinc, magnesium, and some carbohydrate… estrogen helps you build the uterine wall, just in case… Month after month, we women do this, we need more minerals than men.
The high-hormone phase changes things: Among other problems, you don’t utilize carbohydrates well.
So… you can feel a bit low energy and your blood sugar may go up a bit—you are ever-so-mildly insulin resistant. It’s best to decrease carbs and increase protein and fat. More protein and more fat will help you feel satisfied with your meals.
Here’s the conundrum:
During the first two weeks (the follicular phase), the higher estrogen relative to progesterone makes you more insulin sensitive—and that means you are using carbohydrates more efficiently. Your energy level is fine, your moods…
Not so after ovulation (the luteal phase). During the week before menstruation, if we’ve triained our body to have refined sugars, chocolate, pasta and bread, we crave them more because we can’t use carbohydrate as efficiently. Our body “thinks” the solution is to loudly crave those carbs. Our poor body, trained on carbs, complains about feeling tired when our hormones shift… we might feel more cranky or “PMS” unless we retrain our body.
(That said, if you are an elite athlete—and I do work with some of you—handling monthly nutrition needs for performance is different from helping women regain basic health. Different set of rules.)
What about after menopause?
Since your hormones don’t cycle, you don’t have “low” or “high” phases. If you want to lose weight, being overweight has reduced your ability to use carbohydrates efficiently for other reasons. The best success still seems to come from cycling carbohydrates: I don’t recommend a very low calorie, OR a low carb high fat diet as both can put your thyroid to sleep and affect your gastrointestinal health.
How to adjust carbs? That’s what we’re going to work out. Read on…
The solution? Cycle your carbs. Work through these steps:
Step 1: Really, honestly, and accurately, inspect what you are doing right now.
For the next TWO DAYS, write down everything you are eating and drinking. All of it. Don’t change anything (yet).
In my opinion, the perfect and FREE App at www.myfitnesspal.com makes this easy. Look up your food AND the portion, save the item, and voila! The App does the rest. Alternately, track it based on what the label says or looking the food up in nutritiondata.self.com. If you do this from the labels, be sure to note what the label says is the portion size. Does anyone really eat just ¼ cup of cereal? Are you? Make sure to multiply the total calories by the numbers of portions you are eating. Also write how many grams (NOT calories) are carbohydrate, protein, and fat—we’ll use this later.
And… list half a dozen of your favorite foods for Step Five.
Set a real goal; assume about 2 pounds per week weight loss
Warning: You MUST protect your thyroid! If you set your goals for too much loss in too short a time by drastically cutting calories, you’ll put your body into such an energy deficit that it will slow down. That 500 calories per day diet will shut down your metabolism, it will slow down your thyroid. In fact, research shows that it could take at least 6 months or more to recover thyroid function—probably the biggest source of putting weight back on and yo-yo diets.
Yes, that’s right, crash diet and you will shut down your thyroid—the very gland you are depending on to give you energy and help you burn fat—and it will stay shut down for at least 6 months after you return to eating meals again. Does this explain why so many lose weight and then gain it back plus more? I think so.
Let’s say you weigh 200 pounds and would like to be at 140. You can do this. Make a commitment to yourself to create new habits that will sustain you for the 30 or so weeks you are going to allow.
Look at a calendar and grab the date 30 weeks from now. Write it down for step 2.
Step 2: Whether male or female, first figure out your total calorie needs
“Calories” means the amount of energy your body can make out of the food you eat.
Expanded Weight Loss LAW #1: Whether you are lying on the couch watching TV or running a marathon, your body needs energy. How much energy depends on your lifestyle and body size. If you are more active, then you will use more energy even when you choose to lie on the couch watching TV (resting metabolism). If you are not active, you will use less. You need more energy to carry a larger frame than if you are small. It’s a balance that is largely up to you.
My favorite calculator is here: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/bwp
The Body Weight Planner considers your weight goals, when you’d like to reach them, and the influence of daily activity. This is one of the best uses of our tax dollars I’ve seen (next to Museum Row in Washington DC).
Example 1: Let’s say you are a 140 pound woman who wants to maintain your weight. You have a desk job and do moderate exercise three times a week. According to the Body Weight Plan, you need 2100 calories each day to stay at the same weight.
Example 2: But let’s say you want to drop from 200 pounds to 140, that’s a different story. The only healthy way to do this is change your eating and activity habits for 8-12 months. Although the Body Weight Planner allows greater reductions than I think is wise, you don’t want to go below a 20% reduction in calories.
After tracking her actual, typical intake for just two days, the 200 pound lady who is 40 years old found out she was eating about 2400 calories The exact amount she needed to maintain her 200 pound weight. If she goes just below 2000 calories per day, she will run an energy deficit for her current weight and begin to lose some of it.
Don’t stop here! (like the most popular weight loss programs do) Using just the “calories in” equation will sabotage your goals, especially for women. Some of you may need to eat more! And it must be the right food.
Are you sedentary? Or active? It is true that more active people need more energy to fuel themselves; likewise, they tend to feel satiated and tend to eat smaller meals. Like you might expect, the activity must be the right movement and the right level of intensity—this is covered in step 8.
Take the next parts slowly, one step at a time…
Step 3: Evaluate and adjust your protein
Keep muscle by FIRST making sure you get enough protein: While the basic calorie equation still holds true, different sources of calories affect whether you accumulate fat, muscle, or even bone. Generally speaking (although we are all different), protein will contribute to making more muscle. Protein also helps stabilize hormones while carbohydrates will contribute to storing more fat (unless you are an endurance athlete).
Where most of us go wrong:
Whether you are a man or a woman, honestly, the RDA for protein is too low, but especially for women and even more especially if you are active. This may be why you have flabby triceps, skinny legs, a fat belly (muscle wasting) and are hungry.
Protein helps stave off hunger and helps you feel satisfied. Protein helps avoid bad moods and you’ll have far fewer cravings for chocolate, bread, and treats if you increase your protein.
Protein helps us maintain muscle mass, especially later in life when we tend to accumulate more fat around the middle, become less active, and… sadly, not eat as well as we should.
For most of us, we need to increase protein in general.
You cannot get too much protein; that is a myth. We’ve studied it; for decades. There is zero evidence that high protein diets stress your kidneys and there is plenty of evidence that you need more protein than you likely are getting. The USDA recommends 0.8 grams/ kg body weight/ day. Translated, if you weigh 200 pounds (1 pound = 2.2 kg, 200 pounds = 90 kg) then dogma states you need 108 grams of protein per day.
Many people are not getting even that much.
That said, there is a TON of evidence pointing toward getting protein from healthy sources: grass-fed or wild-caught meat. You can get some protein from nuts and beans; explore the difference:
Example #1: a 200-pound woman needs closer to 1.2 grams/ kg body weight/ day or 108 grams of protein each day, double that if very athletic or wants to build muscle:
- 3 eggs (20g of protein = 234 calories; 0 carbohydrates)
- 2 scoops of Standard Process Whey protein (15-20g of protein = 80 calories; 2g carbohydrate)
- half-pound tuna or burger from grass-fed meat (50g of protein = 400 calories; note: most serving sizes are 4 oz or ¼ pound; 0 carbohydrates)
Example #2: a 200-pound woman who wants to eat plant-based still needs 108 grams of protein. The blogosphere focuses on balancing amino acids by food combining. Fine, it is simple to balance amino acids. What is not simple is balancing energy. To get your 108 grams of protein or more, you need:
- 1 cup of almonds (30g of protein = 824 calories; 27g carbohydrate)
- 1 cup of pinto beans (46g of protein = 206 calories; 37g carbohydrates)
- 1 cup of wild rice (24g of protein = 166 calories; 35g carbohydrates)
Now work out your own protein needs:
- your weight in pounds x 0.45 = _____ kg
- _____ kg x 1.2 g/kg/day = _____ grams of protein daily
- _____ grams of protein daily x 4 calories per gram = _____ calories from protein
Look at your two days of tracking from step 1. How many grams of protein are you typically getting?
Step 4: add some healthy fats
Coconut oil, avocado oil, flax oil, walnut oil, olive oil or butter from grass-fed cows… in addition to the fats you are naturally getting in the fish, meats, beans or nuts you are eating. (Please skip the canola, corn, soy, or other seed oils).
- 2-3 Tablespoons = 200 calories
Step 5: work out your “discretionary calories”
If you’ve been counting… Example #1 based on animal proteins plus healthy fats yields 900 calories while Example #2 from plant-based sources is closer to 1500 calories.
We decided our 200 pound lady who wants to lose 60 pounds over time and sustainably, should aim for just under 2000 calories per day, total, of which 108 grams should be protein and a few tablespoons of healthy fats.
Animal Protein Example: 2000 calories – 714 calories protein foods – 200 calories from healthy fats = ~1000 calories she can use for her favorite, healthy, whole foods.
Plant Protein Example: 2000 calories – 1500 calories plant protein foods – 200 calories from healthy fats = ~300 calories she can towards favorite, healthy, whole foods.
The difference between a plant-based diet and animal sources of protein is this: To meet protein requirements, a plant-based diet includes a lot of calories from carbohydrates leaving fewer (if any) discretionary calories.
Step 6: Add 5-6 servings of non-starchy vegetables
Multiple servings of broccoli, lettuce, cucumber, mushrooms, cabbage, kale… any and all non-starchy vegetables… will make sure you get plenty of minerals and fibers to support all your organs and your digestive tract. These foods aren’t really “discretionary” because you need their nutrients and they do not add many calories. You can and should get 5-6 servings per day.
Step 7: With your basic needs met, evaluate, adjust, and cycle your carbohydrates
Putting it all together: both animal or plant-based proteins can work, depending on your personal preferences, as long as you choose nutrient dense, high quality, whole foods ingredients.
Look at your two days of tracking from step 1. How many grams of total carbohydrates are you typically getting? (Don’t complicate things by worrying about it’s break down, net, or anything else).
On the Standard American Diet (SAD), the first type of food that causes most people to exceed their total calorie needs is hidden sugars (carbs). This means that for most people, skip the store bought salad dressings, ketchup, boxed and frozen prepared foods, breads… (there are recipes for all of these at http://OurNutritionKitchen.com) The second type of food loaded with calories but not very nutrient dense is seeds from the grass plant family (wheat, oats, corn, rice, rye, barley…) and in most of us these seeds do inflame our digestive tract, stressing our organs and making it impossible to lose weight.
Swap everything in a box for nutrient dense foods. Some of these can be starchy like carrots, potatoes (not fries!), winter squash, peas, even buckwheat and wild rice (which are not as problematic as the commercial grains listed above).
As long as you are meeting your protein and fat needs, during the first two weeks of the monthly cycle, carbohydrate intake might be whatever-you-feel-like up to your total discretionary calories. I hope that’s not too vague, but you can use this time to have some of those foods that are a bit higher in carbs.
If you want hard and fast numbers, our 2000 calorie diet could have maybe 35 percent of calories or 175 grams of carbohydrate a day. During the second week, it can be even higher, around 45% of calories; as long as it doesn’t exceed the target of 2000 calories.
Then, during the second half of your cycle when insulin sensitivity is at its lowest, carbohydrate intake should drop to about 100 grams of carbohydrate a day, which is approximately half of what my clients were doing previously. Just don’t drop below 80 grams a day or you can trigger fertility and thyroid problems.
These numbers vary based on how much you exercise, of course. The more you exercise, the higher your discretionary calories.
Step 8: Weight loss: fitness recommendations
Increasing your exercise in any way shape or form will help keep your bones strong, help you have good muscle tone, and that helps you look good in shorts (or naked 😉 )
Depending on how far you want to take this, you can cycle your exercise too but this is second. The most productive form of exercise for improving insulin sensitivity, blood sugar, and weight is: Get some exercise. Do things you enjoy. If you want to have more structure, short bouts of high-intensity interval training are great whether you have been fairly inactive or are trained.
Since insulin sensitivity is at its highest in the first two weeks of the menstrual cycle, and carb intake is free to be at its highest, exercise can be more aerobic (long, moderate heart-rate-elevating cardio exercises).
Here you can challenge yourself with longer-term “cardio” training that may be more “stressful” for your body, like long bike rides, night-long dance sessions, and the like. It is at this time in your cycle that your body can handle the most aerobic stress.
Since insulin sensitivity is at its lowest in the final two weeks of the cycle, and carb intake is also at its lowest, exercise should be more anaerobic (this means hard and fast, really getting your heart pumping). You can focus more on HIIT, with short bursts of high intensity work, either from brief sprint exercises or from weight lifting. This is an excellent way to sharpen insulin sensitivity while simultaneously burning fat, increasing muscle mass, and spending calories. It also helps the body stay healthy and as stress-free as possible during the time it is the least capable of handling stress.
Menopausal? It can be a good idea to cycle your training, alternate days or weeks. If you have not been very active, try the HIIT approach.
But most of all, make your activities fun!
Step 9: Each time you lose 10 pounds, redo these steps
Rework your total calories and protein needs. Rework what you have available for discretionary calories. And, by all means, find a non-food reward like that new dress!
Still stuck?
This doesn’t have to be complicated. I routinely work through these steps with my clients. Don’t hesitate to reach out. There can be many things going on that would block the most diligent dieter; especially hidden sources of chronic inflammation or organ dysfunction. Let’s put our heads together, use Nutrition Response Testing® and get you back your body!
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