It upsets me when I hear so many women say they only eat this much.
No wonder you are struggling.. to sleep, lose weight, gain muscle, recover.. are stressed, tired, hungry, sore..
Your body needs food, and a lot more than most of you think. Not just the type of food, but the amount of food we eat determines how well we perform, our energy levels, our recovery, if we build, or lose muscle.
And this is just a general rule, now add in the bleeding every month and daily hormone fluctuations causing body temperature changes, sleep disruptions, recovery inhibition, fascial tightness and so much more, you have a recipe for disaster if you don’t give your body enough to support everything it needs to do.
MANY factors will change how much an individual needs, age, weight, height, sex, activity level, stress..
Now, I am not going to give you an exact figure because every day will be different.
As a general rule your intake, as a woman, will actually fluctuate about 1-600 calories, depending on your daily activity and hormone levels.
Period: You may not feel like doing much but movement is the best thing to do, even if it’s just a walk, yoga or stretching. If it is light, keep in mind you won’t burn as much, so although you will be craving carbs, which you will need to avoid burn out, be mindful of how much you actually consume.
Ovulation: This is usually when you have the most energy, you will have increased endurance for workouts, runs etc. so these could last longer, or you may even double up. Or, if you are looking to lose weight, now is the prime time for fat burning! Fasted Cardio & HIIT, but make sure you are still supplying your body with the extra fuel it needs to recover.
Luteal: Increased Progesterone causes body temperature to rise, also metabolic rate. You will actually burn around 2-300 calories more during this phase.
So, let’s use this example:
If your maintenance calories are 1800 then you may need to consume 2100 coming up to your period, and if you choose to do an hour workout then this could increase to 2400.
Now, let’s take this 2400 calories and drop it down to 1200 (like a stupid person told you to do). This is well below the recommended amount for weight loss (being a deficit of only about 3-500). So, why would you drop 1200 when you only need to drop 3-500 to efficiently lose weight? Yes, you will lose weight (duh! You are in a deficit!). But! Your body will actually hate you and won’t be able to keep you in a healthy state.
And if this wasn’t bad enough, what do you think will happen when you stay on this said 1200 calorie diet for a while, say a few months? Your weight loss has plateaued right? Because your body is smart enough to realise you are only feeding it this much, now your NEW metabolic rate is 1200!!! 🤯
Where do you go from here to lose weight? You don’t. You cry, complain and ask yourself wtf can’t I lose weight anymore.
And then you come to me, and I say eat some more damn food so we can increase your metabolic rate back to a HEALTHY range 💃🏻
Then once you have energy, are sleeping again, and feeling healthy, then we drop by ONLY 3-500 and you lose weight again! YAY 😁.. Oh, and we only keep you here for 3-12 weeks, with re-feeds, and high and low carb days. Then we pick up the calories, back to maintenance so your body doesn’t adapt this time, and we can keep you HEALTHY!
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