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Is weight loss possible after 50?  Do you wonder that? If you’re just trying to lose those last few pounds that came on during stress or hormone change, what does that take? How is it different than if you have 50, 100, or even 20 pounds to lose?

[Originally published in August 2017, this popular post has been updated – just in time for a special Fit-U program launch.]

Or rather, how should it be different? “It” being the process that you go through.

An Example of Failed Weight Loss After 50

On this post I look at parts of the process that deserve attention. If you’re reading this you know very well by now what permanent weight removal is not. Take Carla*, one of my clients. When we met she was walking two to four hours a day, and eating as little as 800 calories per day. Her weight at the time was well over 200 pounds. If weight loss were a math equation, Carla, should be skinny. Here’s why.

Her estimated calculate Basal Metabolic Rate was a little more than 1700 kcals.

[By the way when I searched Google for the phrase “how many calories to lose a pound” it’s clear we still think weight loss is math and someone is still writing this B.S.: 17 million pieces of content were found. Confused? No wonder.]

Even walking slowly, at her start weight Carla would burn over 300 kcals per hour. She was burning 600-1200 daily.

Exercise calories are added to your resting (basal) metabolism for total energy daily expenditure. The total kcals to maintain her current weight were, depending on her activity that day, were 2300 – 2900.

Consuming 800 kcals per day she would easily be at a deficit. Repeating that day after day using an average exercise of 3 hours walking, she needed of 2600 to maintain her weight and taking in 800.

If this pure math solution was right, she was creating an average deficit of 1800 kcals a day. If it takes 3500 kcals to lose or gain a pound it should have been easy for her to lose a little more than 3lbs a week.

Yet, that’s not what happened. She didn’t lose. She reached a plateau pretty quickly. She got injured. She had insomnia. She gained. She got nervous when injured and unable to exercise. She feared eating more food or even the amount she was eating when she was exercising.

In spite of evidence (weight loss plateau, frequency of injury, even weight gain) suggesting that so much exercise and so few calories were actually slowing her metabolism, she held on to old emotional ties to the theory that exercising more and eating less will achieve weight loss.

After 50 Weight Loss Success

I won’t leave you hanging! Carla did eventually lose. A sluggish metabolism from years of slow down and unintentional sabotage takes time to bounce back. But she did. She’s lost close to 75 pounds at this point and she’s well past 50.

It’s hard to let go.

Some of us are emotional eaters. Some of us are emotional food avoiders. Both emotional eaters and avoiders have a dysfunctional relationship with food. Many of us have an addiction to struggle. Hard work, discipline, and control feel better than relaxation, acceptance, and trusting your body’s signals. That kind of dysfunction extends to exercise, too. It’s easy to get into a cycle of taking out big loans, payback, and withdrawal. This is more noticeable in women who seek weight loss after 50. In that bank analogy sequence two out of three actions are taking away energy and only one is paying back. That’s where we get it wrong with exercise and nutrition. We’re never filling our cup. Our tendency is to mentally believe we’re being “good,” we “have” to suffer through some form of exercise and deprivation, in other words: mindset matters.

If you think you’re being good… you probably think you get rewarded for that behavior at some point instead of believing the behavior itself IS the reward (e.g. enjoying good-for-you food because it’s delicious, and liking the way you feel when you’re doing exercise that’s right for you).

Your Motivation for Weight Loss After 50

If doing things you love brings a second set of rewards, even better. In regards to eating good food and exercise you can expect rewards like better sleep, less fatigue, more energy, optimal weight, and body confidence. Not so different than people who are able to take a passion and make it a profession. The successful ones are not without a hard work ethic, but they love waking up every morning to work and even the tasks they don’t love they can tie to the passion for the outcome.

#joyinmotion is non-existent in the majority of diet & exercise to weight loss plans out there

(Have you noticed? Torch calories! Burn fat! Even free consults promise to tell you “how many calories you need to eat and burn to lose weight” lead you to a dead end: this is not your health GPS.) This is true whether you have 5 or 50 pounds to lose, but the longer you’ve carried additional weight and the more you’ve limited calories the more TLC your metabolism-controlling hormones need in order to reboot.

Eating, avoiding eating, and exercise are too often punishment. While it might seem compulsive eating is a reward, if you’ve been down this road before, it’s more like punishment because you know what’s coming next in the cycle. You’ll feel bad and the underlying purpose was to create those bad feelings. That’s bizarre, right? But true. It’s almost as if, the bad feelings are more comfortable. They’re at least more familiar. You can busy yourself with more exercise, fewer calories and get “back on track.” That feels like a game you can win. But then it backfires again and you’re right back where you started. Or worse. 

You’re not right back where you started from because…losing weight you lose fat AND muscle. Regaining weight is 100% fat.

Exercise as a punishment is like paying the interest on some huge loan. The cycle usually goes like this: you’ve overeaten something you wish you hadn’t, and you’re going to compensate for it with excess exercise. You might also use exercise as a coping mechanism for emotions you don’t like feeling. Frustrated, angry, sad or feeling inadequate, your exercise gives you a fix of mojo, at least temporarily. If this is you, you like exercise. Or you did, until you began abusing it.

The payback is the overcompensation that happens after being particularly “good,” which in my experience with is restricting calories or foods they love, and you got it, dieting. You’re “on something.” It may be legal but it’s not good. The off ramp on that diet highway has a lot of roadblocks on it. You end up eating because you deserve it, you can’t resist any more (there’s science behind that: your body is doing everything it can to tell you to eat more).

Then there’s the, “I exercised today so I can have this” and the opposite, “I haven’t exercised so I can’t eat.” Certain types of exercise actually make you more prone to over eating afterwards. You can sabotage yourself in fact with some of the recommended activities for weight loss. Longer extended walks are recommended. They’re lower impact, anyone can walk, and yet, if you get that information and you’re gung ho whether it’s January 2 or not, you’re likely to take that downtown with the if-a-little-is-good-more-must-be-better and you’ll over do it.

Certain types of exercise actually make you more prone to over eating afterwards.

The withdrawal is getting a great (long, or exceptionally hard, or both) workout in or dieting all week so that you can do the payback. You might have the special event and the dress to fit into. You might be planning it. You might not. You’re just trying to get ahead and “work hard” to get results until eventually the payback comes. That’s what clever programs call “cheat” days and what I call binge days. It happens if you’re starting something that you can’t possibly ever sustain. If it feels temporary, it will be, and it usually doesn’t end well.

My girlfriends and I used to joke that we each had to have (or in this case we were talking about someone’s daughter) a “bad boy” relationship. It was that one that everyone else knew wasn’t good for you, wasn’t going to last and yet you couldn’t resist. Yep. A bit like a diet or exercise plan that you start thinking that you can make it through this eight weeks and be magically transformed, skinny, and then you can do it normally. It never works that way.

Weight Loss After 50 and Exercise

Diets or crazy kamikaze bootcamps full of burpees, squats, and lunges that send you home unable to sit down and bring you back the next day more sore than you should be starting a new exercise session don’t instill #joyofmotion in most of us. Granted there are possibly the less than 1% of you reading this who are saying, yes, I truly LOVE to do punishing workouts, but the majority of us who follow human nature seek pleasure and run (or walk or bike) from pain.

The reality is that whatever you do to get to a goal – weight loss- fitness, you have to do MORE of to sustain. Why? Because a 250 lb body requires more calories to move, and sustain than does a 150 lb body.

You will slow your metabolism by becoming a smaller person. The good news: By changing the way your body burns fuel and adjusting it to becoming a higher fat burner, and increasing lean muscle tissue you can overcome and offset this seemingly BIG obstacle.

The truth about weight loss that isn’t done correctly is your metabolism will slow. If you regain weight (reminiscent of Biggest Loser participants) your metabolism could STILL BE LOW, if you’ve not released toxins that are stored in fat, or not paid attention to lean muscle creation. Those who are slaves to cardio and ignore weight training will be most likely to experience this.

Why can some people lose 50 or 100 pounds and keep it off? They’ve adapted eating and exercise habits that change the way they eat and exercise permanently. They’ve looked far beyond calories and looked at hormones and quality of food vs. quantity of food.

Hormones, not calories, control your weight.

You have an abundance of hormones. So at first glance, it’s a challenge less simple than addition and subtraction required to do calories in calories out. It’s like me and trigonometry. I had the multiplication tables down, damn it. Who moved the cheese?

But it’s also easier to balance out hormones. [The hardest part is reconciling your brain with the idea that less exercise is more, and more good food is more.]

It’s not punishing exercise. It’s exercise you like and less of it but with more purpose.

It’s not dieting or deprivation. It’s flipping foods you love that negatively impact your hormones into foods you love made with food that loves you back.

You don’t need bootcamp 6 days a week at high intensity. You don’t have to say no forever to dessert or to snacks. That would be unrealistic.

Remember this one thing about your body: It wants to be at ideal weight.

Now, your ideal weight might not look like the cover model on a magazine. (Even the model on the cover doesn’t look like the model on the cover). Your body wants the path of least resistance as much as your mind does. So if you feed it and move it optimally, it will respond by releasing fat it no longer wants to carry around.

If you have tried or are trying to burpee and starve your way to get there, or you “have to have” some crazy concoction of foods made or delivered to you to make your goal a reality, chances are this is not sustainable. If you want weight loss and yet your relationship with foods that feel comforting (momentarily) is so great you can’t or you refuse to break that cycle, now may not be the time.

What? That’s not where you thought this was going? I wish I could give you a program that works even when you aren’t ready to change. But, I simply can’t.

No one can want it worse than you.

This place you’re in could be your upper limit. You’re possibly afraid of changing so much that you won’t. Something about your struggle is working for you. You may associate yourself with the struggle. You spend time, energy, maybe money investing in new programs, or finding new experts to ask about what to do. You get a lot of answers. But you don’t DO any of them.

Then nothing I say can help.

If you are ready to make changes, to see changes, there are things to consider. If you have more than 20 pounds to lose, the changes you need to make with mindset become more important.

Unique Needs for Weight Loss After 50

Women over 50 have a unique set of circumstances:

• A mindset from 30+ years of our adult lives.
• Physical habits we do that are almost compulsive from our morning routines to the way we go to bed at night.
• Others around us who have influenced us and are a part of right where we are today.
• Joints and muscles that are a little less resilient and might limit us in certain ways.
• Definite opinions and habits around the foods we eat.
• A young-thinking mind that is a huge asset! We’re starting over, going to school, raising young children, starting businesses. Most of us are looking to what’s next more than to what’s over, and that can be a huge motivation.

You need to address the whole person you are. You’re going to be either positively or negatively influenced by each of these:

• Emotions
• Physical Activity
• Behavior Change
• Sleep
• Medication Interaction
• Time

So if you’ve skipped or ignored any one of those needs during a “diet” or a “bootcamp” or delivery of food to your door, there have been potentially more obstacles than solutions. It’s not your fault.

You can’t diet the way a 20-year-old does. You can’t fast the way a 30-year-old does. You can’t exercise the way you did even at 40. Make no mistake, you can look and feel as good (and often better – we’ve been beating ourselves up for a long time) as you did at 20, 30 or 40, as long as you don’t attempt to get there the way you did at 20, 30 or 40. For two reasons:

• The science of fat loss. The science of today needs to replace the science you learned 20, 30, or more years ago.
• The science of hormones and exercise, and food.

This is an integrated relationship and successful integration determines your success. At midlife and beyond the impact of hormones is amplified. [You’re not off the hook at 60 or just because you’ve gone through the other side.] You can’t outwork hormones and you can’t out-diet them; you can outsmart them.

To learn more about how to get fit after 50 if you have 20 or more pounds to lose, click here. Fit-U is designed for you. Fit-U starts now. Early access materials are ready now. There’s never a convenience time to do anything worthwhile. Do you want support? If you do, and you want it to be me, let’s do this.

If you want to learn more about the difference between:

1. Fat loss and weight loss
2. Fat loss after 50

Watch this special master class. I’ve rounded up all the research about weight loss – that is FAT loss –  after 50 (because the last thing you want to do is lose muscle. Temporarily that will make you feel a false sense of success, but when the muscle goes so too does your metabolism. That my friend, is the vicious cycle that’s caught up with you. And yet, yes you can change it. Start watching. Then jump in right now.

I’m pulling back the curtain on Flipping 50 programs in this post. Every single belly fat solution here is included in the 28-Day Kickstart and the After 50 Fitness Formula for Women.

Whether you want or need to lose weight or it’s just the belly fat won’t budge, OR you want to get your energy and mojo back, these are the pieces (and each you’ll see is tied to research (included below). I’m a prove-it-to-me girl, too.

It all starts (and ends) with these steps. They aren’t core exercises. Your core muscle may need attention but if you’re exercise habits didn’t change yet belly fat did, you’ve got to look at the whole picture. Exercise alone though isn’t the answer. You’ve got to set yourself up for: wanting to exercise, energy to do quality exercise, and the recovery through nutrition that supports positive exercise change.

Trouble Getting Motivated? Feed Yourself Fiber First

Eating 30 grams of fiber each day – even if you do nothing else – could improve weight loss significantly. Subjects in a study followed either a more complex diet and increased fiber or only increased fiber. Both groups lost weight. The group that followed all changes did best, but only by a marginal increase.

Recognize Your Sugar Intake

Simply said, increasing sugar intake, making no other changes, increases body fat, while decreasing sugar, making no other changes, decreases body fat. When belly fat won’t budge take a closer look at what you’re eating you don’t recognize as sugar.

I say “limit” sugar as opposed to omit because eliminating is almost impossible. Fruit is sugar. A sweet potato is sugar. Beets are sugar. So you want to be aware of the fact that your body just recognizes sugar once it’s in the body. It doesn’t say, oh, this sugar is from pineapple or beets, it’s good, and digest it differently. When food gets broken down and it rapidly turns to sugar as it’s digested, the good stuff too can spike your blood sugar and therefore your fat storage.

Eat Protein for Breakfast

Protein is the single most important nutrient for weight loss.

It boosts metabolism, reduces appetite, and positively changes several weight-regulating hormones (GIP, and ghrelin are two).

Lower calorie diets (moderate intake compared to excess or calorie restricted) with high nutrient density including protein are key to maintaining muscle while losing fat weight.

Higher skeletal muscle is associated with higher protein intake and lower body fat in post menopausal women. 

Per meal recommendations of 25-30 grams of protein benefit metabolism and body composition both. Surprisingly, for my clients energy has also been a big benefit – even within the first week.

Boost Omega 3

Fish oil can reduce inflammation and cortisol, which in turn help fat metabolism and lean muscle gains. In adults over 50 there’s a resistance to gaining lean muscle tissue, so if you do find it harder to lose weight, there’s a reason. But you can overcome it and fish oil may be a part of your arsenal. A study showed taking 4 grams of fish oil daily alleviates that resistance to adding muscle that can come (does not HAVE to) with age. Further, Omega 3 supplementation boosted the ability of the body to gain muscle from protein in the diet. Add that to your proper exercise and you’re golden for longevity you love.

Go Gluten-free and Add Pro and Probiotics

You want to get the bad stuff out and the good stuff in. I know you’re reading that a small percent of the population is actually celiac (allergic to gluten). Yet a high percent of us are actually sensitive to gluten, and it can indeed affect your weight.

• Add pre (garlic, beets, artichokes, chickpeas, pistachios)
• Add probiotics (raw fermented sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt)
• Eat deeply colored plant foods (rich in polyphenols)

Everything in Moderation?

No. If you’re sensitive you want to be 100% “in” on getting things that disturb your gut “out.” At some point you may retest (lab or literally with food) to see how you’re doing. You may heal your gut and be able to handle it again. But having some every day, having a little here and there? Just no. If you really want to feel better, you won’t.

If you think some of the foods you have to give up are addicting, wait until you feel good on a daily basis. You’ll never go back.

Oh, and those addictive foods (or over exercise, for that matter?) are exactly a clue (the I can’t give it up, I have to…) that it’s ADDICTION not healthy choice.

Shift to Resistant Starches

Women need carbohydrates to be happy. Carbs support sleep. If your mood and energy tank while you’re on a diet it’s not likely you’re going to see sustained weight loss. You need to identify the right carbohydrates and the right time to eat them. It’s not intuitive! Your exercise will be so much more effective if you’ve got the right fuel.

There are details you want to be aware of when it comes to carbohydrates we’ve been led to believe are “healthy.”

Eating too much lectin could interfere – molecule bind to leptin receptors, inhibiting leptin’s ability to signal that you’re full. Beyond that lectins can cause digestive issues after long time exposure, but can go undetected except for the inability to lose weight. Removing high lectin foods – like the 6-11 servings of grain a day recommended by the USDA food pyramid is a good start. Dried beans, legumes, soy and peanuts, even quinoa and nightshades contain them.

I learned that my DNA predisposes me to gluten sensitivity (and foods with lectin are almost all also full of gluten) so I have a stronger commitment to eliminating them now. More about testing your DNA.

Leptin resistancedevelops when inflammation is present. Reduce inflammation by supplementing with Omega 3 and or eating omega-3 rich foods like salmon and sardines regularly. I do both, as well as avoiding lectin-containing foods whenever possible.

Avoid Caloric Restriction without Quality Control

The very thing you’ve been trying to do backfires on you big time. If you reduce calories your body shuts down (metabolism and hormone production – including leptin). For women in menopause fasting may or may not be right for you. Discuss with a coach your past and present situation including relationship with food first.

Fasting? Alternate day fasting did not benefit midlife women in a weight loss study.

Decreasing caloric intake overall combined with increased protein intake and meal replacement (e.g. smoothiefrom clean quality protein) supported not only results but compliance. It seems fasting is just too extreme to maintain and often results in a binge that follows. That said, if you’re inclined and you can, intermittent fasting won’t hurt your results: it just won’t necessarily boost or enhance them.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

HIIT stimulates growth hormone (and testosterone) which stimulates leptin.

Long endurance exercise will kill your efforts. More is not more. More is self-sabotage. This is a mixed and complicated message, I know.

Yes, you need to move more.

However, you need to exercise LESS.

What?

Yes.

You want to do focused short exercise sessions that include HIIT, weight training, AND low intensity movement.

Your effective workouts can be 10 or 20 minutes long most days of the week and then longer “play” on the weekends.

Moving more is about what you do all day every day. The 30 minutes of “exercise” is not going to save you from sitting on your bum 23.5 hours a day.

When you start eating better, and because of it sleeping better, and exercising to get better at life, you will naturally be inspired to move more each and every day. Twenty-three hours more movement daily even at a lower level than you exercise for 30 is what makes the MOST difference between those overweight/obese and not. So yes, exercise, but move more all day for the most impact on your health and hotness.

Good Night, Hottie!

If you skip sleep and it’s importance or are ignoring the things you do have power over to sleep better, your leptin levels can be 15% lower than if you were sleeping. So Ghrelin (the hunger hormone) production is elevated and Leptin (your satiety hormone) is down without sleep.

Want support with making these changes in a way that’s not overwhelming?

Take 28 Days and feel better fast. Four weeks is going to pass anyway. You A.) change nothing and feel the same, B.) try something extreme and feel worse, or C.) you could do this with me and feel way better! (I’d choose “C”!)

 

If you’ve been focused on burning calories with exercise and find it’s not working, in fact, it’s backfiring on you,  there’s an answer. When was the last time you finished exercise feeling good? And you kept feeling good for hours? You were more focused, more productive, and happier and you slept better and had fewer cravings. Does your exercise do all that? If you are due to refresh your workout routine or to restart the good news is it’s no longer about burning calories.

Move more. Movement, not sweating, grunting or grimacing, just movement is related to lower incidence of overweight and obesity.

We’ve had it backwards.

For women in midlife this is especially true. We’ve turned exercise backwards and inside out. It’s not about burning calories.

Hormone balancing exercise is lower intensity especially if you’re chronically tired, struggle to wake in the morning, never feel rested no matter how much sleep you got.

It can be long or short. A 20-minute low intensity walk can do wonders for hormones while you may be worried about burning calories.

It’s not now and it’s never been about calories in vs. calories out. Yes, the quality of your calories matter. If you take care of quality, quantity takes care of itself.

If you burn calories –  hundreds of calories – so you increase your cortisol levels – you’ll still never lose weight or increase your strength or endurance. In fact, you may cause more weight gain, fat storage, and sleep disruption. That’s because it’s hormone disrupting exercise. It’s exacerbated if at the same time you’re restricting your calories.

Hormone balancing exercise can include high intensity exercise, as long as it’s short, and infrequent. No more of the “burn” for an hour, slogging (slow+jogging) for an hour, or mindlessly going nowhere on an elliptical or treadmill. Exercising one or two times a week at high intensity interval training (HIIT) for 20-30 minutes is ideal. (Other types of exercise should round out your week.)

More of either HIIT or long slow sessions and you can easily send hormones already in chaos further into imbalance. We’re so used to working harder getting better results that it’s hard to believe. (Thanks Mom and Dad). You’ve probably got a great work ethic.

But what if it could be easy?

My 5-Day Flip makes fitting the right dose of exercise into your day easy. I created 15-20 minute videos that show you how a week of exercise should look. Use them five days in a row.  If you’re starting or restarting, they’re perfect: not too hard, not too long.

Here’s how you’ll feel after:

• Energized – for the rest of your day
• Accomplished – check it off your list
• Motivated – to make more good choices for your day
• Clarity – focus and concentration increase after short exercise sessions
• Balanced – a little exercise decreases cortisol and increases calm

Here’s why:

• Short sessions boost hormone balance
• Weight training boosts hormone balance
• Cardio intervals (effort level is up to you) make efficient use of time
• Carefully sequenced routines let you focus on what’s most important
• No “fluff” flips– I despise exercise variety for variety’s sake! Who has time for that?

Let me take the wheel. Wouldn’t you love it if you had a personal trainer, a nutrition coach, and someone to just keep you accountable when you want to let yourself off the hook?

I’ve got you covered. I can help with all that. Nine times out of ten not exercising regularly is NOT due to lack of motivation, or disciple, or willpower. You’ve got all those.

It’s lack of clarity.

It’s not due to a lack of information. It’s the opposite.

It’s lack of clarity.

Give Up Burning Calories for Hormone Balance

Have you ever had an overflowing closet? Then come late December or January you clean it out and donate. It’s so much easier to get dressed when you have just clothes that fit that you like inside. I’ve done that for you with the 5-Day Flip. The exercise videos will fit and they’ll look good on you.

If you’ve been focused on burning calories and it’s not working… what have you got to lose?

It fits your hormone needs, solves your what-do-I-do dilemma, and eliminates that doubt that this is even going to work. How could you be motivated when you don’t have faith it will be worth it?

Exercise for energy instead of burning calories. Your hormones will thank you. Then your sleep, weight, libido and mood will follow.

Have you done the Flip? or a Flipping 50 program? Want more support during or after your flip? Perfect timing!

Limited Time Offer: expires 11:59pm MST May 13. Promo code: momrocks

It’s your virtual gym and I’m your virtual trainer and coach. Perfect if you’ve completed a Flipping 50 program, or you’re thinking about doing one (incredible savings on special programs and protein products).

Easy weight loss now?

You may be thinking easy weight loss isn’t even possible after 50. If you’re doing aerobic exercise – and skipping weight training – there’s a reason why weight loss seems so hard.

If you’re Flipping 50 hoping to keep it going into your 60s and 70s with a faster metabolism hop off that treadmill right now.

Aerobic training during intentional weight loss results in lean muscle loss.

That is a fast track to a slow metabolism, which means weight will return with a vengeance.

A study in Obesity comparing weight loss with no exercise, weight loss with aerobic exercise, and weight loss with resistance training found aerobic training THE most detrimental to muscle loss.

So yes, it’s true, aerobic training can make you fat.

Cycles of weight loss that includes significant muscle losses will slow metabolism.  Weight regained after dieting is predictably 100% fat. Combine muscle losses during weight loss, and regain of all fat and you have a problem. Repeats of that cycle don’t bode well for a healthy metabolism. Still, there’s hope.

Women (average age of 70) lost 19% body fat when they did resistance training – the greatest fat loss among all three groups.

This study of 249 older women confirms weight training is your best friend when you’re trying to lose weight. Other studies – all included in the Fit U program research – confirm that aerobic activity + resistance training + adequate protein at the right time results in long term success, without deprivation. This is your trifecta for metabolism success (and longevity).

Supplements and Weight Loss

A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed older adults that combined resistance training and protein supplements had superior results to adults who did resistance training only. Subjects (all older adults) across 17 studies had significantly more lean mass and leg strength compared to subjects who did resistance training alone.

If you’re trying to lose weight your priorities are in this order:

1. resistance training
2. protein supplement
3. minimal aerobic training

The more you prioritize strength training exercise and supplement with protein consistently the more easy weight loss will be.

 

Enjoy savings during March, my birthday month, with 15% off your first order of any protein option. One coupon use per person. Until my birthday in a few days! Promo code: bday 

Need support designing a program just for you right now? If you’ve got more than 20 pounds to lose and you’ve no idea how to begin strength training, Fit-U was designed for you.

Right now Fit-U is open for spring training.

The right strength training.

The right amount and type of aerobic activity.

Plus the right support around learning to love eating without deprivation.

For the right change in your body composition.

Resources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29086504

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28814401

I eat for energy, mood, and optimal body fat, just as the title implies. In addition to that, I eat for pleasure. I hope you do too! We should love our food and what it does for us. I also eat for convenience. Betty homemaker I’m not. Even when I pretended I was, I really wasn’t. That exhausted me!

Still, I do spend a lot of time in the kitchen, even though it’s just me most of the time right now. I love to play with food. I prefer to make it and know what goes in it was recently alive. I like using simple, good, whole food. I’m in Boulder, Colorado and I’ve never in my life had it so easy to eat out and eat well for health. Even so, there’s something about making it in my kitchen that I like.

This post is at the request of Flipping 50 community members who’ve said, “It would be really helpful to see what you eat in a day.” So, here it is. Know  that no two days are exactly the same but I do eat similar breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Your body loves routine. I eat more or eat less depending on my energy needs and schedule. If I’m training then my energy needs are higher and there may be an additional meal or smoothie in there.

How I eat for energy, mood, and optimal body fat

4:30am

Here’s how it starts… after a tall glass of water, usually with fresh squeezed lemon or if I’m out, a little apple cider vinegar, I have a cup of coffee. I alternate using coconut cream, ghee, Bulletproof, and usually add a few drops of liquid stevia in my coffee.

I’m a two cup (let’s be honest: mug) girl. So between cups I have another tall glass of pure filtered water.

 

 

8:00 am

I’ve worked for a couple hours at least by the time I think about exercise. I’m definitely ready for something to eat. I hate being distracted by hunger, which reduces the effort I can put in during exercise. So I usually have a little nut butter on sweet potato slices, or gluten-free rice cakes (Lundberg). No images available but I recently shared a sweet potato & nut butter sandwich image on Instagram. 

 

I might have a smoothie that’s low fat and low fiber to keep me satisfied through the workout but not be a digestive nightmare while exercising. Post-workout I’ll wait an hour if it was an intense or long enough workout. Light to moderate workouts don’t require as much special timing or need compensation after either.

A quick pre-exercise green smoothie might have:

• coconut yogurt
• romaine
• lime juice
• green apple
• kiwi
• Vanilla Plant Power protein\
• lime juice
• pure filtered water

 

10:00am – 12 noon (depending on the day and workout)

After a moderate to vigorous intensity workout (in addition to any food I’ve needed during – on long bike rides or runs I have some low sugar bars during at calculated times according to my energy needs), I’ll have a meal 60-90 minutes post exercise. If it’s timed right for a meal, I may have one, or if  my stomach isn’t ready for food yet, I’l have a smoothie first that’s much more like a meal than the pre-exercise one, and then have a meal a bit later. I eat for energy here but also love the taste and the fact I’m eating fresh foods rich in color.

This one:

• Chocolate Paleo Power protein 
• Unsweetened Almond milk
• 1/4 avocado (anti-inflammatory)
• dash cinnamon (anti-inflammatory)
• 1-2 handfuls spinach
• 1 T cacao powder (anti-inflammatory)
• mixed berries (anti-oxidants)
• Toppings: Activated granola (probiotics and low sugar by Living Intentions), raw coconut, berries

 

12:00 (if I haven’t had the smoothie bowl and a bit later if I have)

If I have an appetite for more on an active day, I might have a bowl of soup. Or the soup would have easily been my lunch had I not had the smoothie. This is a favorite. And yes, sometimes I need a fast fix if I haven’t got a soup at home, I’ll get pho, made with veggies and add chicken. It’s perfect post a big workout. I’ll top that with avocado or shake some hemp hearts on this (healthy fat and a little more protein).

 

I don’t typically need or want an afternoon snack if I’ve had adequate fat and fiber, protein and the right amount of carbs at breakfast and lunch, so there’s no snacks listed. If I eat for energy at the meals I eat, I don’t crave. It’s not willpower or discipline, it just is. If I do want or need something I’ll have a cup of bone broth – or two – and it’s warm and comforting plus adds some protein to my day.

5:30pm

Dinner is definitely comfort food with more healthy carbs. This is where I’ll make something at home. I rarely eat dinner out. I eat for energy for tomorrow at this meal. I’m a morning exerciser most of the time and so what I eat the night before will determine how well I feel in the morning. I usually have a couple of the thighs and fill a plate with the veggies and apple slices! I love this dish.

This is from the Flipping 50 Community Cookbook. The recipes I share with you are the ones I use… no kidding! This one pan dish has chicken thighs, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, apples, onions, and its delicious. Plus, rosemary makes the house smell amazing. Oh, and it has bacon on it. There is plenty of protein and fat, fiber and carbohydrates in this one dish wonder. A batch makes plenty for one meal now and a few later this week and a couple for the freezer too if you’re cooking for one.

I close the kitchen after dinner. Rarely do I even want something but when I do it’s actual hunger not a craving. I usually don’t have anything. I know I won’t sleep well if I eat late and it’s just not worth it.

*keep in mind I’ve been training for some endurance events. When I cut back to moderate duration exercise the need for a second smoothie will be gone. Even so, that’s the major change. The other increased need for food is during the actual training and I haven’t included that. It’s unique to each individual athlete I work with.

If you have 20 or more pounds to lose, you should begin eating like an athlete. We call it metabolic efficiency. It’s a shift to help your body burn more fat for fuel, without struggle, deprivation, or the old “diet” mentality. That, in fact, is the hardest part of the program: learning not to struggle and push but to nurture and enjoy food again. The right food, the right time. The right exercise, the right time. Need some support? Right now.. you can save a spot at 50% off… AND get private access to me weekly. Fit -U. It’s not just about weight. Free yourself from whatever you’re carrying around.