Weight loss is possible. Your hormones don’t have the final say.

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The Episode: Why Your Hormones May Prevent Weight Loss…and What You Can Do About It    

Your hormones won’t stop you from losing weight, but they may be a barrier you need to learn how to overcome. Whether you’ve been diagnosed with a medical condition or not, your hormones don’t have the final say…YOU DO! Here is a brief summary of how hormones function in regards to weight loss and what steps you can take to make your hormones work in your favor.

In This Episode 

• [03:10] – The Role of Hormones
• [05:49] – Promoting Balanced Hormones
• [08:52] – Productive vs. Nonproductive Exercise

“For the majority of people, their lifestyle is promoting hormonal imbalances which impacts their ability to lose weight.” — David Minishian

The Role of Hormones

Hormones play two main roles in weight loss.

1) Hormones promote action or inaction. Do you feel hungry? Your hormones are saying you need to seek out food and eat. Do you feel lethargic? Your hormones are suggest you need to stop and rest. Our hormones are powerful drivers that impact our decisions. When hormones are properly functioning, they make the right suggestions to cue us on what the body needs. But when there are hormone imbalances, the body may make incorrect suggestions which lead to the wrong action. 

2) Hormones impact body composition. Hormone levels regulate the amount of lean body mass and fat mass each person has. They tell our body where to store energy and how much muscle tissue to build. Our daily activity, exercise routine, nutritional intake, and mindset can all impact our hormone levels. In fact, professional athletes, body builders and others seeking greater physical progress use hormones, whether legally or illegally, to gain a competitive advantage even at the expensive of their overall health.  

Promoting Balanced Hormones

To promote a hormonal balance that supports your ability to lose weight, there are a few key actions you can take:

1) Sleep 8-9 hours each night. When you don’t sleep enough, your body promotes more fat storage.

2) Eat 25-40 grams of fiber a day. If you’re not eating whole foods like fruits and vegetables, your body won’t send the signal to your brain saying, “Hey I’m full! Stop eating!” Making it more likely that you’ll overeat. 

3) Eat more smaller meals or eat fewer larger meals. You may find that one strategy works better to help you regulate your food intake without feeling hungry.

4) Drink 8 cups of water a day. When you aren’t hydrated, your body does not function optimally and the thirst you are feeling may seem like hunger, prompting you to eat even when you don’t need to eat.

5) Reduce processed food consumption. Specifically, limiting processed carbohydrates will keep your blood sugar and insulin levels in check. Chronically elevated blood glucose level cause excessive inflammation, which damages your body’s tissues and organs, and promotes greater fat storage. 

The Right Exercise

All exercise is good exercise. However, not all exercise is the best at accomplishing weight loss (or fat loss). Resistance Based Training does a better job at promoting growth hormone production to increase lean muscle mass and reduce fat storage. In addition to the increase in lean muscle mass, resistance based training also better regulates insulin levels and reduces insulin resistance which improves blood sugar levels. Cardio or flexibility based exercises are important too, but for weight loss they are of secondary importance. In fact, too much cardio may promote excessive cortisol in some individuals which may promote weight gain. Too much flexibility training decreases overall muscle strength and doesn’t promote weight loss specifically. 

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A sustainable weight loss journey is possible, and it can include foods you love.

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Episode 12: Why Others Are Losing Weight When It Seems You Can’t    

A successful weight loss journey is not focused on torturing yourself with a restrictive diet that starves you. Food is not the enemy. Although there are no secrets to losing and keeping weight off, you can build a lifestyle that supports your weight loss goals and without cutting out all your favorite foods.

In This Episode 

• [00:55] Long Term Calorie Deficit
• [02:53] Fixed Mindset
• [03:50] Growth Mindset

“When you learn to be in a caloric deficit long term, you will be able to lose weight consistently and keep it off.” — David Minishian

Long Term Calorie Deficit

People that maintain a consistent weekly calorie deficit do not focus on exercising 5+ hours a week, practicing fad diets that throw their hormones out of balance, or cutting out foods from their diet. The ONE thing they all do is practice a caloric deficit. However, there are two common mistakes people make trying to reach a deficit: 1) They eat more nutritious higher quality foods, but they still consume too many calories. 2) They yo-yo diet by severely limiting the number of calories during the week which leads to a drastic overconsumption on the weekends. To succeed at staying in a calorie deficit long term, you should focus on the quantity of food first, not cutting foods out, and maintain roughly the same caloric intake daily. 

Fixed Mindset

Having a fixed mindset creates barriers that make losing weight more difficult, for example viewing foods as either good or bad. If you have this view on food, you may find yourself struggling to “stay on your diet,” falling off track and getting back on track. This all or nothing mentality prevents any real progress, because in the long term you will always fall off track. You may get temporary results on a rigid diet, but old habits will eventually take over leaving you where you started, suffering from a bad relationship with food. 

Growth Mindset

A growth mindset will support the long-term journey of learning to incorporate the foods you love while reaching your goals. Foods are neither good or bad, they just effect your body in different ways. As you learn what keeps you on track, you’ll be able to create balance in your food intake and in your life. Knowing how to create balance leads to a sustainable lifestyle and avoids the cycle of starting and failing restrictive diets.

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The road to flat abs is not dependant on ab exercises.

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Episode #9: 2 Steps to Flat Abs    

Although planking and hundreds of sit-ups will absolutely build some strength in your core, the path to flat abs is a bit more complicated than that. We’ll be going over the different aspects you need to focus on in your routine, both in the kitchen and the gym, to make your efforts more worth while.

In This Episode 

• [00:45] – Nutrition / Calories In Vs. Calories Out
• [01:30] – Protein
• [02:00] – Fiber
• [02:29] – Portion Control
• [03:45] – Exercise: Push & Pull

“You don’t need to focus on ab exercises. In fact, by doing so you might actually be hindering your overall progress for your ulimate goal.” — David Minishian

Nutrition

The most essential part to focus on for reducing belly fat is nutrition. There are multiple strategies you can use to ensure your food intake puts you at a caloric deficit but being in a daily or weekly deficit is the goal. However, don’t go overboard and starve yourself. If your try to be too far into a deficit, your hormones will likely “take over” causing you to want to eat everything in sight, especially towards the end of the day. The goal should be to have sizable meals that are rich in both protein and fiber, helping you feel more satiated on less calories.

Portion Control

Proper portion control will reveal the flat abs you’ve been building in your workout routine. If your portions are too large, you will achieve a body composition change and reduce your body-fat but you won’t lose enough fat to see your abdominal muscles. Eating healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes is fantastic, but you’ll be spinning your wheels until your meals are properly portioned to your needs.

Exercise

Unveiling your abs happens in the kitchen but building them happens in the gym by focusing on push and pull movements. While it is tempting to spend a significant about of time doing core work, don’t do it. You’ll only slow down your results, especially if you have a limited amount of time to workout. The force exerted on your abs from push and pull movements will cause you to contract your core to maintain strong postural integrity. As you continue to increase the weights lifted during these compound movements, your core muscles will continue to develop and strengthen to withstand the load. While core specific exercises have their place, they should be geared towards strengthening your core to build up to compound movements or used therapeutically to repair a weakened core.

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