“I’m barley eating and I’m still not losing weight.” What gives? This is a common frustration we hear in the fitness and nutrition industry and if you are feeling this way, you are not alone.
Undereating or being on a long term “diet”, can be detrimental for your body long term. If you are constantly in a calorie deficit, you may wind up with harmful side effects such as muscle loss, decreased basal metabolic rate (meaning you burn less calories at rest), a slower metabolism (your BMR has severely decreased, hence what people refer to a “slow metabolism”), fatigue, nutrient deficiencies, decreases in important hormones and increases in cortisol, and weakened immunity; just to name a few!
Couple all of the effects of undereating with an intense training program like CrossFit, and you now have a recipe for disaster. All of your hard work in the gym can easily go to waste if you are not fueling your body properly.
Hopefully you were at our Nutrition Seminar last week where we discussed how to fuel your body for training and still lose fat AND gain muscle. If you weren’t, I promise there will be more seminars to come and you can always work with us one on one to give you a detailed nutrition plan.
With all of that said, Jason White recently worked with Monias through our FL30 program and her story is highlighted below!
Monias came to us wanting to change her body and perform better in the gym. She is an Active Duty Solider with an extremely busy schedule and over time, she became accustomed to eating only 1 meal per day. Throughout her 20-year career, she gained almost 60lbs. When we first met with her, she stated that the thought of eating more makes her feel nauseous.
Based on factors such as her basal metabolic rate and her lean body mass, we determined she was consuming almost 1000 calories too few. She said she was determined to lose weight, so she listened to our instructions and followed them the best she could. We slowly introduced more calories by adding snacks during the day and protein shakes after her workouts. While not every day was a success when it came to her calorie intake, she did her best to eat the number of calories she needed.
Once she was winning more days than losing, we focused on her macros to improve her body composition and her performance in the gym. In one month, she lost 2% body fat and gained 2lbs of lean body mass. She will be the first to admit that she has improved greatly in the gym and she can tell the difference when she eats properly vs. when she doesn’t. Monias is a great example of how changing your habits and eating to perform and feel good in AND out of the gym, can truly give you the results that you want.
Please reach out to us with questions or more info on our FL30 program!
