75% Of Your Body Is Water And Not Fat.

Our bodies are not mostly composed of fat, they’re mostly composed of water. Therefore, most of the weight changes we see from day to day are water changes, not fat change.
A few reasons you see fluctuations on the scale:
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▪️Recent increase in cardio (increases blood volume). This is a biggie, can add up to 5 lbs in some people, just plasma + new red blood cells, & can cause a month-long stall in scale weight.
▪️Recent increase in weight-lifting (sore muscles retain water); eventually there will also be muscle gain, though that is a slower process (weeks)
▪️Any soreness, injury or bruising (causes inflammation = local water retention)
▪️Illness (ditto)
▪️Change in timing of dinner to a later time than usual, and/or addition of a late night snack even if you ate the same total # of daily calories. The timing alone has an effect. Later eating means that the gut will still be holding “gut water” used in the digestive process during the next morning’s weigh-in. Even a 1 hr later dinner time can affect scale weight the next morning
▪️Single unusually large meal within past 5 days – large meals take multiple days to digest, during which not only the meal itself, but also a mass of water equivalent to ~2x the meal’s weight, will all be parked in your gut for digestion.
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▪️Eating more carbs after a period of not having had many carbs (causes liver & muscles to increase glycogen stores; each 1g of glycogen is structurally packaged with 4g water so you end up with water weight)
▪️change in dietary fiber (affects “poop weight”)
▪️change in pooping frequency (obvious reasons)
▪️Recent exposure to heat (hot yoga, exercising in heat)
▪️ Menstrual cycle / birth control – about 1/3 of women have noticeable swings in weight during the week before menstruation / week of menstruation.
▪️increase in sodium intake
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In short, trust your calorie deficit. If you are tracking your food accurately and are really eating at a caloric deficit, there is no way NOT to be losing fat. The fat loss is just hidden on the scale by the myriad causes of fluctuations in water & digestive waste.

Spot Fat Reductions.

SPOT REDUCTION!
pot reduction is the idea that we are able to choose where we want to lose weight or lose fat. Although this has pretty much been deemed a myth, there are still ways to target these specific areas.
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If you are looking to change the shape of your body, adding muscle should be your priority. Yes, loosing overall body fat will be beneficial but by simply adding muscle to your frame, you will be able to shape your body to give your body a different look. Adding more muscle is different than adding more fat.
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Instead of trying to diet down in order to lose fat in those stubborn areas, start focusing on WHAT you are eating. Limit processed foods, stick to lean proteins, fruits, vegetables and whole grains. It’s important to make sure you are eating enough so you can fuel your workouts, build up new muscle and torch the fat!
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So although there is no such thing as spotting reduce, you are able to target your trouble areas by working them directly! There is no doubt if you perform tricep extensions, you will target that area. The importance of resistance training is so that when you lose body fat overall, your muscles will be able to show!
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All in all, don’t just focus on weight loss to try to assist these stubborn areas, focus on lifting weights and building lean muscle in these areas!
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Why Should You Lift Weights?

Cardio Is Killing Your Fat Loss.

Cardio , fatloss — What’s the ideal way to lose fat?? ⠀
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Definitely cardio right??🤔⠀
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❗️WRONG❗️⠀
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I get this ALLLLLL the time… “I’m only doing cardio right now because I’m trying to lose weight. Then I’ll build muscle after.”⠀
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Most likely all this is doing is slowing your fat loss down!!⠀
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Steady state cardio for long periods of time only sends a signal to the body to become more efficient with calories. (Aka slow metabolism down)⠀
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A slower metabolism = slower fat loss.⠀
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Yes cardio can be good for overall heart health but it is not ideal for fat loss.⠀
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So what is??🤔⠀
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❗️LIFTING WEIGHTS❗️⠀
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Building muscle is the best things you can do if your trying to lose fat.⠀
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Having more muscle increasing metabolism. ⠀
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Not to mention you’ll be able to hold more body fat and look leaner because of the amount of muscle you have. ⠀
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Building more muscle = faster fat loss. Period.⠀
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Proper weight training mixed with proper macronutrient manipulation is the key to effortless/“quick” weight loss.⠀
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Down the road once you have exhausted all the variables that have to do with weight training and nutrition then you can add in some cardio and give yourself an extra boost to get you to your goal.⠀
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But don’t be the person that only does cardio expecting to get to your goal in time. ⠀
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Adaptation to cardio happens quick. ⠀
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And it’s a lot longer, slower process then if you just focused on lifting weights!

Eating Before Bed

Diet ,eating , sleeping — Many people believe that anything you eat before bed will automatically turn into fat. However, this isn’t exactly the case. Our bodies are in a constant state of protein turnover aka making new proteins and breaking down the old ones.
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Eating a meal that is high in protein before bed can help your body remain in this muscle-building phase as well as increase the amount of muscle protein synthesis. Eating before bed is not “bad” but there are definitely better choices that you can make at this time. Your snack/meal at night should HELP with your goals not hinder your progress. Aka eating cookies or snacks that are high in sugary carbs might not be the best option.
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Eating a small sized meal prior to bed consisting of protein, carbs and fat will help to keep you satisfied and possibly help you fall asleep as our brains turns carbs (complex) to serotonin. Eating a larger meal may either keep you up or disrupt your sleep.
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Dairy products such as greek yogurt are typically slow digesting and allows your body to enter the muscle building phase while you sleep. Choosing foods that are high in healthy fats (avocado, almonds), can be helpful as well since fats also slow down the rate of digestion.
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There are other factors to keep in mind as well such as what types of foods you ate throughout the rest of your day and whether or not you just worked out. If you just worked out and it’s late at night, eating some carbs or fruit to replenish your glycogen stores would be fine along with some protein. If you haven’t eaten much throughout the day, choosing some healthier carbs to eat is not going to harm you.
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Fueling your body with the proper nutrition that it needs should always be a number one priority. By keeping this in mind, you will start making choices that will help fuel your body instead of harming it.

Exercise & The Menstrual Cycle!

Exercise & The Menstrual Cycle!
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It is very common for females who train intensely and diet to lose their period or have it become irregular. Every month ovulation occurs and with this, hormonal changes arise. Having a very strict diet especially missing meals or working out for multiple hours in the day leads your body to identify this negative energy balance as a risk. When this happens, the body turns off the body process known as reproduction.
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A hormone known as leptin gets produced when there is body fat. Not having enough body fat decreases the amount of leptin in the body, which reduces the action of the hypothalamus (which starts off your menstrual cycle). Stress is also a major factor that may lead our sympathetic nervous system (SNS) to be overworked. When our stress hormones are constantly at high levels, our body believes it’s not safe to reproduce.
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Losing your period means that something must be “off” hormonally. Here are some tips as to what you can do:
-Reduce the amount of exercise that you’re doing and increase your calories
-Ensure you’re getting in enough good quality sleep
-Try adding in slow-digesting carbs at most meals (everyone is different but this may be helpful to reduce stress and deprivation in our bodies as most females believe that carbs are “bad” for them).
-See your doctor to tune in to the exact cause.” )