Your Specialty Weight Loss Blog . Some people were really happy and congratulated me. These women told me they have been eating low carb for a while and are loving it and they wondered why I hadn’t switched over before! Then there were others who weren’t so happy. They questioned why I would give up a a large food group? Wouldn’t I just end up craving more carbs and eventually binge on everything? Doesn’t it mess with women’s hormone balance? ![]() I totally get it! I asked the exact SAME questions before I decided to go low carb, high fat. Would I be able to cut back my beloved carbs? Would I get fat from eating so much fat? Would I put a stress on my hormones from eating fewer carbs? ![]() Remember to take lots and lots of water as the day goes along to counteract possible problems discussed in other keto articles. Also, try to incorporate a mild. My highest weight was apprx 160lbs within 3 months drinking 3-4 cups a day. How to Lose Weight; Weight Loss Resources, Classes, & FAQ; Weight Loss Bible Study; Christian Weight Loss App; Weight Loss Blog Posts. Related Entries: The Leptin Diet Weight Loss Challenge #1 . How Digestive Problems Prevent Weight Loss I have my reasons for switching to low carb, and some of them include: Cutting back on the sugar, even sugar from so called “healthy” carbs. Not needing to eat every 2 - 3 hours. Switching from a sugar burner to a fat burner. This weight loss challenge is perfectly balanced to get you the results you've been working hard for but may not have been getting. Enter postcode or address, and radius to find Weight Loss Challenges near you. Your Specialty Weight Loss Blog Kim Kardashian West Loves This Plastic Weight Loss Suit, But Does It Really Work? Photo Credit PIKSEL/iStock/Getty Images. ![]() ![]() Studies have shown that a low carb way of eating can help many people lose weight and improve their metabolic function. However, this isn’t to say that low carb diets are right for EVERYONE! My goal of this post isn’t to try and get you to switch to a low carb way of eating. The purpose of this post is to help give you information so that you can make the decision for YOU! I tell my Drop A Dress Size challengers repeatedly to find a way of eating that is going to work best for them. Does that include more carbs than I eat? Does that include less carbs than I eat? There is no ONE right way or ONE wrong way to eat. ![]() ![]() It’s about figuring out which foods make you feel the best. Today, I want to address the topic of low carb and women’s health. I’ve seen many women switch to an extremely low carb way of eating and do very poorly. You may have heard of the Ketogenic diet and are wondering if this is what I do. No, I DO NOT follow a traditional keto diet, meaning only eating 5% carbs. ![]() ![]() Personally, I feel cutting carbs this drastically is too hard on women’s hormones. Low Carb, Low Calories, and Women’s Hormones. We have three major glands that regulate our hormones: Hypothalmus – located in our brain. Pituitary – located right below the hypothalmus in our brain. Adrenals – located at the top of our kidneys. All three of these glands interact to help keep our hormones in balance. These glands are very sensitive to things like stress, calorie levels, and exercise. Long term stress, which can be caused by many factors such as lack of sleep, job stress, overexercising, eating too little, etc. This is also known as “adrenal fatigue.”For many women, lowering carbs too much can also act as a stressor, leading to malfunction of our glands and hormones. Irregular Menstrual Cycles and Amenorrhea. Some women, including myself, may experience irregular menstrual cycles from going too low carb, or they may even lose their menstrual cycle for 3 months or more, known as amenorrhea. This is what happened to me. I actually ended up losing too much weight eating low carb, and I had to gain some back in order to get my reproductive hormones back on track. The most common causes of amenorrhea are losing too much weight, eating too few calories, eating too few carbs, and exercising too much. If your carb or calorie consumption is too low, it can suppress your leptin levels and interfere with leptin’s ability to regulate your reproductive hormones. This is particularly true for underweight or lean women on a low- carb diet. I was already very lean, so losing more weight disrupted my hormones. Insulin stimulates leptin synthesis, so if you are dramatically cutting your carbs, you are likely further dampening your body’s leptin levels. It is a butterfly- shaped gland that lies in front of your windpipe. It uses iodine from food to produce two hormones: thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). These two hormones play a huge role in your body and are responsible for things like breathing, temperature control, cholesterol levels, body weight, and more. Your active thyroid hormone, T3, is sensitive to to calorie and carb intake. If calories and/or carbs are too low, T3 levels drop and reverse T3 (r. T3) levels rise. Having low levels of T3 can lead to weight gain, slower metabolism, fatigue, poor concentration, and more. I often see women who are chronic dieters or who cut carbs too low experience many of these symptoms. It’s so important to get your hormones checked, especially if you are experiencing any of these symptoms. But it’s also important to get the proper tests. You can read more about thyroid testing here. When Do I Know I Need More Carbs? Getting your hormones back on track means convincing your body that it’s not in danger. Remember I said that I lost my period when I went below a certain weight? I had to start eating more in order to let my body feel safe again, to let it know that there is enough food for it to perform ALL of it’s necessary functions. For others this may mean getting a better, longer sleep at night, cutting back on exercise, or reducing overall stress. Very often, I see women dealing with weight lost resistance and poor exercise recovery. I’ll hear stories about how eating low carb was working wonders for them and then all of a sudden they lost their cycle or they weren’t seeing results anymore. But if you’re a relatively healthy person and you’ve been tested and everything comes back normal, then maybe the answer is more simple. Not so healthy carbs. Signs You Need More Carbs. If you are very active, especially with a focus on frequent, high- intensity workouts. If you start having trouble recovering from your workouts. If your thyroid is underactive, even with a clean diet and support from medications. If you have adrenal fatigue. If you start to lose your period or have irregular cycles (pre- menopause)If you’ve been very low carb for an extended period of time. During pregnancy and while breastfeeding. Signs You Need Less Carbs. If you have a condition such as PCOS, fibroids or endometriosis. If you are dealing with small intestine bacterial or yeast overgrowth. If you are insulin resistant or have diabetes. If you have a neurodegenerative disease. If you have certain forms of cancer. How Many Carbs Should I Be Eating? Unfortunately, I can’t give you an exact answer. I can’t tell you how many carbs you should be eating. Only YOU can figure that out. However, I can give you some direction. If you are a relatively active woman, but you’re experiencing a lack of energy, having a hard time losing weight despite doing “all the right things,” have thyroid problems, or have an irregular cycle, you may want to consider bumping your carbs up to 1. I usually recommend to women to consume about 2. For some, this may seem like a high carb intake, but when you compare it to the standard American diet, it’s quite low! The fact is, you have to figure out the range that works best for you and YOUR body! I like to tell my clients to start a food journal and write down how they feel 1 – 2 hours after a meal. Are you bloated or gassy? Are you hungry or do you still feel full? Do you have cravings or not? Do you feel tired or energetic? Answering these questions will let you know that what you ate either works well for you or if it’s something that doesn’t work so well. To Summarize. Eating too low carb is not always beneficial for women’s health. If you’re a female and you’ve been doing very low carb and/or low calories for an extended period of time, you may find benefit with the health of your thyroid, adrenals, liver, and ovaries by bumping them up a bit. Changes in your cycle may not be related to exercise intensity or body fatness, but to inadequate energy intake (including carbohydrates levels) to meet the demands of your active lifestyle. Sleep, stress levels (both physiological and psychological), and the health of your thyroid (which can also be negatively affected by a lower carb approach), among a multitude of other factors also play a role in regulating your hormones, so make sure to work with a practitioner to get these things sorted out instead of covering the symptoms with medications and upping your carbohydrate intake alone. Experimentation and individualizing your diet to your specific needs is key! References: Females, Carbohydrates, and Hormones. Do Very Low Carb Diets Mess Up Some Women’s Hormones? How to Do a Biggest Loser Weight Loss Challenge at Work: 9 Steps. Consider the timing. January and late spring are both good times to start a challenge. In January, people often make a New Year’s resolution to trim down; in late spring, people are preparing for swimsuit season and will feel more motivated. You will need to review the rules of the contest and the guidelines for how the diet works. To persuade people to join in your contest, consider these ideas for recruiting. Add an announcement to your workplace newsletter. Post flyers in the break room, in the gym or in the cafeteria. Spread the word via word- of- mouth. Send group emails giving people the opportunity to sign up for the challenge. Post an announcement on your corporate intranet. Use social media to advertise the opportunity. You can even create your own Facebook page for the event. Set a place for your weekly weigh- in. Also, choose a designated support person who is not participating in the contest to perform the weigh- ins and record the results. Use the fees that you collect to purchase weekly, monthly, or end- of- contest prizes. Alternatively, you can pool the cash and present a cash prize to the winner of the contest. Make sure to cover these important topics. The dates of the contest. Whether people are losing weight as individuals or whether they will participate on teams. The composition of teams, including the number of members and the designated team leaders. Location of the weigh- in. Registration fees and prize information. How weight loss will be scored (scoring based on the percentage of body weight lost rather than on the number of pounds lost makes the contest more fair)Attendance requirements for weigh- ins and any weekly meeting that you plan to have. Organize weekly support activities. You will offer emotional support to one another as well as teaching one another new weight loss strategies. Discuss what has and hasn’t worked during your weight loss journeys. Join to walk or to exercise. Sign up for a walk- a- thon for charity or sign up for a 5. K or 1. 0K race. Work out a deal with a local fitness facility to set up group exercise programs and to provide instructors and personal trainers. Attend health lectures or programs as a group. Hold healthy potluck dinners to share recipes or meet at restaurants that offer healthy food choices. Create your own Biggest Loser challenges. A competitive spirit will help to keep people motivated throughout the challenge. Put together a ceremony to hand out awards to teams and to individuals. Make sure that any prizes are fitness- oriented so you preserve the spirit of the contest. Take The 2. 1 Day Brisk Walking Challenge. Experts say that it only takes 2. For those of you interested in health and fitness, this is some handy information that will serve you well. You CAN develop a healthy fitness and/or health habit within 2. Does this sound too easy? Do you think you could do it? For many of you who are just beginning your journey, walking is the perfect match. In fact, University of Pittsburgh researchers assert that those who walk for 3. You can walk around your neighborhood, in nature, on a treadmill in the gym, at the mall, on trails, at a track and more. There are even walking DVDs that you can use at home. No excuses. The key is to be sure that you are walking at a fast pace or what many call . This might not sound like much, but you could. Make a commitment to take 2. Make a commitment for 2. It will make it easier to partner with someone in this endeavor. If you need motivation, get some. Read the stories of others who have gone from unhealthy and overweight to healthy and slender, listen to motivational speakers and invite your friends to encourage you. Get recipe books that have healthy recipes and try your hand at cooking lighter meals. Heck, you might even want to form a neighborhood walking party! I believe that anyone can eat healthier with a firm commitment to change and most everyone can get out and walk consistently. I believe that in 2. You will prove to yourself that you can change and live a healthy lifestyle. Take the 2. 1 day brisk walking challenge. Post about your 2. Day Challenge? It is probably not a shocker that within one month of making those resolutions that efforts subside and people continue on with their unhealthy lifestyle. Most people opt to grab cookies over celery and a Big Mac over tofu salad. It is also easier to sit around the house rather than to get out and walk or engage in some form of exercise on a daily basis. But easy does not get you very far. Easy gets you gaining pounds and feeling sluggish. Many people get it that exercise and healthy food is important, but we don. Walking is a great way for anyone to get started. That means that is you make a purchase, we receive a small part of the purchase price. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on.*Reference.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
November 2017
Categories |