Fit-Bullets Friday: January 20th, 2023
Fit-Bullets: Stress and Weight Gain, Calorie Quantity vs Calorie Quality, and How to Stay Patient
Happy Fit-Bullets Friday!
Here are 3 things I wanted to share with you this week...
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Stress and Weight Gain
I'm often asked if stress causes weight gain.
Plenty of my clients have told me about gaining weight during periods of stress.
You may have even experienced it.
And while there is an association between chronic stress and weight gain, it isn't the stress itself that causes the weight gain.
Feeling stress does not directly cause your body to hold on to calories as fat.
No.
It's how someone responds to stress that causes weight gain.
More specifically, it's the stress-eating response that almost always causes weight gain. The extra calories put you in a calorie surplus, which you store as body fat.
Also, it becomes a lot harder to choose to work out or go for a walk when you're highly stressed.
And so the solution to stress-eating probably isn't to change how you eat (although eating more protein, fruits, and veggies is always a good idea).
The solution is to learn how to manage your stress.
For some people, that's meditation. For others, it's journalling. Or breathing exercises. Or doing some kind of daily mindfulness activity like mindful walking. Or therapy.
I'm not saying these things will eliminate stress.
You're an adult with responsibilities and dependents - eliminating stress is impossible.
But you can lower your perceived stress levels by consistently using the techniques I mentioned before. And lower perceived stress levels will help you control your response - in other words, it can make it easier to stop stress-eating.
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Calorie Quantity vs Calorie Quality
If you consume weight-loss content on social media for long enough, you'll eventually see someone say something like:
The calories in vs calories out model of weight loss is wrong and outdated! The QUALITY of what you eat is most important for weight loss!
And you'll probably see someone disagree and say something like:
Wrong! You can follow a Twinkie-only diet and you'll lose weight if you're in a calorie deficit!
Here's the thing...
With any kind of "X vs Y" argument, the truth is usually found somewhere in between.
In this particular case, yes, the only way you can lose fat is by being in a calorie deficit. But the only way you can sustain it long-term is by also paying attention to the "quality" of what you eat.
Nobody's going to be able to stick with a Twinkie-only diet for more than a few days - you're going to be ravenously hungry most of the time.
(Before you tell me about that professor who lost weight following the Twinkie diet, he was actually drinking protein shakes and eating veggies as well as eating Twinkies - source)
To lose weight in a sustainable way, do these four things while you're in a calorie deficit:
1. Eat enough protein.
2. Eat fruit or veggies with each meal.
3. Follow a generally nutritious diet.
4. Follow the 80/20 guideline - get at least 80% of calories from the above kinds of foods, and the remaining 20% can come from wherever you want them to come from.
And, as you can see, doing these things is a good idea whether you're in a calorie deficit or not.
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How to Stay Patient
We're 20 days into 2023.
Which means a lot of people who started their weight loss journeys on January 1st are already starting to feel impatient about their "lack" of progress.
Look...
Weight loss is slow.
Expecting to lose more than 0.5-1 lb of body fat per week just ain't realistic.
And if you've also started strength training this year, your weight probably hasn't moved at all - because there's a good chance you've built some muscle while losing fat.
To make a big transformation, see huge progress, and also take the time to learn the habits you'll need to keep the weight off... you'll probably need a year.
Here's how to be more patient for that year:
1. Zoom out. Focus on small incremental changes in 2023. To drop 10 lbs in a month is unrealistic. but to drop 30-50 lbs by Christmas is possible.
2. Set performance goals. Aim to get your first push up, pull up, learn how to deadlift, etc. This will keep training fun.
3. Set weekly process goals. For example, you could aim to average 7K steps per day, do at least 2 of your 3 workouts, and hit your protein on 6 out of 7 days. Then go do it.
4. Reward yourself. If you hit your process goals every week for 4 consecutive weeks, reward yourself with a spa day, a new item of clothing, a trip, etc. Just don't use food as reward.
5. Find a hobby. Weight loss is a slow process. You're gonna get bored if all you do is look up fitness and nutrition info on social media. Plus, you don't wanna be the person who only ever talks about fitness. Start reading, learn to paint, start a side-hustle, etc.
Do whatever you can to make sure you don't give up before you've given yourself a chance to get results.
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See you next time,
Daniel