Losing Fat and Gaining Muscle is all about... the speed of your METABOLISM (hear me out)
Often when we hear the word ‘metabolism’, we think of it as something fixed that we were born with, or maybe something that changes with age - something we have no control over.
Honestly - we've all been there. How many times have you heard someone say - "Oh, I have a really slow metabolism", or, "oh yeah, my metabolism is just really fast, I can eat whatever I want!"
But metabolism is more complex that just a “fast” or “slow” one. And you have some control of how fast it actually is.
So what does this have to do with losing fat and gaining muscle as a petite woman?
Often when people dieting the traditional way, they regain even more weight after the diet.
Why does that happen then?
Because their metabolism has slowed down; when less food is being consumed, the body adapts by decreasing the body’s BMR (basal metabolic rate - the number of calories your body burns at rest) in order for the body to be able to survive on the reduced number of calories it’s being fed during the diet.
Basically, your metabolism slows down to compensate for the fewer calories you’re eating.
The body is clever like that! It might be bad for weight loss, but all your body cares about is keeping you alive - so in that sense, it’s doing a great job!
However, the flipside of this is sometimes the metabolism continues to function more slowly even after the diet is complete. It doesn’t just speed right back up to where it was before just because you’re eating more food again. This is what leads to further post-diet weight gain.
So how do we escape this vicious cycle and actually lose fat and gain muscle?
In order to escape this cycle of going on diets, gaining more weight, and then going on another diet only to gain even more weight back again… a different approach must be taken.
This is PARTICULARLY important for petites because our metabolisms are already naturally slower. This is due to the fact that we have smaller bodies, which means less fat free mass (fat free mass includes things like our organs muscle mass etc), which means we have a lower Basal Metabolic Rate (i.e. our resting metabolic rate).
There are three key pillars to breaking this vicious cycle as a shorter woman and finally losing that excess fat and gaining some muscle.
BUILDING MUSCLE
OPTIMISING NUTRITION
ENHANCING LIFESTYLE
Let’s go into a little more detail:
1. Gaining Muscle to Lose Fat
By building muscle (through lifting weights at home or at the gym), you naturally increase your BMR (your metabolism), which means you burn more calories and fat at rest (i.e. you're basically losing fat in your sleep). This means you can get away with eating more food but still lose weight/fat, which can be life changing for a lot of petite women who already have slower metabolisms and low maintenance calorie thresholds naturally.
Let me just re-iterate how KEY this is for petite women:
(*Source below)
70% of your Total Daily Energy Expenditure is made up from your Basal Metabolic Rate. This means that most of the calories you burn every day are burned at rest. So, by increasing your BMR (by strength training and eating enough protein to build muscle), you can gain muscle, increase your BMR and lose fat in your sleep.
That is absolutely insane when you really think about it.
Traditional weight loss methods (i.e. dieting) encouraged cardio (a type of E.A.T - exercise activity thermogenesis), which only accounts for 5% of a TDEE (total daily energy expenditure).
Now I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather build muscle and burn more fat in my sleep than stress my body and soul out by doing tonnes of cardio and not lose any fat or gain any muscle.
2. Optimising Nutrition to Lose Fat and Gain Muscle
By optimising your nutrition - i.e. ensuring you have adequate macronutrient and micronutrient levels, you can feel satisfied, get rid of those pesky cravings and speed up your metabolism.
Protein, for example, is really important to increase if not already at a sufficient level so that muscle mass can be maintained and grow, and so that TEF (Thermic effect of food) can be increased (this is the amount of calories burnt to digest food).
You can train at the gym all you want, but if your nutrition is out of whack, this can have a huge impact on your energy levels and your fat loss.
Balancing your blood sugar levels is also incredibly important for losing fat. Here’s why:
When the amount of glucose in your blood increases, a hormone called insulin is secreted which converts the sugar in your bloodstream into energy.
Sugar that was not used for energy is then stored in the liver or muscle tissue, which a then be used when needed, e.g. when expending energy during a workout.
If you’re liver and muscles have no more space to store any more glucose, that glucose will be stored as fat in the body via a process called Lipogenesis.
Eating foods like sweets, sugary desserts and drinks and refined carbohydrates (like white bread) too often could spike your blood sugar levels, eventually leading to unhealthy fat gain and energy ‘crashes’. Both of these are not beneficial if you are trying to lose fat and gain muscle.
3. Enhancing Lifestyle for fat loss and muscle gain
You can eat as well as you can and do all the strength training in the world, but if elements of your lifestyle, like your stress levels and and sleep are out of whack - you might not see the results you want to see.
For example, when you’re constantly stressed, your body is in a ‘sympathetic state’.
When your body is in a sympathetic state, your digestive system does not operate as effectively because your body is using energy to protect you against the “danger” it thinks it’s up against.
Remember, your body doesn’t know the difference between the stress of an upcoming deadline and the stress of being chased by a lion.
This means that you won’t be absorbing all of the nutrients from your food, which could lead to low energy and therefore less movement throughout the day.
Stress also produces the hormone ‘cortisol’, which spikes blood sugar levels and leads to excess fat around the belly.
Your N.E.A.T (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis) is also an important factor in losing fat and building muscle - you can read more about what N.E.A.T is and how it helps petite women to lose weight here.
So in summary, how do we implement all of this to actually lose the fat gain muscle (or "tone up") ??
Ok, so it's more complicated that just saying 'do XYZ and you're golden', right?
Everyone is so individual, and that's why I work with people 1 to 1 using the SG Method that's launching soon.
But here are the main pillars for losing fat and gaining muscle that, according to the science, are the foundation for successful and LASTING transformation.
Start lifting weights: you can sign up to the mailing list HERE to get notified when the new SG programs are launching.
Balance out meals and snacks to support blood sugar balance: add a source of protein, fat and whole carbohydrate to every meal and snack.
Up your protein intake (the amount will depend on the person, their current weight and their activity levels, but most people don't enough enough).
Get enough sleep - approx. 7-9 hours per night
Reduce Stress where possible: implement more habits into your day that make you feel at peace and calm.
If you want to start now for free, you can download my free simple guide to losing weight and gaining muscle WITHOUT starving yourself here.
You WILL achieve your goals - and I promise, one you understand the science behind it, you'll realise that losing fat and gaining that muscle is not as confusing or difficult as the diet industry makes it seem!
Yaz xx
Sources:
*Pedro B. Júdice, Analiza M. Silva, João P. Magalhães, Catarina N. Matias & Luís B. Sardinha(2014)Sedentary behaviour and adiposity in elite athletes,Journal of Sports Sciences,32:19,1760-1767,DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2014.926382
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