Also, under fueling is a very common issue and can be a reason why people who are trying to lose weight don't lose weight even if they are carrying excess. I'm glad you're tracking that now and I'd love to see if you notice the impact it has on your energy :D
My nutritionist and I just worked out that this was the reason for on of my recent plateaus. Upped my calories a little and it started dropping again. I think too big a deficit can make your body panic and hold onto any form of energy for dear life.
Yeah, I read once that when you first start training and putting your body into deficit or more of a deficit it panics and holds onto all the energy it can because it thinks it's under threat and needs to conserve a much energy as possible. Our bodies still think we are cave people so we are designed to put on and store weight in case of emergency in the future. Probably why it's so much easier to put on than it is to lose.
I think this could be part of the reason why people give up on their health kicks so quickly, it takes the body a little while to adjust and realise that it doesn't need to holding onto so much energy so often you don't see a difference on the scale for a few weeks. People put in the effort but the results don't come quick enough so they think why should I bother, it's not working. That's why we need alternate goals to scale weight, particularly in the early stages. Results come in all different forms, you mightn't lose weight this week but your resting HR might be down, or HRV up, or you might run further than ever before or lift more than ever before. The mind set needs to shift from a weight focus to a health focus and now we have wearable tracking devices we have all the tools to do that.
I agree and think they give up on the health kicks so quickly because they are going too hard, and when that phenomenon kicks in, they have no energy to keep going and give up.
And totally agree about people needing another goal other than weight. I reckon it should be about energy and how they feel, but people are so fixated on weight because it's an easy metric to measure (just hop on the scales) and easy is best when your mentally tired, feeling like shit, and desperate to change.
Spot on. This is why I think we need to try to stretch that surge of motivation of a longer period of time to do a bit less, but more consistently, over a longer period of time, so we're creating new behaviors and building a routine we can manage forever. Set yourself a minimum for the busy, stressful, hard times that is easily achievable. Just enough to keep yourself in that positive mindset about it all, and when you feel better and up for it, do more.
I think one of the biggest problems with scale weight is people think it correlates directly to body fat, when there are so many other contributing factors. I have been steadily losing weight now for about 16 weeks. This time around I have really started to understand that isolated spikes in body weight mean nothing. going to bed super hydrated and weighing yourself before a poo in the morning can mean the difference of a kilo if you went to bed dehydrated and weighed yourself post-poo. (sorry to be crass) But even those two things are just two of a myriad of factors.
I found a good mental hack this time around was to compare my weight to the same day a week ago, and not the day before. That gives you a far more accurate idea of what trajectory you're on. Why should the earth doing another lap of the sun be the window of time we use to measure progress? It's silly. We're just conditioned to thinking like that.
I think people just need to be motivated by health and feeling good. What's the good of hitting a target weight if you feel like shit and don't enjoy anything? I think if we make good choices and do good things 80% of the time and trust that we are doing the work, the results will look after themselves.
Yep, it’s one of the biggest challenges in ultra endurance. Physically impossible to replace as many calories as you burn when you run for 20 hours straight!
Great post Tim! Thanks so much for sharing! I have some knowledge of the benefits of cold exposure for nervous system regulation but, I don't like the cold haha. So maybe I'll think about it haha :) (my version of cold exposure is forcing myself to swim in the beach even when the water is freezing)
Clare, I couldn't agree more! I am exactly the same. It took a mammoth effort to get into the water at the beach — I would avoid if I could. I really didn't see the point of being miserable and cold haha! I am interested to see whether I will be as tentative this summer after doing some practice!
Incredible thread on this post. Thank you Clare, Sam and Ben for your contributions! Like you you have highlighted, I also believe in the benefits of incremental change and getting comfortable with our goals being further on the horizon than we might like. Sustainability is key to balancing our health, but in a fast-paced world we want instant results. However, if we stick to the course slow growth builds far more solid foundations.
Also, under fueling is a very common issue and can be a reason why people who are trying to lose weight don't lose weight even if they are carrying excess. I'm glad you're tracking that now and I'd love to see if you notice the impact it has on your energy :D
My nutritionist and I just worked out that this was the reason for on of my recent plateaus. Upped my calories a little and it started dropping again. I think too big a deficit can make your body panic and hold onto any form of energy for dear life.
100% Sammo. The body needs energy and weening it off eating heaps is a slow process
Yeah, I read once that when you first start training and putting your body into deficit or more of a deficit it panics and holds onto all the energy it can because it thinks it's under threat and needs to conserve a much energy as possible. Our bodies still think we are cave people so we are designed to put on and store weight in case of emergency in the future. Probably why it's so much easier to put on than it is to lose.
I think this could be part of the reason why people give up on their health kicks so quickly, it takes the body a little while to adjust and realise that it doesn't need to holding onto so much energy so often you don't see a difference on the scale for a few weeks. People put in the effort but the results don't come quick enough so they think why should I bother, it's not working. That's why we need alternate goals to scale weight, particularly in the early stages. Results come in all different forms, you mightn't lose weight this week but your resting HR might be down, or HRV up, or you might run further than ever before or lift more than ever before. The mind set needs to shift from a weight focus to a health focus and now we have wearable tracking devices we have all the tools to do that.
I agree and think they give up on the health kicks so quickly because they are going too hard, and when that phenomenon kicks in, they have no energy to keep going and give up.
And totally agree about people needing another goal other than weight. I reckon it should be about energy and how they feel, but people are so fixated on weight because it's an easy metric to measure (just hop on the scales) and easy is best when your mentally tired, feeling like shit, and desperate to change.
Spot on. This is why I think we need to try to stretch that surge of motivation of a longer period of time to do a bit less, but more consistently, over a longer period of time, so we're creating new behaviors and building a routine we can manage forever. Set yourself a minimum for the busy, stressful, hard times that is easily achievable. Just enough to keep yourself in that positive mindset about it all, and when you feel better and up for it, do more.
I think one of the biggest problems with scale weight is people think it correlates directly to body fat, when there are so many other contributing factors. I have been steadily losing weight now for about 16 weeks. This time around I have really started to understand that isolated spikes in body weight mean nothing. going to bed super hydrated and weighing yourself before a poo in the morning can mean the difference of a kilo if you went to bed dehydrated and weighed yourself post-poo. (sorry to be crass) But even those two things are just two of a myriad of factors.
I found a good mental hack this time around was to compare my weight to the same day a week ago, and not the day before. That gives you a far more accurate idea of what trajectory you're on. Why should the earth doing another lap of the sun be the window of time we use to measure progress? It's silly. We're just conditioned to thinking like that.
I think people just need to be motivated by health and feeling good. What's the good of hitting a target weight if you feel like shit and don't enjoy anything? I think if we make good choices and do good things 80% of the time and trust that we are doing the work, the results will look after themselves.
Absolutely and if underfueled your body will stop some processes that it deems unimportant to prioritise the absolute essentials.
It's a huge issue in high performance sport with athletes often unable to consume to necessarily cals to match their physical training.
Yep, it’s one of the biggest challenges in ultra endurance. Physically impossible to replace as many calories as you burn when you run for 20 hours straight!
Great post Tim! Thanks so much for sharing! I have some knowledge of the benefits of cold exposure for nervous system regulation but, I don't like the cold haha. So maybe I'll think about it haha :) (my version of cold exposure is forcing myself to swim in the beach even when the water is freezing)
Clare, I couldn't agree more! I am exactly the same. It took a mammoth effort to get into the water at the beach — I would avoid if I could. I really didn't see the point of being miserable and cold haha! I am interested to see whether I will be as tentative this summer after doing some practice!
LEEESSSSSGGGOOOOOO!!!
Incredible thread on this post. Thank you Clare, Sam and Ben for your contributions! Like you you have highlighted, I also believe in the benefits of incremental change and getting comfortable with our goals being further on the horizon than we might like. Sustainability is key to balancing our health, but in a fast-paced world we want instant results. However, if we stick to the course slow growth builds far more solid foundations.