With the holiday season upon us, family dinners, never-ending temptations, samples at Costco, cookies, turkey, cheesy potatoes, and a glass of wine or two, it is no wonder that most people pack on the pounds at the end of the year.

Most of us blame our “falling off the diet train” as an issue of willpower. I want to discuss the concept of willpower—what it is, and what it’s not—and what it means for gaining muscle. During a time of change, or tackling a new goal, we tend to attribute our successes and setbacks to “willpower.”

This type of mentality can cause some significant problems, however. Since our setbacks are rooted so deeply in our feeling of self-worth, willpower becomes synonymous with “self-esteem” power. The lower we see our willpower, the lower our self-esteem becomes. This type of negative thinking cycle puts us even further away from our goals and has huge repercussions on how we feel about ourselves.

The Relationship Between Willpower and Goals

We have all been there. We make a plan to “lose five pounds.” We get excited and motivated; we start to introduce some profound changes in our lives. Suddenly, life happens—a family event, a party at work, a slip in judgment, an injury—and we hit a temporary setback.

In the grand scheme of things consistency always wins over perfection and that “setback” is meaningless. However we become panged with guilt, we don’t see it as a temporary lapse, oh no, it becomes a profound shift in our sense of self.

Photography By Jeffrey Perez of Oahu, Hawaii

Our inner critic pipes up and says: “you’re not strong enough,” “you don’t have enough motivation,” or “you’re so lazy.” Our brains also are experts at pattern recognition and as a result, these feelings are quickly followed with thoughts of all of our past experiences when we did not stick to a goal or finish a commitment.

Suddenly this temporary setback leads to a negative shift in the sense of self. Our image of the type of person we are goes from a motivated warrior on their quest to success to “you are lazy, you have always been lazy, you will always be lazy, so why bother.” This negative thinking cycle can be very hard to break.

In order to get some clarity and control of the situation, I need you to challenge the traditional definition of willpower and consider what willpower is really about. In my own quest to do this, I turned to a book by Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D. called the Willpower Instinct and came away with some great insights and tools to add some pump to our willpower muscles.

According to Dr. McGonigal, willpower is not a “virtue or a moral trait,” it is not something that you have or you don’t have. Willpower lives in particular brain structures, most notably the pre-frontal cortex. It is a biological response controlled by the brain and the best part of all is that willpower is a strength that you can train.

Willpower has three parts:

1. “I will-power”: This is the ability to find the energy and motivation to do things that are overwhelming, the things that make us anxious, or things that we may be unmotivated to do. This gives us the power to say yes when a part of us want to say “not today.”
2. “I won’t-power”: This is the ability to resist temptation. This is a big one during the holiday season. This means you are reaching for an apple instead of a donut and is a skill that helps you with self-restraint.
3. “I want-power”: This is all about visualization. You need to know your long-term goals, values, and direction. It can be difficult to articulate but once you have a crystallized idea of your “wants” it gives you the energy to accomplish daily tasks even when you don’t feel like it—this is your why.

Willpower and Your Brain

Our brain shifts back and forth between two modes of operation. One mode is considered the “ideal self or the rational self.” This is where most of us wish we always lived in. In this mode, we are able to be our most wise selves—we make smart choices, we think about our long-term goals, we predict the consequences of our choices, and we think about our values and make decisions consistent with them.

These operations are primarily located in the prefrontal cortex and are also where “willpower” lives. This part of the brain remembers what’s important to you and what you want while it monitors where your attention is relative to your goals.

However, the primal self is a mode we can also shift into. This comes from the more primitive interior parts of the brain and is responsible for quick, emotional responding. Its focus is on the very short-term and the small picture. It is motivated by immediate gratification and the avoidance of pain. From here we make choices that might seem like a good idea at the moment, but they are usually not best for us in the long-term.

Clearly, we want our minds operating from the ideal self whenever possible. So, our objective then is to find ways to do this. It turns out that training our willpower strengthens our ideal self and the more we operate from this standpoint, the easier it is for willpower to guide you.

Training Willpower

One of the best ways to shift into ideal self-mode and enhance willpower is through a regular habit of meditation. You are practicing willpower every time you meditate because meditation engages every system of willpower. You have a goal (to meditate), you are paying attention to what is happening in your mind and body that is moving you away from your goal (noticing when your attention has drifted from your breath), and then choose to act with intention in accordance with your goal (redirecting your attention back to your breath). Ironically, it’s better if you are “bad” at meditation because it gives you lots of opportunities to practice your willpower.

According to an abundance of research on the healthful benefits of meditation, a consistent practice of meditation directly enhances willpower because it strengthens the structures of the prefrontal cortex so that you are able to be more focused, more clear-minded, and operate from the perspective of your ideal self.

Meditation has been shown to increase the density of the white and gray matter in the very structures of the brain that are responsible for noticing what you are doing and whether it is what you want to be doing. This is just like muscle building. You are literally growing your very own inner wise mentor with every meditation.

In addition, meditation indirectly benefits willpower because it rewires the physiology in your autonomic nervous system so that you are overall more calm, less emotionally reactive to stress, (therefore less likely to go looking for quick fixes that sabotage your goals), and more self-aware. You may even sleep better. We all know how vital a good night’s sleep is in order to be our most wise self the next day.

I recommend a daily regimen of 5-10 minutes of focused meditation. You can use an app, or find your favorite song. There are a lot of free resources out there.

Another strategy to practice is called pause and plan. This practice is in direct contrast to the flight or fight response the brain reverts to in an untrained mind. In the midst of a threat to your goals, when temptation is staring you in the face, or when you are trying to persist at a difficult task, you want to be able to hit the pause and plan button. You do not want to be reactive.

To activate pause and plan, deliberately slow your breath down to six breaths a minute. This corresponds to about 7-8 seconds for every inhale and 7-8 seconds for every exhale. When we are breathing this slowly and with focused awareness, your heart rate will slow down, your heart rate variability increases and your brain will be sending energy to the prefrontal cortex, and not the flight or fight system.

Perfect! You are slowed down and feeling alert, connected to your rational mind, and ready to act with intention. I suggest that we practice this form of slower, focused breathing several times throughout the day for two benefits: first, you will feel calmer and more centered again each time, and second, you are strengthening the pause and plan response so that when you need to activate it, you can more do so more readily.

References:

1. McGonigal, K. (2012). The willpower instinct: How self-control works, why it matters, and what you can do to get more of it. New York: Avery.

2. Beech, M. (2018). A talk on willpower. Email exchange with Dr. Maria Beech.

The post Energize Your Willpower appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

We hear the word “hormones” get thrown around constantly and it seems that everyone agrees–not only are hormones important but having balanced hormones is crucial for overall health.

Before we talk about disease processes and the repercussions of hormone imbalance, I would like to discuss the basics. What exactly is a “hormone”? Hormones are signaling molecules. They are the words our body uses to communicate within itself. Hormones are secreted by different glands in the body.

For the most part, once a hormone is secreted by a gland, it travels by the circulatory system. Once at its destination, the hormone binds to a cell receptor and triggers a pathway cascade that will regulate a certain function. These functions include digestion, hunger, fertility, metabolism, sleep, stress, growth, perception, mood, and many other processes.

The gland system responsible for hormone production is known as the endocrine system. The endocrine system is made of multiple feedback loops that regulate bodily functions. Most of them function based on a principle known as negative feedback.

There is a stimulus–a hormone gets produced–higher concentrations of this hormone notify the “origin” that there is too much being produced and the production is stopped. Let’s take a look at a key player, the thyroid hormone.

The Thyroid

The thyroid axis is responsible for metabolism. It involves the communication between the hypothalamus (a link of the nervous system to the pituitary gland), the pituitary gland, and the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland gets a lot of attention from the weight loss community.

You might have heard people attributing their weight gain to a “slow metabolism” or a “sluggish thyroid.” This is because one of the primary functions of the thyroid gland is to maintain your basal metabolic rate (BMR)—the bare minimum calorie requirement for you to stay alive. These calories are required for organ function, generating body heat, growth, development, etc.

Trainer Antonella Kahler from Toronto, Canada

So then, what is a hypo/hyperthyroid? A “hypo” or “hyper” thyroid refers to the thyroid’s abilities to release appropriate hormones to upregulate or downregulate metabolism. So it would seem logical that a “hypothyroid” would crash our metabolism and make weight loss impossible while a “hyperthyroid” would keep us effortlessly slim

This is not the case. In fact, the role of thyroid hormones in diet-induced weight loss is largely unknown. For example, certain irregular thyroid hormone profiles are found in obese populations, however, these seem to be an effect of obesity and not the cause.¹

Symptoms of a “sluggish” thyroid include fatigue, feeling cold, trouble concentrating, hair loss, weight gain, and water retention. If you experience any of these symptoms, get a proper diagnosis from a qualified endocrinologist.

Never self-diagnose or self-treat. The relationship between the thyroid gland, BMR, and overall body weight is extremely complex and still not completely understood. Having a slightly slower or faster metabolism does not really impact weight because it also affects appetite.

People with a slower metabolism generally want to eat slightly less, while those with a faster metabolism have more ravenous appetites. So, with all other things being equal, it does not seem that BMR fluctuations are to blame for weight gain or weight loss in a healthy individual.

Even in a medically “slow hypothyroid” person, the decrease in metabolism is not very dramatic. Medically underactive thyroids can only cause slight weight alterations, most of which are due to excess salt and water. In severe cases of hypothyroid, one would only see a general increase of 10lbs of body weight, which tends to be resolved with appropriate medication. Any weight gain in excess of that amount is extremely unlikely to be solely due to the thyroid.²

A Healthy Thyroid

Just because we have a “healthy” thyroid does not mean that we can’t directly affect it and alter its function. The fastest way to “crash” your thyroid is through excessive dieting.

When we diet, the body undergoes a multitude of processes known as metabolic adaptations.

This is a natural survival mechanism. If your body senses that you are in a prolonged calorie deficit, it will begin to tweak its energy expenditure patterns. You will slowly go into a quasi-hypothyroid state. You might remember from some of your longer diets feeling cold and sluggish. These are symptoms similar to traditional hypothyroid.

The difference is that in a healthy individual, this process is completely reversible. Your metabolism did not suffer damage and “starvation mode” is a myth. Starvation studies prove that if the calorie intake is low enough, regardless of the state of the thyroid, an individual will still lose weight.³

Starvation mode is a myth. However, the metabolism is capable of adapting to a lower calorie intake. This means if there is rebound weight gain; it tends to be more excessive than if the individual never dieted.⁴ This is partially the reason why yo-yo diets seem to overshoot the individual above their original weight.

Nevertheless, the metabolism is capable of adapting back to its original state. This is where reverse dieting, recovery diets, and dieting breaks become a crucial part of lifelong success.⁵

The easiest way to prevent metabolic adaptation is to have a smaller calorie increase. There really is never any logical reason to push hard for fast weight loss. We might have a trip or a special event in mind, but if we are pushing for rapid weight loss we need to remember the side effects.

When dropping calories, we need to aim for the minimum decrease possible while still seeing an effect. It should at maximum be a 20% reduction of maintenance calories. You must take diet breaks to give your metabolism a chance to recover. You have to take scheduled diet breaks. A 1-2 day “re-feed” is not enough–that little boost in metabolism is short lived.

Re-feed days and calorie cycling are more for a mental benefit than to have a protective effect over metabolism. They help clients keep adherent. In order to have a good “recovery period” it is recommended that every 8-12 weeks of a calorie deficit, you take a 2-4 week diet break.

During this time, you are bringing your calories up to maintenance. Don’t forget that your maintenance at this stage will not be the same as when you started, primarily because of your change in body weight. Your maintenance calories are (on average) your body weight in lbs x15.

You can either jump to your new predicted maintenance immediately or boost your calories slowly (by weekly increasing by 150-200 calories for your daily calories). Once you are at maintenance, you will begin your 2-week break.

How Many Maintenance Calories Do I Need?

If you eating your predicted maintenance calories but are steadily gaining weight, your maintenance is below your predicted value. If this occurs, it is likely that you experienced a degree of metabolic adaptation that needs an intervention—a reverse diet. To heal your metabolism, you must first find your new maintenance calories (unfortunately purely by trial and error).

Once this is accomplished, you are to very slowly increase your calorie intake by increasing your carbs and fats. Most people start at a 50-100cal/week increase. This type of slow, gradual adjustment allows your metabolism to repair itself and bring you back to your original maintenance. It is possible to achieve the same effect with a faster adjustment, however, the faster you “reverse,” the higher the likelihood that there will be more fat gain in the process.

The speed at which you need to reverse diet completely depends on your individual goals. If you are a stage-lean competitor who is in need of boosting their body fat, a faster reverse diet is more optimal. However, if you are an individual struggling to lose weight consistently and would not like to put on additional body fat, slower might be better.⁶

Is Keto Bad for My Thyroid?

In a ketogenic diet, you must drop your carbohydrate low enough (usually sub 25g), so that the body starts to use fat, rather than carbohydrate, as its primary energy source. As the liver breaks down fats for energy production, it releases ketones–hence the term “ketogenic diet.”

The ketogenic diet is excellent at controlling hunger and cravings, but does it damage the thyroid? Some studies say yes if you eat a lot of omega 6 fats. What are some examples of omega-6? These include canola oil, grapeseed oil, corn oil, soybean oil, walnut oil, and multiple other sources. It does seem that omega 6s have an impact on the thyroid.⁷

Other keto studies show an effect on the thyroid, but they also had the participants go on extremely low-calorie diets As we have discussed, reducing calories affects the thyroid. Studies also found that after a period of “refeeding”, the thyroid levels stabilized.⁹

Therefore, the research on whether keto specifically affects the thyroid gland is inconclusive. If you are succeeding on a ketogenic diet, proceed with caution. If you are a diagnosed hypothyroid individual, you may want to choose an alternate diet method or discuss this further with your endocrinologist.

Takeaway for a Healthy Thyroid

1. Have a diet that includes chicken, shellfish, Brazil nuts, iodized salt, and eggs. These foods contain iodine, zinc, and selenium—nutrients necessary for a healthy thyroid.
2. Cook your sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and spinach. These foods contain goitrogens (compounds that interfere with iodine uptake). Cooking deactivates them.¹⁰
3. Take diet breaks. Give your metabolism a chance to recover by taking a diet break for 2-4 weeks every 12-week diet cycle.
4. Be careful with keto. Pay close attention to your body when doing a ketogenic diet.

References:

1. Reinihr, T. (2010). Obesity and Thyroid Function. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2010 Mar 25;316(2):165-71. doi: 10.1016/j.mce.2009.06.005. Epub 2009 Jun 18

2. American Thyroid Association. (2018). Thyroid and Weight.

3. Leah M. Kalm and Richard D. Semba, “They Starved So That Others Be Better Fed: Remembering Ancel Keys and the Minnesota Experiment,” Journal of Nutrition, Vol. 135, June 2005, 1347–1352.

4. Maclean, P.S., et al., Biology’s response to dieting: the impetus for weight regain. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, 2011. 301(3): p. R581-600.

5. Knuth, N.D., et al., Metabolic adaptation following massive weight loss is related to the degree of energy imbalance and changes in circulating leptin. Obesity (Silver Spring), 2014. 22(12): p. 2563-9.

6. Trexler, E.T., A.E. Smith-Ryan, and L.E. Norton, Metabolic adaptation to weight loss: implications for the athlete. J Int Soc Sports Nutr, 2014. 11(1): p.7.

7. Reed, EB and Traver, H. The influence of diet on the lipogenic response to thyroxine in rat liver. Life Sci. 1975 Dec 15;17(12):1785-97.

8. Spaulding SW, Chopra IJ, Sherwin RS, Lyall SS. Effect of caloric restriction and dietary composition of serum T3 and reverse T3 in man. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1976 Jan;42(1):197-200.

9. Bisschop PH, Sauerwein HP, Endert E, Romijn JA. Isocaloric carbohydrate deprivation induces protein catabolism despite a low T3-syndrome in healthy men. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2001 Jan;54(1):75-80.

10. Rao PS1, Lakshmy R.Role of goitrogens in iodine deficiency disorders & brain development. Indian J Med Res. 1995 Nov;102:223-6.

The post Training Your Thyroid appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

But something is wrong. You feel proud of what you did but embarrassed because photos are being taken. You start to turn your body away from the photographer so they don’t get your love handles. You frantically pull your shorts over your legs, making sure they are not digging in. You just ran 50km but suddenly all you can think about is how out of shape you will look in these photos. You’re not proud, you’re ashamed. That was me 10 years ago.

Like many, I fell into my abusive love-affair with cardio because of those five little words “I need to lose weight.” Summer was coming up and I wanted what so many of us want—to confidently rock a bikini or to look in the mirror and go “wow.” The way there seemed simple. I would start “eating healthy” and three times per week, I would go for a jog for as long as I could.

I will never forget that first jog.

Run, stop, run, stop. After 20 minutes of agony, I walked home feeling like a complete failure. “Look at yourself,” I thought. “Look at how out of shape you are.”

Keeping a Determined Mindset

Nevertheless, I was determined to succeed. I did the couch-to-5k program. I trained for months to tackle my first 10K, my first half-marathon, then a full, then another, then an ultra. I was signing up to every race in the area, finishing running clinics in my neighborhood, becoming obsessed with the sport.

I treasured my race t-shirts and spent my carefully saved money on a Garmin, new running shoes, and a fancy fuel belt. I was eating “healthy” and kept to “clean,” unprocessed foods. I was counting calories with an almost religious dedication, using the calculations from my HR monitor and my Garmin to calculate exactly how many calories I needed every day to lose weight while cutting them down lower and lower every week.

My friends and co-workers admired my persistence and I talked about running to anyone who would listen. There was, however, the elephant in the room. Five years of running and eating healthy, dozens of races, thousands of miles logged, but I looked almost exactly the same as when I started.

There was no massive transformation. No abs. No defined arms. My butt still jiggled and my thighs still chafed when I walked. I couldn’t run a race without thigh liners or Bodyglide. I couldn’t run in shorts. I told myself that I didn’t care. I was proud of my accomplishments and surely I was “healthy.”

I ignored the nagging pains in my knees and an obvious recent weight gain. I just accepted that this was as good as it could get. I was giving it 100% every day, so this was just the best my body could ever look. I thought I just had to run more. I thought I wasn’t working hard enough. I downloaded a new running program with even more miles per week.

But then something happened.

A Fresh Perspective

I was looking at my new training plan, the bright blue piece of paper with my target miles, and I started to feel tears and emotions welling up. I knew this would not work. I knew it wouldn’t help me lose weight. I felt completely powerless but the raw truth of it finally sank in—this will not work.

After an evening of wallowing in self-pity and finishing a mini-tub of chocolate chip ice cream, I decided to approach this like a medical issue. After all, when I have a patient come to me with something unusual, I would never go “this is just how your body is, deal with it.” I spent months educating myself and updating my knowledge with the most recent research to design a unique and effective program.

I experimented and perfected a system while watching my body transform. I saw changes that I never thought were possible while feeling energized and confident. I finally sculpted the dream body I fantasized about having 10 years ago. I started giving this program to my coaching clients and was amazed while watching their bodies completely transform.

The Treadmill Paradox

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result. Unfortunately, this could not be truer for the standard female fat loss protocol. For the majority of women, the fat loss battle is a multi-year process filled with yo-yo dieting and ultimate failure.

In most cases, when a woman decides to lose weight, her first instinct is to go into an extended period of severe calorie restriction, coupled with excessive amounts of steady state aerobic exercise (like jogging). Combined with a minimalistic effort to build muscle and a phobia of “bulky appearance,” the female fat loss workout plan is predominantly based on cardiovascular training with occasional light dumbbell work. Unfortunately, this type of approach is counterproductive when trying to achieve fat loss.

I am not against cardio as a whole. Being active is wonderful and the human body was made to exist in motion. Where things start to fall apart is when people misuse cardio. Cardio is not overly effective as a tool for fat loss. This is not a new concept. Studies show that when three groups of people (diet only, diet and cardio, cardio only) start a fat loss program, the weight loss results from the cardio were statistically insignificant.¹

Why does this happen? There are a few things to consider about cardio for weight loss.

1. Cardio Doesn’t Burn As Many Calories As You Think

This is a common blunder. We have all heard that the treadmill numbers are estimates, but so are heart rate monitors. When I was experimenting with various cardio protocols, I did a simple experiment. I wore my top of the line Garmin to a controlled exercise stress test. My HR monitor overestimated my calories burned by 300%. The technology is not perfect and tends to err on the side of higher calories burned. This effect increases over time as you improve in your sport.

You may have noticed that training gets easier over time—even if you are pushing harder during your intervals or logging extra miles, the “blackout pain” of your first intense cardio workouts is a thing of the past. The more you practice, the more your biomechanics improve for the sport. You become more coordinated, more economical and more efficient. This is great news for your jogging skills, but another nail in the coffin of your fat loss.²

Not only are you forcing yourself through an activity that you might or might not enjoy, you are contributing a lot less to your fat loss than you think you are. This triggers a cycle of overeating. Tracking apps like MyFitnessPal automatically subtract the calories burned from your exercise plan.

The majority of people trying to lose weight are so afraid of under-eating that they continue to “eat back” the calories burned, even if their weight loss stalls. In most cases, since the calories are over-estimated, the calories eaten back simply bring the individual back to their maintenance, stalling their overall progress.

2. Cardio Makes Women Hungry

You might have heard that exercise suppresses appetite. Well, a research team out of Ottawa conducted a study and found that to be true only for men. In women, cardiovascular exercise actually boosted appetite.³

This perpetuates another overeating cycle. A woman goes for a run, her appetite is increased, so she eats. If she eats in excess, frequently she is tempted to run more to burn off the extra food. During that attempt, she burns less than she thinks, while continually boosting her appetite. She runs more, eats more, trains harder, gets more fatigued, but sees fewer results. It’s worth mentioning that walking did not have this effect.⁴

3. Cardio Is Addictive

Most people fall into two categories when starting cardio for weight loss. The first group becomes so demotivated by the pain and suffering of the whole experience that their willpower runs out. They try cardio for a few weeks, see little or no result and give up altogether. The second group forces themselves through the grind. They overcome fatigue, the pain signals, and the chafing through sheer force of will. Eventually, cardio can cause an interesting effect. You might have heard of the “runner’s high.” This is a very real phenomenon.

In a study by Boecker et al., it was concluded that the body releases opioids after endurance exercise and that these effects cause “addictive aspects of excessive sports, where injured athletes continue their training in spite of detrimental consequences to their health.”⁵

This means that chasing endorphins makes us forget that we might be hurting ourselves. And it can absolutely make us forget that our goal was weight loss. We become so consumed with chasing that feeling that we completely ignore that the scale has not budged for months. Couple that with a few race medals, bragging rights, some cool tech gadgets, and we are hooked. This makes it very difficult to have our eyes on the prize when trying to lose fat.

4. A Gazelle For an Hour, A Sloth for 23

If you have ever combined a restricted diet with tons of cardio, you know that the smiling girl on a poster that talks about how running “filled her day with energy” is full of it. Being in a caloric deficit for multiple weeks as you are trying to signal your body to drop fat creates a cascade of responses known as metabolic adaptation.

This does not mean your metabolism is breaking, all it means is your body is trying to adapt to the situation you put it in because it doesn’t want to die. Are you giving it less energy? It’s trying to use less energy.

Ever feel like you are colder than normal during a diet? Your body drops your core temperature a touch. Feel like you lost the bounce in your step? Energy preservation. As dieting gets further along, more of these little changes take place, making you progressively more sluggish. Cardio not only speeds up this process but also gives us a mental excuse.

“I went for a run! My workout is done, so I will binge-watch Netflix the rest of the day!” Sound familiar? If you do a cardio workout, which makes you lazy and sluggish for the rest of the day, the small amount of calories you did burn off gets balanced out by these tiny adaptive changes.⁶

5. The Metabolic Afterburn

Recently, HIIT has been greatly popularized with programs such as CrossFit. The concept of burning increased calories while relaxing at home is tantalizing to anyone interested in fat loss. During recovery, the body experiences Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) to return to its resting state. Muscle is repaired, lactic acid is flushed, and oxygen stores are replenished.

These effects can last up to 48 hours and burn additional calories. However, the EPOC effect of HIIT workouts is greatly exaggerated. In a study that evaluated 3-5 HIIT workouts per week, overall weekly calorie expenditure was boosted by only 200 calories. During fat loss, you might be tempted to take “any calorie you can get,” but keep in mind that the afterburn effect of HIIT exercises does not give you a hall pass on your nutrition.⁷

Should I Ever Do Cardio?

As I mentioned before, being naturally active, as a part of your lifestyle, is wonderful and certainly has many health benefits. It’s just cardio is not an effective tool for fat loss and might be slowing down your efforts. That being said, if there is a cardio activity you love absolutely do it! Just keep in mind that it has nothing to do with your fat loss journey.

Once your fat loss is complete, cardio can also be useful if you are trying to maintain your current weight. If you are not in a caloric deficit, the metabolic adaptation cascade is not triggered so you get to “keep” the calories you burned off so you can eat a bit more. However, keep in mind that it is a lot fewer calories than your monitor thinks so it is up to you to decide whether an hour on the treadmill is worth that little extra smoothie.

References:

1. Hagan RD, Upton SJ, Wong L, Whittam J. The effects of aerobic conditioning and/or caloric restriction in overweight men and women. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1986 Feb;18(1):87-94.

2. Barnes KR, Kilding AE: Running economy: measurement, norms, and determining factors. Sports Med Open. 2015;1(1):8.,

3. Pomerleau M1, Imbeault P, Parker T, Doucet E. Effects of exercise intensity on food intake and appetite in women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Nov;80(5):1230-6.

4. Unick JL1, Otto AD, Goodpaster BH, Helsel DL, Pellegrini CA, Jakicic JM. Acute effect of walking on energy intake in overweight/obese women. Appetite. 2010 Dec;55(3):413-9. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2010.07.012. Epub 2010 Jul 30.

5. Boecker, H. et al. The Runner’s High: Opioidergic Mechanisms in the Human Brain. Cerebral Cortex, Volume 18, Issue 11, 1 November 2008, Pages 2523–2531.

6. Trexler, Eric & Smith-Ryan, Abbie & Norton, Layne. (2014). Metabolic adaptation to weight loss: Implications for the athlete. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 11. 7. 10.1186/1550-2783-11-7.

7. Laforgia, J. Withers, R.T., Shipp, N.J. and CJ Gore (1985). Comparison of energy expenditure elevations after submaximal and supramaximal running. J Appl Physiol. 1997 Feb;82(2):661-6.

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