Here at Urban Wellness we support midlife women with a wide range of health issues, in particular gut health, mental health and hormone health, but weight loss inevitably does come up in some of our sessions. Often our clients have noticed some weight gain as their bodies shift into menopause, or perhaps life has been running away with them and they have been too busy to look after themselves and now all that stress, eating the wrong foods, and maybe throw in a few extra glasses of wine, has added the pounds. However, one of the common reasons we see weight gain in women is actually under-eating!
For a lot of them, their first thought when they want to lose weight is to reduce calories. Now, if you only remember one thing in this article, remember this …
Your body is NOT a calculator!
It does not work just on calories in versus calories out, especially once we head into our 40s and older.
ALL your body cares about is keeping you alive, and so every second of every day it is recalibrating in order to do that, assessing things like:
How much sleep did you have last night?
How stressed are you, and how long has the stress been going on for?
What are your hormones doing (or not doing)?
Are you hydrated?
How much have you moved today or have you sat at your desk all day?
Are you getting all the right nutrients you need from food?
How many glasses of wine did you have last night?
Are there any underlying health issues such as insulin resistance, gut dysbiosis or hormone imbalance?
But, in a society that focuses on size, weight and calorie counting we still get drawn to eating less and dieting and yet, one of the biggest things I see with clients that affects their inability to lose weight is that they are not eating enough!
Only recently in the press has there been headlines about how intermittent fasting helps with weight loss , but when we don’t eat enough food in a day and yet continue to be super busy, stressed, go to the gym/exercise most days and basically keep lots of plates spinning our body starts to ‘store energy’ to keep you alive.
Think of your body like a car – your foot is on the accelerator; you are whizzing around all day, but you forget to put enough petrol in. Soon the petrol light starts blinking as a warning sign – this is when the body goes into that survival mode and hence under-eating can exacerbate weight gain.
Hence, when working with clients we are often unpicking years of yo-yo dieting and long-held beliefs about calories and weight loss. We also work with clients to help them feel better about their relationship with food, to tune back into their natural hunger cues and also begin eating nutrient-dense foods that fill them up for longer and stop that ‘petrol light’ from blinking, allowing the body to find it’s natural weight.
If this all sounds too familiar, then get in touch with one of the team and let us help you find your balance and get your body back into its natural rhythm (and weight).
Please note, if you have a history of an eating disorder or active eating disorder then please get in touch with Nicola or Isabella who are both trained Eating Disorder Nutritionists so that we can provide you with the right support.
