Why aren’t I losing weight on a 1200 calorie diet?

If I had a dollar for every time a client has told me they’ve gone on a 1200 calorie diet and failed, I could retire! So many women believe that it’s a failure on their part. They think that they’re lazy, unmotivated or too greedy to stick to a low-calorie diet. But there’s more to this situation than you might realise.

1200 calorie diets are by definition, low in nutrients

When you restrict calories, you’re restricting nutrients. You’ll be taking in a lower amount of macronutrients – protein, carbohydrate and fat. Each of these nutrients plays a role in your overall wellbeing. 

Protein is the main building block of the body, and is needed to maintain the body’s tissues. Fat is essential for absorbing specific vitamins, as well as being vital for the production of hormones. Carbohydrate is a source of energy for the body, and often comes hand in hand with fibre, which is essential for gut health and satiety.

But you’ll also have less of an opportunity to include micronutrients. Micronutrients are needed in smaller amounts, but not consuming them can have all sorts of consequences for your health. Your immune system, digestion, metabolism and brain function all rely on micronutrients.

If you’re eating a 1200 calorie diet, it’s almost impossible to get sufficient nutrients to support optimal health. More often than not, it leads to nutrient deficiencies. And what does your body do when it’s getting low on nutrients? It sends out signals telling you to eat more!

1200 calorie diets make your body more efficient at conserving energy

We all dream of eating whatever we want and burning it all off! But 1200 calorie diets do the exact opposite. When you restrict your calories and start to lose even a little bit of weight, your body kicks in to protect you. Your thyroid hormone stops converting to an active form, so your system has to learn how to cope with less energy. 

But then when the diet ends, say you go back to what used to be your maintenance calories – the amount you used to eat that kept your weight steady. Your body takes time to adjust to an increase in calories. So you can put weight on even when you’re eating what used to be maintained for your body! 

If you are eating low calorie and not getting enough protein to maintain your muscle mass, your metabolic rate can drop even further. Put simply, dropping to low calories will teach your body to function at that level – any higher can lead to weight gain.

1200 calorie diets are unsustainable

At the end of the day, the biggest problem is that this kind of diet is just not sustainable. Only the most petite person could eat this little energy for an extended period of time without serious health consequences.

If you want to lose weight, a quick fix is not the way to go. If you aren’t willing to follow a low-calorie diet for the rest of your life, it’s not how you should lose weight! As soon as you increase your calorie intake, your weight will follow.

Instead of restricting your diet, it’s best to look to a long-term solution. You might not shed 10kg in a month. But it took you longer than that to put on the same amount of weight. Look for a way that is sustainable for the rest of your life.

Want to save time, get clarity and clear direction on the best steps for your health journey? The Busy Women’s monthly membership includes all this plus more. The membership moves you through my 5 pillars of health; Exercise Nutrition Sleep Stress Reduction Mindset.

Click here to be notified when doors open again for new members!

Congratulations, when is your baby due? ummm 2 years ago!

This was me last summer, my baby was 1.5yrs old.

Why do we hold more weight in our bellies after we have a baby?

I exercise frequently, in fact in that photo above I was midway through training for a 1/2 marathon, but that weight around my stomach was quite stubborn in leaving my body. Why wasn’t that weight leaving? Turns out there were many reasons why this may be so. 

Firstly, unlike other areas of your body, your tummy actually has two layers of fat (this is likely why your legs and arms appear to slim down and tone faster than your tummy). The top layer is called the subcutaneous fat and this sits on top.Subcutaneous fat stores unused calories around your waistline similiar to how your body stores fat elsewhere in your body. Your body does this in case you ever enter starvation mode and it needs to call on your fat stores to maintain life!  The underlying fat is visceral fat and this surrounds your vital organs. This is the ‘more concerning’ fat as it can cause health implications such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. It can play havoc with your insulin resistance levels and can lead to more complicated health issues. It can be one of the harder lots of fat stores to lose. 

6 reasons why you are having trouble shifting excess belly fat:

Inflammation – belly fat can be associated with inflammation from eating to many processed food or foods that don’t agree with your body (think gluten intolerance, lactose intolerance etc). You may also have an unhappy digestive system – excess wind, cramps and bowel trouble can cause inflammation/bloating. 

Hormones – ever find your tummy bloats up right before your period? Hormones are one of the biggest factors in our bodies changes and hormonal disruption (such as peaks and lows of estrogen) can affect fat distribution. In some cases it could also be testosterone levels. Ladies with PCOS sometimes have trouble losing belly weight because their testosterone levels are high. 

Stress – Having too much makes it harder to lose weight, especially around your tummy. This links back to hormones, because stress creates a hormone called Cortisol. Sometimes Cortisol increases the amount of fat your body clings to and enlarges your fat cells. Some studies have found that high levels of cortisol are linked to more visceral fat. Ironically, physical stresses such as overexercising and endurance exercise can also upset cortisol balance. 

Sleep – lack of sleep creates excess stress in your body (see info above). As a mum, this is the hardest bit to hear but could also be why so many mums have difficulty shifting tummy weight when they have young children. 

Exercise – You need to do a combination of weights and cardiovascular training. There used to be an old myth that cardio training (like running) was the bees knees in terms of weight loss. Studies now show that strength training increases muscle mass. Basically muscle burns more calories than fat, and therefore you naturally burn more calories throughout the day by having more muscle. This is why HIIT workouts are really popular – it’s a combination of cardio and strength at a high intensity which creates a perfect storm of fat burning. 

Lastly, and not one we can do much about; 

Genetics – Some people are naturally predisposed to carry more fat in the belly region than others. 

Now there are some things I’ve listed here that we can’t do too much about, genetics and hormones for example. But there are things that we can take action on such as Inflammation, stress and exercise. For me personally, it took a bit of trial and error to work out what my triggers were for gaining excess weight around my belly.

This is me showing a combination of inflammation from to many processed foods, lack of strength and cardio exercise and a myriad of stress.

Also me – 2 months of strength and cardio, eating MUCH better & better stress management.

As you can see from those two photos, it took a bit of trial and error but I found out what my triggers are for retaining excess baby weight. Don’t get me wrong, there are still days (like the week before my period) where I feel all those pregnancy comments are headed my way, but now I have a much better understanding of why.

Ultimately though, I believe it is really important for you to know that you are not alone in your struggles to lose belly weight. Sometimes it may seem like you are the only person not lifting their top to take a washboard abs shot to post on social media, but seriously, you are not alone. And yes, it is embarrassing and awkward when someone comments on your belly (readers note: never assume someone is pregnant!), however I am hoping that armed with the information I have shared, you can now understand why your belly is holding excess weight, which will ultimately help you on your health and fitness journey. 

Yours in health and fitness

Nikki

PS: Want to get on top of your exercise and start to reduce some inflammation through nutritious meal plans?

My 28 Day Body Blitz program will soon be opening for registrations. It consists of workouts everyday (including 16 HIIT workouts) delivered in an ebook and via follow along videos and instructions in an app, meal plans (to help reduce inflammation), shopping lists and importantly; I am there throughout the 28 days to provide support and accountability. If you are keen to jump on board the 28 Day Body Blitz, you can find out more info HERE.

I remember the first time this happened to me. ‘Look at your beautiful baby bump!’ I felt so awkward as I stumbled a ‘oh i’m not pregnant’ reply. I don’t know who was more embarrassed!

I justified it with ‘well, I do have a slight lordosis’ (also known as swayback). For this reason, my belly has always stuck out slightly. But then it happened again a few months later. I was in a room at work with a pregnant colleague and someone walked in and said ‘Oh, I won’t sit down, I don’t want to catch being pregnant too’. Then it happened a third time, my childs swimming teacher offered her ‘congratulations’ as I climbed into the pool. I was at my rawest here, in my swimmers, clearly understanding that there was no oversized shirt or something that she was assuming was covering a bump. It was even more embarrassing as she tried to dig her way out of the awkward situation by saying she had been watching my belly grow over the last few weeks and assumed I was pregnant. No, that was just a mixture of hormones, inflammation, stress and probably the fact that I have to scoff down my breakfast right before swim lessons!

This is me showing a combination of inflammation from to many processed foods, lack of strength and cardio exercise and a myriad of stress.

Also me – 2 months of strength and cardio, eating MUCH better & better stress management.

10 Mum-Me Ways to Increase Movement in Your Day

#Mumlife

Mum life is hectic. Not only are you trying to juggle all your balls, but you are also trying to juggle all of your little person balls (and sometimes not so little persons ). You know you need to exercise, you start your day with the best of intentions, but often you get to the end of your day so exhausted that the thought of doing some exercise is now just a hazy memory.

BUT HANG ON, exercise doesn’t have to be that heart raising group fitness class down at the local gym that goes for exactly 60 minutes. There are other ways you can move more (aka exercise) through your day.

Yes, it’s a not so little secret….incidental exercise!

Incidental what? I hear you say? Incidental exercise is any activity built up in small amounts over the day.

I know, I know – the thought of moving more through your day is already exhausting but weirdly by moving more it helps to boost your daily energy expenditure and keep your energy going. Plus, there is the huge array of health benefits such as maintaining your strength and fitness for everyday functional activity, promoting weight loss if that’s one of your goals and benefiting your mental health and general well being.

Why does it work so well for mums?

• Every minute you are active adds up, so if you can’t get to do a formal workout, you have may still have done a decent amount of activity through the day.

• It’s a great place to start if you have been inactive for a while.

• Many people can find it easier to be active in lots of little ways throughout the day.

Here are my top 10 ways I increase my movement while at home with the kiddies:

1. Housework. Yes, I know, I’ve started with the most boring job of all. But it ain’t boring if you pop on some music and boogie away. The kids might laugh but hopefully, they join in with you!

2. Ad Break Challenges. Challenge your children to do some squats, pushups, tricep dips, crunches etc during the ad breaks. Who can get the best score? If you are still on ABCKids and haven’t graduated to ad break TV yet, that’s cool – change the challenge; do two squats every time Peppa Pig snorts….you get the idea.

3. Pace around while you are on the phone. Gone are the days of getting tangled in the telephone cord, that is so 1990’s – walk around while you chat and get your steps up!

4. Grocery Shopping. Ok, I know this is almost as bad as housework. But let’s break it down here – 25-metre aisles x 10 aisles = 250 extra metres you are walking. Shall we add weights? Go shopping trolly-less. Yes, that’s really playing with fire!

5. Try not to sit still for more than half an hour each day. *Every mum snorts into her coffee* Sit still? What a luxury!

6. Have a walking coffee date. Why do we need to go to a cafe for our friend dates? oh, well I guess if you snorted to number 5 the answer may be obvious here…..but if you want to get that movement going, have a walking coffee date instead. If the kids are in tow that’s fine, you don’t need to be breaking any world record walking times.

7. Join in on your children’s activity. I found myself the other day climbing the slippery dip so that I could be ‘the tunnel’ for my children. I secretly enjoyed it though. Why let them have all the fun? Slippery dip, flying fox, monkey bars here I come!

8. Play a physical game. Children aren’t spending their time judging you when you play with them, they are too busy being excited that mum is joining in. Have a running race (if your children are like mine, I have to ‘lose’ every time anyway…), play soccer, basketball, relay races, ninja warriors, superheroes, hopscotch, Hoola hoops…..

9. Obstacle Course. No need to wait for the annual Miss Muddy event. Make your own obstacle course at home minus the mud – or not!

10. Interactive Video Games. Are they even called ‘video games’ anymore? I’m not sure, but I do know that there are heaps of interactive ones out there. If you can’t get your teenager off the console, then join them!

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