Episode 185: How am I GAINING Weight Eating 500 Calories a Day?!

If your first instinct when the scale stops moving is to eat even less, pause before you do. This episode explains why that approach can backfire for women who have been under-eating for years and what a different path can look like.

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Transcript

Becoming MindStrong Episode 185: How am I GAINING Weight Eating 500 Calories a Day?!

Speaker 1  0:00  
It is physically possible to be eating 500 calories a day and gaining weight. And in today's episode, I'm going to teach you exactly why that's happening, and then of course leave you with the tools of what to do if that's you. So first thing we need to know. I'm going to break this conversation into three parts: one, how to know if that's you; number two, why it's happening, and number three, what to do about it if it is quick and dirty tool to figure out if that's you. We work with a lot of women, and most of us are not tracking our food. Most of us don't know what we're how we're eating in a day, so we hear things like, "I feel like I'm doing everything right and nothing's working. To me, that's a that's a big red flag sign of, "Oh, I'm gonna guess there's under eating going on. And if you've hung out here before, you know that I don't like to wish, hope, pray, and guess. I like data. I like math. I like science. I like to know what's going on because the human body doesn't lie. So very quick and simple tool. You're going to download any free macro tracking app. In our world of MindStrong, we use macros first. We in the past we've used MyFitnessPal. Does not matter. Use any one because most important part. Do not use their goal numbers. Every single one of these apps is going to tell you if you eat this much food, you lose this much weight. They do not work. The goal numbers are going to dig a hole deeper. Do not use them. We are just using the apps to track. Let me put a little side note here. I've been asked a lot. Why did you guys switch from macros from My Fitness Pal to macros first? Two reasons. Number one, we found that Macros First has a lot of the bells and whistles you have to pay for with other apps. Macros First has them free. Secondly, we went into a partnership with them where if you use the code Mindstrong, you get like an extended free trial. Honestly, I do not care which app you use because we are not using their goals and we're just using it to track. This is not an ad for macros first, but that's the reason that we switched. You switchever one you want. Just do not use their goal numbers for any of them. And if you use the word the code Mind, you get an extended free trial. Anyway, eat as you normally eat, five to seven days. Okay. Try not to be on good behavior. Sometimes that's easier said than done because when we're popping our food into an app. Sometimes we're holding ourselves accountable, and it's like, oh, do I want to put those Oreos in? There's no shame, blame, guilt. It's going on anyway. Just eat as you normally. Pop your food into the the app. All of these apps are very user friendly. There's a massive library, so if you wake up, you have a bagel, you have two eggs, you have a glass of orange juice. You're gonna go in the database. You're gonna search bagel, pop it in. You're gonna search eggs, change it to two, pop it in. Don't overthink it. It doesn't have to be exact. This is just to get a bird's eye view of what's going on. Okay, you're gonna track your food five to seven days. I have a whole past episode called "How to Tell If You're an Under Eater. By the way, today is just the cliff notes. At the end of those five to seven days, you're going to go into your app. There's going to be a button that says Weekly Averages. For the quick and dirty method, we're just going to look at your calories. Okay. In that episode, I get a little deeper into how to do this more exact. For the purposes of today, we're keeping it quick and dirty. If you see now, buckle your seatbelt because this number shocks people. If you see that you are eating under 1600 calories a day, that is the textbook definition of low calorie. Now, buckle in more because there's more coming.

Speaker 1  3:34  
In our world, doing this for a decade with over 7000 women, when we see people eating under 1,800 calories a day and not losing weight, we are going to treat it as if they were eating low calorie. We're going to put them through what we call a mini healing stage. I'll get more into that in the what to do section. For the purposes right now, I'm just going to go with 18 because that's what we use in our world. If you see you are eating under 1,800 calories a day. You are eating low calorie. Continuing to cut calories is going to make the problem worse if you're already eating like that consistently and not losing weight. Now, that's how we tell. For today's episode, we are talking specifically if you're in the very low range, like 500, 700, 900. If that's you, I'm going to explain what's going on. By the way, what I'm about to explain to the 500, 700, 900 people is true for everyone. I'm just specifically talking to them today. And if you see you're eating 1300 calories and not losing weight, same exact conversation. The path is just a little bit longer for them. So the million-dollar question is, Rachel, how in the world is this possible? Right, 30-year-old John Smith on Instagram is like nobody could gain weight at 500 calories a day because diet culture has taught us that we eat less, we move more, and you you lose. Weight, so how in the world am I eating 500, 700, 900, 1,400 calories a day and gaining weight? I'm going to tell you my favorite analogy, and then I'm going to explain what's happening. So, if you've hung out here before, you've heard this analogy before because it's my favorite one. It's the best one that I've got to explain this. If I were to go for a run, my body is going to produce sweat. Why? Because my body is always looking for what we call homeostasis. It's always looking for its natural rest and comfort zone. My body has a natural rest and comfort zone, a homeostasis, when it comes to body temperature. So when I exercise, or in this example, when I run, which I wouldn't because I hate running, but let's say I did, I have now gone over that homeostasis, that natural rest and comfort zone. My body's job is, hey, warning, danger. She's gone above homeostasis. Get her back here, and the way that it gets me back to homeostasis with my body temperature is by producing sweat. Sweat is there to cool me down to get me back to homeostasis. Okay, now our body is always looking for homeostasis in everything that we do, even our emotions. I could go down a whole rabbit hole here that we have a baseline for happiness. That our body's job is to always work to get us back there. That's a conversation for another day, but it's super interesting. For the purposes of this conversation, our body also has a homeostasis when it comes to calories in, calories out. Weight loss is not biologically safe for our body, so every time we cut calories and we stay there, our body says, "Oh, this must be her new homeostasis. The difference is in the nutrition world. We use the word maintenance. You've probably heard the word maintenance before, meaning if you go over maintenance, you gain weight. Maybe you haven't, but that's the thing that we say, and it is true, but here's what not enough people are talking about because people aren't talking about menopause enough. Your maintenance is not a one and done number. Your maintenance changes over time because we are training it. So I'm going to zoom out and give you an example to help that make more sense. And again, if this episode might be repeating myself, if you've listened to a lot of these episodes, I'm a big believer in that people need to be reminded more than they need to be taught. If this is brand new for you, this is my best way to explain it.

Speaker 1  7:34  
Let's say in your 20s, you know, unless you were a competitive athlete, you probably weren't tracking food in your 20s, but let's say you were okay, and you tracked your food and you say, okay, not eating the same way every single day, but for the most part, I tend to eat around I don't know 17, 1800 calories. So that was our body's maintenance. Again, it's not the same every single day. This is an average. Then we're in our 20s. We got a date coming up. We're like, I gotta look good for my date, so we cut our calories. Again, nobody's tracking, but if we were, what we may see is that we dropped those calories from 1,700 to let's call it 1,400, and we stayed there because no one ever taught us differently. And I'm going to insert a little stat here for what I mean by stay there. The textbook rule is that you don't want to stay low calorie for more than 12 weeks. For me, back when I was one-to-one coaching, if I had someone who was still losing weight actively after 12 weeks, I have pushed it to 14. I will not go longer than 14. I don't care if the weight shedding off. I always want to play long ball. I always want to think about the health of your metabolism. So I'm not going to go longer than 14. Most of us have been eating low calorie for years. Forget about 12 to 14 weeks. We're talking about for some people decades, and that'll make more sense as I get back on track here. But just know textbook definition. Don't want to stay low calorie for more than 12 weeks. You can push it to 14. Do not go further than that. Back back to our hypothetical story. So you dropped to 1,400 calories a day, and you stayed there because no one ever told you that stat of 12 to 14 weeks. Fast forward a few years, you got a job interview coming up. You want to look good for your job interview, so we cut calories again. Again, most of us were not tracking. Let's say you did. You went from 1400 to 1200, and we stayed there. And on and on and on the cycle went for years. Now menopause hits, and we're eating. Let's call it 1000 calories a day, and nothing is working. So we go to our doctor who did not study menopause in med school, and we say, "Doctor, I haven't changed a thing. I'm eating healthy. I'm eating less. I'm moving more, but I'm gaining weight. And our doctor who has the best intention. I'd like to assume, but does not understand this stuff because they were never taught it. Says to you, "Well, if eat less, move more isn't working, you should cut more calories. So suddenly, that 1000 becomes 900, 800, 700. Next thing we know, we are eating 500 calories a day. Here's the problem: when we stay at 500 calories a day, our body, just like that sweat conversation, says, "Oh, this must be her new homeostasis. This must be her new maintenance. And the rules of biology say, when you go above maintenance, you gain weight. So, if your body, let me bring this home, and then we're going to talk about what to do. If your body thinks 500 calories is maintenance, and you eat 700 calories, 700 calories is still very low calorie. But guess what? It's more than 500. You've gone above maintenance, and that is why you are gaining weight? Let's talk about what to do. So we've done some tracking. Doesn't have to be exact. Don't drive yourself nuts. All we want to see is, am I an undereater? That very simple question. Am I eating under 1800 calories a day and not losing weight? That's all we're trying to answer. Thing number two is we now understand why it's happening. If you are eating low calorie and not losing weight, it's because your body believes that that is that is maintenance. And when you go above maintenance, you will gain weight. Let's talk about what to do. Let me tell you the worst thing you can do first, and then I'll tell you what you capital M must do if you want to make it better because there is a capital M must.

Speaker 1  11:39  
The worst thing you can do, and if you're tracking, I hope you know the answer to this: continuing to cut your calories lower is the worst thing you can do. If your body thinks, let's call it 900 calories, thinks it's maintenance, cutting to 700 calories, if you've been paying attention, is not going to make you lose weight. It's going to make your body adjust, and now think 700 calories is maintenance, and then 500 calories is maintenance, right? I always picture a hole. If the hole is six six inches deep right now, at 1,400 calories, cutting to 1000, now it's eight inches deep. Then it's a foot deep, right? Like we are literally, figuratively, we are figuratively digging a hole deeper, continuing to cut calories. We are just driving that maintenance number lower and lower. Continuing to cut calories is the worst thing you can do, and it's what most people do because their own doctor is telling them to do it. Here's what we capital M must do, and I say this a lot because it is my my capital T truth, a lot of capital letters. I try not to be a black or white person. I have worked very hard in my lifetime to train my brain that life happens in the gray, life happens in the mess. That's where vulnerability happens. That's where connection happens. Whole other podcast episode. This is a black or white conversation. If you see in those five to seven days of tracking, and by the way, some people don't even need to track. You just know, like I'm definitely not eating enough. Okay, we will we will still get data, and you might be able to skip that part if you suspect it. Anyway, if you are already eating low calorie and not losing weight, A or B, black or white, one or two, pick your pick your path, choose your own adventure. Option one is a GLP one. If you've hung out here before, you know I zero out of everything recommend it. You're not just losing fat, you're losing bone density, you're losing lean muscle mass. You have to be on it forever. You're shooting your metabolism in the foot. I do not recommend. You have to do what feels good for you. If we're not going to go on a drug, which I do not recommend, there's one path and one path only. And the day that someone comes out with another path, sign me up. It doesn't exist right now. I wish it does. Did it doesn't. We have to what we call heal your metabolism. What healing your metabolism means is if you are eating 500 calories a day right now, and we now understand that your body thinks 500 calories a day is maintenance. What healing your metabolism means is we are going to train your body for a new higher maintenance. We are going to grab your metabolism by the hand and say, "Ah, 500 calories. I I get it. I know you think that's maintenance. It's not. I am going to train you for a new higher maintenance, so that most important two words of that sentence, so that the old rules of eat less, move more, go back to working, and I say those are the most important two words because of this. It is true when when John Smith, the 30-year-old dude on Instagram who's never been through menopause, when he says you just need to eat less, move more, that is true with a functioning metabolism. If your body thinks 500 calories. A day is maintenance. That is not a healthy metabolism. When we can train your body for a new higher maintenance, then John Smith is correct. The old rules of eat less, move more will go back to working. Now, how long does that healing state stage take? If you are newer to the podcast, I have a full five-part series. I refer to it so much I know it by heart. Episodes 99 to 104 digs deep into what that looks like. It's very different for everyone because let's think about this logically, right? If Jane comes to me eating 500 calories a day, and Sally comes to me eating 1600 calories a day, they're both eating low calorie, but one of those journeys is probably going to be a heck of a lot faster than the other. It's super personalized.

Speaker 1  15:46  
It depends on how long it takes your metabolism to come back online, how long it takes your hunger to come back online, and for the purposes today, here's the most important part: when we get your metabolism back online, once we have trained your metabolism for a new higher maintenance, and therefore the old rules of eat less, move more, go back to working. Here to me is the most important part. As an educator, the thing I pray we start teaching women in their 30s is that we can't stay low calorie forever. So one of the things that we do at Mindstrong is yes, we're going to put you through a healing stage. We're going to train your body to that new higher maintenance, and just as importantly, and I mean that with all my heart, just as importantly, we're going to teach you to master what we call the weight loss cycle. Meaning, okay, I've just gone through this healing stage, I have a functioning metabolism. How do I make sure that my body never adjusts to a new lower maintenance again? Right, because it'd be kind of pointless to go all the way through a healing stage, train our body for a new higher maintenance, then the next time we go to lose weight because eat less, move more, has gone back to working. Now we just shoot our metabolism in the foot again. What the biggest thing I would say that we teach at Mindstrong is how do we pop into weight loss and get out of it without gaining weight in the name of keeping my metabolism healthy. That's what those episodes I just referred to, 99 to 104. That's what we talk about. That's what we teach in Mindstrong is how do I master this weight loss cycle? So weight loss is a pop in pop out thing, and I can keep my metabolism healthy for life. That is, in a nutshell, what we teach women. And I pray I'm going to take I'm going to wrap this up by taking it back to what I said in the beginning. I pray we start teaching women that in our 30s. I had someone ask me the other day, "Why don't why don't you branch out and help women in their 30s? I'm like, "That's actually a great idea, and it's a it's a capacity issue. Anyway, for the purposes of today's episode, number one, if you know that you're an underyear, you can skip step one. If if you decide to work with us, we'll still do it because we need to know what that number looks like because major life overhauls don't work, and if you know that that you're under eating, you don't have to do step one, which is eat normally, track your food for five days. Number two, we now understand why our body can gain weight at such low calories. My hope is that by understanding that, next time you scroll through Instagram or Facebook, and you feel gaslit by 30-year-old trainers who have no idea what they're talking about because they don't understand metabolisms or menopause. We can just kind of laugh. I mean, it's not funny, but you know, we we can laugh at the absurdity we'll say and scroll right past it. Right, feeling gaslit is real. We encourage our members like now that you know this stuff, go teach it to your doctor. The next time your doctor tells you let's move more, you don't have to do it in a judgy, you know, sarcastic way. But go teach it to them. Like here's what I've learned because we need the trickle down effect. We need to be getting this into the medical system. So hopefully by now we understand why it's happening. And then thing number three, maybe the most important in terms of our future, our health. If you're already eating low calorie and not losing weight, two paths: GLP-1, which I don't recommend. I have past episodes on it, or a healing stage, and and as an educator, it's not just healing your metabolism; it's healing your metabolism and understanding how to keep it healthy for the rest of our life.

Speaker 2  19:29  
For more information on Mind Strong Fitness or to apply for a free one-to-one strategy session with my incredible all-female team, visit www.mindstrongfitness.com.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai