Aim + ApproachThis will just be a series of extracts as a reference to my recent post on Instagram regarding building phases to build a solid muscle mass base, as well as approaches to leaning down that preserve metabolic and hormonal health. If you are interested in the comprehensive step-by-step walk through as broken down through chronological experience of my 6 month cut in 2017 using a nose to tail ketogenic nutritional approach (with sweet potato refeeds and lots of vegetable fiber at this point; if I had known about the carnivore perspective it would have saved me a lot of GI distress**!!!!!), complete with day to day details, travel tips, physique updates, insights, educational resources and more, you can see the whole compilation of the Primal Prep series at my old blog :) http://juicyliving.weebly.com/blog; You can start with the intro here, And read the final resume here! **What my nutrition consisted of at that time point: organ meat, pasture-raised whole eggs and raw egg yolk, grass-fed beef and lamb, greens, bone broth, seaweed, seafood, spirulina, wild fish, a rainbow of vegetables, starchy vegetables like sweet potato and parsnips, and some high quality cacao (powder). So still all super nutrient dense foods! But what I have learnt in the time space between then and now is that most plants, ESPECIALLY the vegetables, simply do not agree with me and I do better without them - I see plants NOT as evil, but as OPTIONAL nutritionally. This means that it is not worth the distress when they do not love me back! Since intentionally removing plant foods - completely for a period of time, and now re-introducing specific things, mostly plant extracts like cacao powder, medicinal mushrooms and coffee - I have become more in control of my health and body, whereas before I was still reacting and having relapse episodes of symptoms thinking that I *have* to eat plants to survive. Carnivore is a tool that has helped me immensely, but the principles I used in the Primal Prep Series can be applied to any dietary and food pattern that works for YOU because they are more physiology based than diet based. Stay tuned for a new Primal Prep Series carnivore-style 2.0! ;) This is WHY I thought it essential to re-frame and programme the cut the way I did: Does lean = healthy? Lean and healthy do not necessarily go hand in hand. The female fitness models that we see on magazines covers may look like the epitome of health, but often being so lean, and the measures taken to get there, can come at a cost - hormonally, mentally, physiologically. SO, healthy and lean for a female - is it possible!? I would say it is more the approach and WAY you get lean (the measures taken to get there), than the actual leanness itself (up to a point). There are different ways to get lean, some damaging, and some not, that will determine health status while both arriving at the goal of "lean". When I say lean, I mean 15% body fat, which is very low for a woman. 13% body fat is considered "essential" in women (i.e the minimum amount of body fat required for basic physiological and physical health), although there are many female fitness competitors and athletes that go below that (usually temporarily). Here is good article with visuals of body fat for men and women is the following. I could be aiming for the same goal of 15% body fat, but instead of doing it within a 6 month period, push my body to its limits and strive to go from 21% to 15% in 3 months or 6 weeks, or whatever the popular contest prep time is. In that timeframe, you HAVE to go to unhealthy measures to get that lean that fast! Woman's bodies are particularly sensitive to energy deficits, and generally have a harder time getting lean than men do. I've experienced it myself many times in the past where my body responds negatively very fast to things like restricting calories in conjunction with large amounts of cardio, and completely rebels by storing ONTO fat, loosing muscle, and worse. I also think the micronutrient intake matters even more with energy restriction, to ensure metabolic health. I consider BOTH energy AND metabolism; I will be lowering my calories during a cut, but **only from a STABLE base of health** and the key is to do so gradually and not excessively. The calories I DO eat will be far from the typical rice, broccoli and chicken diet! They will come from super nutrient-dense foods that I love to eat. General approach: GRADUAL & periodisedPeriodised: I am not going to be in a straight deficit for 6 months, but split it up into stages. Of 3 stages, each will be 6-8 weeks in deficit, with refeed days where I increase my calories to maintenance, or a bit above (for me this will be around 2500 calories). Then between each stage, I'll do a full week of maintenance calories to mitigate my metabolism adapting to the deficit and decreasing. Sustainable - no short-cuts or deprivation or too crazy stuff! Enjoying and embracing the process - seeing it as an opportunity to build good habits, self-trust and efficacy by following through day by day, and character through resisting impulse responses. Patience and consistency, baby! Aiming for progress, not perfection - as much as I set it up to be as smooth a process as possible, there will inevitably be days where something doesn't go to plan. That used to be a cue for negative self talk and letting the whole day screw up, but NOW it's not about perfection, it's about how quickly can I bounce back and just do the next best thing Focusing on creating "masterpiece days" (term I got from Brian Johnson of PhilosophersNotes, one of my most favourite inspirations ever!), and on the HABITS that create the success, not being constantly obsessed by the outcome. Nutrition approach (2017)My general guidelines:
Training approachI feel the best I have with my training at the moment. After this summer of being exposed to Yin Yoga, and now being over the hardest times of recovering from the second episode of autoimmune hyperthyroidism, I feel I have a new relationship to my body. One where it talks, and I listen (mostly :P) - instead of approaching my training from an external perspective of following a specific and rigid approach, I am now implementing all the tools I have practiced over the years into a holistic, dynamic and needs-based approach. What I mean by that is that I am designing my own training around the unique-ness of MY OWN body, taking into consideration:
Recovery & RestSLEEP! SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP! It's one of my weakest links (or used to be), but also one of my greatest priorities when it comes to feeling good - and for body composition! Not only does lack of sleep screw up hormones and increase fat storage around the mid-section, it makes me bloody ravenous! And totally unmotivated to train. So sleep prioritising is a MUST! My current way of doing this is focusing just on the time I want to be in bed. Last month was 10-10:30pm (as before that I was getting to sleep at midnight), and this month I am striving for consistently jumping into bed at 9-9:30pm. Focusing on JUST THIS, instead of hours of sleep and what time to wake up, etc, takes care of all the rest naturally! When I'm in bed at 9pm, I naturally wake up early. And when I do it consistently, it becomes the natural biorhythm for my body again, and so my sleep quality improves. Win-win! As for recovery built into my training, I think outside of a 7-day training split, and when I get adequate sleep, I do best with a full day off any scheduled training every 10th day or so. Then within each week, one day will be fully dedicated to yoga and mobility. Mindset approachHEALTH first. For me, this process will be from the INSIDE OUT, meaning I am focusing on creating optimal cellular health that will then optimise metabolism, fat burning and all that good stuff - and with consistency, and a structured & holistic approach, the physique goal will be a by-product - and a sustainable one at that ;) Patience, patience, patience! 3 PhasesStructure Recap: Nutritional Approach (Energy + Quality consideration) Part 1 deficit + maintenance break
*These are numbers I calculated at the beginning to work for ME! So please keep in mind that this is not a cookie-cutter plan. Every body's body is different, and depending on your current body composition, metabolism, nutritional status and goals, the appropriate intake for you may differ :) When things go wrong... You can read about my relapse with sauerkraut hell here! Case against sauerkraut and also a point for carnivore! ;P Final Outcome: much more than physical....From external to internalFor me, the transformation came from the inside out. This is how I put it: "So, I may now have a 6-pack, but it really, really has been a BY-PRODUCT of living consistently with my higher values and habits that create a strong, solid foundation of health. This has been so transformational from the inside-out that the external is merely a reflection of the bigger changes on the inside, the relationship to myself and how I relate to reality and the world on the broader perspective. People post before/after pictures all the time. We see 3 month transformation photos everywhere on the internet, and programmes and training and supplements promising to get you similar results. But when we go into it with the sole motivation to change our external, the underlying internal insecurities will stay, and whether we are lean or not, the relationship we have with ourself, with food, with training will most likely still come from a place of hate, of force, of dissatisfaction. Instead of being a process of "grinding", or deprivation or extreme dieting and training, this for me has been a process of self-love, self-compassion, self-care and connection to something bigger. As cliché as that may sound, on many levels, this whole process of "getting lean" has really been a process of character development and getting healthy. It's been a process that has happened from the inside-out, and driven from intentions of creating a positive relationship to myself, and positive state on the inside - as much on the mindset, physiological level as on the physical, cellular level. The perspective and intention we take into a journey like this CAN be empowering, nourishing, loving. Our internal world is just as important as our external, and I believe that one can reflect the other, and addressing both - nourishing ourselves physically and mentally, can result in a harmony of sorts where we shine and radiate from the inside out - and then being lean and having an incredible physique is a byproduct of a healthy and positive internal world (on a cellular and mindset level). I've gone both way to get lean - balls to the wall intensity, and then this approach, and what this has taught me about the metabolism and hormonal health and overall health in the context of getting lean is super insightful for me. We often hear about the detrimental effects of being "too lean" for females, especially on the menstrual cycle and downstream consequences, etc. AND that some women just are NOT able to get lean, and under a certain body fat percentage, their bodies freak out and go out of homeostasis. And from my previous experience and YEARS of attempting to achieve a certain body composition, I concluded that it just wasn't in my cards. Whenever my body approached 20% body fat and under, my menstruation would stop, my hormones would go haywire, and my cravings would be all over the place. Well, sitting now at 12% body fat and with the healthiest cycle I've ever had, I am beginning to think it is much more about the approach we take, and context and the consequential nutritional and stress state of the body. Of major consideration is INFLAMMATION - being in a chronic state of inflammation, and extreme exercise and caloric deficit on top perpetuating that by adding stress, I think is a major component. In fact, I can attribute the number one reason for feeling so much better PHYSICALLY is that my inflammation is in check. N =1, of course :=) " Final take-awaysWork diligently. Diligently. Work patiently and persistently. Patiently and persistently. And you're bound to be successful. Bound to be successful.
Recommended watching!I really would like to emphasis the importance of being in good metabolic health BEFORE thinking about cutting. Get healthy FIRST, get to a stable base FIRST, and THEN think about a strategic cut if your aim is for specific body composition goals outside of natural/normal healthy. This is to get from lean/stable to very lean. If you are just looking to get to a healthy, happy natural set point, I would say this is totally unnecessary!!!!!! The components of high quality nutrition and weight training are AMAZING tools and foundational lifestyle practices for anyone for health, but thinking you have to get to 12% bodyfat (as a female) is not. You will look your best at your healthiest <3 IMO a healthy approach is about understanding your body and metabolism, your starting point and being honest with if you first need to focus on healing your metabolism - if going into a cut in a depleted state, already at a high cardio output on low calories, not only will attempting fat loss be a major stress to your body and mind, but you will not have many tools in your tool box to elicit changes in your body. Where can you go from 900 calories and 2h of cardio a day? You will need to reverse out and build back up before any real change can occur. But when done in the right way, that change can be lasting, and you can also enjoy the process. With that caveat, if you still have elite level body composition goals, I recommend the below video for an idea of the criteria to pass BEFORE any sort of fat loss prep. Be kind to your body and work WITH it - it will reward you!
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