17/10/2024
As I’m walking to the lake this morning with the baby on my back I’m thinking about my patients who are wanting to lose weight.
Let me tell you a secret - you need to WALK.
Walking balances the nervous system and lowers cortisol, which is one reason why it’s so effective for weight loss.
One common mistake people make when starting a weight loss journey is to restrict calories (ladies at 1200 calories I’m looking at you) and increase exercise, which only signals to the body that you’re doing something unsustainable, stressful, and not safe. When your body doesn’t feel safe, NOTHING works, and neither does your body’s ability to burn fat. Dropping calories too low and increasing exercise only signals to the body a lack of safety, causing the body to respond with “oh krap, she’s restricting my nutrients, I’m gonna hold onto fat for dear life (because fat contains nutrients).” What’s created is a damaged metabolism and unsafe nervous system and high levels of stress hormones like cortisol.
To correct this, we need to gradually increase calories and change exercise from super intense to more moderate and lower heart rate range. But depending on how long your body has been in “starvation mode” or “nutrient hoard mode,” it can take a significant amount of time, think years to get the nervous system safe again.
That’s why I always recommend to people- if you don’t know what you are doing, seek help! Time is the only thing we can’t control and can’t get back and what we consider the most precious. So let’s not waste time!
Send this to a person you adore but really needs to see an expert for help in this area. If that’s me, awesome. If that’s someone local to them, awesome.
If interest is there, I’m going to do a webinar on this topic… it’s been too long since I’ve done a webinar! For those of you who are new to this page, I educate on women’s health and hormones, and I have 4 webinars you can purchase and learn from: estrogen, progesterone, cortisol and BHRT secrets!
Walking for weight loss: over 10k steps a day, ideally 15000, done in one chunk or spread out. With optimal nutrition, this can get you places!