Check out this week’s Coaching over Coffee replay where we dive deep into how to boost progesterone.

The Importance of Progesterone

Progesterone is a hormone that helps maintain a sense of calmness and stability, acting as a natural anxiety-reducing agent. Elevated progesterone levels in the second half of the menstrual cycle promote a healthy pregnancy by preparing the uterus for implantation and supporting early fetal development.

Identifying Low Progesterone Levels: To understand if you have low progesterone levels, it is crucial to track your menstrual cycle. This practice is beneficial for all women, regardless of their desire to conceive. By monitoring the different phases of your cycle, you gain insights into energy levels, mood fluctuations, hunger patterns, calorie needs, blood sugar stabilization, strength, and sleep quality.

Progesterone has the unique ability to raise body temperature. As a result, an increase in body temperature can indicate that ovulation has occurred. By tracking your cycle, specifically the basal body temperature (BBT) in the morning, you can identify the luteal phase, which follows ovulation. During this phase, symptoms may arise that point to low progesterone levels, including a short luteal phase (less than 10 days), low BBT after ovulation, and fertile cervical fluid during the luteal phase.

If you do not track your cycles, don’t worry. Certain symptoms experienced in the week leading up to your period could be indicative of low progesterone levels. These symptoms may include low mood, anxiety, sleep issues or insomnia, breast tenderness, spotting, heavy periods, and low libido.

Causes of Low Progesterone

Several factors can contribute to low progesterone levels. The primary culprits include stress (resulting in high cortisol levels), inflammation, and imbalances in other hormones such as estrogen and thyroid hormones. Stress, both psychological and physiological, can hinder ovulation by signaling danger to the body. Inflammation, whether acute or chronic, and hormonal imbalances further disrupt progesterone production. Additional causes of low progesterone include blood sugar imbalances, PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) and insulin resistance, digestive issues leading to nutrient deficiencies, restrictive diets lacking in calories and nutrients, over-exercise or over-training, being underweight, perimenopause, hyperprolactinemia, excess melatonin supplementation, low cholesterol, and the use of progestin-based IUDs (Mirena, Skyla, Kyleena, etc.).

Boosting Progesterone Naturally

To support healthy hormone function and boost progesterone levels, it is important to address various aspects of your lifestyle. The following steps can help:

1. Support Ovulation: Ensure you are ovulating regularly by maintaining a healthy lifestyle, managing stress levels, and addressing underlying issues such as PCOS or thyroid dysfunction.
2. Support Thyroid Function: Optimize thyroid health by addressing any imbalances or deficiencies through proper nutrition, lifestyle modifications, and consulting with a healthcare professional if necessary.
3. Support Liver Health: Promote liver function by minimizing exposure to toxins, consuming a nutrient-dense diet, staying hydrated, and avoiding excessive alcohol consumption.
4. Support Gut Health: Maintain a healthy gut by consuming a balanced diet rich in fiber, fermented foods, and probiotics to promote optimal digestion and nutrient absorption.

In addition to these overarching steps, consider implementing the following strategies to boost progesterone levels:

• Ensure you are eating enough and focus on incorporating mineral-rich carbohydrate sources into your diet.
• Consume key nutrients such as Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Zinc, Vitamin D, Iodine, Selenium, and Magnesium through a balanced and varied diet or as recommended by a healthcare professional.
• Maintain balanced blood sugar levels throughout your entire menstrual cycle by consuming regular meals and snacks that combine protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates.
• Prioritize relaxation techniques and practices that help shift your body out of a sympathetic fight-or-flight state, such as meditation, deep breathing exercises, yoga, or engaging in hobbies that promote stress reduction.
• Aim for restful and adequate sleep, aiming for at least 8 hours per night.

It’s important to remember that hormonal changes take time, and it may require approximately 90 days before you notice any significant improvements in your menstrual cycle and symptoms. If you have made these lifestyle changes and continue to experience symptoms associated with low progesterone, it might be worth considering seeking medical advice and getting tested to explore further treatment options.

Progesterone plays a crucial role in women’s health, particularly during the second half of the menstrual cycle and pregnancy. Understanding the signs of low progesterone and addressing potential underlying causes is essential for maintaining hormonal balance and overall well-being. By implementing lifestyle modifications that support ovulation, thyroid function, liver health, and gut health, along with maintaining a nutrient-rich diet, balanced blood sugar levels, and stress management techniques, you can naturally boost progesterone levels. Remember, it’s a journey that requires patience, and if necessary, seeking professional guidance can be beneficial for personalized treatment options.

The post How to Boost Progesterone so You Can Eliminate Period Problem and Improve Your Mood appeared first on Megan Crozier Nutritional Therapy.

Some reach out to me with chronic fatigue, while others come to me because they’ve put on weight and don’t have the energy to workout and feel super unmotivated to do anything. They might also feel tired after meals, rely on coffee to get them going, or feel both wired and tired at night.

Over time, these feelings can be paired with cravings, digestive issues, anxious moods, and period-related symptoms like PMS, and even weight gain.

And if you can relate to any of this, you might also feel like you’re doing all the things right – which makes it even more frustrating. You eat pretty well, you workout if you have the energy, and even when you sleep 8 hours you still feel exhausted the next day.

If you’re currently feeling burnt out and want to figure out why you feel so tired, then keep reading. You can also watch the replay of a live Coaching over Coffee session I did all about this topic here.

Even though we’re told it’s “normal” to feel this way – I can promise you there’s a reason behind why you feel the way you do. With our clients, we figure out what the missing pieces might be through dietary assessments, functional labs, and lifestyle audits that help them get their energy back.

When you build solid energy as the foundation of your health, you don’t need as much willpower and discipline, and you’ll also have more time in the day because things will feel easier. Reaching your goals no longer feels like an uphill battle.

Low Energy is a Symptom

Low energy and fatigue are symptoms and messages from your body that it’s not getting what it needs. Rather than ignoring or pushing through these signals, we need to figure out what’s missing and give our bodies what they require. While you don’t have to be energetic all day long, you should have steady energy and know how to adjust if you feel like it’s not where it should be.

Before diving into the potential imbalances that can cause low energy, let’s address the common mistakes that worsen energy levels.

Common energy-drainers:

• Fasting and skipping meals – if you’re already struggling with low energy, fasting until noon or working your way through lunch (or just grabbing a bar) is going to make your energy issues worse and add more stress to the body
• Restricting calories chronically – whether you’re purposely cutting calories to diet/lose weight, or unintentionally not eating enough, this will have an almost direct impact on your energy levels; you can be overweight or want to lose weight and still be undereating (in other words, you don’t have to be thin to be undereating)
• Going low carb/keto – this might make you feel good at first, but we actually need carbs for thyroid hormones, easy sources of energy, & to ensure blood sugar stability
• Doing HIIT and cardio everyday – this should vary based on your cycle; walking & weights should be at the foundation of your movement routine
• Calling a green juice a meal – you need calories, micronutrients, and macronutrients for energy

Fortunately, we can improve our energy when we address why it’s off in the first place and keep things in balance with the right nutrition and lifestyle approach. For many women, riding the blood sugar rollercoaster, chronic stress leading to adrenal/thyroid imbalances, and poor gut health are the culprits behind low energy levels.

Before we get into the 3 underlying root causes of low energy, we need to cover the foundations. You have to check these off even if you’re dealing with one of the root causes, and they are foundational for hormones and gut health.

Energy Needs Foundations

#1. Make sure you’re eating enough

This is the first step to optimizing your nutrition and is often overlooked. Even if there are any of the other underlying factors going on, lack of adequate calories is going to put your body in a state of stress and lead to nutrient deficiencies. If you’re not getting the nutrients, protein, carbs, fats, vitamins, minerals, you’re going to feel chronically tired. This is why 1200-1500 calorie diets don’t work for long term health and aren’t sustainable.

Making sure you’re eating enough involves eating adequate calories consistently. If you’re under eating all week long then overeating on the weekends, your body is still not getting the nutrients it needs on a regular basis.

And, if you’re someone who struggles to lose weight, increase calories slowly can actually help you to lose weight easier because your body is no longer in a “fight or flight” protective mode. When it feels stress from lack of calories, it will adjust to slow energy, hold onto fat, and slow down less essential functions like hormone production. This is why chronic dieting, stubborn weight, fatigue, constipation, and period problems go hand in hand.

#2. Prioritize evening routines that support sleep.

If you’re not already, your goal should be to get 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep. If you struggle to wind down or fall asleep, you might need to look more carefully at your evening routine and morning routine, both of which help to set your circadian rhythm and support the production of hormones that control your sleep-wake cycle. Some foundations to start with that we encourage our clients to follow is to limit blue lights at night (bright bathroom lights, TVs, computers, phones), avoid stimulating intense exercise, make sure you’re in a cool and dark room, and get sunlight first thing in the morning.

#3. Hydrate WITH minerals

We know that drinking water is important, but plain water alone does not equate to being hydrated. In order to get water into the cells, we need electrolytes like sodium, potassium, and magnesium. If you’re just drinking a ton of plain filtered water, you can still be dehydrated. A quick win that we use with clients is adding minerals to all of your water, and aiming for roughly 1/2 of your bodyweight in ounces. One of my favorite electrolyte mixes is LMNT (order here and get a free sample pack) or Relyte. You can also just keep it simple and add a pinch of Redmond’s sea salt to your water.

Now, let’s get into the 3 root causes and get to the bottom of why you struggle with your energy levels.

#1. Blood sugar imbalances.

Blood sugar balance is a foundational piece for any solid nutrition approach. If your blood sugar is going up quickly, then dropping back down quickly when it doesn’t have the fiber + fats to balance it out, you’re on the rollercoaster. This means huge slumps in energy paired with cravings for quick/easy carb and sugar sources. Other signs and symptoms include trouble staying asleep, feeling moody and anxious, and not being able to go long periods of time without eating.

Here are some of the signs that you’re riding the blood sugar rollercoaster:

• Cravings for carbs and sugar
• Hangry when you go a long time without eating
• Anxiety and irritability
• Dizzy when standing
• Crashing during a workout
• Fatigue and energy slumps
• Tired after eating a meal
• Mood swings
• Headaches
• Waking up between 2 and 4am
• Hormone issues like PMS, heavy periods, irregular cycles

If you want to learn more about how to support blood sugar, you can watch the replay of our free workshop: Nutrition Strategies for Blood Sugar & Hormones.

#2. Gut issues. 

Gut issues can be both obvious and less obvious. Some common obvious gut symptoms include:

• Burping, acid reflux, indigestion
• Bloating and cramping
• Constipation (you should be going 1-2x a day at least!)
• Food intolerances
• Diarrhea

Less obvious issues show up as:

• Acne and skin issues like rosacea, eczema, and psoriosis
• Seasonal allergies
• Hormone imbalances like PMS, heavy periods, or irregular cycles
• Nutrient deficiencies
• Anxiety and depression
• Chronic fatigue

These issues cause chronic inflammation in the body, nutrient deficiencies, and stress in the body… all of which lead to low energy.

#3. Adrenal and thyroid dysfunction

A lot of the women who come to us have some level of thyroid and adrenal issues, even if it doesn’t show up with the basic lab work they got from their doctor.

You might have heard of “adrenal fatigue”, but what we are reallly talking about is the way your brain communicates with the adrenals to regulate a healthy stress response. When this is out of balance, you’ll see cortisol (your stress hormone) levels being too high or too low when they shouldn’t be. Ideally, this natural cortisol rhythm increases in the morning and is lowest at night. Cortisol (along with blood sugar hormones like insulin) has a downstream effect on the thyroid.

When cortisol is high at night, you feel wired but tired. When it’s low during the day or especially at 3pm, you’ll feel like you hit a wall. We can confirm levels of cortisol through urine or saliva testing. We don’t recommend looking at it through the blood since it varies in levels throughout the day and we need to see overall what pattern is going on with this hormone.

Chronic stress and cortisol dysregulation, combined with the stress of not eating enough. over exercise, chronically dieting, losing weight quickly, or being on medications like SSRIs or hormonal birth control can all shift the production of thyroid hormones. Once thyroid production slows down, your metabolism slows down. This leads to weight gain, slowed digestion (constipation/bloat/SIBO), low body temps, unable to handle stress well, and then has a downstream impact on sex hormones so that you’ll have worse PMS, low libido, irregular cycles.

If you’ve been told that your thyroid labs are “normal” but still don’t feel well and can check off the signs and symptoms below, you still need to take the right steps to support your thyroid. I did an entire workshop on How to Improve Thyroid Health that you can watch here.

Some of the common signs associated with thyroid and adrenal dysfunction include:

• low body temperature below 97.0F
• feeling cold all the time
• hair loss, dry skin, brittle nails
• weight gain despite eating healthy
• bloating and constipation
• food intolerances
• SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth)
• lack of appetite in the morning
• cravings for carbohydrates, sugar, and salt
• poor recovery from workouts (always feeling sore and achey)
• low energy and fatigue

Some basics for supporting your thyroid and adrenals include:

• Test don’t guess – get a full thyroid panel and saliva or urine cortisol test; we use these labs with our clients and trained to interpret them
• Eat within an hour of waking – if you have no appetite, try something small until your hunger hormones and metabolism come back to baseline; being hungry is a GOOD sign
• Eat enough calories – a lot of women are still undereating without realizing it, which is why we have an entire lesson on making sure you’re eating enough inside Well Nourished
• Get direct sunlight in morning
• Make sure you’re eating enough carbohydrates from mineral rich sources – these are essential for thryoid conversion

What’s next?

To truly support your energy and fuel your body in a way that supports long term health, you need to follow a framework that will:

• Teach you to properly fuel your body with nutrient dense foods (not follow another diet)
• Balance your blood sugar – this will manage/eliminate cravings, keep energy steady (no crashes), and lower stress on the body which helps with everything else
• Balance your macronutrients (protein, carbs, fats) & micronutrients (vitamins, minerals)
• Know what’s going on with your hormones and how to support them
• Doesn’t stress you out and is flexible – nutrition can and should be simple if you understand what’s right for your body
• Know what movement / exercise routine is best for you – more is not always better

This is what we help you do inside Well Nourished. And having the tools, guidance, and resources to simplify it all. Because I promise, it can be really easy and you don’t have to give up the foods you love or deprive yourself.

If you’ve been struggling with fatigue, digestive symptoms, and hormone related symptoms like acne, heavy periods, or irregular cycles, and you’re ready to have a step by step plan that gets to the root cause (without restrictive diets or tons of supplements), then be sure to check out Well Nourished or book a free consult to learn more about our 1:1 coaching options. We would love to work together and support you!

The post Root Causes of Low Energy and Fatigue appeared first on Megan Crozier Nutritional Therapy.

Women will come to us confused as to what is actually causing their symptoms like low energy, brain fog, cravings, weight gain. On top of that, they might have more obvious gut symptoms like constipation, gas and bloating. Or, they might deal with PMS, heavy periods, endometriosis, thyroid issues, or PCOS. In this workshop we unpack where these are actually coming from and help you better understand: is it your hormones, your gut, or both? From there, we cover strategies so you know exactly where to start.

Here are some of the key takeaways from this workshop.

Health Indicators of a Well Nourished Woman

• Basal body temperature, consistent energy levels, healthy digestion, balanced hormones, and maintaining a body composition without dieting
• These indicators are more useful than the scale and are important for overall health

Understanding the Menstrual Cycle

• Understanding the four phases of menstrual cycle helps in making informed nutritional and movement decisions.
• Basal body temperature can be tracked to determine the phase of the cycle and make adjustments.
• Increasing calorie and carbohydrate intake at the right time can improve hormonal symptoms and nourish the gut.
• Targeted supplements based on individual needs are more effective than general supplements.

The Foundations of Female Health

• People often say they have tried everything and nothing works, but they may have skipped the foundational aspects of their health.
• The foundations address a person’s physiology and ensure that their body functions properly.
• Many people try different diets, supplements, medications, herbs, and cutting out certain foods without understanding the foundational pieces of health.

Stress and Hormonal Imbalances

• High cortisol levels can cause digestive issues, insulin resistance, slow digestion, sluggish thyroid and lower sex hormones production.
• Lifestyle changes and nutrition can help lower stress in the body and improve stress resilience.
• Hormone imbalance symptoms may not be obvious or easily understood.

12-Week Well Nourished Program

• The Well Nourished program is a twelve-week program that can help with these issues and has five spots available for live coaching calls.
• Hormones and gut health are related to a lot of symptoms.
• The right approach can help alleviate these symptoms.
• Commonly taught practices around diet and exercise may counteract with hormonal and gut health.

Hormonal Balance and Blood Sugar

• Controlling blood sugar is crucial for hormone balance.
• Blood sugar balance is important for regulating hormones.
• Neglecting blood sugar balance can affect other hormones, like cortisol and thyroid hormones.

Metabolism and Health

• A healthy metabolism is essential for supporting both hormones and gut health.

Well Nourished Program

• Get 12 weeks of support to repair your hormones, digestion, & metabolism inside the Well Nourished Program

Are you interested in joining the Well Nourished program? Apply for a free consultation here to decide if it’s a good fit for you.

Have questions about the program or support? Email megan@megancrozier.com so we can answer them!

The post Is it Your Hormones, Your Gut, or Both? appeared first on Megan Crozier Nutritional Therapy.

Because eating less is a sure-fire way to mess up your metabolism, disrupt your sleep, make it harder to lose fat, feel tired and anxious, increase your cravings and hunger, and completely throw off your hormones.

Instead, eating more of the right foods consistently is the solution and can be a game-changer for your health.

It’s essential for long term help and solving those ongoing nagging symptoms. Think: better sleep, more energy, balanced hormones, zero cravings, effortless fat loss, improved mood…. the list goes on and on.

I put together a short video all about it that you can watch HERE.

Under eating can look like:

• eating 1200-1500 calories a day 
• eating foods void of micronutrients (vitamins, minerals)
• eating foods void of macronutrients (fat, protein, carbs)
• low calorie during the day / during the week, then overeating at night / on the weekend

In other words, you might feel like you can feel like you’re overeating or eating a lot at certain times, but your body is still in need of nourishment. Whatever it looks like, it’s a HUGE stressor on the body and one that will keep you from reaching your goals.

Which one sounds like you?

• So busy you forget to eat, then when you finally get to chill you’re ready to eat ALL the food
• “Good” during the week then eat all the food and drinks on the weekend
• Yo-yoing between overeating one day and under eating the next. Feel like you have to “undo” overeating with more exercise or cutting calories the next day.
• Always looking to follow the newest diet or trend – maybe Keto, Paleo, a Whole30, or intermittent fasting is the answer
• Tracking everything meticulously and feels like they can’t eat out, socialize, and feel bad if they don’t fit within their calorie/macro goal.

And what actually happens when you’re not eating enough (or just stressing out this much about food)?! 

Chronic under-eating and yo-yo dieting are perceived by the body as STRESS (a threat to survival). Your body is smart and will adapt to survive, and one way it does this is by shifting hormones.

It slows down the functions that aren’t a priority and conserves energy wherever possible. This means slower digestion, a slower metabolism, thyroid issues, and adrenal issues. 

And because sex hormones are NOT priority for survival, things like ovulation, fertility, and your menstrual cycle are put on the back burner. This shows up as PMS, infertility, PCOS, irregular cycles, estrogen dominance, and painful periods

This is why maybe you’ve dieted in the past and it “worked” (you lost weight at first) but it seems like you can’t do that now, or you feel like you gain weight more easily.

Eating less is not the solution. But eating more of the right foods consistently is and can be a game-changer for your health once you dial it in.

Here are some of the signs you might not be eating enough:

• Getting cold easily
• Always hungry OR never actually feel hungry
• Cravings for specific foods
• Thinking about food all the time
• Hard time losing weight
• Can’t fall asleep or stay asleep
• Hard time gaining muscle or recovering from workouts
• Low energy, get dizzy, get shaky
• Irregular menstrual cycles or loss of period
• Hard time getting pregnant / infertility 
• No sex drive
• Hair loss, brittle nails, dry skin
• Anxiety and mood swings
• Hypothyroidism or Hashimotos

There are multiple factors that influence how much you should be eating, so the amount that is right for you will be different than your friend, and can even vary day to day based on your stress, activity, where you’re at in your cycle, and how much sleep you got the night before.

BOTTOM LINE: if you want to have more energy, feel motivated to workout, lose fat and keep muscle (aka get “toned”), sleep better, have a better sex drive, and regulate your mood, you have to be eating enough food. 

How to Determine Your Calorie Needs

Determining exactly how many calories you need to be eating on a daily basis for optimal health (great sleep, energy, digestion) and body composition goals can be tricky.

Many factors come into play, including your physical activity, stress levels, sleep, history of past diet, autoimmunity, and current hormonal status.

For women, anything less than 1800 calories is likely not enough.

I recommend working with a professional or going through my Metabolism Renewal Course to figure out your ideal calorie intake, but if you want a good place to start you can follow these steps.

1. Calculate your calorie needs HERE. You’ll take your BMR + your activity level to find your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). This is the # you want to reach consistently.
2. Track for 2-3 days to figure out what your current intake is, then slowly adjust based on your actual needs. If you’re under eating your needs significantly (i.e. you’re eating 1200 calories and need 2100 calories), increase this slowly by 50-100 calories a day.
3. Schedule time for 3 solid meals and don’t be afraid to fill your plate with food to keep you full and satisfied.

This is something I go over with my 1:1 Nutritional Therapy clients and inside my Metabolism Renewal Course.

If you want to learn how to eat enough food to support your goals, figure out the foods that are best for your body, and do so consistently so it almost becomes second nature, then you can book a FREE Strategy Session here so we can talk more.

And in the meantime, I would love to hear from — do you feel like you chronically under eat, feel like you’re “good” then overdue it, or like to try all the diets out there? Comment below or come join my private Facebook group, Real Health & Nutrition for Women and share with me there.

The post How to Know if You’re Eating Enough appeared first on Megan Crozier Nutritional Therapy.

The short answer: it’s not necessary to reach your goals, and not beneficial if you want to support your hormones and metabolism long term.

The longer answer: it depends. It can be helpful IF you have the other things dialed in that I’m going to share in this post.

I also cover this in a video mini training on intermittent fasting that you can watch below.

It’s essentially a complete guide on how to know if intermittent fasting is right for you and what to consider if you want to try it.

I recommend watching this training if:

• You want to understand exactly what intermittent fasting is and is not (hint: it doesn’t tell you anything about what to eat that will nourish your body)
• You want to know exactly WHAT to focus on that will help you see noticeable results (quickly and easily)
• You want a bigger picture plan that supports your metabolism, energy, hormones, weight, & digestion

And… if you’re someone who goes until 11am with no food and only drinking coffee, you definitely want tune in!

Now, let’s talk about some misconceptions and truths about intermittent fasting:

• Intermittent fasting is just a period of NOT eating. There is a “feeding window” and a “fasting window”. Most common is 16/8, where you fast for 16 hours (usually overnight) and eat for 8 hours.
• It’s NOT a nutrition plan and doesn’t tell you anything about how much to eat or the quality of food
• Fasting is a STRESSOR on the body. Other stressors include: drinking caffeine, lack of sleep, hitting the peloton or HIIT workout, riding the blood sugar rollercoaster, chronic calorie restriction, eating inflammatory foods

The reason we care so much about fasting being a stressor is because of the downstream impact it has on other hormones, including our thyroid hormones which regulate the metabolism and gut. When our body perceives a stressor – which is basically any energy demand on the body – it leads to:

• Increased cortisol (your stress hormone)
• Slowed the production of thyroid hormones (your metabolism)
• Slowed production of sex hormones
• Disrupts hunger signals
• Chronic fatigue, digestive issues, PMS, period problems, anxiety, brain fog, low mood, weight gain, inflammation

When we understand this… we can see why the goal is to KEEP STRESS IN THE BODY LOW. Working with it, rather than against it, will lead to results. This looks like nourishment – not restriction – and some of the other key pieces of the framework I walk my clients through like blood sugar balance, mineral balance, sleep, stress, and proper movement.

Bottom line: fasting is TOOL. It’s how you use that tool that can be helpful or hurtful, just like you can use a hammer to build a house or to break a window. So if you’re going to do it, here are important considerations.

Prerequisites to fasting:

You understand what foods are right for you FIRST – bioavailable, digestible, enjoyable 

You know how to build nourishing meals that balance blood sugar, have enough calories, and keep you full for 3-4 hours

You get enough protein (no less than 100 grams) regularly

You know how to listen to your body and don’t ignore hunger, cravings, fatigue, etc.

Fasting is not for you if:

You’re triggered by food restrictions

You have unmanaged cravings or fluctuate between restriction and overeating

You have digestive issues, especially bloat and constipation

You’re pregnant, nursing, or trying to conceive

You don’t get adequate sleep consistently

You have a super active job/lifestyle

Tips for doing fasting the RIGHT way:

1. Start by fasting overnight for 12 hours (dinner at 8pm, breakfast at 8am)
2. Get adequate sleep (7-9 hours)
3. If you have coffee in the morning, add some creamer or fat to help with blood sugar
4. You break your fast with a solid meal of protein + fat + fiber
5. You still hit your calorie goals during your eating window
6. You have solid meals (not just snacking and grazing during your eating window)
7. You listen to your hunger cues and if you’re hungry before the fast is over, you eat!

Keep in mind that intermittent fasting is a meal timing strategy. It is just ONE piece of a bigger puzzle. We have to look at how it fits into a bigger plan, and if it’s something that is going to help you reach your goal long term.

A sustainable plan that supports your goals should consider:

1. Nourishing Nutrition – focus on the right foods, eat enough for your goals, balance blood sugar, proper meal timing (this is where IF comes in), make your meals enjoyable and simple, hydration and minerals
2. Support your digestion & gut health – you have to have proper digestion and good gut health for healthy hormones, a strong immune system, balanced moods, and so much more
3. Proper movement (the right type and amount) – more isn’t better, and most of my clients need to back off the chronic cardio and incorporate more metabolically friendly exercises like strength training, walking, and daily movement
4. Supporting sleep & circadian rhythms – falling asleep and staying asleep with the right evening (and morning) routines is just as important as what you’re putting in your body
5. Stress evaluation & management – you have to look at stress that is in your control (like meal timing and balancing blood sugar) while also having the tools to better tolerate stress and support the hormones involved

If you’re ready to customize a plan that helps you better understand what’s right for your body — and have something you can stick to long term because it’s simple, enjoyable, & gets you results — then start with my free Well Nourished Woman Guide. This free guide will give the framework I coach my 1:1 clients through and help you get clarity on the exact plan that will nourish your hormones, metabolism, & digestion.

Download the Well Nourished Woman Guide here.

The post Is Intermittent Fasting Right For You? appeared first on Megan Crozier Nutritional Therapy.

If you answered true, you’re not alone. There’s a lot of confusion out there about the metabolism.

The word metabolism has become synonymous with how much someone can eat and how easily they gain or lose weight. You can be lean and have an unhealthy metabolism. I see this a lot in women — especially those who are doing a lot of cardio, counting calories and macros, and also feeling tired, anxious, bloated, and moody.

The truth is, your metabolic function goes way beyond the ability to maintain your weight.

In this article, I’m going to share why supporting your metabolism is important if you want optimal health, what influences your metabolism, and how to improve it with the right nutrition and lifestyle strategies.

Before we talk about how optimizing your metabolism can improve your health, it’s important to understand some metabolism fundamentals.

Your digestion, immune system, menstrual cycle, thyroid, stress hormones, energy, sex drive, hair skin nails health… are all influenced by your metabolism. It describes how efficiently you burn energy and it’s responsible for every function of your body.

Your metabolism isn’t something that is “stuck” or just inevitably gets slower as you age. It can change and adapt in response to stressors put on the body. And, the eat more + exercise less equation can down regulate your metabolism because the body senses it as a stressor and causes the compensatory changes that, over time, cause weight gain, hormone, issues, digestive issues, and chronic fatigue.

Bottom line: your metabolism impacts your energy, body temperature, digestion, hormones, weight, mood, and sleep. It’s your greatest tool for assessing your overall health and deciding exactly how to eat and exercise.

Signs of a Poor Metabolism

These are some of the major signs — and ones I see most commonly — that your metabolism isn’t working optimally:

1. Can’t lose weight no matter what. You’re doing the workouts 6 days a week. Eating clean. Fasting, whole30, paleo, keto… but not getting results.
2. Brain fog. You can’t focus, don’t feel as sharp as you used to, and have trouble remembering things.
3. Low energy. It’s hard to get out of bed, you hit a wall at 3pm, you’re exhausted at the end of the day.
4. Digestive issues. You deal with constipation and bloating daily. Everything feels slow. You react to even healthy foods like salads and fruit.
5. Trouble regulating temperature. You get cold easily and have a low body temperature (below 98.6F), especially your hands and feet. You’re always the one wearing a sweater when everyone else feels fine.
6. Hair loss, brittle nails, dry skin. No matter what shampoo you use or how many topical lotions you wear, these still don’t improve.
7. Hormonal symptoms. You deal with PMS, heavy periods, or irregular cycles. You’ve also might have had difficulty getting pregnant or have a history of miscarriages.
8. Trouble staying asleep. You wake up between 2 and 4am like clockwork.
9. Underactive thyroid, hypothyroidism, Hashimotos. You’ve been diagnosed with one of these based on lab results from your doctor. Maybe you have a family history of thyroid issues as well.

I have a full checklist for what to look for in a healthy metabolism in my Well Nourished Woman Guide that you can download here.

The good news is that because your metabolism has the ability to adapt, you can improve it with the right nutrition and lifestyle strategies. When you eat and move in a way that supports your metabolism you’ll have more energy, better digestion, better libido, normal periods, less PMS, maintain your weight, and improve your mood.

What influences your metabolism?

• Low calorie diet
• Chronic cardio
• Unmanaged stress
• Lack of sleep
• Imbalanced blood sugar
• Lack of protein
• Less muscle mass

Unfortunately, a lot of these happen when we’re following the recommendations from the diet and health industry like eat less, exercise more, power through the day (even after 5 hours of sleep), take no days off, eat meat substitutes instead of real meats, and choose bootcamp and HIIT classes over weight training.

What happens when your body is dealing with one of these, or most likely a combination of these, is that it does not feel safe.

This makes it easier to hold onto fat, harder to lose weight, and puts the body in a chronically stressed state. And a stressed state impacts all other hormones that lead to bloating, digestive issues, more cravings, and feeling tired all the time.

Why Dieting & Cutting Calories Doesn’t Work

The conventional weight loss “eat less, exercise more” model is oversimplified because it doesn’t consider metabolic adaptations.

In other words, when you drastically restrict calories or lose weight quickly, your body senses the energy gap and adapts to reduce energy burned.

Your body conserves energy by burning less calories at rest, which lowers your BMR (basal metabolic rate) and leaves less energy for “nonessential” functions like digestion, reproduction, thyroid production, hair growth, and liver function.

It’s not that your metabolism is slow or broken — your body has simply adapted. You can think of it like a stress barometer. More stress on the body — whether it’s something we “feel” like stress at work or something we do unintentionally like don’t eat enough — will cause the compensatory mechanisms that make it harder to lose weight.

It’s important to interrupt this pattern by doing things differently. This can be hard if you’ve been stuck in the mentality and if you’re just trying to do the same things “harder” or “better” — exercise harder, cut more calories, restrict more carbs. When really, the answer is quite the opposite and your metabolism is adapting to those exact things.

When you eat and move in a way that supports your metabolism you’ll have more energy, better digestion, better libido, normal periods, less PMS, maintain your weight, and improve your mood.

You have to prioritize nourishing and healing your body over short term goals and quick fixes.

Instead, we want to optimize our metabolism. This looks like: regular digestion, maintaining your weight without dieting, steady energy, healthy skin, hair, nails, clear and focused thinking, regulating your body temperature, and so much more.

How to Support & Optimize Your Metabolism

1. Make sure you’re eating enough. 

The amount of calories your body needs to function well is very individual depending on your stress, age, muscle mass, and activity levels. Some women are under eating without realizing it, either because they’re busy and just running from one task to another, or because they don’t understand that a bar and coffee don’t count as a meal. Others are more intentional and have purposely dieted on 1500 calories a day for years. If you’ve been restricting for a long period of time or are a yo yo dieter, it’s important to slowly work your way back up slowly to what your body actually requires. Most women are surprised when they learn they should be eating 2000+ calories a day for a healthy metabolism.

I see a lot of women start a diet, jumping straight to 1200 and 1500 calorie diets, only to lose weight in the beginning then plateau. Some (most) even gain the weight back and try to go back to the same type of restriction again and again.

Chronic dieting sends a signal to your brain that your body isn’t safe. When we don’t get adequate calories, functions that are no longer a priority shut down like reproduction, digestion, hair growth, and hormone production. Instead, we store fat, energy slows down, and our body conserves fat. This is why eating enough calories consistently should be the first goal of any effective, long term nutrition plan.

Instead of going to extremes with calorie restriction and putting the mental and physical stress on your body, you can figure out what it truly needs to feel nourished and safe. This will support all the other hormones that can go haywire — like thyroid hormones, cortisol, sex hormones, hunger hormones — so that if you want to lose weight it feels easy and enjoyable.

We go through how to find your unique calorie needs in Metabolism Renewal.

What you eat is also important. This is why I teach quality first in the form of nutrient dense, real food. From there, you can customize your calorie needs based on your current metabolic status, past dieting history, age, weight, height, and activity levels. If you’re wondering “am I eating enough?” I recommend checking out this article.

2. Balance your blood sugar

Riding the blood sugar rollercoaster is a huge stressor on the body and an easy one to reduce if you’re intentional about it. Meal composition and meal timing can make or break your blood sugar stability. Finding the right balance of protein, fat, and carbs is the first step. From there, try to eat every 3-4 hours with nutrient-dense foods. This means not snacking on carrot sticks or just running out the door with a granola bar.

I recommend really focusing on prioritizing protein (80-100 grams/day) because it helps to increase your metabolic rate due to it’s thermic effect (using energy to break it down) and will keep you satiated. Eggs, grass fed beef, fish, poultry, grass fed dairy, and organ meats are all great sources.

3. Walk throughout the day and swap cardio for strength.

This is a really effective way to stimulate the metabolism without increasing stress in the body. By moving more — especially out in nature — you’re lowering cortisol and moving in a way your body is designed to move. Scale back on structured and intense cardio and bump up natural, relaxing movement. Movement throughout the day is better for your metabolism than working out hard for an hour then sitting all day.

If you’re currently only doing cardio, it’s really important to add in strength training. Your body might be responsive to the cardio sessions at first, but overtime it gets more efficient during that hour long spin class or 5K run so that you’re not only burning less calories, you’re also breaking down muscle. The goal is to build muscle and workout smarter, not harder. While we might enjoy those hard classes for the endorphins, we don’t want to put our body under additional stress that will make us feel worse in the long term. Squats, push ups, and planks will benefit you more than an hour long spin class or bootcamp. And, the more muscle you have, the better your body can utilize energy and which means more calories burned at rest.

Between walking and strength training, you’ll have a workout routine that will optimize your metabolism, hormones, and decrease stress in the body so that it feels safe.

4. Evaluate stressors and manage cortisol. 

Cortisol is a stress hormone that should be highest in the morning and low at night. When it’s too high too often, other functions (digestion, energy, metabolism) slow down. Ways to decrease stress includes sleeping more, getting out in nature, going on walks, doing yoga, stretching, journaling and gratitude, reducing inflammatory foods, reducing stressful thoughts, and getting out of the chronic fight-or-flight mode.

Stress can be real, perceived, or anticipated. It’s important to figure out where it’s coming from (physical, environmental, emotional), then decide what you can eliminate. For the things you can’t eliminate, you can build in stress resilience practices and support your adrenals.

Another quick win for lowering stress in the body is to support circadian rhythms. This will also help with cortisol regulation and therefore with falling asleep and staying asleep. To support your circadian rhythm, get sunlight first thing in the morning and as much as you can throughout the day.

5. Support your gut and digestion. 

To heal your metabolism, you need to make sure you’re eating to support good digestion and gut health. This is the foundation for a healthy metabolism because it’s where nutrients are absorbed and used to build healthy hormones and cells. It’s also responsible for the conversion of vitamins that support the production of thyroid hormones, which are the regulators of our metabolism.

If you struggle with digestive issues regularly, react to certain foods, and have a long list of food intolerances, it’s important to really spend some time and attention on healing your gut.

Optimizing Your Metabolism Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated

If you feel like you’re eating healthy and exercising regularly and now you’re still struggling with low energy, weight gain, bloating and digestive issues, PMS, irregular periods, PCOS, hypothyroidism, and JUST want to feel better in your body, supporting your metabolism is essential.

Remember that it’s not about doing the things we “think” we should be doing like:

Eating “clean” or restricting more foods
Obsessing over calories and macronutrients
Forcing yourself to workout everyday
Never eating sugar or carbs again
Eating 6 small meals a day

But it is about listening to your body and:

Eating enough nutrient-dense foods
Balancing blood sugar with proper meal timing and protein, fat, carb combos
Getting enough protein from bioavailable sources
Getting minerals daily
Going for walks in nature
Strength training
Getting sunlight

And doing these things consistently.

Doing this doesn’t have to be complicated or require doing a complete diet overhaul with a bunch of supplements, meal prep, and shopping lists. Pick just one and start there.

If you want some help with where exactly to start and some guidance on walking through things step by step, check out my Metabolism Renewal Course here.

If you’re ready to improve your metabolism and support your body to give it what it needs, you can book a free Nutrition Strategy Session here. We’ll get clear on what you’ve tried in the past, where you’re at now, and what a customized plan looks like for you based on your goals.

Ready to figure out how to fuel your body so you can support your energy, hormones, metabolism, & weight?

Download my well Nourished Woman Guide and learn the 6 steps that will help you increase your energy and lose weight while supporting your metabolism & hormones… without restricting calories or stressing about diet rules.

The post 5 Steps to Optimize Your Metabolism appeared first on Megan Crozier Nutritional Therapy.

And while eating less might work at first, you’ll notice that over time it gets harder and harder to lose weight.

A lot of women make the mistake of continuing to cut calories to try to lose weight. Unfortunately, this makes it harder to lose weight because our body adapts to help us survive, and one way it does this by burning less calories at rest.

On top of that, because cutting calories isn’t working, maybe you’ve started to dabble in other strategies like low carb, Keto, intermittent fasting, or macro-counting.

And let’s face it… counting calories, limiting portion sizes, skipping dessert, and feeling like you can’t eat out is downright stressful and unenjoyable.

The good news is, if you’ve been slashing your calories and the weight loss isn’t happening for you, you might need to start eating more to start seeing progress.

Eating more can help you — both psychologically and physiologically — to reach your goals.

In this article, I’m going to break down how eating more can help you lose weight (and quite frankly, help you to feel less stressed around food) especially if you feel like you’ve tried everything.

Why Eating Enough Matters for Fat Loss

Let’s start with understanding why eating enough in the first place is so important.

It all goes back to supporting your metabolism. In order to have a well functioning metabolism, your body needs to enough energy (calories), vitamins, and minerals.

Your digestion, immune system, menstrual cycle, body temperature, thyroid hormones, stress hormones, energy levels, sleep, and sex drive are all dependent upon the health of your metabolism. Because your metabolism is adaptive, reactive, and designed to keep you alive, it will slow down in response to stressors.

Too much of a calorie deficit is a stressor on the body, which leads to a shift in the production of hormones and slows your body’s ability to burn energy. When you eat less for extended periods of time, your body adapts to that decrease in energy consumption by slowing down all non-essential functions. This leads to slower digestion, constipation, bloating, low energy and fatigue, and hormonal symptoms like PMS, irregular cycles, and infertility.

This means you need to be eating enough to support your metabolism so that it can effectively use the food you eat for important functions like digestion, hormone production, body temperature, and so much more.

In other words, the 1500 calories a day that your body once saw as a deficit is no longer a deficit. Instead of trying to eat less and less, you need to eat more to support your metabolism, build muscle, and burn energy with movement throughout the day.

From a psychological standpoint, eating more can help you to get out of the deprive-then-binge cycle. If you’re always feeling like foods are off limits or you can’t control yourself when your partner brings home donuts, eating more on a regular basis can help. You shouldn’t have to rely on willpower or discipline to avoid certain foods.

In order to lose weight, it’s important to be in a deficit but not too much of a deficit to cause these metabolic adaptations and unnecessary stress on the body.

What “Not Eating Enough” Looks Like

If you’re thinking “I’m already eating enough” or “under eating is definitely not a problem for me” because you end up overeating in the evening or on weekends, this is important to understand.

Not eating enough can look like:

• Eating less than 1800 calories a day
• Eating foods void of micronutrients (vitamins, minerals) – I see this a lot with women eating “clean” or following vegetarian, vegan, and even strict Paleo diets
• Not eating enough bioavailable protein (at least 80 grams/day)
• Not eating enough carbohydrates (especially important if you have hormone and adrenal issues)
• Eating low calorie during the day (example: fasting until 2pm)
• Eating low calorie during the week (Monday-Friday) and indulging on the weekends

And, if your metabolic markers like sleep, energy, digestion, and menstrual cycle are “off”, that’s a huge indicator that you’re likely not eating enough consistently.

Here are some other red flags that your body isn’t getting the calories it needs:

You have cravings for sugar and carbs
You always feel hungry (or never hungry at all)
You think about food all the time
You have trouble falling asleep or waking up frequently
You have energy slumps and fatigue
You deal with constipation and bloating
You have mood swings and irritability
You feel cold all the time – feet, hands, nose
You have hormone issues like PMS, irregular periods, PCOS

If you’re dealing with even just a few of these symptoms, you have to address both the quantity and quality of food you’re eating. Although these things are common, they’re not normal and oftentimes can be improved by increasing calories and eating foods that are right for you.

By addressing the first two layers of the Nutritional Hierarchy pyramid below, you’ll notice a huge improvement in the way you feel and also see progress with your weight loss.

Now that we know why eating enough in general is important, what it looks like, and some of the signs and symptoms that you’re not eating enough, let’s talk about some of ways eating more can help you to lose weight.

How eating more can help to support your weight loss goals.

Less cravings and hunger.

If you find that you’re using willpower or strategies to ignore and suppress your hunger, that’s your body telling you that it’s under stress and needs more calories. Eating even just a couple hundred calories more of the right food can also help to prevent cravings (the ones that lead us to overeating) and keep our blood sugar balanced so that we’re not dealing with the need for quick, easy sources of energy like processed carbohydrates that makes us feel completely out of control.

A healthier, more robust metabolism.

When you have a healthier metabolism, it’s easy to maintain your weight without dieting. With a healthy metabolism, you’ll have more energy, better sleep, balanced hormones, positive moods, and be more resilient to stress. My Metabolism Renewal Course is the step by step blueprint to help you achieve a healthy metabolism — even if you’ve felt like it’s always been “slow” or working against you. You can check it out here.

Better sleep.

Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep is one of the most common symptoms I see with women who have low energy and are struggling to lose weight. Even with the perfect evening routine and a ton of supplements, they still wake up at 2am and can’t fall back asleep. If this is you, it’s likely that your body is in a state of stress and cortisol (your stress hormone) increases as a result. When this happens, you’ll wake up and feel alert. And, if you wake up and feel hungry this is a sign that your body is struggling to regulate your blood sugar. One way to fix this is by eating more throughout the day, and more specifically focusing on increasing good carbohydrates with dinner.

More energy.

This one might sound obvious, but it’s worth emphasizing that when you eat more calories — which are a form of energy — you’ll have more energy. Getting the right type of calories and balance of protein, carbs, and fats are especially important if you deal with energy highs and lows, cravings, headaches, and other blood sugar related issues.

Better recovery from workouts.

Another important part of the weight loss — and more specifically fat loss — equation is building muscle. Just like “eat less” is oversimplified, so is the advice to “exercise more”. In order to maintain healthy body composition and weight, it’s important to strength train and build muscle because the more muscle you have, the more calories you’ll burn at rest. This means that throughout the day, you’re burning more calories without doing more formal exercise. Eating enough is important not only for fueling effective workouts, but also for proper recovery so you can continue to train and build muscle.

Less restrictive mindset and decreased mental stress.

The mental stress of dieting can cause a physiological stress response in the body that negatively impacts your metabolism and hormones. And, if under eating is what’s causing you to be inconsistent and stuck on the yo-yo dieting train, eating more will help to break out of that cycle.

If you think that you’re ready to evaluate your current intake to see if you’re eating enough and want to eat more in order to lose weight, I walk you through how to do that in my Metabolism Renewal Course.

Or, if you’re ready to have a customized nutrition plan that supports your weight loss goals while supporting your long term health, metabolism, hormones, and relationship with food, then you can apply to work together here.

Now I would love to hear from you. What do you think your calorie needs are and do you think you’re over or under it? Do you feel good with what you’re doing right now or are you trying to figure out what works for you?

The post How Eating More Can Help You Lose Weight appeared first on Megan Crozier Nutritional Therapy.

If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, you’ve probably done this by following the conventional diet equation of calories in vs. calories out.

You count calories, track them in your app, and willpower your way through 1200 calories a day. On top of that, you hit the gym every morning (even though you feel exhausted) to make sure you’re burning extra calories. But, at the end of the day, you don’t really feel like you’re making progress on the scale. Maybe you did at first, but you’ve been doing this a while and realize you’re just feeling worse. You struggle with cravings, fatigue, hormone issues like PMS and heavy periods, and stress out about eating out or having certain foods around for fear you’ll overdo it.

Counting calories and doing more workouts isn’t the answer to healthy, effective fat loss.

A better equation (that the diet industry doesn’t want to share with you) looks something like this:

Stable energy + regulated cortisol + managed cravings/hunger + adequate macronutrient and micronutrient = weight loss success.

This approach considers your hormones, metabolism, and your unique female physiology. So when we take this approach, we can have long term results that feel easy, simple, and enjoyable. Let’s get into how to do this!

Before pursuing fat loss, there are a few things to keep in mind. Let’s cover those first.

#1. There are VERY important prerequisites to healthy weight loss.

If your goal is to lose 10 lbs, but you also struggle with….

• Low energy
• Trouble sleeping
• Lack of hunger
• Hypothyroidism or Hashimotos
• PMS and heavy periods
• Digestive issues – your bloated after meals, can’t tolerate a lot of foods, not pooping everyday
• Depriving-then-binging (periods of restriction followed by overeating) OR just chronically eating low calorie (less than 1600 cals/day)

… then losing weight is your body’s last priority, and those symptoms need to be addressed first or at the same time.

#2. You can still enjoy life while perusing weight loss. 

It shouldn’t feel miserable or take you away from real life things like being social, traveling, eating delicious food, or enjoying meals with family. If it does, then you’re probably going about it in the way the diet industry teaches and it’s time to ask yourself: “is this actually what I need to be doing to get results?”.

#3. You don’t get healthy by losing weight, you get healthy and lose weight as a result.

Here are a few examples:

>> If you have symptoms of hormone imbalances (PCOS, hypothyroidism, heavy periods)… trying to lose weight by dieting to “fix” these issues will actually make things worse. 

>> If you have insulin resistance or diabetes, trying to lose weight won’t solve this diagnosis either.

>> If you have high cholesterol, this is a sign of inflammation likely caused from eating refined carbohydrates, processed sugar, dealing with a chronic infection or environmental toxins, over-exercising, or hypothyroidism.

Gaining weight wasn’t what caused these issues in the first place, so losing weight won’t resolve them! This is why my approach involves addressing the root cause, figuring out why these imbalances are showing up in the first place, and focusing on habits that will not only get rid of hormonal symptoms, insulin resistance, or high cholesterol… but will also help you lose weight if that is what your body needs.

With all of that said, once your body is ready to lose weight here is how to do it in a healthy, sustainable way:

#1. Support blood sugar balance

Eating in a way that maintains blood sugar balance is the foundation for minimizing cravings, lowering stress in the body, and balancing hormones. It eliminates the need for willpower or discipline. There are a lot of ways to ensure balanced blood sugar, but the first place to start is with what is on your plate. Make sure that your meals contain protein + fat + carbs in the right amount and keep you full for 3-4 hours. Snacks should also be blood sugar balancing friendly with a protein or a fat.

Here are a few examples of blood sugar friendly meals:

• Grass fed beef (P+F) + roasted potatoes (C) + sauteed mushrooms + onions (V/C) in avocado oil (F)
• Baked salmon + brussels sprouts roasted (V) butter (F) + rice (C)
• Scrambled eggs + turkey apple sausage (P+F) + hash browns (C)

P = protein, F = fat, C = carb, V = veggies

#2. Aim for 80-100 grams of bioavailable protein

Protein is going to be your best friend when it comes to improving your metabolism, burning more calories at rest, building muscle, balancing blood sugar (#1) and losing fat. Plus… amino acids from bioavailable sources will improve your mood. I see a lot of women struggling with depression and anxiety when they cut out animal proteins for an extended period of time. A good way to think of this is 20-30 grams per meal, and 10 grams with snacks.

With this in mind, your day might look something like:

Breakfast: 3 eggs (25 grams)

Lunch: 6 oz salmon (30 grams)

Snack: cottage cheese (10 grams)

D: 4-5 oz grass fed beef (25 grams)

Snack: collagen smoothie (10 grams)

#3. Customize your meal timing by starting with 12 hours of fasting over night, and 3-4 hours between meals during the day.

I don’t recommend extended fasting for hormone health or if you’re extremely active, but a 12 hour fast overnight can give your GI system a break and improve blood sugar regulation. But, don’t let fasting be an excuse for under eating calories or ignoring hunger. One question to ask yourself is: am I putting my body under more stress by not eating? If yes, then it’s counterproductive for fat loss.

Start with a fast overnight from 8pm to 8am. If you’re waking up in the middle of the night hungry, this is a sign you’re not eating enough throughout the day or dealing with blood sugar imbalances. If that’s the case, increase calorie intake and support blood sugar before going longer periods without eating.

#4. Figure out your calorie “sweet spot” where you’re at just a slight deficit, but not enough to impact your hunger, sleep, mood, or cravings. 

It’s important to keep your metabolism & hormones supported while also losing weight. One stressor that can trigger adaptations like a slower metabolism, more hormone issues like PMS, heavy periods, and even slower digestion which leads to bloating and constipation, is going too low calorie. It’s counterproductive for fat loss, sleep, recovery, and stress management.

Avoid going to extremes like 1500 calories a day, cutting out all carbs, fasting for 18 hours. If you have to rely on willpower or discipline, it’s probably too low calorie or too low in other macronutrients like protein or carbs. I help my clients figure this out and teach it inside the Metabolism Renewal Course.

If you’re ready to decide if your body is ready for fat loss and take a different approach that involves customizing your plan, evaluating imbalances, and supporting your whole body for long term results, be sure to download my free Well Nourished Woman Guide here.

To get more 1:1 support and work with a practitioner, you can apply for a free Strategy Session here.

The post 4 Strategies for Healthy, Effective Fat Loss (mini training) appeared first on Megan Crozier Nutritional Therapy.

The approach I recommend is more long term and takes into consideration supporting your body’s stress tolerance and stress response while also reducing and removing the stressors that are within your control.

Stress is cumulative – the intensity, duration, and frequency of each stressor all fill up your “stress bucket”.

My 4 step process walks you through exactly how to do this:

Step 1: Recognize.

There are different types of stressors out there, some of which we put on ourselves without even realizing it. What gets measured gets managed – this applies to the stress in your life as well. Even though you might just feel like you have a lot of stress and it’s hard to quantify, you can actually pinpoint the types of stressors and possibly identify stress that is filling up your bucket without you even realizing it. Here are some examples of where stress can come from:

• Physical stress – too much exercise, lack of sleep, increased demand from your job, acting as a caretaker, surgery, infections, injuries, chronic digestive issues etc.
• Dietary stress – undereating or restricting calories, eating processed foods, not eating enough nutrient dense foods, eating foods that are causing inflammation
• Social stress – Pressure from peers, tension in relationships (spouse or children), difficulty with relationships at work, etc.
• Emotional stress – emotionally demanding job (therapist, educator, physician, health professional, etc.), emotional abuse from close relationships, history of PTSD or other emotional trauma, divorce, etc.
• Environmental stress – Poor air quality, spending the majority of your day indoors, working in a stressful environment (lots of noise, bright lights, etc.), exposure to chemicals, etc. 
• Health related stress – chronic medical conditions (high blood pressure, metabolic disease, high cholesterol, etc.), hormone imbalances, nutrient deficiencies, history of depression/anxiety, etc.

Make a checklist or just do a brain dump of which ones might be on your plate right now.

Step 2: Reduce or eliminate.

Once you get clear on what stressors are filling up your bucket right now, you can decide which ones to reduce and which ones to eliminate. This might require delegating tasks, saying no to certain things, and prioritizing what is most important to you.

For the ones that are out of your control – like having to wake up every hour to feed a baby – keep in mind that this is something that is temporary and commit to what you will do to support your body once it’s over. For example, even though you know you’re only getting 4 hours of sleep a night, once the baby sleeps better you will make it a priority to get to bed by 10pm consistently.

Just knowing that there’s a “light at the end of the tunnel” can help you to better handle the stress at hand rather than anticipate future stress that doesn’t exist.

Step 3: Manage.

There are stress that will exist no matter what because of our modern day life and expectations. To try to meet this mismatch of how our body’s are designed to thrive and how we actually are expected to show up everyday, it’s important to manage the day to day as best as you can. This is where techniques like breathing, meditation, morning and evening routines, cultivating calm throughout the day, walks, and

The other key piece with managing is knowing when there might be too much filling up your bucket and deciding what you have to scale back on.

For example, if you only got 5 hours of sleep, are having a ton of digestive issues lately, and are stressed at work, it actually might not be a good time to push yourself hard at the gym. It also isn’t a good time to try to do intermittent fasting or drink 3 cups of coffee throughout the day.

And remember, if weight loss is your goal or you want to have more energy and keep inflammation low, cutting calories, skipping meals, and trying to workout more is going to be counterproductive.

Step 4: Support.

If you take nothing else away from this article, this is the last but most important step to focus on. You can support your body intentionally with day to day habits that are within your control, listen to your body so you know when things are “off”, and give it what it needs. Too often we just try to grind through the day and ignore our body’s signals like hunger, cravings, fatigue, irritability, anxiety. These are important messages and rather than just powering through or going to the doctor when they feel unmanageable, you can actually give your body extra support in some areas that are often overlooked.

Here’s how to actually support your body to keep stress low and better handle stress when it’s high:

1. Eating enough calories. I see women do this both intentionally by trying to follow a low calorie, low fat, low carb to try to lose weight and unintentionally with “clean eating” or just skipping meals and not fueling their body with nutrient dense foods. If you’re eating anything less than 1800 calories, your body is going to be under stress. Simplify fueling your body properly and knowing what that looks like based on your activity levels — not a one size fits all 1500 calorie template from a magazine — is the best way to reduce stress, manage cravings and hunger, lose fat, improve your metabolism, and balance your hormones. I cover this more in my free Well Nourished Woman Guide that you can download HERE.
2. Balancing blood sugar. The best way to start doing this is by eating a balance of quality protein, fat, and carbohydrates with each meal. Strategies that I teach my clients to improve blood sugar imbalance also include proper meal timing, more carbs at certain times of the day, reducing caffeine, and prioritizing sleep. Many women make the mistake of fueling their day with mostly carbs (yogurt and berries and oatmeal for breakfast, quinoa bowl for lunch, lentil pasta for dinner) and lack the protein and fats to balance it out.
3. 8 hours of sleep without waking up. Even if you’re someone who feels like you’ve never slept well, have always had trouble falling asleep, or wake up throughout the night, I promise you that with the right strategies, routines, and habits (both in the morning and evening) you can improve your sleep. The first step is making it a priority and knowing how important it is not only to lowering stress but also to balancing your blood sugar which means more energy and less cravings throughout the day.
4. No digestive distress (daily bowel movements). Yes, you should be pooping 1-2x a day and not relying on Miralax or coffee to “get things going”. With my clients, we look at the root cause of their digestive issues and fix their chronic bloating, constipation, reflux, cramping, and inflammation. Even if you’ve dealt with digestive issues your whole life or been diagnosed with IBS, there is a reason for it and you don’t have to live it forever.
5. Sunlight. Getting direct sunlight before 10am can do wonders for your stress, sleep, blood sugar, and mood. With this one habit alone you’ll see huge improvements. I recommend at least 15 minutes with no sunglasses or windows, exposing as much skin as possible.
6. Movement. Your body is meant to move, but not in the way we force it to with hour long spin classes and CrossFit 6 days a week. The best movement is walking outside and just moving your body in a way that feels good. This plus a good strength training routine with proper recovery time will increase your stress resilience, support your hormones, and improve your metabolic health. Rather than increasing cortisol (your stress hormone) with a HIIT workout than sitting on your butt the rest of the day, you want to focus on movement throughout the day. When other stress is low and you’re doing all of the above, you can add in some more intense workouts.

If you made it this far, you’re probably very aware that you need to work on these strategies and maybe wondering how you can start to put it all into action with a plan that makes sense for you.

If you’re ready take an approach that actually works for you and put together a step by step with support, guidance, and accountability, then you can fill out an application to work together HERE.

The post How To Actually Lower Stress on Your Body appeared first on Megan Crozier Nutritional Therapy.

Conventional wisdom tells us that to lose weight, we just need to eat less, exercise more, and be disciplined.

But, this oversimplified advice ignores our unique physiology, metabolic adaptations that occur, our hormones that regulate hunger, cravings, sleep, and energy, and doesn’t take into account our individual needs and preferences.

It’s a bandaid solution that might work in the short term or the first time you attempt to lose weight.

Your body needs to feel safe and nourished to lose weight in a healthy way. If you understand this, you’ll not only lose weight, but be able to maintain it without dieting, spending hours working out, or feeling like you have to “start over” every single Monday.

A lot of the habits — both intentional and unintentional — that we put ourselves through on a daily basis make our body feel unsafe. Combine that with the inevitable stressors and responsibilities of today’s modern world, and it’s hard to support your body if you’re not intentional about it.

Blood sugar imbalances.

Balancing your blood sugar is one of the most important factors when it comes to losing fat and maintaining your weight, having consistent energy, balancing your hormones, and improving your mood.

You don’t have to be diabetic or even eat sugar to have blood sugar issues. A lot of the day to day habits and lifestyle factors can put us on the blood sugar rollercoaster. If you’re not balancing your plate with the right amount of protein, fats, and carbohydrates or not eating enough in general, your blood sugar is going to be all over the place.

Here are some signs of blood sugar imbalances:

• Craving sugar or caffeine all of the time
• Headaches or migraines
• Stubborn weight
• Getting dizzy when standing too quickly
• Feeling moody and cranky
• Needing to eat every 1-2 hours
• Never having enough energy no matter how many hours you sleep
• Waking up between 2 and 4am

In my free guide, 6 Strategies to Simplify Your Nutrition, I give you the strategies you need to follow to balance your blood sugar.

You can grab it HERE.

The bottom line: your sleep, energy, mood, weight and cravings are all impacted by imbalance blood sugar.

It’s a foundational piece to understand if you want to have a sustainable nutrition plan that supports your goals. 

Hormone imbalances.

Hormones are chemical messengers that send signals throughout the body to regulate our energy, mood, sleep, hunger, stress response, and menstrual cycle, just to name a few.

If you’re like most women, when you hear the word hormones you immediately think of puberty, menopause, or “that time of the month”.

But, hormones are relevant no matter your age or goals. Research indicates almost 90% of women struggle with hormone imbalances that are largely due to diet, lifestyle, and environmental factors. These can show up as obvious symptoms — like PMS, infertility, irregular periods, PCOS, and menopause — but also less obvious symptoms like cravings, sleep issues, weight regulation, and mood disorders.

Hormones work together like a symphony, so when one is out of balance it can cause a cascade of imbalances. This is why it’s important to address and support them in a strategic, customized process.

These are the main ones I see with women who are already eating well and exercising:

• Low thyroid: even if your labs are “normal” this is an issue for many women, especially those who have dieted in the past or undergone extended periods of stress. If you’re struggling with your mood, energy, digestion, and stubborn weight, it’s worth evaluating beyond just a conventional thyroid panel.
• Sex hormones: excess estrogen and low progesterone can make it harder to lose weight and cause a lot of PMS symptoms, anxiety, bloating, and sleep issues. Understanding the phases of your menstrual cycle and knowing how to support your body based on its hormonal fluctuations can help to improve the balance of estrogen and progesterone.
• Hunger hormones: leptin and ghrelin shape our appetite and hunger signals. Ghrelin tells you “I’m hungry” and increases when calories are restricted, which is why periods of dieting often lead to overeating. Snacking and grazing can also throw off these hormones so that you never feel full or satisfied.
• Cortisol: this is a key stress hormone that is released from the adrenal glands. It’s useful in the short term when your body needs to respond to a threat, but too much at the wrong time, or not enough when it should be higher, can cause an increase in body fat, slow the metabolism by affecting thyroid hormone levels, increase inflammation, induce cravings, and create a big metabolic mess.

Many of these hormone imbalances stem from the stress we put on our body with a strict diet and exercise, both of which raise can cortisol. Because cortisol production is critical to survival, it will impact your sex hormones, thyroid hormones, and hunger hormones. This is why — despite eating clean and working out — your hormones are off and the weight won’t budge.

Gut dysbiosis and digestive issues.

Symptoms like gas, bloating, indigestion, acid reflux, constipation, and food reactions might be common, but they’re not normal. If you’re dealing with any of these, it’s really important to get to the root cause of these issues.

Issues with the gut can cause inflammation throughout the body, chronic fatigue, hormone imbalances, and increase cravings, making weight loss more difficult.

Gut health can be compromised by stress — including the stress of dieting and exercising — as well as medications like NSAIDS, hormonal birth control, antacids, and antibiotics.

You should be going to the bathroom daily (which is extremely important for clearing toxins and excess estrogen from the body), not feel bloated after meals, and not have to avoid a a long list of foods just to feel normal.

If you have trouble digesting certain foods (meat, fats, carbohydrates) or get bloated after meals, these are signs that your digestive function isn’t working as it should.

With the right diet, supplement, and lifestyle protocol, you can lower inflammation, have better digestion, and let go of stubborn weight.

Unaddressed stress.

​The effect of stress on our hormones and our body’s ability to burn versus hold onto fat is a significant but overlooked piece of popular weight loss advice. When we are in a chronic state of stress — which many of us are in but don’t even realize — our body will adapt as a survival mechanism. Metabolism slows down, hunger and cravings for quick carbohydrates will increase, digestion shuts down, and blood sugar increases. And what makes all of this worse: a strict diet and more exercise.

Trying to do more, be more strict, and not address stress is actually hurting your fat loss goals, increasing inflammation, and adding fuel to the fire.

Since dealing with stress is inevitable in today’s world, it’s important to have a long term approach for responding to it better and reducing it where we can.

We have to recognize the stress our body is actually dealing with on a daily basis. For many women this includes:

• drinking too much caffeine
• not eating enough (can also be disguised as “clean eating”)
• over exercising or under exercising
• eating inflammatory foods
• digestive distress
• lack of quality or quantity sleep
• always on the go
• rushing through your meals
• taking on responsibilities that don’t bring you joy

You can also get rid of the lifestyle stress contributors like watching the news, checking email constantly, scrolling on social media, staying up late watching TV. Of course, minimizing unessential stressors is helpful, but improving your ability to respond to stress is what will keep you healthiest long term.

Here are some examples of food related and non-food related scenarios that could be stressful for your body without you realizing it.

• Sleeping 5 hours and forcing yourself to go for a run at 6am (then maybe sitting at a desk the rest of the day).
• Rushing through your meals and eating “good” foods that you don’t even enjoy, then feeling bloated and cravings sweets later.
• Waking up and checking your phone or turning on the news first thing.
• Drinking coffee all morning and waiting until 1pm to eat lunch.
• Following a super strict diet with foods you don’t really enjoy, then getting frustrated when you don’t see the scale change.

Once you figure recognize your stressors and decide what you can eliminate, reduce, and manage, you can support your stress response with targeted supplements and specific foods.

Your mindset and thoughts

How many times have you gone on a diet or way of eating and told yourself that certain foods are off limits? Or maybe you tell yourself you’ll FINALLY stick to the diet if you just have more willpower or discipline.

These thoughts are mentally exhausting and will keep you stuck in the yo yo dieting cycle, unable to lose weight no matter how hard you feel like you’re trying.

They also have a physiological impact on your hormones and digestion. Your brain interprets these thoughts as a stressor and your body adjusts accordingly. Just like with physical stress, your body will increase cortisol and keep your body in chronic survival mode. And when we’re in chronic survival mode, our body doesn’t feel safe to lose fat.

Here are some common thought patterns that not only make it harder to lose weight — they also tell your body that what you’re doing isn’t a lifestyle change that you can stick with:

All or nothing mentality

• Trying to be perfect and avoiding foods you think you shouldn’t have
• Having “cheat days” or weekends where you go all in of foods that you think are off limits

Self-sabotage

• If you have one cookie, you might as well have all the cookies
• Starting over on Monday because you feel like you overdid it on the weekend

Morality around food

• Labeling foods as good or bad
• Telling yourself you can’t have certain foods
• Saying you’re bad if you eat XYZ food

Maybe you stress out about eating a banana for breakfast but then feeling deprived by the weekend and completely overdo it. Maybe you don’t allow yourself to have dessert when you go to dinner but eating a pint of ice cream when you get home.

But here’s the thing: you get to decide what you eat, when you eat it, and know how it makes your body feel. If you want to feel a certain way, you make your choice and own it. Life is too short to stress about foods that in the end have very little impact on your health goals.

Reframing your thoughts and getting out of the diet mentality takes time and practice, but it is possible if you commit to it. Here are some shifts to start with:

• You get healthy to lose weight; weight loss is a side effect of nourishing your body with the right food, movement, lifestyle, and thoughts
• Focus on the process and daily habits that make you feel good, not the outcome of a number on the scale
• The habits you build are ones you can picture yourself doing for more than 6 months, a year, even 5 years from now. You can figure out how to adjust as you go through stages of your life (marriage, kids, traveling) but the foundational habits remain consistent.
• Pay attention to biofeedback from your body as you make changes — your mood, energy, sleep, hunger; if these are in check, you will show up as your best self and enjoy life more
• You shouldn’t have to rely on willpower or discipline; if you’re giving your body what it needs, supporting your blood sugar, hormones, and listening to the biofeedback, and not depriving yourself, you’ll be able to make long term changes that don’t require willpower.

If you’re ready to figure out what truly works for you, improve your energy and hormones, fix your digestion, and gain confidence and clarity on what to eat and how to treat your body so that you can make changes that will actually get you results, you can apply for a free Nutrition Strategy Session here.

The post 5 Reasons Your Weight Won’t Budge appeared first on Megan Crozier Nutritional Therapy.