Stress management: the forgotten key to weight loss
I was truly burning at both ends….
My stress was high, but as a woman, especially a woman who was previously obese, I was NOT going to let anything take me away from the things that helped me maintain a 160lb weight loss for 5 years. It makes NO sense when you have body or performance goals to STOP doing the things you know will help you achieve those goals! Pull back on training? NO CARDIO? Eat UP?!!??! WHATTTTT!! I want to lose weight, NOT GAIN IT. I’m sitting here writing this to you all as a COACH, a medical provider and someone who writes hundreds of protocols for stress reduction… when these issues became my life, I couldn’t see past my own insecurities to actually handle what was going on.
Read through for a little history & how we managed to pull off 8lbs in six weeks with merely stress management. I want to let you all know - I am a HARD loser. There are individuals who can drop weight SUPER quick. I am more of a girl who drips 10lb over 4months type thing.
I had weight loss surgery in 2016. My starting weight was 305ish pounds at my highest and at my lowest (before becomming a client and coach for loud), 145lb. I had a little bit of regain, up to 155-160ish, freaked out & started as a client on loud in 2018. plastic surgery for skin removal, 2018.
after a big push to get lean in 2019 (and I was lean! Check out old 2019 steph pics, 138lb at my lowest) & a pretty terrible reverse, I have not been able to lean out since. Derek will tell you, EVERY SINGLE TIME we tried a caloric deficit, different modalities of cardio, different training plans… my body would fight us every. single. step. of. the. way!
I tried to diet twice in 2020. Failed. Couldn’t cut weight and Derek knew we would have to do a VERY restrictive diet alongside more time spent on cardio than I was going to be compliant with.
July 2021, we tried to diet. Again, like the last 2 times, it back fired and I gained weight to be the highest I have been since WLS and starting with LOUD. Seeing the scale top at 172lb while STILL tracking food, training and doing my cardio is SOOOO frustrating. So when I tell my clients I understand their frustration, I REALLY UNDERSTAND THEIR FRUSTRATION.
August 2021, still couldn’t cut weight with diet/cardio/exercise, we decided to lab work which was essentially riddled with the fact that I was, YET AGAIN, insulin resistant. After losing half of my body weight from 300+lb, to building a decent amount of muscle (which we would assume would only increase metabolic rate), regulating my estrogen dominance & going on HRT…. THIS WAS SO MADDENING TO ME (and still is). Because of this, Derek suggested (as I insanely pushed back) going keto.
I also started clinical rotations to become Primary Care Nurse Practitioner.
School stress was high, as well as personal stressors. In hindsight, my cortisol levels were so damn high that it was making my thyroid sluggish, decreasing the ability to process and use carbs, instead storing them and holding water. Keto for me wasn’t really keto (tried, but never got into ketosis). And this blog is less about diet and more about stress management. What keto did for me though was help me shift a decent amount of water weight & totally take away my cravings.
October 2021, we decided to pull back immensely on my fitness stressors to allow since life stressors were impacting me. This was the value of having Derek as my coach for the last 4 years. He can pick up on things that I don’t see, don’t want to see or want to come to terms with.
From October 2021(left pic) until december 2021 - 6weeks (right pic). We STOPPED dieting and followed a ‘keto style format’. I wasn’t restricting anything & essentially calories were kept around 1600ish which is perceived to be my baseline.
We pulled WAYYYYYY back on cardio and training. I ate what I would normally eat if I was tracking. Some days a little more, some less. Most important I took the time to LISTEN to my hunger cues, see what I needed and when. Because of that, I went on my first large vacation to Costa Rica where, with the exception of breakfast, meals were bought out, and did NOT binge, go off the rails or come back 10lb heavier than when I left.
We planned for this pull back. It was the right time. It’s STILL the right time
I WANT TO BE CLEAR - my diet was managed this entire time. I was a bit more lax, some weeks went untracked, BUT my processes did not changed & I do NOT think I would have been as successful if I didn’t concrete those into my lifestyle.
THE VALUE OF COACHING HERE is to watch the body.
IT IS A SLIPPERY SLOPE when training/cardio are pulled back & diet is a bit more lax to fall into old habits or get out of the swing of things and downward spiral. I had a team to keep me in check. So, when we tell you we need to control your stressors, WE MEAN IT. NOT EVERYONE IS THE SAME AS ME… but some of us are and need to be able to manage our outside stressors by gently pulling back on our controllable stressors (fitness).
Listen to your body.
LISTEN to the people who know your body
At six years out - I’m still learning. I’ll never stop
But THIS is the. MOST balanced and ‘lifestyle’ I have EVER been & my body is thanking me!
We have to do these “controlled pull-backs” with our client’s often.
Believe me, as a coach, I WANT you to hit your goals. We want you in the best shape of your life. We also want you to learn about your body and be healthy. Sometimes the work is unseen, from the inside first. #teamloud
