Weight Fluctuations? What Gives?

What I hear:

I gained a pound this week! What am I doing wrong?

My weight stayed the same this week! This is not working.

I only lost two pounds this week! I want to quit. 😦

I lost 5 pounds in 10 days – woohoo!

What I say:

What you should do at this point in time… RELAX!!!

You did not gain three pounds of fat overnight – it is impossible, and you did not lose three pounds of fat overnight either.

Body Weight Fluctuations of 1-5 Pounds a Day are Perfectly Normal.

1. Sodium: Think of your body like a pendulum scale. If you eat more salt than usual one day, your body will react by trying to balance the scale by retaining more water. Eat less salt than usual, and you have the opposite affect.

2. Alcohol: This diuretic causes dehydration in the body, which leads to water retention. The water retention is a result of your body wanting to make up for the difference in water levels drinking alcohol has caused.

3. Carbohydrate Intake: The body turns the majority of eaten carbs into glucose for immediate energy. Glucose that is not used for immediate energy, turns to glycogen. Glycogen is stored in the muscle tissue and liver, which is stored with water. Eating a low-carb diet often leads to weight loss as you use up your glycogen stores and the stored water is released. In the long run, fatigue can set in as your quick energy source (carbs) is depleted and not replaced.

4. Strength Training: Lifting weights or doing body weight exercises causes trauma to muscle tissue. This is how the muscle rebuilds itself and makes you stronger. But in order to rebuild the muscle fibers, your muscles retain water to help speed up the process in the cells.

5. Restroom Usage: 1-3 pounds a day of body weight change can be seen by using or not using the restroom. I’m not going to go into detail here, because I think this one is pretty self-explanatory.

6. That Time of Month: Most women are probably familiar with this one already. Experts believe that water is retained when hormones fluctuate, especially about one week prior to your monthly visitor. Once your cycle is over, the water is released.

7. Stress and sleep: High cortisol levels affect water balance in your body by regulating anti-diuretic hormone (ADH). ADH tells your kidneys how much water to hold back and pump back into your body.

PRO tip: Don’t stress about the number on the scale. It does not define you (up or down). Subtle changes are normal and should not affect you emotionally (for help with body image click here).  As you can see from the above, daily weights are mainly fluid shifts within your body. If you’re trying to lose weight, don’t think of it as a quick process (quick means fluid). Think of it as a long term goal where you slowly see progress over many months. You will see ups and downs along the way. This is totally normal as it’s not a linear process. Stay the course because your consistency is what maters most.

Favorite Food: Legumes

What are they: kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans, black-eyed peas, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), soybeans (edamame), lentils and even green peas.

1. Legumes are high in Fiber

They have insoluble fibre which helps keep our bowels regular. They are also a good source of soluble fibre which can help lower LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol levels.

2. Macros:

Legumes are a good source of carbohydrate as well as protein, which makes them an affordable way to meet protein needs.  They also have a low Glycemic Index (GI), which means they are broken down slowly so you feel fuller for longer and they don’t cause a rapid rise in blood sugar, which makes them particularly good food for preventing and managing diabetes.

3. Micros:

• High in B-vitamins, phosphorous, and zinc
• Good source of folate
• Good source of antioxidants and phytonutrients

How I eat them:

Black-eyed pea salsa – with tortilla chips for a crunchy snack

Slow cooker Minestrone soup – great for a no fuss high veggie meal on a rainy day

Slow cooker Chili – throw it in, forget about it AND have leftovers!

Garbanzo beans on salad – easy peasy

Black bean brownies – you would never know they were in there!

Check out my Pinterest page for these recipes and more!

How do you fill your cup?

Life gets crazy sometimes and your routines get thrown for a loop. For a few months I tried to fit my previously uber consistent morning workout (read “me time”) into the day full of everyone else’s needs and wants. I will say I “got it done” for the most part, but didn’t find it as enjoyable as my morning wake up call.

I’m happy to say I’m back in the routine and looking forward to grinding it out early with my fellow early bird friends. That doesn’t mean getting up early has been easy, but once I get ME in first and I have the whole day for everyone and everything else, it makes me very happy! And that’s what it’s all about.

Making Sleep a Priority

One of the best things you can do for yourself, as far as self care goes, is get enough sleep!

Sleep is when your body repairs itself. Your body replenishes it’s immune cells during this time, repairs tissue and this is the time when protein synthesis and muscle recovery take place. Sleep is a big deal for me, probably because I’m a fairly routine person. Can you think of a time or two when you’ve had a few nights in a row strung together of poor sleep?

Getting enough sleep regulates hormones (cortisol, leptin, ghrelin), improves athletic performance, reduces stress levels, improves focus, creativity, and memory. Enough is different for everyone, but typically 7-9 hours each night is recommended.

How do you create a sleep routine?

1. Limit caffeine in the afternoon. If I do have caffeine in the afternoon, I am sure to be done drinking it by 2:00pm. This time may be different for everyone, but I’ve found if I do have caffeine after 2:00 I have trouble falling asleep at night. This could also vary depending on what time you go to bed.
2. Go to bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning.  Staying with a schedule helps your body get into a sleep rhythm.  It’s called a circadian rhythm. Your body will start to feel tired at the same time each night and start waking up at the same time each morning. In many ways we are creatures of habit and this habit helps ensure we get enough sleep each night.
3. Have a wind down routine. Do something quiet at night: read a book to yourself or kids, take a bath, drink hot tea, stretch, yoga, meditate. Try not to use your phone or computer as your wind down routine as the blue light from it’s screen can decrease melatonin levels. Melatonin is a hormone which signals your body that it’s time to to go sleep. It also acts as an antioxidant in your body and has been shown to help prevent and manage Alzheimer’s Disease.
4. Make sure your room is dark, quiet and the temperature is right for you. Some people find an eye mask or sound machine are helpful. They even have sound machine apps for your phone you can download. These could be helpful when traveling as well.

You may find it helpful to set an alarm at night! This alarm is your signal that it’s time to start your wind down routine and get ready for bed. Prioritize your list of things to do and when the alarm goes off the list is done-zo.

 

GO Time

It’s that time of year when I really need to step up my planning game. When time gets tight, I try to have a plan in place for dinner so that I’m not throwing it together at the last minute. You certainly don’t need a binder with tabs, pockets and color-coded pages (but totally could! ;)) to get organized with meal planning. An old fashioned pen and paper work great, or even typing it up on a computer is useful.  Here are a couple tips for getting organized:

1. Pinterest. I love Pinterest. Sometimes I’ll type an ingredient or two in the search field to find a recipe. Sometimes it’s a cooking technique and a food. I just got an AirFryer so I’ve been looking for recipes to experiment with this new cooking technique. Pinterest can be a bit overwhelming though. Every so often I’ll go through the recipes I already have saved and pick a few from there. I don’t find it necessary to buy recipes when this option, combined with a bit of your time, is certainly doable.
2. Ask for requests. If you’re cooking for others, ask what they’re hungry for this week. You can be reminded of meals you haven’t had in awhile. My kids are really into cooking shows right now, so sometimes they’ll see something that they want to try. My daughter actually choose her breakfast this morning based on a cereal box. It was a Rice Krispy type cereal with strawberries in it and she (and then my other daughter) wanted hers to be just like the picture. And they liked it! Score!
3. Make a list. I have a running list of different meal ideas to choose from. I keep this on my phone for easy access, but it could be anywhere. I do try to vary meals so if I see we haven’t had fajitas or chili in awhile, I add it to the next week’s menu.
4. Freezer Meals. The freezer is a big part of meal planning for me. I have done batches of freezer meals you may find somewhere like Pinterest. You take a few hours and prep meals, store them in freezer safe bags until you’re ready to use them. I like these for crockpot type meals – once they’re prepped, it’s as easy as putting them in the crockpot and letting them simmer all day.
5. Be flexible. Life happens and sometimes days don’t go as planned. We had a fundraiser dinner pop up at the last minute last week so I simply made a few changes and enjoyed the fact that someone else was making me dinner tonight. I also find that large restaurant meals can turn into at least 2 meals which is always an added bonus. On nights like spaghetti night, I’ll purposely cook extra pasta to have as leftovers.
6. Switch up snack and dinner. When sports fall right at dinner time,  we will eat an early dinner, giving food time to digest, knowing that an after-activity snack will be necessary. This prevents an evening of never-ending snacks. It also prevents me from having to cook a meal at 7:30/8:00 when I really want to put out the “Kitchen is Closed” sign.