Are you trying to get leaner? Or maybe you have a certain scale weight number you have to see and if it goes above that you start restricting food and ramping up your training intensity?
Maybe you just aren’t thrilled with your look and it feels like your body is stuck.
The common advice is to just eat less and move more.
And while that might be good advice for a certain population for example, overweight/obese individuals (read HERE for common avatars I work with and what we work on) for most people who are already into nutrition/fitness this might not be the best advice.
Over time this exercise more eat less advice can actually put you further from your goal of looking and feeling better even though it seems counterintuitive.
With my online clients, my goal is to help them not only look better but feel better.
If you’re constantly undereating to get leaner you won’t feel your best, and because you dont feel your best you won’t look your best.
This is why with online clients we spend time fat loss dieting, but we also spend time out of that as well.
Read HERE about the nutrition phases clients go through.
If you are noticing these signs then you likely need to take some time away from restricting your food intake and take some time to eat more food.
Here are the sign you are overexercising and undereating.
Once you read these you will be able to finally get past that sticking point.
Training sucks
If you are feeling sluggish in your training, you fatigue quicker, you can’t progress your workouts etc. then you might not be eating enough food and/or doing too much exercise.
Poor training is a sign that you aren’t going to make any substantial changes to your body.
Hangry/hungry all of the time
If you are finding yourself getting hangry and hungry all of the time then you likely aren’t eating enough.
There is going to be some hunger involved in the fat loss process. However, if the only thing you know is being hungry and/or you find yourself ravenously hungry 24/7 then you can be sure that you’re undereating and over-exercising.
You feel tired a lot
If you are just feeling sluggish throughout the day, maybe you have some brain fog etc. then you likely aren’t eating enough throughout the day.
You cant expect to feel your best all of the time, but if you are finding yourself feeling this way more times than not, you’re likely overexercising/undereating.
This is going to make fat loss or muscle gain very tough.
Gut health is off
If you’re noticing bloating, constipation, or poor bowel movements, then you may be undereating.
A big reason this is happening is that your gut microbiome is off from chronic inflammation that arises from the high stress when you aren’t giving your body enough energy to perform its functions.
Be careful to not go crazy with adding in food, in some cases you might have to go a bit slower, but in others you might not have to go as slow.
You’re eating way less than you used to and not seeing much change
If you’re finding that losing and maintaining your weight and maintaining your look is becoming more challenging you likely are undereating and overexercising.
This likely is from metabolic adaptation. Read about it HERE.
You get sick a lot
Your immune system is depressed. Likely from missing out on many important vitamins and minerals.
This is from too much exercise combined with too much exercise.
Low sex drive
Too much exercise with not enough food will zap your libido.
Some things you can do if you fall into any of these categories:
Track for one week and slowly increase calories from there.
Track everything, and then look to add 5-10% of your current caloric intake into your day.
For example, if you find you’re eating 1,300 calories, add in 100-150 calories per day.
You can also read about how to reverse out of a calorie deficit HERE.
Dial back the intensity of your training and focus on steps.
Instead of training 7 days per week, drop down. Lower the intensity. Focus more on progressive overload in your training versus sweating, the burn, feeling beat up.
Drop some of the long-distance cardio and HIIT workouts and just focus on steps.
Focus on managing stress and improving sleep
A lot of the time you are too worried about training and nutrition that you forget how big of a role stress and sleep play. Spend some time improving these.
If either of these is off your body is going to have a tougher time losing fat and building muscle.
Do these things for atleast 8 weeks.
Some clients need longer than this, and some can stick with 8 weeks. But aim for atleast 8 weeks of this.
If you need guidance and support to get to this point then my 1:1 online coaching service is for you. Check it out HERE.