Original Recording - Ep.62
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Sheree: [00:00:00] I think it's important to be realistic. Like there's no way I'm ever going to recommend that someone tries to lose, eight kilos or like 16 pounds in a matter of four weeks is too [00:00:08] quick. And it's always about that sustainability. The whole foods, like you should already be eating whole foods.
And if you're not, that should be a priority because then we're settling down the inflammation, [00:00:16] which means you're not going to be as puffy. It means you're going to lean out. It means you're going to let go of that water weight. Like we're supporting the body and being healthy. [00:00:24] To lean out versus I'm going to try and lose weight by over exercising and under eating.
[00:00:32] Welcome to the wild and well, a collective podcast where we believe empowered health is your superpower. We have combined our expertise in medicine and [00:00:40] nutrition to bring you the latest research, expert insights and success stories of people on a mission to live a big life. So buckle up and [00:00:48] get ready to learn how to live wildly well.
Sheree: Welcome back to another incredible episode [00:00:56] of The Wild and Wild Collective. We are diving into quite a fun topic. It's something that I know Christa and I see [00:01:04] people day in, day out, coming to us with goals around this. And I'm currently, in the midst of the time we're recording this, [00:01:12] of doing a little mini shred myself.
I'm preparing for a photo shoot. And A lot of the time we have these goals, whether it's to get shredded for [00:01:20] summer or lose weight for a wedding or we've got a big event or we're just, sometimes we're just wanting to challenge the body and see where we can get to. We can [00:01:28] have a lot of maybe false expectations or we can do a lot of damage if we're not looking after our [00:01:36] metabolism and creating that metabolic flexibility to be able to be in.
A state where you can not damage your hormones. You're not [00:01:44] going to come off shredding down and then put a whole bunch of weight back on. Let's be real, weight loss is one of the biggest reasons that people come to [00:01:52] nutritionists or come to practitioners because they want to feel better in themselves.
And so we're going to have a conversation around, like today, around some of the things you can do [00:02:00] to make sure you're protecting your metabolism and also some ways to make sure you can really achieve this. Because I also speak to a lot of women that come in, to work with me. [00:02:08] And they're like, Oh, like, Oh, just sit this like five kilo or 10 pound goal, and they're really limiting themselves.
And it's like, you know [00:02:16] what, go for it, shoot for the stars, but let's do it in a really healthy
Christa Elza: way. Yeah, I think you bring up a good point. When you're wanting to have a quick fix well, we [00:02:24] all know, I've heard, like, there really is not a quick fix. It really is a long game when it comes to actual healthy metabolism.
I think [00:02:32] people who have the best results in, hey, I want to, really trim up a little bit for vacation or an event are people who are doing [00:02:40] the work. Year round and that means, you know, I think let's start out the conversation with what kind of needs to be the foundational health [00:02:48] lifestyle that a person has.
And that's balancing proteins and fats and carbohydrates, which. really in my book [00:02:56] means being a little more protein and healthy fat forward keeping carbohydrates to a minimum, certainly simple carbohydrates to a [00:03:04] minimum. And really the whole, premise around that is to keep our blood sugar more regulated on a regular basis so that we're insulin sensitive.
Also [00:03:12] keeping some level of fitness every week, like, Cardio as well as weights. I think if you have a foundation and a continual lifestyle of [00:03:20] that you really can dial it in and make a big shift you know, temporarily. So I want you to share what is your [00:03:28] shred like for this photo shoot, because I know you live a pretty healthy lifestyle year round.
So how do you take your lifestyle from [00:03:36] pretty healthy to moving the needle to, you 10 pound weight loss for a period of time, knowing that it's a [00:03:44] temporary goal?
Sheree: Yeah, so one of the biggest things when I've been sharing my journey online is I haven't just come into this without a [00:03:52] foundation, which is exactly what you've just said.
You need to make sure you're not going, Oh, I have never been to the gym before. Or, maybe I go for a few [00:04:00] walks each week or what have you. And now I'm suddenly going to go to the gym five times a week. I'm going to cut all of this food out of my life. I'm going [00:04:08] to, try intermittent fasting.
I'm going to like. We see all of these things. We see all these quick fixes. I'm going to take L carnitine. I'm going to do XYZ. It's [00:04:16] like, do not try and do all of this all at once, when we work with clients, it's very much let's focus on whole foods. Let's focus on the protein. Let's focus on this, [00:04:24] that and the other thing.
And so what I've done is I've gone, okay, here are my non negotiables. So to give you some examples, it's like, I need to be hitting [00:04:32] 130 grams for my body, for my body specifically, of protein each day. Okay. Right? have a history of an eating disorder, so [00:04:40] I, whilst I looked at the caloric intake, because I don't track calories, but I looked at my caloric intake to just get a rough estimate of what I was eating, [00:04:48] because I did, I had no idea, I was just eating to support my body and what felt good, listen to my internal hunger cues, and I was going, okay, , if we've got the next two and a half weeks, which is [00:04:56] all I've given myself to lean out a little bit more, Okay.
What do I need to reduce that by? So that, and I'm like, okay, cool. Then I put together a little bit [00:05:04] of a meal plan for myself. And I was like, if you eat roughly these meals, and this is what your breakfast, lunch, and dinner looks like, to make sure you're hitting that 130 grams of protein, [00:05:12] fantastic. But I'm not tracking my food every single day.
I'm not logging into MyFitnessPal. I'm not doing all of that. I'm just focused on [00:05:20] There's no refined sugars or carbohydrates going into my diet. I'm hitting my protein goals. One of the other things I'm doing is making sure that I'm having a 12 hour [00:05:28] fast every single night. I'm making sure that my sleep is a non negotiable, which sounds like it's normally a priority for me [00:05:36] anyway, right?
But it's like, okay, sometimes I'll let myself get that seven or that six and a half, because I've got things on and I'm like, no, [00:05:44] you're committed to this for the next two and a half weeks. So those are some of the things that I'm really putting into practice. And I'll also context with this, like [00:05:52] where my body was at prior to this was healthy, it was metabolically active and flexible and.
I was in a space where I was [00:06:00] very, very happy with how I looked physically as well. When we do things like a photo shoot or something, I am going to do things that are a little bit more extreme, but I'm not planning to get to [00:06:08] this point and then sustain it because I'm going to be in a body fat that's not going to be healthy long term.
Christa Elza: I think you pointed out some [00:06:16] really important things. Number one, sleep. Studies have shown that even one night of bad sleep or not enough sleep can lead to 48 [00:06:24] hours or more of insulin resistance. That is not your friend because insulin is a storage hormone. So when your body's needing to put out more to do the [00:06:32] job, you're in storage mode.
You are not in leaning out mode. So sleep, I think is a really good point. You also pointed out only a 12 hour fast, [00:06:40] which I know that we can push that a little bit. But I think that's definitely a safe. 1214. I think most people can do daily
Sheree: overnight. [00:06:48]
Christa Elza: Yep. Yeah. Overnight fast within a 24 hour period, half of the time.
Yeah. Overnight fasting. I think that's a [00:06:56] really safe realm to continually be in. And then just, I get it to that. Some people are doing more extreme cutting, like, let's say, for [00:07:04] competition and things like that. I find that when with working with people who have done that in the past. it is a challenge to recover from that.
[00:07:12] The strict diet that it takes to do this more long term or do multiple competitions. I think working with a [00:07:20] practitioner who understands that might be able to help preserve more of your adrenal function, because doing that long term. Is taxing on the body and it is a [00:07:28] stressor to the body. So I find women who I've worked with, who have done that have had quite a bit of a shift in their hormonal [00:07:36] balance.
And by hormones, I mean, their cortisol, their insulin and their sex hormones. And so sometimes that pendulum swings and then we [00:07:44] have weight gain. It's very difficult to get off because you've, you've lowered that You've lowered some of those hormones and so it can be challenging to get back.
[00:07:52] So, just keeping that in mind, that if that is one of your goals, like I would never stop somebody , from doing something that they, you know, there, there can be a lot of amazing [00:08:00] results from that mentally and physically to push your body to its limits, but working with somebody to help guide you on how to safely do it.
And I think what we're talking about today [00:08:08] though, is more short term, like if you're like a vacation, an event, et cetera. And so you did point out some really helpful [00:08:16] things. As far as like how you're managing this, what are you particular about percentages of macros to really help the body lean out [00:08:24] more?
Sheree: The only thing I'm really focused on is making sure that I am meeting in a slight deficit and that I am really hitting those protein [00:08:32] goals. I am, I do lean, like you said, near the beginning, like lean more towards that and protein. heavy diet versus having more [00:08:40] carbohydrates, but, and then that is the insulin sensitivity thing.
But I'm also aware that like my body I have built up to make my nervous system is regulated now. [00:08:48] Like if I had tried this two years ago or even a year ago, I wouldn't have been able to go to the, again, I love seeing. Where my body can go in terms [00:08:56] of the extremes. But I wouldn't have been able to do this cause my nervous system wasn't regulated.
I would have been messing with my cortisol. Like I've just done a two day fast and [00:09:04] I literally trained six times, six different times over those two days, which, when I say to people, I'm like, that's too much. You cannot just take what [00:09:12] on Instagram or what you see on Tik TOK or what you see on some sort of influencer page and go, Oh, that's too much.
Oh, Cherie's doing this to help her lose [00:09:20] weight, quote unquote. It's like, that's not necessarily healthy for you. You need to understand, okay, is my nervous system equipped to handle that? Is [00:09:28] my nervous system even equipped to handle a two day fast? Like I had a client come in the other day and she's like, I saw your story.
She's like, do you think I could do, a two day fast as well? [00:09:36] And I was like, you've come in to me last week saying you are in this heightened, wired nervous system overloaded [00:09:44] state. The last thing I'm going to give you is a two day fast. So when we think about people coming in and that metabolic flexibility, whether or [00:09:52] not they can, use some of the utilize some of these tools then tricks that we have up our sleeves, you've got to look at the person who's in front of you or you [00:10:00] as a person and go, where's my metabolism at right now?
Do I have the muscle mass, right now to make sure that I am going to like. Am I [00:10:08] sustaining that muscle mass with the amount of food I'm giving myself? Like I want to lean out short, but I don't want to drop a couple kilos of muscle in the process. So [00:10:16] it's like, how's my nervous system? How is my metabolism?
What has been my training? How much can I up it without burning myself out as well? [00:10:24] Because going to swing the hormones the other way around and the cortisol is going to go up. We're going to be feel puffy, all of that sort of thing. So it's making a true [00:10:32] assessment of where you are, I think is also important.
Christa Elza: Yeah, I think this is where if you don't have a lot of experience around [00:10:40] this, finding a practitioner that can help guide you in a personalized way. We're definitely talking about high level in terms of like, everybody should [00:10:48] benefit from sleep. Everybody can benefit from, prioritizing protein and healthy fats to regulate blood sugar.
But when it comes to you [00:10:56] specifically, I think that it can be helpful to work with somebody That kind of understands this and knows this and knows your goal. Also, it's important to plan ahead. [00:11:04] Procrastination does not work in your favor. You want to allow your body enough time to respond to this, whether or not you have, I mean, if you're living a healthy lifestyle, you [00:11:12] still need.
I would say three, four weeks, maybe depending on the amount that you're wanting to cut back on before your event for whatever [00:11:20] your timeline is to give your body some time to acclimate to this, to really see the results. Cause it does take a minute. Yeah, anything else you'd like to share, any other tips or tricks to [00:11:28] help people who are already living a healthy lifestyle, let's say to just dial it in and look amazing for that wedding in three weeks.
Sheree: I think [00:11:36] it's important to be realistic. Like you said, like there's no way I'm ever going to recommend that someone tries to lose, eight kilos or like 16 pounds in a matter of four weeks is too [00:11:44] quick. And it's always about that sustainability. So the last two things I think I'll share is one, The whole foods, like you should already [00:11:52] be eating whole foods.
And if you're not, that should be a priority because then we're settling down the inflammation, which means you're not going to be as puffy. It means you're going to lean out. It means you're going to let [00:12:00] go of that water weight. Like we're supporting the body and being healthy. To lean out versus I'm going to try and lose weight [00:12:08] by over exercising and under eating.
So I think that's the big message I want to drive home. And the other thing is like do things to naturally support your basal [00:12:16] metabolic rate. Things like NEAT, like non exercise activity thermogenesis. What is your standard steps now? Can you increase that [00:12:24] by two to 3000 each day? Not like cumulatively, but like for me, I was like, well, I average probably seven and a half.
Cause I do [00:12:32] sit behind a desk quite a bit of the time. So for me, I'm actually like, I need to, cause I've only got two and a half weeks. I'm going to push that up to averaging [00:12:40] absolute minimum 10, but ideally it's 12 to 15. But I know this is a short term and then I'll taper it back off and I'll just keep aiming for that 10.[00:12:48]
But it's. Okay. How can I find more ways to walk during my day? How can I bring in more of this neat and actually boost my basal metabolic rate? So it's [00:12:56] little things like that. So reducing the inflammatory foods, increasing your steps, that's all stuff you can do to be healthy. And it's not going to stress your system out [00:13:04] either.
Christa Elza: I like the idea of movement snacks. We call them. Oh, yeah, that's movement snacks because it's just amazing. How many of us [00:13:12] Workout, and then we spend 85 percent of the day sitting, whether we're driving, whether we're watching TV on the couch And so, yes, [00:13:20] I absolutely agree with, like, continuous movement and then upping that if you're in a state that you really want to.
Be cutting back. So, yeah, I hope [00:13:28] you guys have found this helpful to just a little tidbit, a little tidbit conversation around how to move the needle slightly. Again, an emphasis on [00:13:36] year round nutrition, but have to sneak in and lose a few extra pounds right before a special event. I think we all wanted [00:13:44] tips on that.
So thank you for sharing your experience, Sheree.
Sheree: You're welcome.
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