Q&A for Common Issues When You Suddenly Change Your Diet

Change can be hard - but knowledge is power!

The intensity of your workouts can make you hungrier initially. Counteract your appetite by eating more veggies and protein. If your appetite is insatiable, it's a sign you may be overdoing the cardio. Add more strength training and sleep to balance out your stress response.

The more active you are, the more you need to nourish your body, give it adequate rest and recovery, and build in rest days to allow your body to get stronger.

More is not necessarily better. Add more low-intensity workouts into your week and see your energy increase.

Sleep and eat enough carbohydrates and veggies! This will also help.

Which most describes you?

You stepped up your exercise intensity and frequency

Eat more veggies and more protein, especially right after your workouts.

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 You are not sleeping enough

Lack of sleep can raise your cortisol levels.
This hormone not only makes you store belly fat, but it also creates blood sugar imbalances, which result in sugar cravings and increased appetite. Sleep more!

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 You are about to get your period

In the week before your period, estrogen and serotonin levels drop, which can cause sugar cravings. You can feed those sugar cravings without negative impact with dark cocoa powder. It boosts your mood, feel-good hormones and addresses sweet cravings before you reach for the candy bars.

Some ideas for consumption:

Hot or Cold Cocoa

Mix dark cocoa powder with unsweetened vanilla almond milk and stevia.

Cocoa Pudding

Mix dark cocoa powder with 1/2 avocado, 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk and a few ice cubes.

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 You're going too low-carb

Eating too few carbohydrates while exercising intensely will not only make you ravenous, but can also inhibit muscle growth.

Eat more on exercise days and less on rest days and you have your metabolism working overtime for you.

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 You're stressed out emotionally

Physical stress and emotional stress can both raise your cortisol levels and as a result, cause you to crave sugar and starchy comfort foods.

Manage your stress by addressing the issues that cause you to react with food, and food will no longer be your go-to fix.

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 You're 3-4 weeks into a program and you're starting to plateau.

According to the law of metabolic compensation, most people see the greatest improvements in the first 3-4 weeks of starting a program.

After this period, your metabolism will actually adjust to the level of exercise and calories coming in, and slows down a bit because it adapts to the program quickly.

What does that mean for you? It's time to mix things up every 3-4 weeks.

Here are our tips to keep your metabolism on fire:

Eat carbs according to your activity level.

Eat a little more on workout days, eat lower carbs on non-workout or restorative exercise day.

Get enough sleep and rest days to let your body recover.
Believe it or not - your muscle mass develops on your rest days, so give your body the break it needs to speed up its metabolism!

Keep your protein intake high.

How much do you need? Ideally, aim for 5 small meals of protein, each about the size and thickness of your palm.

Change up your workouts!

Lift heavier weights, slow down the reps, add more reps, up the intensity - choose one way to modify your workouts and keep your body guessing.

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