Mistakes in Calorie Counting and Weight Loss

Michelle 0:04

Yeah , you have to avoid falling into the trap of solely focusing on calorie counting without considering the quality of your food choices .

Cori 0:14

Hey guys , it's Cori from Redefining Strength . Welcome to the Fitness Hacks podcast . Most of us desperately want to get off that dieting roller coaster . We hope that each new program we start is going to be the thing the lifestyle we finally build to see the results that we deserve and make those results last . Yet there's some common mistakes , both habit and mindset , that I see clients making , and I want to go over them in this podcast , because a lifestyle isn't the simple we're going to do one thing forever that we often think it is , and we need to always learn to meet ourselves where we're at . So I'm excited for Michelle to share some great mistakes that she sees people making with calorie deficits , and I want to go over some mindset and also macro hacks as well as workout mistakes that I see so that you can avoid them and make sure that you're constantly evolving your lifestyle to meet yourself where you're at , to see the weight loss results that you deserve and then maintain those results long term . I also want to say a big thank you to everyone who has left a review . If you have it , please head to the platform that you're listening on and leave one , especially on iTunes . They help me keep the episodes sponsorship free . So let's jump right in .

Cori 1:17

I don't know if this is a lifestyle . I had a unicorn comment that in the private Facebook group with in terms of tracking and the exact habit she was implementing right now , and you know a lot of people were commenting about different things they were doing to make stuff sustainable , how they were meeting themselves where they were at , and my comment back to her , I think , surprised her a little bit , because my comment back was it isn't , because what you do to lose the weight to achieve a goal is not what you're going to do long term . So , in a weird way , what you are doing to accomplish your goals shouldn't feel like a lifestyle . That doesn't mean that there aren't components that should feel natural , that are building habits that you are going to sustain long term . You have to be building off a solid foundation . But I think we get this attitude of if we're not doing something that feels really sustainable right now , it's not right , it's not going to work , it's not going to lead to the results that we want , but instead we have to think about how are we going to create a foundation off of which we can constantly adjust and meet ourselves where we're at , because what you do to lose the weight is going to be different than what you do to maintain it , especially the longer you've been maintaining . However , once you lose the weight , you can't just go back to what you were doing prior . So these things do have to create lifestyle habits , but you're not going to do the same things in the same form forever . If you are , that's probably why you have even seen your results slightly go backwards over time .

Cori 2:36

So , as you're working towards a weight loss goal or even a muscle gaining goal , instead of focusing on , does this feel like a lifestyle ? Does it feel completely sustainable ? Think about the underlying habits that you're creating , the knowledge base that you're building , not only about what needs to be implemented from a diet and workout standpoint , from a lifestyle standpoint , but more about yourself , so that you can always evolve and adjust , based on even how your schedule changes , how your needs and goals and your body changes . The more you can check in with yourself as to how things are going , the better you're going to be able to meet yourself where you're at , no matter how things change over your lifestyle or even in your body internally . Right , you're more in tune with yourself . So if you've thought to yourself when making a weight loss change . Is this a lifestyle ? Don't stress it's not a bad thing if it doesn't feel like it is , but you have to question the fundamental habits that you are creating .

Cori 3:23

If you're just restricting foods arbitrarily because you went on some diet that said cut out bread , but you love bread , that is probably not going to lead to lasting changes . So this is where you have to assess okay , in my lifestyle , do I think I will always cut this thing out ? No , okay . So if I cut this out short term , why am I cutting out short term ? How can I then transition into something that is sustainable and maintain my results when adding them back in ? And a lot of times . This is why I always go back to macros with clients , not even just calories in versus calories out , because you need a calorie deficit to lose the weight .

Cori 3:54

However , to maintain your weight , you have to retrain your body to eat more . If we're only focused on calories , we're not going to retrain our body to eat more in the way that we actually need . We're going to end up seeing that weight creep back on . But if we go back to macros and really learn about the portion of protein , carbs and fat that we're consuming . We can understand hey , I'm going to focus on cutting out specific foods right now because it's easier , but I'm going to understand that the foods I'm cutting out are all carbohydrates . I'm actually going to even write down what I'm eating and then , over time , I can then even add some of these things back in , but I can know that I'm hitting the carb intake . I need to see results right . So that's why we want to understand macros . We want to understand how our body feels on specific macro breakdowns , how they impact our workouts , how our workouts impact how we need to fuel , because the more we can understand the systems underlying everything , the more we can adjust those as our needs and goals change over time .

Cori 4:42

It's only when we arbitrarily , arbitrarily restrict things , make ourselves hungry , just train more , create these systems that aren't really based on anything , and then we don't fully understand that we aren't creating the foundation of a lifestyle . So it's not that everything should feel like every day oh , this is a sustainable lifestyle . It's not going to be what you're doing in five years , honestly , but it should have an underlying thing that you're like okay , off of this , I know I can learn whatever I need to make me meet myself always where I'm at . That is the foundation and that's what you need to focus on . So we're going to talk about five mistakes to avoid when you're going into a calorie deficit and you want to see the best weight loss results as fast as possible . I'm super excited to dive into this with Michelle . So , michelle , take it away . What mistakes should we be avoiding when we're in a calorie deficit ?

Michelle 5:28

Okay . So number one it's simple , but it's kind of a big one because a lot of people do tend to fail with this one , and it's just not tracking your calories accurately . A lot of us use the fitness watches that tell us how much we burn and we also think that we're counting food correctly , when we're just not , and oftentimes those fitness trackers are actually giving us a bigger deficit than what we actually are earning . So one of the most common mistakes I see is people that are just not actually in a calorie deficit to begin with , despite them believing that they are . So it's really essential that you take the time to track and weigh and measure food when you possibly can , because the more you know , the more data you have on really how on really the most accurate you can be in . That calorie deficit is going to help . A lot of us just just aren't there to begin with .

Cori 6:22

I love that you mentioned the calorie trackers too , because they are the bane of my existence , in my opinion .

Cori 6:27

I think that we so focus on , like , our calorie burn from our workouts , because I think that drives us not only to not get as much out of our workouts as we should be getting , but we then add in a variable to what we're measuring that makes it more difficult , where we then adjust our intake based on that .

Cori 6:47

And not only are they not accurate , but then you also don't know , like , am I creating the right deficit over the week if you're eating more because of training hard on those days , because that could lead to you , yes , overeating , but also not creating a consistent deficit , like there's times where you're hungry the day after . And these things aren't accurate because they work on algorithms A and B . Go do double unders or a boxing workout and watch how much , how many more calories you burn than doing like another workout , where you feel even more slaughtered potentially . And it's because , especially if you have a watch , it's just not accurate . It's going to be biased by the movement . So I think it's so important we recognize that , like you add in more variables , it's not necessarily accurate , and then you just make it more challenging to really know what works and be able to adjust and tweak .

Michelle 7:32

Yeah , and I feel like some people think then that when they see those numbers , they're like oh my , my calorie tracker says that I burned a thousand calories , so I deserve , or I've earned , this food . And first of all , I don't ever like that mindset you don't have to earn any food . But on the second side of that like for example I had , my sister was telling me that she was in a workout group with these friends and they went and these girls are like look how many calories it says we burn , we deserve cheesecake factory . And so they were . All were like let's go to cheesecake factory and order a bunch , order some cheesecakes as a treat . And it was .

Michelle 8:06

My sister was telling me she's like we just burn calories and now we are overindulging in foods just because we think we burned it . But we probably did not burn as many as you guys think . And so she was kind of laughing because you know they do this for like a couple months .

The Dangers of Extreme Calorie Deficits

Michelle 8:24

And someone was like you know , I've been working really hard and the scale is not changing . And she's like yeah , and she had a point . You know , be that person that had a point , a point out what the inconsistencies of it .

Cori 8:36

Yeah , because you do . You work really hard , but then if you're eating the calories you burned , you're not creating that deficit . Not to mention , as you get more fit , more in shape , while it can still sometimes register the calories burned as being higher , you're not needing as many calories to still fuel that activity because your body has become more efficient , which is why you become stronger , why you can run further , faster , why you can cycle , you know , a greater distance without becoming fatigued . So we need to be very conscious that burning more calories in our workouts doesn't mean adding those calories on , and we want to give ourselves the most accurate data from logging and measuring everything and then trying to eliminate extraneous variables . We don't need to be tracking . Yes , exactly , and so next , I think this is a big one when you brought this up , that many people make this mistake , and it is when we're setting our calorie deficit we're doing what we're going to extremes .

Michelle 9:29

We're reducing our calorie intake to a very large amount that , quite frankly , your body just is not going to be able to maintain or sustain that big of a deficit . So , yes , you will lose weight initially , but you just aren't going to be able to continue moving forward with it and you're going to end up being back at square one or even worse . Because a lot of times when I see people that have done these large calorie deficits pretty soon it you know , without fell they have kind of this binge where they really bounce back and bounce back hard because it's too hard for them . So they're like , well , screw it , like I'm going to eat everything that I've been restricting myself from and that was too hard for them to kind of continue and move it forward .

Michelle 10:12

But the big issue I see when we go into a bit too big of a calorie deficit is we're going to have metabolic adaptation , we're going to have muscle loss , there are going to be nutrient deficiencies . Your body's not going to be running optimally . Things are going to start cracking . You're going to have some immediate responses when you go into extreme extreme calorie , sorry in extreme calorie deficits and you're first going to see things like fatigue , increased irritability , hunger , just a preoccupation with food . And I know this may sound bad , but if you've ever been around someone that's doing a fag diet , where they've really like taken things to the extreme , they're going to be cranky and you're not going to really want to be around them . And it's just because they are in this calorie deficit and their hormones and their moods are actually being affected and it can cause , you know , to have poor sleep , constipation , bowel movement irregularities , there's all like it's just this domino effect that occurs when we go into big of an extreme calorie deficit .

Cori 11:19

I can tell you I have made that mistake , the first ever cut I did . It was funny because I was still training at the gym . It was my first time really trying to like diet down , to get abs , really super hyper focused . And there are multiple comments made by multiple class clients that Corey was a little extra grouchy right then and I realized it too and I could feel all the different like symptoms adding up and it it made me realize like okay , like I've trained , like figure competitors and stuff too , where they're strategically sometimes doing these things , knowing the ramifications of it for a sport , but then there's an exit strategy , right , so it's .

Cori 11:53

It's also recognizing that just because someone did it to look a certain way doesn't mean it's healthy , it doesn't mean it's sustainable . They were potentially even doing it for a short term fix , but they also potentially just didn't know what they were doing . Like I didn't . That very first time I I died it down and in trying to rush the process we ultimately set ourselves back . Even though from a potentially like mathematical standpoint it makes sense , it's just not that simple when we're trying to get lasting results . It's not as simple as calories in versus calories out . It is that whole snowball effect you're you're creating and even the mindsets and the emotional component you're going to have to deal with if you're not aware of how things are going to impact you . So going to extreme , I can tell you , is not a good idea , not fun . No one else wants to be around you . You end up yelling at Ryan when you're in Del Taco and he orders dessert . You know , you just don't want to do it .

Michelle 12:44

Yeah , exactly , and I'm really glad that you brought up even that emotional side and actually what your mental state is going into it , Because you definitely , like you said , there are definitely moments where people do major cuts . But they have that extra exit strategy . They have that plan and most likely , if they're doing it for a sport , they've done it before and they actually know what to expect or even why they may be filling certain ways , because it is it's a big part of of going into that calorie deficit even to begin with .

Cori 13:14

It is . It's knowing like I had one client who was training and she knew that she was going to have to back off weights , that she was going to see her numbers decrease . Like you , you go in knowing like , oh hey , these cravings are because of X , Y and Z . It's why I even did like a video on like seeing abs for the first time . Like the first time you're trying to get to a new set point that you've never been at . Hey , it's way harder than maintaining a set point , but you are going to have to be aware of the fact that things will rebel against you . Your mind is going to be like I want this thing , even though you don't necessarily need it , and , knowing you're doing something strategically , you can set your mind for that . However , the less we can do things that are going to make it that much harder , the better off we're going to be , and I think so often we don't need to go to the extremes that we think we do , and less is a lot more .

Michelle 13:56

Yes , and that's a good point because I will get . I feel like I'm going to get asked this so what is too big of a calorie deficit ? What is that max ? And my rule of thumb is 500 calories is like the extreme side of the healthy calorie deficit . It's not something I would put everyone in , but if you're doing more of a major cut , that's you'll you'll be still staying within kind of that healthy deficit , anything from 750 calories up . You're that's taking things way too much to an extreme . You're going to have hormonal , you're going to see a hormonal shift and that's one of the first things that will happen is actually seeing that hormone changes . But what's hard about it is , even when you've kind of fixed your calories , your hormones are going to be one of the last to actually bounce back and to kind of recover from this huge , you know , deficit that you've put and the stress that you've put on your body during that time .

Achieving a Balanced Calorie Deficit

Cori 14:51

My very unprofessional , unscientific way of being like are you into big a deficit ? Is if you're willing to just go eat some just plain cooked chicken breast without anything else on it . If you're me probably overcooked , then you're probably into big a calorie deficit . Increase your calories , because that is not fun for anybody . I don't care how much you like chicken .

Michelle 15:13

I love that . No , I think that's a good point . Like you , should still be enjoying your food and deficits , and if you can't , you probably have put too big of a restriction on yourself .

Cori 15:22

Yeah , and if you're willing to eat something disgusting and it's not just that you want more ice cream you probably need to increase your calories just a little bit , and it's never bad to just even experiment going up . If you are feeling that and say , hey , where are my results now ? You can always increase it or decrease it . So it's going to be a little play because you might even find that what like seem like a great calorie deficit at the beginning , because your training changes , is a different like . You have different needs . As your training even evolves Like when I'm doing slower lifting versus more metabolic workouts what's a calorie deficit is going to be very different .

Michelle 15:53

Yes , exactly , you have to have that flexibility to be able to kind of change what that deficit looks like for you .

Cori 16:00

All right . So now we're going to talk about what can sabotage how hungry , how full , how satisfied you really feel on that deficit , because I think this is a big one , right , like if you eat a bag of M&Ms there are a lot of calories , but they're not going to make you feel full . And I think this is where a lot of us get into trouble and why I even love our focus on macros .

Michelle 16:22

Yeah , you have to avoid falling into the trap of solely focusing on calorie counting without considering the quality of your food choices . So I will see a lot of people that's like , oh , I'm going into a calorie deficit , but they're not actually giving up some of those less nutritious foods . So , like you mentioned , they're still consuming the same amount of M&Ms that they're having . They're just eating less of the other nutrient-dense foods . And the problem with this is , whenever you're in a calorie deficit , you're going to feel hungry . That's the name of the game You're going to feel hungry when you're in a calorie deficit . So we want to be able to actually manage those hunger cues and not feel so hungry . So you have to improve the quality , and the way to really do that is you cannot go into calorie deficit and expect to maintain and sustain it if you're not focusing on foods that are going to increase your satiety and help you feel full . So those are going to be , of course , protein , fibrous foods . So your fruits , your vegetables that are going to have more fiber , and your whole grains . So just focusing on those three areas , you're most likely going to improve your overall quality of your diet and you're going to maybe have to sacrifice a little bit more of the M&Ms so that you can fit in more of these nutrient-dense foods . But the benefit is , when you do that , you're going to find that you're not going to have as many cravings , you're not going to have as many as a big of a sweet tooth or things like that because you are so satisfied .

Michelle 17:59

Just recently , I myself actually have bumped protein up , and one of the most immediate things I found because I've been kind of on vacation , you know , in summer and I noticed that I was eating a lot more sugar and a lot more treats than what I would like to and my diet was kind of falling in the quality .

Michelle 18:18

So I upped my protein and one of the very first things I noticed is my sweet tooth went down very significantly , which is huge for me because I've always had a sweet tooth . I'm always that one that wants to finish the night with a treat and it wasn't that I was telling myself I couldn't have it , but it was just by the end of the day I just wasn't hungry anymore and it was because I was making sure that I had increased my protein , was focusing on fiber-rich foods and by the end of the day , you see that huge difference and it really does play a big effect on just how you're feeling , even mentally , throughout the day If you're not thinking about food so much , if you are making sure you're well satiated .

Cori 18:57

Yeah , we don't give enough credit for the fact that that stomach expansion is what tells our brain to stop eating , that we're full , and when we're eating some of these very calorically dense foods , even though we're getting the calories or hitting the calories , it's why we can feel so different in terms of fullness at 1200 calories . And that's why I hate when people just like demonize a calorie intake , because I'm like 1200 calories of M&Ms is very different than 1200 calories of meat , vegetables , whatever else , and not saying that you should be at that intake or that intake isn't far too low for some people or whatever else . But we do feel very different based on how much our stomach is . Even telling our brain hey , I'm full because of the volume of food we're consuming . And when I keep bringing up M&Ms , I'm like there's also ways , though . If you do like those things and you want to keep in that balance , like don't cut out the thing you love most first , but also consider how can you make those things higher volume . So , like where I go to is like .

Cori 19:47

For a very long time , I was like I want peanut butter , I want peanut butter , I want peanut butter , but I have a very bad portion control issue when it comes to peanut butter right .

Cori 19:57

For me it wasn't satisfying unless I got enough for certain things . So I found that by adding the PV fit . Yes , it was potentially not as natural , whatever else I could get that flavoring in , but then I could add in a ton of fruits , a ton of other healthy things to those smoothies even , but get my peanut butter fix . Or if you do , going back to my M&M example , which I'm not really fully sure why , I got second M&Ms but you could add in M&Ms to frozen yogurt with even maybe some fruit , or maybe you put in a different chocolate with that . But you can find ways to sort of satisfy that craving while even making the thing that you're consuming it with higher volume . And that way you can find your balance and feel satisfied and make sure that you're actually having those true hunger cues , versus just feeling really hungry , eating a lot of calories and feeling like you need more calories than you actually need .

Michelle 20:44

Yeah , I like that . And you brought up another good point too . It's focusing on more and what you can have and not trying to create this list of foods that you have to avoid . Because if you're focusing on that more and you're not feeling like anything's truly cut out from your diet which allows you the flexibility , like you said , to still keep it in your diet because we're not here to make people hate their food intake . We want them to enjoy what they're consuming . So we're never going to tell someone like oh no , you like ice cream ? No , we got to cut that completely out . No ice cream for you if you ever want to achieve your goals . No , it's about finding that balance making it a more well rounded snack and most of the time it's like you mentioned , making it more nutrient dense . Like , how are you going to make that treat a little bit more nutrient dense ? And it doesn't always have to be that way if you're making sure that you're focusing on the quality of your food the rest of the time .

Cori 21:38

And that's kind of mistake . Number four that you mentioned , which was like we're focusing on perfection over just consistency , and I do think so often we beat ourselves up over one little thing or we do go to cutting out the thing we love most first , because usually it isn't the healthiest thing and that's ultimately what sabotages our long term success or even our ability to maintain the habits that we need to stay in the deficit and see results snowball .

Michelle 22:03

Yeah , I will have clients come in and they'll have a week or two weeks that look perfect on , you know , written out on like it's gold star .

Michelle 22:14

They're hitting everything , everything looks great , but there's also no give , and the problem with that approach that I often see is , as soon as they do kind of step out of that perfect roadmap , it's a free for all and all of a sudden it's a major bounce back .

Michelle 22:30

I would much rather see slow progress with just a little bit overall , and it's really more about making your lows , raising up your low days and hitting it more consistently throughout , because that's going to have a bigger effect than just being like oh , this this week Was perfect , but then this week was terrible , or these few days were perfect , but then I went crazy and ate everything in the house .

Michelle 22:54

And oftentimes it's because one , you're putting too big of a restriction on yourself , which is why you can't maintain that , and then you are blowing out your calorie deficit because in those you know two or three days that you weren't hitting it . You are going above and beyond what your calorie Deficit is supposed to be and you're not seeing results week to week . So it's really about making sure that we are having consistency over perfection , because consistency is where true change occurs , not the perfect moments . It's really making sure that those lows become are raised and those better days are Long . More more day to day than just a completely perfect . Oh , I hit count my calorie deficit , I hit my macros . I wasn't eating anything that wasn't nutrient dense .

Cori 23:46

Those days just aren't realistic for most people to be able to maintain it is those 1% improvements from the bottom , versus trying to make our highs higher , because I Actually personally saw this as my biggest issue , starting out as I would be like I'm doing this , I'm doing it a hundred percent , and so I would go a hundred percent for , you know , a month that's perfect January but really it was all the times where I couldn't be as perfect , where then I wouldn't do something or try and make an improvement that I realized those were adding up it's .

Cori 24:16

It's easy to be good when we're having perfect situations , perfect situations but life isn't those situations , and so the more we realize like , hey , okay , this month was really great and I was consistent for this entire month , but this month is one of 12 , right , we stop ignoring that and we need to start focusing on okay , well , if this was my top month , great , let's leave that . What's my bottom month ? How can I make my Worst month of the year , so to speak , a little bit better ? And in that consistency , we're gonna start to raise up those averages and it's gonna start to make things way more enjoyable and it feel way more like a sustainable lifestyle .

Michelle 24:52

Yeah , I get so many people so often saying , well , I need to wait until xyz is over so that I have time , or that it's , it's a better situation , so that I can make sure that I'm hitting this more perfect , and I'm like , no , don't wait . I'd much rather you come in during your hard time when you're like , oh you know , I'm running kids around , I'm with my kids all the time . My job is really crazy right now , or I've had these crazy life curveballs thrown at me and I don't even know how to manage that , so I don't have time to focus on my diet or focus on my workouts . I'd much rather have that person , because that means that we're working on all the strategies to be able to Do do your very best In these moments where you feel like you don't have time , where you are super stressed , where things just aren't going Well , kind of , in your personal life , and the reason being is because I think you get way more out of it .

Michelle 25:48

You're gonna get more tips , you're gonna get more tricks and if you can , like we said , raise those low days , those low months up so that they're a little bit higher , you're going to have more success overall and if you can Start seeing some consistency during this time . You are most likely going to have an even better time when those curveballs kind of are by the wayside and you are . You do have more time , so there's no excuse from when ? If you're able to start making those habits during the , the rough times , when you have the more time for it , there's no excuse to not get it done .

Cori 26:27

Well , it's like almost even think about it . If you can learn to walk forward during the bad times , at the times where you can run , you're already potentially a mile ahead of where you would have been otherwise . So walk forward now so you can run and be already ahead .

Michelle 26:39

Yeah , I love that . I actually I really love that analogy because it's true , every step forward is still a step forward and the last mistake when you share this I was like , oh , that's such an interesting perspective .

Cori 26:52

But I think so often when we think about Making the most of a calorie deficit , losing weight , right , we think only about specific actions or habits and not about even the impact those actions or habits have on our greater Lifestyle , or that our lifestyle has them like those habits and the implementation of them . So mistake number five , I thought , was a very Aha moment , which I now know everybody wants to know and I'll let you share because I thought it was very , very important and not often looked at .

Michelle 27:20

Yeah , so it's going to be Neglecting recovery and self-care while you're in a calorie deficit . And the reason why I put this on there is because I so often see people that do struggle a little bit when they're trying to lose weight and they can't really . They're trying to figure out why , but the truth of the matter is is when you're in a calorie deficit , you are putting an additional stress on your body , both physically and mentally . So it's really important that we are still making time and prioritizing recovery and self-care . So often , like , I'll get people that are like , well , what supplement should I be on ? What that's going to help me ? You know , get my results faster . Everyone wants to get to that finish line as fast as they can . But then I'll be talking to them and I'll

Sustainable Weight Loss, Avoiding Common Mistakes

Michelle 28:04

find out .

Michelle 28:04

Like you know , they're sleeping , you know , four or five hours a night . They have super high stress levels . They're not engaging in any activities that are going to help bring them extra joy or really relaxation , because I , you should find joy in movement . And if you're just forcing yourself to try and fit , you know , you know the round . You know round pegs , square hole type of analogy . If you're trying to force yourself into something . It's going just to add additional stress .

Michelle 28:34

And I'm not saying like there are times when you just need to Do it right . There's times that you just need to be like , okay , suck it up . You got to have some movement in the day , but you should have joy and you should still have moments that you're able to relax . So a sustainable weight loss journey is making sure that you're taking care of yourself . So if you are , you know , sleeping that four hours , having super high stress , and you're trying to fix it with one supplement , it's really like trying to put out a fire with a teaspoon of water at a time , versus throwing a bucket at it . We really want to make sure that you are getting adequate sleep , that you are taking that time to stretch , stretch , have that rehab and and actually Giving your body a little bit of a break . There is strategies and times where it's okay to do a diet break when you are planning on that , so that we are kind of making sure that we're improving that self-care and recovery .

Cori 29:30

It goes back to that consistency overall and it also goes back to the fact that so often we focus on Exerting more control . Right , and I get this , I'm a control freak . But in talking about the supplements , you will often hear people say , well , I'm not recovering or I'm not able to push this hard my workout . I want to do a fat burner or like a energy drink , right , like a pre-workout , and these things are only going to perpetuate , ultimately , the issues we're actually seeing . But it's an action we feel like we can take , it's a lot easier of a change , and so we go for the immediate fix over being like okay , if I'm seeing these things , like and I always tell people like , if you feel like you need a pre-workout and it's not just like , oh , you are drinking your coffee as part of your routine and yet adds a little extra benefit , okay , whatever , if you're going to these things , you're putting yourself on this crush that you then need , which is gonna have a point of diminishing returns and it's gonna impact your sleep , which is gonna impact your recovery , which is ultimately then going to impact how much you even feel you need of that thing and keep you stuck in this cycle .

Cori 30:24

So , taking a step back to be like okay , I know it's easy to go to some of these things , this might be a quicker fix , but what's really going on here and how can I make all the pieces of my lifestyle really work together , knowing that right now maybe I do have the added stressor of having to make Unconscious habits conscious , implement new habits that are foreign and don't feel as comfortable with creating this calorie deficit to lose weight ? So how can I find or mitigate some stress in other areas giving myself maybe more time to sleep , or Changing my workouts a little shorter so I can sleep in a little bit later , or whatever else ? It is to manage the other stressors , to be able to focus more will power , self-control on some of the changes you are making that are a little bit more depleting at the time ?

Michelle 31:04

Yeah , it's really trying to break that yo-yo Dieting cycle and if you're not addressing the root cause of some of these issues , it's gonna be a hard train to get off of . You have to take the time to self-reflect and to sometimes just , you know , take a deep breath and truly look and see what it is you're doing . And that's hard , we don't . We don't like doing that . Like you said , we like to kind of throw , have the quick fix , throw something at it . But in the long run , is it actually making it so that we are fixing the root problem or are we just putting a band-aid on it ?

Cori 31:39

We like tactics , we like action . We don't often like stepping back and realizing that ultimately , the mindsets as weird as it sounds because you're like , well , I'm doing the actions the mindsets add up a lot more because there's so many other aspects of life and our approach to it and the emotional response we have to that . That then impacts how we're actually implementing the actions , how the actions meet the lifestyle we're at now . So , ultimately , even while you're creating the calorie deficit , while you're doing some of these tips , really assess how you feel with everything to realize that there might be evolution in how you're enacting things .

Michelle 32:12

Yeah , exactly exactly making sure that you you know the why behind what you're pursuing , so that you have that mental clarity , because mindset is a big part of it .

Cori 32:24

Well , thank you so much , Michelle . These are five amazing or horrible mistakes , and now we know how to avoid them , which is the amazing part Awesome , thanks for having me . So one of the biggest mistakes I see people making is thinking they're always going to be motivated . Motivation is super fleeting and we always talk about , you know , discipline being the thing that you need to rely on . Oh , you're disciplined when the motivation fades . You got to be disciplined , okay . Well , discipline is hard too when you're really stressed out with a whole bunch of things going on . So what I think is the most important thing to realize is that we will not always be motivated , it will not always be easy to be disciplined , and then we have a finite amount of self-control .

Cori 33:01

Therefore , we're implementing new habits . When there's some habits that are on the newer side Even if we've been doing them now a little bit but we're stressed out with other things Sometimes we have to steer into the skid and realize that we have to let off steam in some place , in some way , shape or form . And so I bring this up , especially about tracking , because if you're making any habit changes with your nutritional , a lot of times it does come back to tracking what you're doing , and tracking is tedious , boring , it's not fun . No one likes doing it . Blah , blah , blah . We all know this right , we all made this excuse . However , it is the key , because what gets measured gets managed , and if we're not tracking something , we can't have an accurate picture of what we're doing . However , we get burned out with even habits we know we should do , we even like and we don't always want to do what we should . And so if , over the summer even , or around the holidays , you're feeling that tracking burnout , you're feeling that lack of motivation , I want you to ask yourself some questions , instead of just giving up because I think too a lot . Sometimes we go , oh , this isn't sustainable , I can't do this , and then we just give up completely and we end up sad but touching our results .

Cori 33:58

So if you are burned out with a habit and tracking specifically , I want you to ask yourself what else is going on in your life that may be creating more stress or lack of motivation . Is there something we can change or want to change ? So , instead of just saying I have to change tracking because I'm burnt out with that , think about what could I do to get more Motivation for this , less stress so that I don't want to do this habit , and it might be saying , okay , well , I have stress in these areas , but I can actually control that stress in these areas by planning better and so , therefore , we'll free up some self-control and willpower , so to speak , so that we can't be more disciplined in this other area .

Managing Burnout and Maintaining Motivation

Cori 34:30

However , you might say , hey , there's just too much going on . And then you want to think about like is this burnout due to other priorities occurring or the initial motivation of a goal fading because we've been at the habits for a while ? And if that is the case , it might be time , instead of trying to make changes elsewhere , to make changes in the exact way you're implementing a habit . This goes back to the thing of nothing is fully a lifestyle in the exact way , shape or form you're doing it right now , in that your lifestyle will constantly evolve .

Cori 34:56

And so , with burnout with the habit , instead of just saying this habit doesn't work , which it might really be the key you want to think about how can I use this habit to meet myself where I'm at right now ? How can I steer into this lack of motivation skid to even potentially get back my motivation faster , because I think a lot of times we think , well , I have to be perfect , I have to track in the exact way I'm tracking right now , every more still that I'm eating , I have to hit precise macro breakdowns . And in trying to pressure ourselves into that , when we have all these other things draining us , we end up just hitting empty and then we say screw it , I don't care anymore . And then we completely sabotage ourselves and it's way harder to get motivated again because now we're like , well , that didn't work , that was horrible . You know , we feel like we deserve more . You know , like there's this whole snowball of things that make it even harder to get that motivation back . Not to mention we potentially have lost progress on our goals and even gone backwards from where we started before .

Cori 35:46

So instead of doing that , think , hey , okay , yes , ideally this is what I'd like to do . But what is the minimum I can do to keep moving forward , to even refine that motivation , to reduce the amount of willpower , self-control , pressure on these habits and focus it elsewhere ? Because I think we have to remember part of what leads to burnout with new habits is not only the willpower and self-control it takes to implement new habits that go against what we've always done , but the fact that we're having to make conscious , unconscious habits that ran our day . You just want to about making your food in the way that you always have made it , making the meals and the ratios that you've always made them , the portions that you've always eaten . You ate almost mindlessly and now you're making all these portion sizes something you have to be conscious of . You have to be conscious of when you're taking food from different places , when you're grabbing that snack , when you're grabbing that handful of nuts , right . So it's making unconscious habits conscious , which is takes willpower , self-control , and it's also implementing this new habit .

Cori 36:37

So , if you're finding you're getting burned out , think , hey , how can I reduce the demands of this on me mentally ? And that might mean that maybe you plan ahead meals so that you don't have to track every day . You can just eat those meals in a puzzle piece way . Maybe it's saying , hey , I don't want to be cooking right now , how can I work in meals out ? And you plan out some days with meals out , just so you know what you can do and you're not having to scramble at the end of the day . Maybe it's planning in more of the foods you love and not worrying about the quality of the food so much right now , even though you do care about your health . But that , mentally , is that break you need . Maybe it's , you know , taking that cheat day where you just don't log one day just to reset . Or it's even going to a calorie cap and protein minimum so that you're not worried about exactly where your carbs and fats fall .

Cori 37:15

There's lots of ways to sort of let off steam , but you have to ask yourself why is this burn out occurring ? Is it the actual habit ? Are there other areas in my life that are creating more stress than I had previously ? Or is it just a lack of motivation with these things ? Because I'm not as driven towards my goal right now ? And the more we can recognize where the burnout is coming from , what other stressors we have in our life , the more we can make sure that we're embracing what we need to do in terms of the healthy lifestyle habits , changes we need to make . And it might be going to that minimum , or it might even be saying hey , no , actually , by dialing things in , by setting a new goal , by trying to do a mini cut , you know steering the opposite way , going more intense right now . That will motivate me because I'll see results faster .

Setting Performance Goals for Weight Loss

Cori 37:53

But recognize that burnout is not a bad thing . It doesn't mean that you're not on the right track with habits . It just means that life will do its best again the way , and sometimes we have to steer into the skid and recognize the fact that we aren't motivated to do less to achieve more . So when you're working towards a weight loss goal , I think one of the biggest mistakes we make is only having an aesthetic goal , because when we only have an aesthetic goal , if we're not seeing progress exactly towards that , it's very easy to want to give up on the habits that we need to do to keep moving forward because we're not sort of seeing things build . It's why I like to set performance based goals in the gym to keep us on track , because the more goals that are complementary to our aesthetic goal that we have , the more we're going to make sure that we're implementing the habits for even other reasons . So if you have a goal like wanting to achieve that first full pull up running a 5k , doing a Spartan race , whatever else it is that's going to help .

Cori 38:45

You want to be consistent with your workouts and set those clear progressions that , even on a day where you're not motivated or you didn't see progress on the scale , you can still go into the gym and say , hey , look it , I lifted heavier or my time was faster . Or some of those days where you don't see performance in the gym increase , you can say , well , hey , I did have these other changes that I made and reach these other goals . So it's sort of keeping everything in check . But I want you to think about setting those performance goals as well , because they really do help you replicate the habits that you need , and a lot of times when we're training hard in the gym , it makes us want to do more of what we need . The more you do , the more you do , right ? So if we're not training as hard , it's really easy to sit on the couch , eat worse foods , get even lazier , skip more workouts right .

Cori 39:23

Versus when we're training hard and we're feeling good and we're seeing progress in the gym , we often want to fuel better , to fuel our workouts , and so then our diet is often dialed in and we do , you know , a lot more of the healthy habits that we need . So stop just focusing on your workouts as part of your weight loss goal and as a chance to burn calories and start really setting those goals and really seeking to have performance goals when you are training , because that will also help you dial in the volume . It will help you design the schedule that is realistic for you . It will help you make sure that everything is matched to what you need right now and it also leads to better health overall , which the more we improve our health , the more our body is going to function optimally , the easier it is going to be to lose weight and maintain those weight loss results long term .

Cori 40:04

So think about it as a time to work on your coordination , your reaction time , your explosive power . Think as it as a time to really rebuild that core strength or make sure that your foundation is strong so you don't have aches and pains . Instead of just seeing it as a component of your weight loss journey , see it as its own unique thing every single training session , because I think , you know , we think , oh , I'm injured , I'm not going to lose weight because I can't train as hard . No , see it as a chance to come back stronger , to build that lean muscle , to change those recruitment patterns . Don't worry about the weight loss component , the burning calories component , because you can adjust your diet . You can see results without it , but the more you focus on those performance goals , the more you're going to want to stay in check with everything else and the more you're going to see that payoff in terms of those weight loss results .

Cori 40:45

Okay , so , design your workouts with a purpose and I want you to think , even right now what are some performance goals I would like to hit ? Set an end date that you're going to check in with yourself . Maybe it's a 30 day challenge that you're going to set just to even see how you've progressed . Maybe it's going to be , you know , multiple months . But even if it is multiple months , guys , the more we set those mini goals , those end dates , even that are short term , the better off we're going to be to check in and adjust things , because we don't like just trusting the process or just saying , oh , I'm going to do this forever , right , that doesn't give us that motivation to start now .

Achieving Weight Loss Through Performance Goals

Cori 41:14

But set a progression based on a performance goal , knowing that that is going to ultimately lead to the weight loss results you want . Even if not every workout and it shouldn't is burning a ton of calories , but stop seeing your workouts only as a component of your weight loss journey and it's building that strength , hitting the performance goals that you want , even rocking some new challenges that you thought weren't even possible before . Well , that's a wrap for this episode of the fitness hacks podcast . I hope talking about these mistakes will help you avoid them in the future . And if you've made some well , you're not alone . We've all made them . But the more we can recognize the pitfalls that we fall into and learn to avoid them and meet ourselves where we're at , the more we can see the results that we want and make those results last .