Latest / Fit Womens Weekly Podcast / Ep 712: Does Cardio Increase Cortisol To Store Fat? Can You Lose Weight By Eating More? The Truths You NEED To Hear

Transcript

Ep 712: Does Cardio Increase Cortisol To Store Fat? Can You Lose Weight By Eating More? The Truths You NEED To Hear · Fit Womens Weekly Podcast

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  (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) What's up, guys?
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  Welcome to a brand new episode of the
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  Fit Women's Weekly Podcast.
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  I'm excited today because I am starting a
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  segment called Really Crappy Advice from Fitness Professionals
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  and Fitness Influencers.
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  And we're going to start off with the
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  two worst pieces of advice that I personally
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  see on a regular basis.
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  And I'm going to guess that if I
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  see it, you do too.
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  So the first one was actually inspired from
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  an email that I got from a personal
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  trainer who I am subscribed to.
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  And the email is very short and sweet.
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  I'm going to read it out loud to
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  you.
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  So it says, excessive cardio is never a
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  good thing without proper nutritional support.
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  But as we age, our bodies take a
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  harder hit from cardio.
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  This increases our cortisol production, which causes us
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  to hold onto more body fat stores, actively
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  working against our efforts to get toned.
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  So what is this saying?
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  It is saying, oh my gosh, if you
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  are a woman 40 and over, because that's
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  what this personal trainer focuses on, you better
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  watch out and stop doing cardio because it's
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  just going to make you fatter and more
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  unhealthy in the long run.
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  And obviously that is not what we want.
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  Is this true?
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  And why are they saying that?
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  And this has been a really big thing.
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  I feel like maybe it's just me and
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  my age where I'm seeing a lot of
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  hormonal health, a lot of balance, your hormone
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  influencers out in the world, a lot of
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  personal trainers that are focusing in on that.
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  And I do too, but I want to
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  try to come at it from a different
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  side.
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  I want to try to come at it
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  from the science side of what's actually real.
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  So first off, is this true?
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  So we all know that cortisol is the
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  stress hormone.
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  When your body is undergoing a lot of
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  stress, whether it's internal or external, it produces
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  cortisol to try to come back to center,
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  balance yourself back out.
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  And the truth is, yes, cardio does increase
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  your cortisol levels.
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  However, all exercise does.
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  Anytime that you are pushing your body outside
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  of its standard place, right?
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  Whether you're increasing your heart rate or moving
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  your muscles at a really hard effort, that
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  is going to a state of stress where
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  your cortisol levels are going to rise.
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  However, it is a short term thing because
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  that's what your body is naturally supposed to
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  do.
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  So yes, your levels will rise, but guess
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  what?
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  They're going to come right back down.
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  The other thing is that exercise is not
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  the only thing that makes your cortisol levels
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  rise.
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  This is a natural thing that happens.
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  It's a cyclic activity throughout your body, throughout
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  the day.
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  When you wake up, your cortisol levels go
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  very high.
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  And then as you wake up and go
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  through the day, they tend to level out,
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  depending on your recovery and the things that
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  you do in your daily life, right?
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  So does this mean that because your cortisol
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  levels are rising during cardio, that it's making
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  it harder for you to lose weight or
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  burn body fat?
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  Absolutely not.
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  Absolutely freaking not.
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  The only way that cortisol levels are going
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  to go to such a level that it's
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  going to affect your fat burning potential is
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  if you're in a chronic state of increased
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  cortisol levels.
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  Meaning you're in a chronic state of fatigue,
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  a chronic state of stress.
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  And the chances of that from actually coming
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  from your exercise, for most of us, I'm
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  not going to say for all of us,
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  but for most of us, that is very
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  slim.
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  You're going to have to go into an
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  excessive exercise habit where you are doing cardio
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  every day for a long, about 60, 90
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  minutes longer every single day.
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  And most of us aren't doing that.
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  Most of us have a hard time just
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  fitting in the exercise that we are required
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  or not necessarily required, but suggested that we
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  do just anyways, right?
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  Consistency is the number one issue for women.
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  So this idea that you're doing too much,
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  it's pretty freaking slim to know not only
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  that, I do want to stress the fact
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  that cardio is actually extremely important for hormonal
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  balance, especially as we're getting older, right?
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  Not only is it helping us to maintain
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  a healthy body weight, but it's helping with
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  our heart health.
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  It's helping to decrease other chronic diseases like
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  diabetes, like cancer.
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  It's helping to improve our metabolic health.
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  It's helping to keep our body in a
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  healthy state just all together.
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  It's helping us sleep better.
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  It's literally helping us decrease stress in the
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  long run.
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  We all know that for a lot of
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  us with mental issues such as anxiety and
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  depression, that what's one of the best things
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  that you can do for it?
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  Exercise.
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  And so if you're hoping the anxiety, which
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  is a stressor on your body, you're not
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  increasing your cortisol levels to excessive amounts.
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  You're decreasing your levels of cortisol, right?
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  And so I want you to keep that
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  in mind.
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  So if you see a personal trainer that
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  is trying to push on you, careful, don't
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  do cardio.
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  It's going to make your hormones become imbalanced,
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  which is false.
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  It actually helps to balance them.
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  It's going to increase your fat storage.
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  No, it's actually going to help you maintain
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  your body composition and help your body composition.
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  If you are in a caloric deficit, what
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  things you need to be looking on at
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  are your lifestyle decisions, which are going to
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  play a much larger role in the stressors
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  in your life and how your overall cortisol
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  levels look in terms of chronic fatigue and
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  chronic stress.
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  Does that make sense?
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  So what are some things that you can
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  do to make sure that you're not going
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  to an unhealthy place with your stress levels?
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  Well, obviously we know getting enough sleep, having
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  a healthy diet that is fueled around proper
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  protein, proper carbohydrates, proper fat.
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  And that isn't so much as a you
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  want to make sure that you're not eating
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  a lot of fake processed foods that you're
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  getting most of your diet from all natural
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  foods.
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  That's obviously going to fuel your body the
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  best, making sure that you are hydrated, making
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  sure that you are taking your care of
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  yourself.
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  You're taking time to rest or journal or
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  whatever the case may be things that you
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  do for you that make you feel good.
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  So why is it that trainers are pushing
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  this in the first place?
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  I think that there's two reasons.
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  One, it's kind of fear mongering a little
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  bit where you go, oh my gosh.
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  Well, I don't want to increase my cortisol
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  levels.
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  I don't want to add body fat.
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  This trainer must know what she's talking about.
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  So I'm going to join her program.
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  I think the other tidbit is they're giving
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  you what you are not necessarily you, but
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  what a lot of people want to hear
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  versus need to hear when you say, oh,
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  you shouldn't be doing cardio.
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  A lot of people go, well, thank God,
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  I hate cardio.
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  I don't want to sweat.
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  I don't have time for it.
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  This person is telling me that I don't
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  need to do it.
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  That makes it easier for my fitness, right?
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  So I'm going to follow their programming.
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  So I think it's those two things that
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  go hand in hand.
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  I, for one, am trying to bridge that
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  gap between where, yes, I want to give
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  you what you want, but I also want
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  to give you what you need.
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  So I'm never going to prescribe false, a
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  false narrative to try to scare you and
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  to do one thing or sugar coat stuff.
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  When you want to change your body composition,
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  or if you want to just be the
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  healthiest that you want to be in terms
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  of your fitness and your nutrition, it takes
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  consistently showing up and it means consistently showing
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  up with cardio health and with your strength
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  training, your flexibility, your mobility, all of those
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  different elements.
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  And yes, that does take a commitment from
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  one week to the next, one month to
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  the next, year after year.
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  I get out there and I do a
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  structured cardio workout at least three times a
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  week, and I've been doing this for 20
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  years.
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  Do I have an excessive amount of belly
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  fat because of that?
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  Absolutely not.
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  So that's bad.
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  Take number one, the trainers out there that
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  say that cardio is bad for you.
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  Please don't listen to them.
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  And then bad take number two is this
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  narrative of, Oh my gosh, I'm eating more
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  food than I ever have.
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  And I'm losing body fat.
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  So what are they saying?
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  First off, again, it comes to that narrative
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  of what you want to hear.
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  You can eat more and actually lose weight.
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  So what they're saying is they're just twisting
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  the words around a little bit.
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  This is like marketing one-on-one, right?
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  Where people, professional, like fitness professionals or fitness
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  influencers, not necessarily professionals, but they are eating
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  more in terms of density, perhaps where they're
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  going to start eating more whole foods versus
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  processed foods.
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  And so on their plate, it does look
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  like there's more food because think about like
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  500 calories worth of salad versus 500 calories
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  of pizza.
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  Those plates are going to look extremely different.
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  There's going to be more food on your
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  plate for that salad, but that's just called
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  food density versus I'm eating more, I'm eating
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  less.
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  They're still eating the same amount of calories.
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  It's just designed in a different way.
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  And so yeah, the people that are eating
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  500 calories of salad, which is full of
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  fiber, they're typically going to load it up
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  with some sort of protein, whether it's chicken
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  or fish or steak, whatever the case may
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  be.
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  So then they're also getting a good dose
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  of protein on top of that.
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  They're going to feel fuller faster.
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  So they might end up eating actually a
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  little bit less and in return, they're going
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  to burn body fat and lose weight that
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  way, but they're not losing weight because they're
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  eating more that goes against everything with physics,
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  the law of thermodynamics is if that you
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  have to be in an imbalance, you have
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  to burn more calories than what you are
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  taking in, which means you have to be
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  in a caloric deficit in order to lose
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  weight.
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  So there's no way you can literally be
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  eating more food than what you should be
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  eating past your baseline of your metabolism and
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  lose weight.
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  It's just not possible, but you can lose
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  weight from eating more higher dense foods that
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  in return have fewer calories and are also
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  more filling with fiber and protein and healthy
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  fats that will satisfy you from one meal
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  to the next more so than if you
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  are eating more of a processed foods, which
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  typically are more filled with carbohydrates.
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  So think like pizza, for example, or pasta,
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  you might have 500 calories worth of pasta
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  and that'll fill you up in the time
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  being.
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  But because that is broken down so quickly,
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  carbohydrates actually start to break down in your
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  mouth versus the digestive tract of like your
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  intestines, like fats or proteins, stomach, it takes
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  longer to burn those things down, which means
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  those things keep you fuller longer than pure
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  carbohydrate.
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  And that means that you are going to
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  be hungrier sooner, leading you to eat a
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  little bit more.
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  So again, bad take, they're not being fully
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  transparent.
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  And so on this podcast podcast, I always
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  want to be transparent with you guys.
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  So those are my bad takes for the
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  week.
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  Number one, cardio is making you fat.
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  No, it is not.
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  Please do your cardio, y'all.
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  It is going to make you more of
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  a well-rounded, healthier person.
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  It's going to protect you from chronic disease.
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  It's going to help with your metabolic health
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  as you get older.
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  It's going to help with your bone health
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  is also going to help you be able
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  to maintain your independence longer.
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  And of course, it's also going to make
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  you stronger when it comes to your other
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  forms of exercise, like a deadlift or like
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  strength training, for example, where you ever deadlifted
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  for 10 reps.
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  You put that weight down and you feel
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  like you ran a mile.
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  Well, no, that's not actually cardio, but it
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  is a sign that your cardio is not
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  where it should be so that you can
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  do those kind of large sets without being
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  like, oh, my God, I need 10 minutes
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  to rest because I just ran a mile
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  when, in fact, you just did 10 reps
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  of something.
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  Right.
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  So things to think about.
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  And then the second bad take is that
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  you are going to lose weight from eating
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  more.
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  No, you're going to lose weight from being
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  a caloric deficit.
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  It's just the way that you are in
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  that deficit, the different types of foods that
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  you eat that will help you.
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  And so, yes, you might look at your
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  plate and there's more food on there, but
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  it's still the same amount of calories or
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  less.
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  It's just different types of foods.
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  So hopefully you guys found this helpful.
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  It kept me up last night because I
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  was just reeling off of this email that
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  I got when I was like, how is
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  this person so popular?
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  But they are showing such crappy advice in
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  order to grow their platform.
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  I'm just going to give it to you
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  real.
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  I'm going to be real with you guys.
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  I'm going to give you the tough love.
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  If that hurts me, it means that I'm
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  not going to get the hundreds of thousands
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  of followers on Instagram or on YouTube or
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  whatever platform, then so be it.
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  But I'd rather be real and honest with
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  you guys, then give you just what you
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  want to hear.
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  I want to give you what you need
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  to hear to get the results for your
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  life in the long run.
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  So if you enjoyed that, let me know.
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  Join the conversation.
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  Feel free to DM me or email me
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  kindle at film weekly dot com.
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  And of course, like I mentioned before, if
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  you haven't already, please do me a favor.
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  Subscribe to the channel, whatever platform it is
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  that you're listening to.
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  And if you have friends and family that
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  are also interested in bettering their self and
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  learning how fitness truly fits into their life
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  easier, then share this episode with them.
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  All right, guys.
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  Thank you so much for hanging out with
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  me.
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  Talk to you soon.
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  Bye.