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4 reasons you may not be losing weight if you exercise · SAY GRACE | Weight Loss + Health for Overwhelmed Women- Stress, Busy, Consistency, Realistic, Motivation, Starting Over, No Restrictions

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  Music.
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  Oh, y'all, we see this so often. Ladies adapting a healthy lifestyle,
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  eating right and working out just to become frustrated that the scale is going up.
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  We all know exercise is great for you, but that frustration stinks. I don't care who you are.
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  So today I'm going to talk through four main reasons that you may see some weight
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  gain with exercise and some tips for overcoming that exercise and weight loss struggle.
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  So y'all, if I had a dollar for every time we get a DM or an email or just like
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  see a post from one of our ladies in the group who is just feeling that frustration, right?
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  Like we know exercise is good for our body.
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  We know it helps like our body feel better. It helps our mental health.
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  We know like it gives us a better mood. It reduces our stress. Okay.
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  We know that we're going to gain muscle, which is really good for our bone health
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  and just our longevity, right?
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  We know that exercise increases our metabolism. So hopefully we can eat a little
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  bit more, you know, and burn fat more efficiently.
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  We know that it helps with our heart health and our blood sugar regulation,
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  our brain function, and it helps us sleep better.
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  Like I could go on and on and on about all the benefits of exercise, right? But.
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  It may not help with the scale. Okay. And so for a lot of ladies who have kind
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  of made up their mind, okay, I'm going to get healthy. I'm going to do this.
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  I'm going to eat right. And I'm going to exercise.
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  Like we all are kind of low key wanting to see that scale go down or very,
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  very vocally wanting to see that scale go down.
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  Right. And so I have seen it time and time again, where like women get into
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  this mindset of defeat because they think I tried all this and it didn't work
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  for me, you know, so I may as well completely give up, right?
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  Because what they're saying to do isn't working for me. The scale is going up, right?
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  Or we have ladies who are in our program, and they like start with us just trying
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  to lose weight by eating.
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  And then they're like, okay, I'm ready to take it up a notch.
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  I'm ready to like change my action step to include more movement.
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  And so they sign up for like a boot camp class, or they just start trying to
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  move their body and lift weights a little bit more.
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  And then they see themselves stall on the scale.
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  Okay. And so for women, especially my women who have spent a great deal of their
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  life attempting to lose weight.
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  This can just like, we can go to that negative place in our head where it's
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  like, well, here we go. It's happening again.
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  You know, this is how it always goes. That kind of thing.
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  Like I can never keep my weight loss up. I can never stay consistent.
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  I can never reach my goal weight. It can just mess with our mindset.
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  And so I will tell you, before we get into the reasons you may not be losing
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  weight if you're exercising, I will tell you that I tread this with every,
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  and Stacey does too, our dietician who's in the inbox a lot.
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  We tread this with each individual person very carefully and very differently. And let me tell you why.
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  Because if we know that you that it took you like a lot of guts a lot of like,
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  prayer and belief in yourself and like really saying, I'm going to try to lose weight one more time.
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  Like, I'm going to try this one more time. I'm going to try to have faith in
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  myself that I can do this one more time.
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  Let me sign up with Perfect Fit Nutrition, right? Because people say it's the easiest way to lose.
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  But you have a past of like consistent failure,
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  struggles, like like like
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  brain battles where you just are constantly battling
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  that negative thinking and constantly kind of yo-yoing
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  between I can do this and then like I suck you know like those two thoughts
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  like if you are just really and if the number on this scale really defines you
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  you know If you are a person that gets on the scale and if it's up three ounces,
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  you're like, what happened?
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  Such a failure. I can never do this. I never lose weight. It doesn't work for me. And you spiral.
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  If you're one of those people, we approach you very differently with the idea
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  of exercise than we would someone who has maybe been at it a little bit longer,
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  who understands health and weight loss and kind of how the body works a little bit longer.
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  And has strengthened that part of their mindset, right?
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  Has strengthened their brain to say like, no, I'm up three ounces,
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  but like I had sushi last night and I know I didn't get all my water in yesterday.
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  So I'm probably retaining fluid. Like that's more of a logical thinking.
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  And so why do I say this? Why do I say this? Because obviously, practically, right?
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  When you listen to podcasts like this, you know a lot of the things that I'm about to say.
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  Right? But if you aren't able to apply them in the moment, if you aren't able
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  to apply like realistic thinking instead of panic thoughts,
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  then again, we just, we approach, I'm not going to sit on this podcast and tell
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  you not to exercise, but we do.
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  We approach it with a perspective of, do you need to work on your mental health
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  more or your physical health more right now in this moment.
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  Like, do you need to strengthen that positive thinking muscle a little bit more
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  before you move into the exercise aspect of health?
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  Because that might mess with your positive thinking muscle, okay?
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  So it needs to be a little stronger, right? And if you're one who steps on the
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  scale and has an absolute meltdown when it doesn't look exactly how you want it to look.
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  Then maybe exercise isn't the next step for you yet, right?
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  Yet, okay? And so I just, again, you do, you boo.
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  And like, you know, I just rattled off all the benefits of exercise,
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  including mental health, right?
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  It boosts our mood and it reduces our stress. And, you know,
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  it helps us to think more positively, you know?
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  But we just, I've just, we've noticed this. We have worked with literally thousands of women, y'all.
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  And so we've just noticed this, that sometimes when they decide to add exercise
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  in, maybe their mindset wasn't quite ready for the stall that was going to come
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  on the scale because they were so dang worried about the number dropping.
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  Okay. They were so, they were like, the goal was a number.
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  The goal wasn't physical health, right? Like we all can sit here and say,
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  I want to feel better. I want my body composition to be better. But do you really?
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  You know, and that's something you have to dig deep and decide.
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  And for every one of us, it's different, right? And at different phases of our life, it's different.
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  But like, if you say those things that I just want to feel better and I just want to,
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  you know, have some muscle and, you know, whatever, then you have to mean it
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  and you have to mean it enough to accept that maybe the scale is going to go down.
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  I mean, it's going to, yeah, it's going to go down slower or maybe not at all
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  for a little while while you're incorporating exercise. Okay.
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  So, and I know that's like pretty blunt and like probably not like a perspective
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  you've ever heard before.
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  But I would just say it's just like on our end, it feels sometimes impossible
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  because we're like, yes, exercise is so good. Everybody exercise.
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  Do it. Do it. This is why all the health benefits. But then on the same flip,
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  we're getting those same ladies in the inbox. It's like, I haven't lost weight
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  in four weeks. And I have been tracking every day.
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  I've been eating fruits and vegetables. I've been doing all the things.
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  What's wrong? I'm so frustrated. I want to quit. I want to give up.
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  And we're like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
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  You are moving your body. You are building your muscles. You are boosting your
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  metabolism, you know, in the long term, right?
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  Like you're doing all these good things for the different physical aspects of
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  your body and you're fueling it well.
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  You're fueling yourself correctly,
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  to then in turn also do even better physical things for your body.
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  But you're telling me that you want to give up just because of a stupid number
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  on a piece of equipment that costs you $20. Did you stick a battery in the back?
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  You know what I mean? Like, and so, so again, again, okay, I'm gonna quit because
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  I'm driving it home, but I just, you know, that's my rant as we begin.
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  Welcome to Say Grace Podcast, everybody. Okay. So I want to really talk through
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  four, four reasons that you may not be losing weight if you are exercising.
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  Okay. So you may be one of these people I just described.
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  And so, you know, I do want to be able to give you like some good practical
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  information. to maybe help you understand, right?
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  So that maybe that frustration doesn't feel as heavy, okay?
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  So the first one is pretty obvious. I know we've all heard this one,
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  right? But muscle weighs more than fat, right?
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  It's like a legit thing. We didn't just make it up to make you feel better, okay?
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  Muscle tissue is more dense and it's heavier. So while you may be losing body
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  fat, like if you're that client I was just talking about who's working out consistently
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  and eating well, she is losing body fat, okay? but she is gaining muscle.
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  And unless you go to some kind of fancy, fancy DEXA scan or some other kind
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  of situation like that, it's going to be really hard to see that. And also.
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  It's a slow process, you know, like you're not going to go back,
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  you know, two weeks apart and you have lost 2% body fat.
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  Like it's a slow process, right?
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  But you just have to trust, okay, I'm getting on this scale.
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  I'm weighing the same, but I know I did good. I know I ate right.
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  I know I got my workouts in.
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  I'm probably just gaining that muscle and losing a little bit of fat.
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  And you just have to accept that as you move along, okay?
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  Because your body composition is improving, right? And anybody who's worked
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  out long enough to see the results physically knows that.
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  The scale may not have changed, but baby, y'all waist is snatched.
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  Y'all booty's getting tighter and higher.
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  You feel like your arm muscles aren't as jiggly.
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  All the things, we are noticing that physically.
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  I have had clients that are heavy exercisers that come to really learn the nutrition piece.
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  They don't lose a pound, but they're like, my scrubs are falling off of me. I had to buy new panties.
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  I mean, you know, like that's a big deal if you need a different size panty, you know what I mean?
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  And so, so you just have to kind of be able to trust that you understand I am building muscle.
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  I feel my strength, you know, and so I know my body composition is improving for the better, right?
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  And the scale is just not going to show that. Now they do make body fat percentage
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  scales that are like a helper, right, for this.
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  It just gives you a little bit more of a peace of mind.
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  But again, it's just, that is like sending an electrical current that like may
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  catch some fluid, may catch some balm. I mean, you don't know.
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  It's got to, you know, the price point matters here for accuracy.
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  And so most of the time, most of us aren't going to be able to get on like a
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  quality enough piece of equipment, as often enough, right, to keep that mental
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  motivation going for us.
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  And so, you know, again, just accepting muscle weighs more than fat.
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  Next, number two, this is a big, big, big, big, big, big one. Okay, listen up.
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  All of my, I'm hollering at my
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  PFN plus, or my PFN clients, because I feel like we see this weekly. And.
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  Exercise causes fluid retention.
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  It just does, okay? Let me tell you why, though.
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  This will help you. Instead of us just saying, oh, it's probably fluid retention,
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  you know, maybe now you will get it.
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  Okay, so exercise increases blood flow, right? So when you exercise,
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  that's why our heart's pumping faster, right?
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  Everything's pumping faster, right? When we exercise, blood flow is increased.
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  And it also creates tiny tears in our muscles. We've talked about this on the
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  protein podcasts in the past. And so exercise creates these tiny tears in our
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  muscles. So then what's the body do?
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  It works to build them up bigger and better.
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  So the body sends fluid and nutrients to help with the repair so that it can
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  make our body, our muscles, you know, bigger, better, stronger,
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  right? Through the repair.
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  But this can make our body retain a little more water for like just a temporary
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  period of time, right? Like, because it's doing work for us,
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  it's in the end, it's helping us, right?
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  In the end, our muscles are going to be bigger, better, stronger, right?
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  That's what we want so that we can burn more fat and lift heavier weights and all the things, right?
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  But you have to, you have to allow the body to do its process.
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  You cannot work out on a Thursday night and then wake up Friday morning mad
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  at the scale because it's not showing a loss.
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  It's still working out on that muscle that you tore up the night before.
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  You know what I mean? It's still trying to fix it. Things are not instant,
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  baby, in this body, okay?
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  And so I tell all my clients never to weigh when they're sore, okay?
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  Really, even if you're not sore, just don't make it a habit of weighing.
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  I would say a day to two days, sometimes three days. Oh, y'all,
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  me and Jess did a workout in the garage.
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  Last weekend. And I mean, I was sore for like four days because I just,
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  I really overdid it with weight.
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  And, and so like, I was not about to get on that scale and hurt my own feelings
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  knowing that I could barely walk looking like Bambi around here. You know what I mean?
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  And so don't, if you are feeling sore, do not get on the scale.
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  Okay. Because you have more fluid working in you than you usually would.
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  And so that again, it's just like the muscle.
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  The scale is not going to say, oh, you know, you weigh, you know,
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  155 pounds, but really you weigh 153.
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  It's just two pounds of fluid. Like, no, it's not going to say that, right?
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  And so just keeping this in mind, it's a good thing, right?
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  The fact that the fluid is doing the work in your body is a good thing for your
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  body and for the outcome of it, right?
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  But it's something to be mindful of so that you don't hop on that scale and
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  get in your head about it after a workout.
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  Also, sweating can cause fluid and electrolyte imbalance, okay?
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  When you sweat, you release fluid.
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  So your body may, like in a response mechanism, your body may hold on to a little
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  more fluid than it usually would to preserve it.
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  It may like freak out thinking, oh, we're about to get dehydrated.
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  Let me hold on to all this water real quick, right? Let me hold on to all this fluid real quick, okay?
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  And so that leads to, again, some fluid retention, maybe some swelling, okay?
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  Another, like never get on the scale after, if you feel swollen.
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  Okay. Like again, another thing we tell our clients in, in the membership is
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  like, if you do not, do not get on the scale after Mexican or really anything salty.
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  Okay. And really alcohol too. Like, like all of these things while they're acceptable, right?
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  Because, because mentally we are not saying we're going to exclude anything
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  from our diet, because then that becomes like a shame process when we do end
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  up caving and having it, right?
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  Mentally, we're saying we're not gonna exclude anything, okay,
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  but also we have got to be smart.
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  We cannot, you know, we cannot be in a weight loss program and say,
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  Constance says we can have sushi and pizza and Mexican.
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  And so I had all three yesterday. Now let me get on the scale and see what it
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  says. Like you have to use common sense, right? And so you cannot...
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  Feel swollen and expect the scale to tell you anything less than something that is not accurate.
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  It's not going to be accurate and it's going to be frustrating.
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  And then you're going to be in your head the whole time. Okay, the whole day, right?
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  And then when you're in your head feeling like a failure, what do you do?
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  Oh, well, then you start skipping the workout.
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  Oh, you start grabbing one extra cookie. Oh, you're like, what's the matter?
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  I may as well. Who cares? That kind of mentality, right?
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  And so the scale can really mess some people up with their mental cycles,
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  you know? And so I know I'm driving that home, but some of y'all need to put
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  that scale away is what you need to do, okay?
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  So anyway, if you feel swollen at all, we are also not going to get on the scale, right?
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  Okay, and so just knowing, too, that exercise in general causes some fluid retention,
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  and then, of course, sweating throughout your exercise causes some fluid retention.
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  Okay, so our third way that you may not be losing weight if you exercise is
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  because you might be over-consuming food.
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  Okay, so your caloric intake may actually be exceeding the burn.
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  And I will tell you, we see this often and we see it mostly with our ladies
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  that are doing really high-intensity exercise. So think CrossFit,
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  HIIT, that kind of stuff, because.
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  Those types of exercise tend to leave women like extra hungry,
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  you know, like you just are ravenous because you worked so hard in your workout
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  and maybe for such a long time.
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  And so then you're like, well, I'm starving. And so you're constantly trying to fill that void.
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  And sometimes you're trying to fill that void with like nutritious foods,
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  right? But it just, it takes a while.
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  Okay. And so then those calories add up. but then other times you may not even
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  really be paying attention.
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  You're just like, I worked out. I deserve this. You know what I mean?
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  Like leave the gym. Let me run through Chick-fil-A. Like I worked out.
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  I burned enough calories. I can have this.
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  When in reality, yeah, you probably burned like three, 400 calories,
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  but baby you ate 1200 calories in your biggie size chicken sandwich meal or
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  whatever you got. Right.
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  And so if you're not, if you aren't paying attention to your actual intake,
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  like if you're not tracking what you eat and, and really staying on top of your
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  nutrition, sometimes like that, that's what they say, you can't out exercise a bad diet, you know.
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  And so this is very true for a lot of ladies who are consistently exercising
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  and have been for years and years and years, but still can't seem to lose weight.
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  It's just that your your intake is exceeding the burn.
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  Okay, at the end of the day, I know some people want to fight about this,
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  but it's like calories in versus calories out, right? Energy in versus energy out.
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  And so if you are taking in more energy, it doesn't matter how much energy you
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  expended in your workout if you're still eating out, out eating that amount.
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  You know what I'm saying?
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  So also though, on the other side of the coin, okay, we have seen this.
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  You may be significantly under consuming, okay, which causes your body to stall.
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  It causes your body to say, oh, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope,
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  nope. She has not eaten enough. Just like with the dehydration thing,
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  you know, your body, the body recognizes like.
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  Wait, she's not eating enough. We're not going to have enough to do all the
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  things we need to do every day. So let's hold on to every single thing.
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  You know, let's store up this fat and hold on to it because we don't know if
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  she's going to feed us again.
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  You know, we don't know if she's going to give us what we need to be able to
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  function tomorrow. So let's hold on to it.
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  You know, and if you're in the membership, you know that in one of our courses,
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  I talk extensively about that, about the hunters and the gatherers and,
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  you know, how our body was designed by God.
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  And like, just because we've got fast food on every corner doesn't mean that
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  our body isn't still designed to make sure it preserves itself if necessary,
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  if we end up without food, right?
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  And so sometimes when you're exercising, specifically over-exercising or just, you know.
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  Exercising and under-eating, you have
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  hit a calorie burn an
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  energy burn each day that is
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  too low like you're not eating enough back each day and so the body's like nope
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  nope nope nope nope we're stopping right here okay so I have a lady this was
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  a couple months ago but she emailed in and like she was exercising like basically twice a day.
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  Like she was walking two miles with her dog and then also doing a HIIT workout
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  in the afternoon every day. Okay.
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  And then she was also following like a 1200 calorie diet.
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  And I'm like, no, we do not, you know, we do not like 1200 calorie diets are
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  for people who literally don't get off the couch.
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  And even still, it's probably not for them. Right. And so that's why if you're
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  in our program, you know, we, we encourage you to eat back at least half,
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  if not more of your exercise calories that you have burned.
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  And again, it's fun, right? Because you get a little extra food to eat. And so that's fun.
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  But also, it's for a purpose. It's for an actual purpose.
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  Okay? It's to make sure your body knows, hey, yeah, I know we burned a lot today.
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  I know we like ran a couple miles or I know we did that hard, heavy hit workout.
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  But like, I'm feeding you. I'm feeding you extra. Like, you know,
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  do what you need to do with this food.
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  It's so we can let our body trust us to feed it enough to still be able to do
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  what it needs to do each day.
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  But then, of course, keep it keep it in a decent range so that you can also
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  lose some of that fat. Right.
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  It's a it's a it's a beautiful balance, you know, and it takes some time.
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  But just being aware of that, you know, of both.
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  Could you be one of these that may be exceeding your your because your energy
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  intake because you really don't even know what you'd be eating all day to every
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  day, but you think, oh, I got to the gym.
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  I surely, surely I have room for this, right? Could you be one of those?
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  Or could you be somebody who's so zeroed in on weight loss that you're exercising
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  heavily and heavily under eating, okay?
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  Because both ways, your body could be responding, right? In a way that's not
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  going to show you weight loss on the scale. And then finally,
• 23:06
  Oh, y'all, the closer I get to 40, the more I see this in women like me.
• 23:10
  And it is your body may just be stressed from the exercise.
• 23:16
  OK, we are not designed as women to just be going balls to the wall all the
• 23:22
  time. Like we're just not.
• 23:24
  And so sometimes our body can like panic and freak out. OK, and too much of
• 23:29
  that stress on our body increases our cortisol.
• 23:31
  And we know we've talked about this on the past podcast, like with with constantly,
• 23:37
  spiking cortisol, it's nearly impossible to lose weight, okay?
• 23:41
  And so if you are putting your body under a ton of stress, specifically,
• 23:46
  I mean, well, if you have a ton of stress otherwise, but then you're putting
• 23:49
  your body under a ton from actual exercise, your hormones could be so mad at you, okay?
• 23:56
  And if they're so mad at you, they are not going to shed the fat, okay?
• 24:02
  And so I want to talk about now and just some tips, like some tips in relation
• 24:06
  to all of these reasons that I just mentioned for things to do to help, right?
• 24:13
  Other than just like accept that, you know, if you're just one of those who
• 24:17
  feel like you have a great exercise routine and you just feel like I'm probably
• 24:22
  a person who's just gaining muscle and, you know, losing fat and I'm not saying it on the scale,
• 24:27
  then that is something you just have to accept, right? Mentally accept, okay?
• 24:33
  And so, you know, for you, the tip is accept that the scale may not be the best
• 24:38
  indicator right now, okay?
• 24:40
  Like, it's not going to be what you need to see for progress visually,
• 24:45
  because it's not going to give you like, oh, yes, I'm down a pound.
• 24:48
  Like, it's not going to give you that celebration. So what can we do otherwise, right?
• 24:53
  And so you could take your inches.
• 24:56
  I say this till I'm blue in the face with our ladies when they first start,
• 24:59
  take inches and take your progress pictures.
• 25:02
  I know it's a little more effort than just stepping on a scale,
• 25:04
  but especially if you're an exerciser, that's where it matters,
• 25:08
  y'all, is those inches and those progress pictures, right? Right.
• 25:12
  And so keeping up with your inches instead of your weight on the scale,
• 25:19
  which means that's less often. Right.
• 25:21
  You don't get that dopamine hit every few days hopping on the scale, seeing what it does.
• 25:25
  Right. It's more like once a month, once every six weeks, you pull out your
• 25:29
  tape measure and see how your waist is looking.
• 25:31
  You know what I mean? And so, again, accepting that, you know,
• 25:36
  you're doing great things internally for your body. and that's enough, right?
• 25:40
  Okay, another tip is to...
• 25:45
  Find a workout that meets you where you are mentally right now with your weight.
• 25:50
  Okay. And so what I mean by that is, yes, muscle gain is so great for all the things, right?
• 25:57
  But maybe you need that mental release that exercise brings,
• 26:01
  but you don't know that you're quite prepared for some of this frustration I'm
• 26:07
  talking about with the number on the scale.
• 26:08
  Like you don't know if you can look the scale on that week after week and see
• 26:11
  it not moving and not give up on yourself.
• 26:15
  And so find a workout that meets you there. Okay, walking is an excellent one.
• 26:19
  This one is going to be a lot easier on your body.
• 26:23
  Okay, you're not going to be building muscles as, like you build muscle while
• 26:26
  you walk, but it's just not going to be as rapidly as something like a boot
• 26:31
  camp with like, you know, deadlifts and squats and all the things, right?
• 26:36
  And so you will still be able, after your body adjusts to the walks,
• 26:41
  right, you will be able to see weight loss.
• 26:44
  You'll be able to see it on the scale. Okay. And so that way you are able to
• 26:48
  reap some of the benefits, like the heart, well, all the benefits, right?
• 26:51
  Like the heart health, the mental health, all the good stuff from exercise without
• 26:56
  the, you know, without as large of an impact of, you know, the muscle weighing
• 27:03
  so much more than the fat and that struggle with the scale.
• 27:06
  So we have a lot of ladies who are easing into exercise by just walking,
• 27:10
  You know, me, myself, like I am mainly walking right now. That's for,
• 27:14
  you know, other reasons as well.
• 27:15
  But it really does aid in that weight loss on the scale more so than, you know.
• 27:25
  Again, heavy weights and that sort of thing, especially at the beginning of your exercise journey.
• 27:31
  And so, again, if you feel like your mental space just isn't quite there yet,
• 27:34
  I would suggest finding, you know, a walk or yoga or something,
• 27:37
  a workout that meets you where you are, where you feel like,
• 27:40
  okay, I can do this exercise and I cannot spiral when I get on the scale.
• 27:46
  Also, tracking your intake. Okay. If you are one that has been exercising forever
• 27:51
  and not really seeing movement, like, you need to consider what you're putting in your mouth.
• 27:56
  Okay. And, again, like, I have had...
• 28:00
  I have had, you know, eye rolls and I have had, you know, attitude from like
• 28:04
  these fitness gurus or whatever, because they think, well, like I'm,
• 28:07
  I'm taking in a lot of protein.
• 28:09
  I'm eating like oats. I'm, you know, I'm eating like fruits and veggies.
• 28:14
  Cool. Cool. Like that's all great stuff. But like you are rolling the oats in
• 28:19
  like half a cup of peanut butter and peanut butter calories add up fast. You know what I mean?
• 28:29
  It still can add up even if the food you're eating is super clean and super healthy, right?
• 28:36
  And so you have to be aware of the portion size and the calories and the macros
• 28:41
  in the individual healthy foods, right?
• 28:44
  And so just tracking your intake, just putting it in MyFitnessPal,
• 28:47
  seeing what it looks like each day compared to, you know, kind of what you're
• 28:51
  burning and just having a better idea, you know, of maybe why.
• 28:55
  I will say this is, you know, the biggest light bulb moment for so many of our
• 28:58
  ladies who have been trying everything and then come to us.
• 29:01
  You know, it's just like, oh, okay, I didn't realize I was eating like 3000
• 29:05
  calories a day, you know, because I but I thought I was fine because I was working
• 29:09
  out when in reality, I'm only burning 300 calories in my workout.
• 29:14
  Okay, the next tip is don't weigh when you're sore, right or
• 29:17
  after a heavy lifting day like really again if you
• 29:20
  are an exerciser you're what and
• 29:24
  you are a I want to get on the scale often kind of gal it's
• 29:27
  got to be strategic it's really tricky like for some of us there's only one
• 29:32
  day a week that it'll work out right and even if that you know and so yeah not
• 29:37
  getting on the scale after a workout a couple days or when you're sore or when
• 29:42
  you feel bloated from too much salt or when you didn't have enough water or
• 29:46
  when you're about not to start your marriage.
• 29:48
  Like there's a lot that goes into it and so again
• 29:51
  we really need to pay attention to how we physically feel most
• 29:55
  you know and then just like maybe really
• 29:58
  maybe check the scale like once every few weeks and be like okay we're trending
• 30:02
  down great job us you know instead of like playing this emotional game over
• 30:09
  a few ounces that wasn't there yesterday and thinking you did something wrong, right?
• 30:16
  When those fiances could be from literally anything, the progress seen over
• 30:21
  time from like March 1st to April 1st is going to be a more accurate view of
• 30:28
  the true progress versus you checking
• 30:31
  that scale every single day between March 1st and April 1st, okay?
• 30:36
  So yeah, just sticking to what you know and doing it over and over and stop
• 30:39
  putting all your faith into this dang scale, right?
• 30:45
  Another one is to drink that water regularly, okay?
• 30:48
  Especially if you are an exerciser like that matters. It matters for all of us, right?
• 30:52
  But it matters even more when you're exercising, okay?
• 30:54
  Because you want to be giving your body what it needs so that it can do the
• 30:58
  processes we talked about on this episode.
• 31:01
  And then this one is so important, so, so, so important, especially for the.
• 31:08
  Stress, the stress reason is be okay with skipping a workout.
• 31:13
  You know, like culture today is like, you know, no, no days off.
• 31:17
  Like if you're not hustling, you're done.
• 31:19
  Like that kind of mentality really across the board for all, all aspects of life.
• 31:23
  You know, like rest is so unheard of and unknown and like kind of like looked down upon.
• 31:29
  And in my own personal journey, like I really am trying to come up against that
• 31:34
  and like say, no, it's okay for you to rest.
• 31:36
  Like let's, let's rest and let's be okay mentally with that instead of like shaming myself for it.
• 31:43
  And so it's the same with a workout, right? Like I know we have all these accountability
• 31:47
  pieces in place, especially with group fitness to like show up and make so many
• 31:52
  days in the gym and, you know, commit to these little challenges they do inside the gym or whatnot.
• 31:57
  But like, you know, your body, you live your life, right?
• 32:02
  And so it's okay for you to say, I'm going to skip a workout.
• 32:07
  You know, like I have a PFM Plus client. I love her so much.
• 32:09
  And exercise, she thrives on her exercise, but there are other things that we are working through.
• 32:14
  And last week she was like, okay, I worked out Thursday, but like I think I
• 32:20
  overdid it because it was Friday morning when we were chatting.
• 32:22
  And she said, I have an appointment or I have a session with my trainer this
• 32:26
  morning, but like I just like my body is telling me no. And I was like, then do not go.
• 32:31
  Do not go. Like, I don't know who told us we need to push past what our body
• 32:36
  is actually telling us, right? But it's a lie.
• 32:40
  So her body was worn. She had other stuff going on that week too.
• 32:43
  That was like some stressors. And so I'm like, you just need to rest.
• 32:46
  Her kids were like borderline sick. And I'm like, you're about to get sick.
• 32:49
  You know, like it was a lot of stuff going on that I'm like,
• 32:51
  you need to rest because if you go, you could push your body into the illness, right?
• 32:57
  You could increase that cortisol even more, like your stress level.
• 33:01
  And then what happens is the whole next week, you're garbage.
• 33:04
  Like you just don't feel like doing anything. You're super fatigued.
• 33:07
  You know, you're super overwhelmed. And so I was so proud of her because she
• 33:11
  was just like, okay, I'm just going to skip it. I'm just going to cancel, right?
• 33:13
  And so we need to be okay with that mindset a little bit more, right?
• 33:17
  Especially those of us who have all these big goals and dreams.
• 33:20
  And so yeah just a few tips again
• 33:23
  I think this episode was really mainly an understanding and
• 33:28
  giving you permission to now make
• 33:31
  a choice right like a your options are a I am just going to choose not to exercise
• 33:38
  right now I know it's good for me but mentally the scale messes with me and
• 33:45
  I'm really trying to like get down 10 or 20 pounds before I'm.
• 33:49
  Think I would be prepared to be in a mindset where this girl's messing with me all the time, right?
• 33:54
  You're like gentle feelings, like you're breakable right now,
• 33:59
  right? And that's okay to acknowledge and say.
• 34:02
  Next option would be, okay, I do want to move because I know it helps my mental
• 34:07
  health and I know I feel better after.
• 34:09
  So maybe I'm just going to try to walk every so often, right?
• 34:12
  And just see how that does with my weight loss. I'm going to make sure I'm tracking
• 34:18
  what I eat or kind of just being more aware, not going to weigh when I,
• 34:22
  you know, feel swollen or my muscles feel sore after my walk, that kind of thing.
• 34:26
  Or the next one is, no, I love my hardcore weightlifting HIIT, whatever workouts.
• 34:32
  They are like my highlight of my day. I look forward to them.
• 34:37
  So I'm accepting that, yes, I'll take a day off if I need to,
• 34:41
  if I feel like my body's telling me to, but I'm accepting that the scale is
• 34:45
  not going to be my best indicator for weight loss right now.
• 34:49
  So I am going to use other measures. I am going to measure how I feel.
• 34:55
  I am going to measure inches.
• 34:56
  I am going to, you know, measure performance, right? Like, are you lifting more?
• 35:02
  Like that kind of thing, you know, that a lot of people get into in the exercise
• 35:05
  community. And so I just think there's no right or wrong answer, right?
• 35:10
  I just think you have to decide for yourself so that you stop hearing everybody
• 35:14
  else's answers and thinking something's wrong with you or something is,
• 35:18
  you know, something is amiss or I may as well give up.
• 35:21
  Like if you decide this is where I'm going to focus and this is how I'm going
• 35:25
  to focus, then you tune out everybody else's focus, right?
• 35:30
  And you just stay in your lane so that success is defined by you, for you, okay?
• 35:36
  In whichever area of weight loss exercise that you feel you fit best right now.
• 35:42
  So I hope that was helpful. I just have felt like, I know it was ranty a little
• 35:47
  bit, but I felt like I've just, this has been a topic.
• 35:50
  Oh God, it's been a topic my whole life of a dietitian, but I just felt like
• 35:53
  a lot of people needed to hear it in this season.
• 35:55
  So as always, and especially in that gym, y'all remember to say grace.
• 36:01
  Thank you for listening to today's episode of Say Grace podcast.
• 36:01
  Music.
• 36:05
  If you enjoyed it, it would mean the world to me if you left me a five-star review.
• 36:10
  Also, make sure to follow the show so you don't miss another episode.
• 36:15
  Plus, if you're interested in learning more about losing weight and eating the foods you love.
• 36:20
  Music.