The Truth About GLP Support Nobody’s Telling You

Why GLP Support Isn’t Working the Way You Thought It Would

Why Your Scale Stopped Moving (Even Though the GLP-1 Is Still Working)

Hey friend, let’s talk about the thing I know a lot of you are quietly wondering about right now: why did my weight loss stop?

If you’re on a GLP-1 and the scale has been sitting in the same spot for weeks, I want you to hear this before anything else — you didn’t do anything wrong. This isn’t a willpower problem, and you’re not the exception to the rule. What you’re experiencing has a name, a mechanism, and real research behind it. So let’s actually walk through it together, the way I would if you were sitting across from me at this table or on a  client zoom call.

I’m going to get a little nerdy in places, because this deserves more than “just eat less and move more.” You’re smart, you’ve done the hard part, and you deserve the real explanation — not another vague Instagram caption so lets dig in!

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First, the honest truth about the medication

I’ve said this before and I’ll keep saying it: GLP-1’s are a tool. Not a cheat code, not a shortcut, not a moral failing to need one. The mechanism is straightforward — it helps put your body in a calorie deficit by quieting appetite and slowing digestion. That’s it. That’s the whole job description. Yes there are other anti-inflamatory responses and adaptations that happen but that is the big lift.  The main thing!

Which means everything that happens around the medication — your food, your muscle, your metabolism — is still very much up to the body’s own rules. And your body has some pretty stubborn rules when it comes to losing weight.  I know you know this. That is probably a lot of why you CHOOSE to use this tool.  The mechanics of losing weight can be challenging and complicated.  I see you, but we are going to try to simplify it.

Rule #1: Your metabolism adapts to less food, on purpose

Here’s the piece almost nobody explains clearly. When you eat less for a sustained period, your body doesn’t just sit there passively burning the same number of calories. It recalibrates. Researchers call this metabolic adaptation (sometimes “adaptive thermogenesis”), and it’s been documented for decades — starting with the Minnesota Starvation Experiment in the 1940s and confirmed again and again since.

One of the most well-known modern examples comes from a study that followed contestants from The Biggest Loser years after the show. Their resting metabolic rate dropped by an average of 610 calories a day by the end of the competition — a decline larger than their weight loss alone could explain — and much of that suppression was still present six years later. A separate analysis of the CALERIE trial (a rigorous, 12-month controlled feeding study) found that resting metabolic rate dropped by roughly 100 calories a day with weight loss, and about 40% of that drop wasn’t explained by the loss of body tissue itself — it was the body actively turning down the dial.

In plain terms: your body doesn’t know the difference between “intentional weight loss” and “famine.” So when calories stay low for a long stretch, it quietly resets its idea of what “maintenance” means, and adjusts downward to protect itself. That’s not a flaw in you. That’s a wildly effective survival mechanism doing exactly what it is designed to do.

Rule #2: Muscle is the first thing to go if you’re not protecting it

This is the part that keeps me up at night as a coach, because it’s so preventable and so rarely discussed at the prescriber’s office.

Body composition sub-studies from the major GLP-1 trials — STEP 1 for semaglutide and SURMOUNT-1 for tirzepatide — found that roughly 25 to 45% of total weight lost was lean mass, not fat. That’s a strikingly consistent finding across the research since: multiple case series and systematic reviews put the number in the same 25–40% range. That ratio isn’t unique to GLP-1s — it happens with any significant, relatively fast weight loss — but because GLP-1s produce larger total weight loss, the absolute amount of muscle at stake is bigger too.

Why does this matter for your plateau specifically? Because muscle is metabolically expensive tissue — it’s part of what determines how many calories your body burns just existing. Lose muscle, and you lose some of your engine along with the weight. That compounds the metabolic slowdown from Rule #1.

The encouraging part: this is one of the most fixable pieces of the whole puzzle. A 2015 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that a high-protein, high-leucine supplement preserved muscle mass in older obese adults during intentional weight loss, and more recent case series specifically in GLP-1 patients have shown lean mass can be maintained — even gained — when people combine adequate protein (roughly 1.6–2.3 g per kilogram of fat-free mass) with resistance training three to five days a week. Clinical trials are now underway (the LEAN-PREP study, for one) specifically testing resistance training and protein intake as a countermeasure during semaglutide and tirzepatide treatment. The mechanism is being taken seriously enough that researchers are actively racing to solve it — which tells you it’s real, and it tells you it’s solvable.

Rule #3: The quiet part — “food noise” going down doesn’t mean intake is optimized

One of the things GLP-1s do best is turn down what’s now being called “food noise” — the persistent, intrusive mental chatter about food that has nothing to do with actual physical hunger. Researchers have started studying this formally; a large survey of people on semaglutide found a sharp, measurable reduction in food noise, and brain imaging studies show decreased activity in food-craving-related reward circuits on the medication.

This is genuinely one of the most life-changing effects of these drugs for the people who’ve struggled with it. But here’s the catch: less food noise can also mean less attention to food altogether — smaller meals, skipped meals, and a quiet slide toward inadequate protein and calories without anyone noticing, because the usual internal alarm bells (hunger, cravings) have gone quiet too. That’s how someone can end up under-fueling without ever consciously deciding to.

The pitfall nobody wants to admit: sometimes it’s still just too much food

I need to say this next part gently, but honestly, because I think it gets skipped over in almost every GLP-1 conversation I see online.

Not every stall is metabolic adaptation. Not every stall is muscle loss. Sometimes — and I’ve sat across from clients where this was exactly it — the real answer is simpler: they’re still eating more food than their body needs, even on the medication.

Here’s why this happens, and why it’s not a character flaw. If years of habits were built around eating when you weren’t physically hungry — stress eating, boredom eating, eating on autopilot with highly calorie-dense foods — those habits don’t just vanish the moment a prescription starts. GLP-1s quiet a lot of the physical hunger signal, but eating driven by habit, emotion, or environment doesn’t run on hunger signals in the first place. It runs on cue and routine. So someone can genuinely feel less hungry and still find themselves reaching for the same calorie-dense foods out of habit — just a little less often, or in slightly smaller portions — and the math still doesn’t work out to a deficit.

This is the part I think gets lost in a lot of the marketing around these medications. A GLP-1 is not an easy button. It doesn’t erase the calories in a splurge, and it doesn’t override the basic physics of weight management: you still need to be in a genuine calorie deficit, taking in less energy than you burn, for the scale to move. If someone is indulging regularly, eating past fullness out of habit rather than hunger, or simply moving less than they think they are, they can be fully compliant with their medication and still land at maintenance calories or above — and no amount of appetite suppression will produce fat loss from there. The medication can make the deficit easier to create. It cannot manufacture the deficit on its own if the food side of the equation doesn’t line up.

This is exactly why “am I actually eating less than I’m burning” has to stay part of the conversation even after starting a GLP-1 — not because it’s about willpower, but because it’s about whether the mechanism the drug relies on (a calorie deficit) is actually in place.

So what actually fixes a stall?

Not more restriction. That’s the instinct — cut further, try harder — and it’s exactly the wrong direction once your body has already adapted downward.

What I coach clients through instead is a structured, cyclical approach, rather than one long, straight line of restriction:

Phase 1 — Focused Fat Loss. A real, sustainable calorie deficit for a set window (often around 8–12 weeks), anchored by adequate protein and resistance training to protect muscle. This is also where we take an honest look at intake — even briefly tracking food for a week can reveal whether the deficit the medication is supposed to be creating is actually there, or whether habitual eating has quietly closed the gap.

Phase 2 — Reverse. Calories come back up deliberately, restoring the body’s sense of safety and rebuilding maintenance at a higher, more sustainable number.

Phase 3 — Return to Fat Loss. From that restored baseline, we cycle back into a deficit — and the body responds again, because it never got the chance to shut all the way down.

I want to be straight with you about the research here, because I promised you the real version, not the Instagram version: the idea that reverse dieting directly “boosts” your metabolism is supported but not blatantly obvious— most overfeeding studies show only small, mostly weight-driven increases in energy expenditure, not some dramatic metabolic reset. Where the evidence is genuinely encouraging is in adherence and sustainability. A 2025 study in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition compared a reverse-dieting approach against jumping straight back to maintenance calories, and found meaningfully better adherence and lower attrition with the gradual approach. In other words — the value of reverse dieting may be less about tricking your metabolism and more about giving your body and your habits room to actually stick, so you’re not white-knuckling a restrictive diet indefinitely or swinging wildly between extremes.

That distinction matters. I’d rather tell you the honest, slightly less dramatic truth than sell you a metabolism myth.  What I do know is this system and approach works. I have seen clients continue to lose weight even in a reverse diet. It keeps them consistent. It keeps them compliant. We have helped clients lose over 100 lb even without GLP support using this exact method. Eating plenty of food to sustain performance, longevity, muscle mass and quality of life!  Amen to that my friend!

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Coach’s Corner

Before you decide a stalled scale means something has gone wrong with you or your medication, I want you to sit with this: a plateau is information, not an indictment.

Your body isn’t broken, and you are not failing at something that’s supposed to be simple. You’re running into a well-documented, well-researched physiological response — one that has a name, a mechanism, and a body of science behind it, and one that responds to the right adjustments, not to more willpower.

GLP-1 support creates the opportunity for the work to finally work. It was never supposed to do all of it alone. That’s not a knock on the medication — it’s just an honest description of what it’s for.

If you’re on a GLP-1, doing everything you know how to do, and the scale still isn’t adding up — please hear this the way I mean it: it’s not a willpower problem, and you’re not the exception. You may simply be missing the nutrition and training guidance most prescribers don’t have the time or training to give you.

That’s exactly what coaching is for.  Please reach out if you would like some guidance on your personal journey.  We are here to help!

With Love, Amie

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References

• Fothergill, E. et al. (2016). Persistent metabolic adaptation 6 years after “The Biggest Loser” competition. Obesity, 24(8).
• Martin, A. et al. (2022). Tissue losses and metabolic adaptations both contribute to the reduction in resting metabolic rate following weight loss. International Journal of Obesity.
• Wilding, J.P.H. et al. (2021). Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity (STEP 1). New England Journal of Medicine, 384, 989–1002.
• Locatelli, J.C. et al. (2024). Resistance training preserves lean mass during weight loss with GLP-1 receptor agonists: systematic review. Obesity, 32, 1234–1247.
• Verreijen, A.M. et al. (2015). A high whey protein, leucine, and vitamin D supplement preserves muscle mass during intentional weight loss in obese older adults. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 101, 279–286.
• Preservation of lean soft tissue during weight loss induced by GLP-1 and GLP-1/GIP receptor agonists: A case series. PMC.
• LEAN Mass Preservation With Resistance Exercise and Protein During Semaglutide/Tirzepatide Therapy (LEAN-PREP Study). ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT06885736.
• Moser, M. et al. (2025). Survey on GLP-1 receptor agonists and food noise reduction. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.
• What Is Food Noise? A Conceptual Model of Food Cue Reactivity. PMC.
• Rodriguez Da Silva, V. et al. (2025). The effects of reverse dieting on mitigating weight regain after a caloric deficit: a preliminary analysis. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.
• Adherence and compliance rates across post-dieting strategies: a preliminary analysis. PMC.

This article is for educational purposes and reflects general research findings. It is not a substitute for personalized medical or nutritional guidance from your prescribing provider or coach.

Just because someone knows how to create a nutrition plan or macro prescription for you does not mean they are a good coach.

Ok so maybe there is a little bit of bait here in my title. But to be honest I’m sharing some challenging and vulnerable feelings here.

1- We are worth EVERY PENNY we charge. Going into my personal fat loss journey I was contemplating adjusting our pricing at Summit health. The economy is tumultuous, we want to help as many people as possible and health coaching can be expensive. I was starting to feel like we needed to adjust our monthly pricing so that more people could afford the coaching we offer. After going through my personal journey with a coach, I am 100% confident in offering what we do at the price point we do!!!

2- Transparency & Honesty Matters. I felt strongly that I wanted my Coach to be looking at my food diaries. I knew it would keep me more focused and engaged in filling my plate with good macros and micros. Never once did she take a look at my food diaries. And to be honest for the first three weeks, I filled a lot of my carbs with ounces of wine. Because I could. Never got called out on it. Never was it mentioned but I knew she didn’t know because she wasn’t looking. All she was looking at was the numbers. And to be honest, that’s what truly matters so in her defense, she was looking at the most important things. However, when I decided that I’m on this journey for myself, and not for anyone else, I started to shift my focus from just hitting the number to filling my plates with more healthy, wholesome carbs and I virtually eliminated the wine. And lo and behold…. Things moved more quickly, and I felt so much better. Which leaders to my next lesson.

3- What will fill our Macros with matters. When we coach clients, we not want to know how much they’re eating, but we want to know what they’re eating because those are factors that influence their overall health. We’re not here just to help you lose weight. We are here to help you be a healthier human!

4- We have to do our homework and trust me WE DO! The fourth lesson I learned in working with my own coach is doing our homework matters. When we on-ramp a new client, it is so important to have them keep a food diary prior to us working together. Not only is it important for us to evaluate how much they’ve been eating consistently But what their dietary preferences are. Are they someone who really enjoys more simple carbs or are they someone who really leans into a more Paleo eating style with more rich, healthy fats. Why does it matter??? it matters because when we create a plan for you, that plan is tailored specifically to your preferences and needs. I could create a generalized nutrition prescription based on what I know our body scientifically need and based on my education. And it would be a good plan. However, it would not be tailored to the foods you enjoy eating, so is that plan going to be more challenging to follow absolutely. This is why working with a coach who creates a personalized plan for you matters. Being able to be compliant and consistent in following that plan is so much easier when it follows the things you already enjoy eating!

5- Be ready to be uncomfortable! I did not want to send weekly progress photos. I felt it was arbitrary data and there’s no way things were going to change week to week. And I did not like doing it. But it did I do it? Yes, I told you I was all in. In the end, it desensitized me to doing this and helped me see the need and value for more consistent metrics for progress. We ask clients for progress photos and often times these can be the hardest to obtain. It’s so uncomfortable for clients to do this. Let alone share them. For change to happen – things have to change and that can be uncomfortable!! So lesson learned. My willing to sit in discomfort, helps me honor and appreciate clients who are willing to be uncomfortable and vulnerable when it comes to their journey. We appreciate you!

A very successful fat loss phase with a not so great Coach truly helped me remember that what matters most is consistency. It’s not so much the plan but how well we follow the plan.

However, having an amazing competent qualified coach matters! I was looking forward to leaving my journey, having learned something made and an awesome connection and relationship and be one step further in my knowledge and education. Even though that didn’t happen….

I’m beyond grateful to be able to offer and share the awesome work that we get to do everyday with some amazing clients!!

1-Hired a coach (yes I’m a coach and I could absolutely set my own plan, but I knew I needed someone to be accountable to and to call me out when needed)

2- I said “NO” to a lot of things. I knew if I wanted to see results I had to commit! I legitimately had three months in my mind and knew I could go all in for that short amount of time. I said no to heavy cream in my coffee. I said no extra late night snacking. I said no to nut butters. Can these things be part of a fat loss phase, absolutely, but for my plan, they did not fit and I was committed even though I enjoy everyone of these! It’s just like a budget sacrifices have to be made somewhere. You just simply decide where!

3- I followed the plan! There were 7 days out of 90 that I did not hit my numbers spot on! If I’m being honest, in my opinion, her plan….not great! It didn’t take into consideration the foods I prefer to eat or how I was eating previously to starting this cut. I felt like she put me in a box and created a “generalized” macro prescription and that was it. However, I committed. I followed her plan. I didn’t ask for changes or adjustments. I legitimately went all in. And lookey 😳 there….it worked!!!! 🫣More in this later friend. 😘

4- I focused on Protein & Produce first!!!! Obviously protein because that was part of my nutrition prescription. I knew it would maintain my lean muscle and keep me full and produce to keep me satisfied. I knew going into a fat loss phase I was likely to be more hungry so I knew I had to fill my meals and snacks with lots of produce, especially veggies so that I was HANGRY!

5- I trusted the process. To be honest, four weeks and very little had changed. But after those four weeks of continuing to remain consistent things just felt like they almost shifted overnight. I didn’t remain consistent because I had an amazing coach. I remain consistent because I knew the science of fat loss and I knew most people quit just before the finish line. I knew my deficit was accurate and I knew if I remain consistent, there’s no way I would not see results. And I did.

Fat loss phases can be challenging.

I’m thankful for this experience and all of the others that I have had through my journey. As nutrition and health coaches our personal experiences with our own nutrition journeys give us so much insight into coaching our own clients.

We understand the challenges, how arduous it can be, and we understand the dedication and commitment it takes.

More to come on lessons learned from this.

Why “Eat Less, Move More” Isn’t Enough

Lauren Gunter | October 2, 2022

You’ve been told that in order to lose weight, you need to eat less and move more. And that is technically true. However, sometimes you’re doing all that you can to follow that simple rule, and nothing seems to be changing.

 

Even if you understand that way calorie intake and expenditure work, and you trust the science, it’s still really hard to execute for some reason.

 

On Sunday, you stock your fridge with you celery and prepped chicken, and grapes, you signed up for CrossFit, you scheduled food prep and workouts into your calendar like they’re an important work meeting. And yet, by Friday afternoon you have wilted spinach in your fridge, your gym owner is reaching out asking where you’ve been, and there’s not a prepped meal in sight.

 

After this cycle repeats itself week after week, it’s easy to feel frustrated and even a little hopeless. “What’s wrong with me?” we ask ourselves. First of all, nothing. Nothing is wrong with you. You do a lot of really great things like work, raise your family, keep your home clean, support your friends, and while these are all such great things, they definitely complicate the simplicity of “eat less, move more.”

 

We do a lot of things that actually decrease our ability or desire to move, and increase our desire to eat, especially calorie-dense (but not nutrient-dense) foods.

Job – stress, long hours

Family – complaining, constant need for support, can drain you

Sleep – bad sleeper? Waking up, can’t get to sleep

Partner – loves you the way you are and also loves Taco Bell

Take-out – it just saves SO much time

Shame – for eating poorly, so you continue to do it

Kids – you love them, but they’re energetic and take up a lot of energy, especially if child care isn’t consistent

Pain – if you have any kind of injury, moving more can feel good, but it can also increase your pain

Meds – using them to help boost mental health, but certain ones also increase your appetite

 

Every one of you is a complicated person with your own set of obstacles when it comes to “eat less, move more” and that’s why even though that is technically true, it’s not even close to enough. This is why coaching is so helpful, because we want to know the whole story so that we can give you a plan that will work FOR YOU.

 

If you’re not working with a coach right now, a good place to start is identifying what makes “eat less, move more” so difficult in the first place, and start taking action steps with those.

This can looks like:

1. If social situations are the issue: having a tough and awkward conversation with the person who you make bad decisions around. If your partner is constantly bringing you a treat out of the goodness of their heart, explain what your goals are and why, and try to find a solution so they can still show you love, but also help move you toward your goals instead of away from them.
2. If anxiety and worry, or even busyness are the issue: journal for a few minutes before going to sleep to create some separation and resolve from those thoughts so that your mind can relax and fall asleep.
3. If the shame of not being consistent is the issue: keeping a food AND feelings journal. Most of you have tracked your food at some point, stop neglecting logging when you get that Taco Bell, and start journaling your feelings around that eating experience. What were you feeling that made you want to get it? How did you feel while you were eating it? How did you feel after, and why is that? This can be scary, but it will help you start working through some of these shameful feelings.

 

This doesn’t really sound like nutritional advice, so why do those things matter? Because the outcomes make EVERYTHING easier, and when it’s easier, you’re more likely to do it.

 

Having that hard conversation is awkward, but if this person loves you and wants to support you, usually a compromise can be reached. Instead of eating out 5 times per week, decrease it to 3. They still get to eat out, you get two more healthy meals. Being vulnerable is what deters us from doing this, but we often feel more loved and support after. Prioritising your health is NOT selfish.

 

Getting some of those anxious thoughts out of your head, even if it’s just temporary, can help you to relax a little more, get better sleep, and have the energy to make better choices like eating at home, or have more energy to move, like walking to work.

 

Keeping a food journal can help us recognize triggers. Every time I hit a drive thru unplanned, it happens to fall on a day where I had to work late and I leave the office hangry and tired. I feel shame for eating it, and also for not being home with my family for dinner. Once you KNOW this, you can start planning to change it. Spending some extra time with your family in the morning when you know it’s going to be a long day, or bringing a protein bar with you for the car ride home so that your hungriness doesn’t take over and you’re able to think through your dinner choice and eat slowly can help save you hours of stress and hundreds of calories.

 

The changes are small at first, but over time, you’re able to eat a little cleaner and move a little more, AND most importantly, feel better about the choices you’re making. Your body will begin responding to these changes, and the emotional and physical health together are what lead to those bigger changes we’re all chasing.

 

Eat less and move more does still work. But we are all complex, and it takes more than you hitting your macros or going to CrossFit every day to see the changes you are looking for. Look behind your difficulty with eating right or working out consistently. How are you managing your stress? How are you sleeping? What are you doing for recovery? It might actually be these things that are preventing your progress.

 

It may seem like this will prolong the process, but caring for your mental health, sleep, and recovery give you the fuel you need to actually follow through on those nutrition and fitness goals you have.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CkPZU_nJ1G5/

I haven’t had a hot flash in almost 3 months! CS

 

This was feedback from a client who started her nutrition plan with Summit Health with a focus on stabilizing hormones and supporting health! This was the result.  Now we can not promise this for everyone but Nutrition and fitness play a HUGE role on the severity of yoru menopausal symptoms.  Reach out if you would like to see changes too!

Do you find it harder to lose weight now that you’re over 40? 

4 Important things that you can do to support hormones through menopause. 

1-Eat more fiber and coniferous veggies

2-Moderate alcohol

3-Manage your metabolic shift by adjusting calorie intake

4-Lower cortisol by taking daily walks outside

These are the woes that a TON of our clients struggle with.  Previously they were able to lose weight easily when they focused and were diligent but now everything has shifted. Now it feels like no matter what you try nothing seems to help.

Eating the right things to support the hormonal shift that is happening in our bodies matters.  Including more fiber and cruciferous veggies is key also. 

The other factor is your metabolism.  This is a key time when things shift and making sure your intake matches your expenditure is important also.

Moderating Alcohol is important during this stage of life because alcohol has a direct effect on hormone production. The other thing that is key is walking!  Adding in a daily walk to your already consistent exercise routine can have great positive impact on those hormones also.  You become more sensitive to stress during this time and walks (especially outside) are a great way to bring that cortisol down and bring those happy hormones up!

pst……Are you confused or frustrated with trying to lose weight or understand what “diet” is right for you and your body?”

There are millions of diets claiming to be THE BEST and claiming to offer you THE BEST RESULTS.  

What we need to do is listen, learn and adjust.  

• Do you know what your body needs on a daily basis for both energy and focus? 
• How about if you want to perform better? What micros and macronutrients does your body need to support that? 
• How about if you’d like to lose weight?  How many calories should you be eating?

If you are unsure of what you personally need with YOUR goals in mind.  Join us for master your macros.  We will create a nutrition prescription that is designed specifically for you! – slide

How does birth control affect my weight loss journey? 

Could it be the reason I’m not losing consistently?

Short answer: yes.

Complicated answer: it depends.

A lot of women, specifically 18-30 take birth control and for a lot of different reasons. Yes, we are trying to prevent unwanted pregnancies, but it can also be used to help teenage girls regulate their cycles or control their acne. I did learn in a podcast, however, that until your early 20s, using it to regulate your cycle can actually be harmful to your cycle’s rhythm long term.

Birth control is super effective in doing these things, but it also has some huge risks, possibly the biggest one being putting you at an increased risk of cervical, liver and breast cancer. That should scare you.

Another side effect, though, is often an increase in body fat, specifically in the lower body and upper arms, and extreme difficulty losing fat in these areas even when increasing exercise or decreasing calorie intake.

I read a few case studies, and came across a few where the client had been on birth control for years went off of it, and their body fat decreased in two months, and that’s without changing anything with their exercise routine or calorie intake. Now, these girls were pretty lean to being with and didn’t have a super hard time staying in shape, but if they EVER went off track, they’d immediately backslide in a way that made it seem almost impossible to come back from. And if they tried to get leaner, like for a competition, they couldn’t do it.

A lot of the other side effects go far beyond physical health, and I’d argue that they’re worse.

First off, many women report a decrease in their sexual desire and arousal, and discomfort during sex. This is tough on us emotionally and can really strain our relationships, which as we know, can affect our physical health.

So what exactly causes these side effects? Hormones. If you are taking a pill, or have something in your body that is affecting your hormones, you are chemically preventing one of the principle functions your body is designed to carry out, and you’re doing that by altering your hormonal environment. Because everyone’s starting point is different, the pill will affect everyone differently. For some people (me), it’s terrible and I will never do it again. For others, like my sister, an unwanted pregnancy would not go over well, and she has no side effects. And for some, it’s fairly neutral, you use it for a time to prevent unwanted pregnancy or whatever you need it for, and then have an easy time transitioning off of it. 

So, even though they work great as contraception, you are still altering your hormonal set-up which has effects to your physique as well as your overall health. Interestingly, many women report a depressive and “down” mood when on birth control, and many of the symptoms we deal with are the reason that men’s hormonal birth control was actually denied approval by the FDA.

• Things that CAN happen as a result of birth control:
  • You aren’t losing weight no matter what you do exercise-wise or comply with your diet. This COULD be why.
  • The trade off of gaining a little weight or not being able to lean out might be worth it to prevent pregnancy, say for a college student or young professional.
  • Sexual desire COULD decrease which strains relationships and thus strains health.
  • It COULD be hard to lean out if you’re working really hard, and it also COULD lead to fast weight gain if you took a break from working out or eating clean, and you COULD see this reverse pretty immediately when you go off of it.
  • You COULD see a change in mood, just not feeling like yourself, feeling sleepy and tired a lot of the time
  • If you take progesterone, you know that feeling before/during your period? That’s how you ALWAYS feel

 

• What do I do?
  • Research what options are out there and don’t just go with the first things your doctor recommends, there are non-hormonal methods like the copper IUD or condoms
  • Not every birth control will give you every side effect. Some people do fine on the pill, but don’t respond well to injections, etc.
  • Remember: no bikini contest is worth an unwanted pregnancy, but no prescription is worth years of hormonal disruptions

What exercise is best to balance hormones?

HIIT 

High Intensity Interval Training is several exercises done in bursts, with little downtime in between. This is a good option for people already in good physical condition with minimal time for exercise.  

HIIT workouts increase human growth hormone and improve insulin sensitivity.

Strength Training

Strength training doesn’t have to be heavy weights. Regular strength training (typically 2-3 times a week) with light weights and high reps is a great lower-impact way to build muscle mass and reduce cortisol which supports happy hormones!

Walks 

 A 30-minute walk four to five times a week can have a big impact on hormone balance. 

It’s also a great low-impact option for older people or those with joint problems, such as rheumatoid arthritis or for those who just can seem to get to the gym. 

 

How exercise affects Hormones: 

These are just a few of the hormones that are affected by exercise:

Dopamine – Studies have shown that exercise increases dopamine (a.k.a. the “happy hormone”) levels in the brain, helping to decrease stress, anxiety and even depression.

Serotonin –  Exercise releases serotonin, which helps you get a good night’s sleep and can positively impact appetite, mood, digestion and memory.

Thyroid – The thyroid produces the main metabolic hormones in the body, and thyroid problems are among the most common endocrine disorders. Exercise contributes to a healthy thyroid and allows the thyroid hormones to function properly.

Testosterone – As men age, testosterone naturally decreases, causing a loss of muscle mass, strength and sex drive. Regular exercise can help boost testosterone, slowing the effects of aging.

Estrogen – A decline in estrogen levels is the driving force behind menopause, and the severity of the decline is linked to the severity of menopause symptoms. Exercising and increasing your heart rate for at least half an hour every day helps boost estrogen levels and can temper menopause symptoms.

Do you feel like menopause or pre-menopause has made it IMPOSSIBLE to lose weight you used to be able to shed easily?

You’re not alone. The hormonal shift is real and its effects can leave you feeling helpless and out of control.  So what do you do?

Here are some tips:

• Eat enough protein at every meal. 
• Exercise regularly! – Daily walks or movement is so key to happy hormones. Maintain a healthy weight for you
• Support a happy gut with lots of fiber!  Veggies – Whole Grains – Supplement if needed but make it happen

• Moderate your Alcohol and  processed food and sugar intake – Food quality matters – Aim for 80/20 

• Channel your inner peace and manage that stress well! – Find stress management techniques that you will ACTUALLY USE and do them!

• Consume healthy fats consistently.  Incorporate Seed cycling! This will ensure plenty of healthy hormones support omegas each and every day! 

Get consistent, quality sleep. –Hormones are all created in the brain and deep sleep is when the brain detoxes so getting in quality ZZZZ’s is key