Eat to Perform, Part 2
Yesterday, I explored a finding in a study published in Frontiers in Sport and Active Living that showed, "65 percent were at risk of low energy availability (LEA), 23 percent were at risk of exercise addiction, and 21 percent had disordered eating behavior." Yesterday I explored disordered eating. Today we're looking into low energy availability (LEA).
Low every availability mean you're not eating enough to support both your training and your basic biological needs. Your period may stop, you'll feel tired ALL. THE. TIME., your motivation to train will decrease, and more importantly, you can negatively impact your health in the long term. How do you know if you're in LEA? Here are some telltale signs and symptoms:
If any of these symptoms resonate with you stop reading this and eat some protein.
It's important to understand that you can be in LEA even if you have "excess body weight." You can be in an LEA state no matter your body weight or body composition. Go here to read the entire blog and then schedule a New Year Check-in with me me so we can work together to come up with a plan to EAT so you perform better and more importantly, you are HEALTHIER! ​
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 Most "New Year" fad diets, detoxes, and resets will not support recovery from the heavy days we do once a week at the gym. Eat to PerformAccording to this blog by Dr. Stacy Sims, "A 2022 study of more than 200 female endurance athletes published in Frontiers in Sport and Active Living reported that 65 percent were at risk of low energy availability (LEA), 23 percent were at risk of exercise addiction, and 21 percent had disordered eating behavior." Let's take a moment and read that last statistic again, "21 percent of female athletes had disordered eating." We're not talking about a diagnosable and treatable eating disorder, we're talking about things like skipping meals, obsessing over "clean" eating, or cutting out an entire category of food because it's "bad." FOOD IS AMORAL. Food just is. Food does not have a moral compass. However, at this time of year especially, we are bombarded with messages that we need to detox, cleanse, restrict, and reset our eating habits. These messages are dressed up as healthy. In reality, these messages are strongly in the category of disordered eating. To help me wade through all the silly "New Year New You" bullshit messages bombarding us this year, I enrolled in a Fuel for Performance online continuing education course. This course is helps Coaches like me see through all the crazy messages and get clear on how I can help all of my active athletes (read: you) eat to support our performance goals. Here is little snippet from my lesson today: As an active woman, it’s very important to be able to make the distinction between a fad challenge and what type of nutrition you need to support your goals. So what is the difference between disordered eating and an eating disorder? Here's a handy comparative guide. Disordered Eating Examples
I have fallen prey to some and I used to promote one at the gym. As Maya Angelou once said, "when you know better, do better." Fad Challenges that flirt with disordered eating include Whole30, Master Cleanse, juice cleanses, detox teas, and resets that include drinking or eating a proprietary product. The reason these fads, challenges, detoxes, and resets are troublesome is that most of them eliminate entire categories of food, e.g. meat, grains, certain vegetables, or entire macronutrient categories, protein, carbohydrates, fats, without consideration or your unique needs, medical condition or goals. I want us all to smash PRs, do the hard races and routes, lift all the heavy things, and accomplish everything we set out to do. What we eat needs to FUEL our efforts. It needs to match the goals. If you would like some help identifying your goals and developing a fueling plan to help you achieve those goals, be sure to book a New Year Check-in with me. Together we will develop a plan to help you be the badass athlete you were born to be.  Using a band to assist push-ups is a great way to progress towards a push-up. Level-Up for SuccessFor the New Year, the next few Tuesdays I'm sharing strategies and tactics to help you create your own #transformationtuesday story. Did you know that there is a National Ditch New Year's Resolution Day? Yep! Failing at our New Year's Resolutions is so common it can be predicted down to the day, the second Friday of the new year. This year it was last Friday, Jan 10, just 10 days into the New Year. How can you avoid this predictable crash and burn? You can reframe your goals by "leveling up" on habits you already do to create a healthy and happy life. Leveling up means using small, gradual steps to work toward your goals. Let's say your goal is to run a 10k or do a multi-day backpacking trip through the Beartooth Mountains this summer. You probably think you need to start running a 5K every day NOW. NOPE! Instead, level up a daily habit you already have. Let's say you take your dog for a daily walk. Level up your walks by wearing a small backpack with a 20# bag of rice. You've just leveled up your daily habit. Your heart rate will be higher and you'll increase your endurance. In a few weeks, when that becomes easy, add 5 mins to your walk. Or do an easy jog for 10 paces and walk for 20 paces. Level up again when it becomes easy and automatic. The idea behind leveling up is to break down your goal into steps that are so ridiculously easy you can’t fail. I have written many times on the habits of successful people. It's momentum and consistency that create success. Success creates motivation. It's a positive feedback loop. Start small. Succeed. Increase motivation. Keep going. I have heard from many of you in our New Year Check-ins that you want to improve your mobility. Or, as someone in my noon class said, "I want to be more bendy." GREAT! I want you to be more bendy, too. Start small. Start with 2 mins (yes, just TWO minutes.) Sit on the floor and reach for your toes for 2 mins. When that becomes easy, and it will, try for 3 minutes. Or level up by adding another pose for 2 mins. Start small and easy and then level up. It's sexy to create big and exciting goals. A goal without consistency is doomed to failure. All too often we try to jump into achieving our goal with big and exciting changes. That is why we fail. Start small. Succeed. Level Up. Keep Going. Achieve Goal. That's it. My wish for you is that you become who you were meant to be in 2025. To help you with that I am providing a goal setting worksheet and goal accountability at our New Year Check-ins. Be sure to schedule your Check-in with me soon. I will only be scheduling check-ins for 2 more weeks.  Meg rides the Assault Bike during the noon class. How SMART Are You?These past few weeks my blogs have focused on helping you create achievable goals. New Year's Resolutions are fun and sexy, and most of them have failed by now. This Friday is New Year's Resolution Ditch Day, the day when most folks fail on their resolutions. Will you make it to Friday with your NY Resolutions? That's why I'm not an advocate of NY Resolutions. Instead, I like to see folks make SMART goals.  SMART goals are specific. Instead of saying you want to get to the gym consistently. Your SMART goal is to get to the gym 12 times this month. SMART goals are measurable. Attending 12 classes this month is a measurable goal where as going to the gym consistently is not. SMART goals have a plan. You will pack your gym bag the night before you plan to attend class. You will enroll in class and set a reminder on your phone. You will block out your schedule so no one can take your gym time away from you. SMART goals are meaningful to you because they move the needle in the direction you want to go. You want to attend 12 classes per month because you want to have a lower resting heart rate. A lower resting heart rate will reduce your risk of hypertension, heart disease and improve your overall health. SMART goals are time bound. You will attend 12 classes in January, and then 15 in February (because you'll attend Femme Fatale Week!). This is more specific than working on "being consistent". The best thing about a time bound goal? You have an end point and you know when you've achieved you goal! How great is that? How can you make your New Year's Resolutions into SMART goals? How can you make anything you want to do into a SMART goal? Share with us in the comments. I'm helping everyone create SMART goals for 2025 during our New Year Check in. Be sure to schedule yours! Download your Goal Worksheet and schedule your New Year Check-in with me by clicking the button above. |
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