I’ve always been an avid reader on gut health, as it’s one of the leading causes of my illness. Specialists aren’t even aware of the impact our gut microbiome has on how much energy we have, our concentration span, mood, and even the amount of body fat we currently have!
This fascinated me a lot, way back in the days I was preparing for my physique shows. I did get to a point in my training, where I was experiencing that “stagnation period” or what we usually term “the dreaded plateau.” You know what I’m talking about don’t you? It’s that time within your dieting journey; things start to slow down, even come to a complete halt! Well, I’ve experienced that before, in many ways than one.
The weight loss plateau is when your metabolism declines, burning less overall calories than you did being at a heavier weight. It could also run in a tangent of losing muscle mass in conjunction with body fat. It’s more likely to happen when you always lower your calories or create too much of a caloric deficit. Your body may be at a stage of reaching the equal calories consumption to what’s burnt. It can have the opposite effect, causing you to put on weight!
When it comes to gut health, your gut bacteria affect how your food is digested, how fat is stored and regulates your satiety signals. Sometimes overeating protein can cause some irregularities with our gut microbiome. As you may have guessed, when on a strict shred diet, you increase your protein consumption rate a lot higher, to tame your hunger, and also keep energy levels stabilised.
There are many signals to become aware of when it comes to an inflamed gut. The obvious ones are stomach upsets, diarrhoea, constipation, heartburn and food intolerances. These and many more symptoms were quite debilitating when I was eating a higher than average protein diet. My strategy was to transition towards a seven day nutritional cleanse, that focused on little vegetables, specific vitamins and no coffee, solid food, meats or carbs.
You’re probably thinking, what a hectic diet. YES, it most certainly was! Swallowing supplements as the food was not the ideal way to live your life, but I was desperate and realised this would be my only hope. The intention was to re-set my gut microbiome, by feeding it only the cleanest and best supplements. Every day, I would add in particular vegetables or protein drinks that would help infuse my body with minerals, vitamins and nutrients. Slowly, because the gut doesn’t need to keep digesting excessive amounts of protein, it begins to regenerate and recuperate from the stress. What’s supposed to happen is you now have a brand new gut microbiome, and food won’t harm you anymore, and you will continue to become leaner through your clean diet.
I want to put in a warning factor here, is that this kind of cleans is not for the faint-hearted. It took a lot out of me, and I was working full time, juggling motherhood and preparing for the summit physique show. It was stressful, but I did it, and the benefit was, my digestion worked more efficiently than ever. I was finally getting leaner and leaner as the days drew closer to showtime. I could not believe such a simple thing could have this profound impact on my health and physique.
I’m living testament that fasting, and re-setting your gut microbiome is an essential strategy for your health and weight loss. Today, we have many options to choose from, but the steps remain the same. Eat very minima, if not anything at all, liquid drinks are ok, simple veggies and keep it up for the whole duration (no cheating). I didn’t cheat, but I did find one protein shake completely spew worthy. I would cry every time I had to drink it!
Live and learn from your experiences is what I try to do. Down the track, I’ll reveal even more mini fat loss secrets. I wanted to share with you the huge one here, and although I know not many people are as crazy as I am to change their body shape, It is one of the best ways to get your health back in check.
Do pay close attention to what your gut is telling you (literally) as it’s one of the critical components to our fat loss results. It could be the one thing holding you back right now.
All my love
Ange
