A lot of women come to me because they are struggling to train consistently. They aren’t seeing the rewards and results they want.
One of the simplest (but not always easiest) AND most successful strategies we work on is to make sure they are eating enough.
A lot of women come to me because they are struggling to train consistently. They aren’t seeing the rewards and results they want.
Many women don’t eat enough food. It’s mostly because they are afraid to eat as they are trying to lose weight (thanks diet culture).
Or they unknowingly undereat as they don’t realise how much they actually need to eat to support their hormones, energy and training.
Remember the foundation of training needs that we spoke about in last month’s newsletter? At the base we need the body to feel safe and have stable energy if we want to train hard and get results.
But. Eating, and eating with a strategy are two very different things.
When we learn how to eat with strategy we know that we are giving our body the energy it needs to train and get results – there’s no second guessing!!
So, in Warrior School we have a system* that we follow which helps us learn how to eat with intention.
If you are struggling to train consistently check out the information below. I’m going to share with you the system we use in Warrior School – so you can use it to gain more energy and get the results you want from your training!
Building your food strategy in 6 simple steps:
1. Checking in with my body
2. Lighting my fire early
3. Logs, sticks, and paper (metabolic foods)
4. Creating stability
5. Balancing meals and snacks
6. Tracking and adjusting
1. Where am I at right now?
The first thing you need to do is get clear on where you are at – what’s your body telling you – can you produce energy or not?
To do this you need to look at what we call your “metabolic markers”. Your markers will tell you if there is an issue with storing and producing energy.
Download the worksheets on Metabolic Markers and Tracking your Temperature and Pulse to help you get clear on where you are at right now – they are in the list of resources below.
2. Light fire in your belly early
To light your fire and give your body energy, you need to eat within 30-60 mins of waking!
Yep, gone are the days of black coffee and training on an empty stomach! That gives you “fake energy” – you’re flying high on cortisol and adrenaline!
You want to stabilise your energy straight away! This will set you up well for the rest of the day (no more chasing your energy).
If you have a high resting pulse (above 85) you definitely need to be eating within 30-min of waking.
If you have a small snack like broth and cooked fruit, or yoghurt and fruit first thing, you then need to eat breakfast within an hour of that.
3. Choose your “sticks and logs” (metabolic foods)
You need to choose foods that have a slow burn to anchor the system and create stability.
We can call these metabolic foods, or logs, sticks, and paper!
You want to choose foods that have a slow sustainable burn and keep your fire going for hours.
Metabolic foods are quality proteins like organ meats, shellfish, fish, muscle meats and collagen, root vegetables, fruits, rice, saturated fats and some monounsaturated fats.
You also want to look at the density of the meals.
Some women tolerate lighter meals over the day, or as their system is healing, others tolerate fewer meals, but denser.
4. Creating stability through food frequency
You need to create stability by adding logs to the fire frequently.
Start by eating when you want to eat and put a 4-hour time cap between adding to your fire.
The goal is to meet your body where it’s at and slowly create your strategy over time.
For example, if you only eat twice a day just focus on eating that morning meal and that will give you a third meal.
Then stay there for a few months. Let the body sink into it, and adapt to it. If you try and “refeed” it too quickly it will create stress on the system.
From here you can then play with the timing of your meals. How often you eat will be determined by the density of your meals.
5. Creating balance by balancing the “macros”
It’s really important to look at what you love first, and then create balance from there!
When we talk about balance we are talking about balancing carbs, proteins, and fats in each meal and snack.
You need to find what works for you over time. Meet yourself where you are at, and place your meals in the right position based on your demands.
The only way to know your ratio is to track and measure your markers.
For example if you haven’t eaten carbs in years you can’t just start eating 40% of your calories from carbs – it’s wayyyyy too stressful on your body. It needs to be done slowly, with strategy.
6. Track and adjust your food
Tracking helps you understand if your strategy is working for you.
Tracking does a few things. It shows us if our training is working for us and how to link in our food and hormones.
When we track, some cool stuff happens:
- The numbers or patterns do not lie – you can see if you are eating enough or not,
- You feel more confident in making decisions around your food and training, and,
- You see breakthroughs in your results as you learn how to link them all together to support your body.
When we talk about this stuff, always think of it in the context of you. How it applies to you, your body, and training.
So, what is tracking? Tracking is, essentially, collecting and analysing data.
There’s a difference between liking a meal and it actually working for you.
Our March module and event in Warrior School was on Tracking.
We focused on the different types of tracking and how we can redefine our relationship with tracking.
Then we looked at how to track and modify our food based on our data.
In the first 3-months of Warrior School we work on implementing this system, alongside following a training program that works with our body, and meets us where we are at right now.
If you are struggling to train consistently and want help in creating your food and training strategy check out Warrior School – https://warriorschool.carrd.co/
*This system is based on the work of Josh and Jeanne Rubin from the Real Food Gangsta’s – check out their work here.
Also check out their podcast episodes below.
More from Amy
Podcast episodes
Episode 96: The Foundations of Tracking Part 1
Episode 103: The Foundations of Tracking Part 2
Episode 51: Food, Stress and Healing the Thyroid with the Real Food Gangsta’s
Episode 62: How to Listen to your Body with The Real Food Gangsta’s
Episode 69: Is Stress Sabotaging your Training with Jeanne Rubin
Metabolic marker, temperate and pulse sheet
Metabolic Markers and Temperature and Pulse.pdf