Misinformed Mary feels like she’s doing everything right. She loves to exercise. In fact, it’s likely she’s never skipped a morning Body Blast class in 2 years. She’ll tell you about her eating habits and you’d be impressed: buys organic, doesn’t touch fast food, eats small meals to rev her metabolism, looks at menus ahead of time and makes low cal substitutions, no soda – only water! She’s envious of the defined arms and shoulders of her instructors. When asked, they simply tell her to keep showing up for class and join in on the newest “Clean Eating Challenge” or purchase their favorite meal replacement powder. Yeah, yeah, “abs are made in the kitchen” but her gym routine has to count for something, right?
What’s really going on? Why is Mary not seeing the results of her efforts?
Mary has a lack of lean muscle problem. She doesn’t feel like she “looks the part” for all the exercise she does because she is undereating calories – specifically protein. She can’t build muscle because she lacks the nutrients to adequately make muscle fibers.
Her “cardio first, lift later” approach is backwards. Cardio robs the very little fuel that is available, further preventing any measurable change in body composition.
She would probably benefit from a structured lifting routine – instead of finding random inspiration on Instagram when she’s “in the mood” to lift. Progressively overloading her training week to week, month to month, is essential to build the curvy, athletic figure she’s working for. And, as a bonus, she’d go from feeling absolutely wrecked after workouts, to energized and accomplished.
Ultimately, Mary is undereating and overtraining, which is leaving her body in a stressed state. Elevated cortisol leads to both leptin and insulin resistance, an unhealthy hormonal state that promotes body fat and water retention and causes long-term health issues that affect her entire system.
But there’s hope! Mary can start by downloading a free guide (DIY Macros Guide) to find out how much she should be eating in order to see the results she’s looking for.
