Small frame, big challenge

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/02/2021 (1714 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The turning of the calendar represents a clean slate. I love to set mini goals at the start of each month as a way to move me closer to my big goals.

 

Maybe you say you want to lose four pounds or an inch off your waist this month. A noble target to be sure, but the bigger piece of this puzzle is mapping out the three or four process steps you’re going to take each day or week to move you toward that.

Things like following a healthy eating plan, working out three times a week and walking 10,000 steps each day — the boring but critical elements of successful weight loss. It’s doing the seemingly boring things day in and out that lead to “overnight” success.

But sometimes it takes more than the basics to see change. Many have tried a million diets in their lifetime and are still looking for the solution. So I’m going to lay it all out there in today’s column.

Today we’re speaking to those who have a hard time losing weight — particularly women with a low basal metabolic rate (short and sedentary) —but the strategies also apply to anyone who has tried it all without much to show for it.

Q: What are some tips for a short female like me who has trouble burning enough calories to lose weight?

A: There is definitely less room for error here. A smaller body burns fewer calories at rest. Women have a slightly smaller calorie burn compared to an equal-sized man (relates to lean body mass differences, mainly). But it’s not all bad news.

Let’s take a 5-3 woman who works a sedentary job and is trying to lose fat. Adding three 30-minute workouts doesn’t erase the 60 hours a week sitting in a computer chair, car or on the couch.

We’d start out with this formula (subject to change!):

● Let’s guesstimate her maintenance calories low at 1,500, for the purposes of easy math.

● We decide to diet on 1,200 calories per day.

● With exercise/general movement burning a few hundred more per day, she’s 500 calories under maintenance each day.

● That’s enough to maybe lose one pound a week and see the inches come off gradually (3,500 calories represents one pound of fat on paper)

So here are some strategies to help her stay within the framework we’ve built.

 

1. Less frequent meals

Hopefully by now, we know that eating “six meals per day to stoke your metabolic fire” is a myth. Calories being equal, meal timing or frequency doesn’t matter for weight loss. We generally don’t advise female clients to use intermittent fasting, as it can cause hormonal issues over time.

But lowering your meal frequency is still a great way to eat bigger, more satisfying meals and “feel” less like you’re dieting.

Three square meals with snacks — if needed — compromising largely of protein and veggies.

Calories are the name of the game here, and every calorie counts. You cannot afford to waste any.

 

2. Forget low-carb, go lower fat.

Calories matter above all else, and if you’re in this demographic, you have a limited number of calories to work with.

The big problem with the shift to thinking fat is good and carbs is bad is the calorie difference between the two. Fat has more than twice as many calories per gram as protein or carbohydrates.

And, let’s face it, having “just a little bit” of peanut butter is impossible. It’s very easy to grab a handful of nuts and turn it into three, adding hundreds of calories.

Time and time again, when a client comes to us and we better control fat in favour of carbs, they perform better with exercise and bust through plateaus.

Carbs — potatoes, rice, fruit — are just fine, as long as you keep your fat low and earn and burn these carbs with exercise.

 

3. Eliminate cheat days

Remember we’re only in a 500-daily caloric deficit doing everything right, remember?

A cheat meal is encouraged, but a Saturday that gets away from you can set you back. It doesn’t take a lot. A half bottle of wine, bag of chips and some ice cream and you’re 4,000 calories deep.

This weekly “blowout day” is 2,400 calories over her maintenance (of 1,500 calories) — basically wiping out the 3,000-calorie deficit she had accumulated to that point in the week. You won’t see noticeable change week to week just 600 calories under maintenance.

Weekenditis — a common condition where you experience diet amnesia and forget what you ate Friday to Sunday — can sabotage the best of weekday dieting if you aren’t careful.

 

4. Throw away your scale. Seriously.

I have written about a dozen times in this column about how the scale sucks and you need to track your progress with a body tape measure, clothes fitting, performance in the gym and so on.

Not just that, but the use of movement and nutrition to help improve health regardless of what the scale says is the end game here.

Because the promised land of fitness is a place where you focus more on feeling and performing your best without the need for validation from the scale. Simply because fitness forms a part of your identity out of respect for the one body you’ve been given.

To round this out, when you’re aiming for one pound per week’s worth of fat loss (at best!), you’re just as well off tracking how your clothes fit and measurements as you are the digital number each morning.

It’s tough to give up the “control” of monitoring your weight. But it can do more harm than good for some.

 

5. You’ll probably need some cardio

With a lot of the folks I work with, cardio is just a side dish we add later in the process with strength training the entrée.

But if you fall in this demographic, burning a few extra calories through cardio becomes mandatory sooner than later.

Our simple recommendation is to choose one of these or mix it up week to week.

● Low-impact, steady-state — walking, moderate cycling, elliptical (45 minutes- one hour over course of day).

● High-intensity, interval training — sprints followed by a recovery period (20 minutes).

● Play a sport.

Anything to get you active and burn off additional calories, especially if you sit every other hour of the day.

 

6. Disable “calories burned” tracking on your FitBit

By default, apps like FitBit and MyFitnessPal overestimate calorie burn from exercise, which can cause problems where people “eat back” those calories they can’t afford to consume. MyFitnessPal actually adds more calories each time it tracks steps or exercise! Not good.

In the example plan here, we’ve already factored in the exercise assigned in your caloric budget.

 

7. Weight train with volume and frequency

When starting your fitness journey, we often advise keeping it short and simple.

Thirty-minute strength-training routines done with a pair of dumbbells at home, paired with the diet we’ve already discussed, can work wonders.

But there are a few factors that make us reconsider this approach for petite women with a low BMR.

They generally need more sets and reps to create the same adaptive response because they aren’t lifting as heavy relative to their bigger-bodied counterparts. Four or five 30-minute sessions may be superior in these cases, even when dieting.

There you have it. The process is simple but far from easy to execute. Let me know if you have any questions by hitting the link in my bio below.

 

Mitch Calvert is a Winnipeg-based fitness coach for men and women like his former self. Heavy-set in his 20s, he lost 60 pounds and now helps clients find their spark and lose the weight for life. Visit mitchcalvert.com to grab yourself a free diet cheat sheet or inquire about his new year’s virtual coaching challenge.