#Work | Candice C Fitness

How your hormones can affect your weightloss and life

by Candice Scott | Feb 26, 2020 | Health, Womens Health, Workouts

Do you ever stop and think about your hormones? How they could really be affecting your life and weight loss?

First off let me say I am NOT an expert on this stuff just kind of obsessed now after reading In the Flo with Alissi Vitti. Mainly because her approach makes so much sense! It dives into #cyclesyncing and how making certain changes in our lifestyle to support our cycle can actually help us lose weight, become more productive, and feel better every day! You can check it out below.

As women, unfortunately it has become more normal to be known as “hormonal” . We have a “cycle” but we have no idea how to make it actually work for us… instead we are out of balance and deal with PMS symptoms among other things week to week. If we can get our hormones to where they are at better levels we will not only feel better but perform better in every area of our lives. Seem too good to be true? Follow me here….

Throughout our 28 days our hormones (we have many more but in regards to this I am referring to estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone) go up and down and if you are like me and have taken synthetic birth control for years, or taken different medications, been exposed to hormone disrupting toxins (like plastics and some things in the air for example), you may be all over the place. You may have also been diagnosed with PCOS, irregular periods, or estrogen dominance. Any of those things can potentially also lead to issues with metabolism, thyroid, gut, and other autoimmune conditions.

Here are a few reasons why:

Estrogen dominance: is something that is more apparent for ever in our culture, there are multiple reasons why but one big one is our liver not metabolizing estrogen properly. When we are not eliminating the right amounts of estrogen (the liver metabolizes it in three different ways (one good, and two bad) it can lead to dominance which can turn to insulin resistance, higher inflammation and gut issues among other things. This right there can prove to mess with metabolism.

We also have a major connection with estrogen and our gut. A major regulator of estrogen is within the gut and by a certain type of bacteria. If we have any sort of dysfunction (like leaky gut) that has developed this can cause that bacteria to not regulate estrogen as it should which in turn can lead to dominance…. Again this can lead to numerous factors stemming from obesity, infertility, and pcos among other things.

With hormones unbalanced, it just leads us down a bigger spiral of imbalances causing the wrong things to be released or not released at the right times. This means more stress on the body, which we all know leads to more inflammation.

So what am I getting at?

If we can add things to help support our optimal hormone production and treat our bodies in a way at the right times of the month when these hormones should be at certain levels we can feel better, do more and help reduce some symptoms and possible reverse some diseases.

It starts by paying attention to your cycle. If you do not know when or where you are, or if you are on birth control it is a good idea to get a feel for your hormone levels by getting tested. Over the next few weeks I will be diving into how these things can be helped via workout scheduling, foods, supplements and self care. Different parts of the month if you will need different things to help you feel your best and start to regulate hormones to correct metabolism and other imbalances and health issues.

I am doing this myself as I personally have been affected with irregular cycles for YEARS and want it regulated. So far so good. And have no fear I will do a full recap of all of my success and fails after month 1!

Ready to start your own CYCLE SYNCING journey?? Four weeks of workouts, nutrition help AND self care to help you get moving and feeling better – you can save $10 with code CHANGEUP at check out. Check it out!

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Figuring Out Your Why

by Candice Scott | Jan 1, 2020 | Lifestyle, Motivation

New year….new you….. That is a terrible quote/saying.

Do you agree?

Let me explain- you are you for a reason, I am me for a reason. We do not need to try to be something we are not. We need to work on our strengths and improve our weaknesses to be a better version of us. Not a better version of something we are not or think we should be because of society. That is a recipe for unhappiness.

The new year can totally mean improvements though.

The biggest factor in becoming better versions of ourselves is determining our goals or desires for 2020, and then, stopping and thinking what the driving force behind those are. Aka… Your WHY.

You see each of us has desires and things we want. We could want to lose weight, to become debt free, to be stronger, to get a new job or promotion. BUT behind each of those things is a driving force making us want them. Something deeper.

When we figure out what that is, and focus on doing things surrounding that. THAT is when we start succeeding and reaching goals. Not because we have a step by step plant to get there, but because we make small steps that make us feel better, gain confidence in that area and in that process we are able to keep working towards our overall big goals because we do not give up. We grow in the process.

Most goals are not reached because we get frustrated when we do not do one thing right, or two… but when we get frustrated and just give up it does nothing for us. We typically do this because we are ONLY thinking about the weightloss or that promotion. When we think of WHY we want those things and focus on that instead, we tend to keep going.

Here is an example:

Goal

To lose 50 lbs

The WHY behind it

“To be able to play with your grandkids and not get out of breath and decrease risk of health problems”.

The process

You start by going for a walk 10 minutes a day because you know you 1- enjoy it, 2- you get some self care or you time, 3- it is making you healthier. (if you miss a day because you enjoy it you will go back to it the next day you can and keep moving forward with that habbit)
As you keep the walks going you eventually bump the time up, and then decide to do a little more and add in strength or resistance training with a group or trainer.

You then decide to make smarter choices with food because you recognize your progress in the other area after a few weeks, and start adding in more whole foods more days than not during the week.

The Result

You are building your own confidence by doing something you love or enjoy and as a result it is keeping you showing up. You are focusing on doing something good for you to help you move and feel better….. and as a result you lose weight.
You are focusing on your WHY and that establishes better habits because you relate it to your wellbeing and happiness.
Decreasing stress WHILE working towards a goal is a winning situation no matter how you look at it.
Less stress – less inflammation – feel better – lose weight.

To recap- you need to figure out your why. Your why is what is the deeper meaning behind the big goals you want to achieve. Start with the goal then work backwards. Focus on doing things that keep you focused on your why and the goal will come to fruition.

I suggest taking one major thing in each area of your life –

Health, Professional, Education, Relationships, Spirituality (what ever that might be), Physical, Mental. Have one goal for each, and then work on the why for each. Some may overlap and thats ok. The less you have to focus on the better.

Write down your why and keep it around you, set reminders on your phone, stay focused and atleast set a reminder to reevaluate each month.

If you need help with this my quarterly goal setting printable may help. It does just the thing I am speaking of in working backwards, Check it out – Quarterly Printable