10 Mistakes Women Make When Trying To Get Lean (Part 2)

A few weeks back I let you in on what I think are 5 of the top 10 mistakes commonly made when it comes to female fat loss. In case you missed it, they were:

1. Training on an empty stomach
2. Too much snacking instead of enough protein
3. Never eating carbs
4. ‘Holding out’
5. Over-training

You can check the post out over here, or you can keep on reading – ’cause I finally remembered to share the rest of the article with you 🙂 … sorry, it’s been a bit of a roller-coaster of a week with my membership launch!

(more) truth about female fat loss …

So I’m sure that if you really really pushed me I could come up with more than 10 total common mistakes for fat loss, but it would probably get kind of overwhelming for both of us. So (for now at least) I’ll stick to the rest of my initial ‘top 10’ list.

Let me know if any of these resonate with you … or if perhaps you’d never thought of one or more of these points. It’s the stuff that works for me; you know I wouldn’t share it with you otherwise!

female fat loss mistake #6: coffee straight after training

Charles Poliquin talks about this over here, in his rather brutal but brilliant article on why women get fatter despite good intent. I guess his article was the inspiration for this one, although I only just thought of that 🙂 … it’s an old one but you simply must check it out. Charles’ words are based on depth of experience, and they stand the test of time!

In this case, the issue is that after training you want to decrease cortisol in order to enhance fat loss – jacking up cortisol (stress hormone) with coffee when it’s already high from training may very well have the reverse effect. Coffee before, organic protein after. That’s my motto.

female fat loss mistake #7: poor workout nutrition

Okay, this is a biggie. And kind of a pet peeve of mine. There’s just about nothing that makes me more disheartened than seeing a well-intentioned girl (or guy) knock back a gatorade or the like while training. Or after training.The short version? If you’re not a professional athlete/marathon runner/adventurer then don’t sugar-load your workouts! Protein and fat before, protein during (if anything), and protein after! Maybe some carbs after – but we’re not talking sugar.

Sugar = insulin = fat storage. Especially so when there is fructose present.

If you want to read more about workout nutrition, I’ve written about it over here.

female fat loss mistake #8: sweating the small stuff

I’m talking about the ‘final 10%’ type stuff. The tips and tricks. Stuff like using cinnamon on everything, taking icy cold showers, using lemon juice or vinegar before meals to lower blood sugar response. Heck, even taking supplements. Basically what I mean is – don’t focus on the ‘tweaking factors’ if you don’t have the big rocks (sleep, nutrition, training) in place!

By all means, add them in at the same time, but don’t get caught up in things that sound like magic keys to fat loss if you know deep down you should be focusing on getting enough protein and greens and hitting the gym once in a while!

female fat loss mistake #9: inefficient or under-training

This is really really simple, but for some reason all too easy to forget. Here it is – are you ready? If you’re not increasing the challenge in some way, you’re not going to increase the result! Also – if you really feel like you need some help and don’t know where to start, then get out there and do your research. Alternatively, hire a trainer, join a bootcamp, or perhaps even sign up for Woman Incredible Platinum Mentoring 🙂 … you get daily workouts right to your inbox!

female fat loss mistake #10: being hard on yourself all the time

I’m actually going to cut and paste something I’ve written about before when talking about myths of female fat loss … this is huge for driven women. Huge! You know I’m talking about you 🙂

“It’s safe to say that you put pretty much constant pressure on yourself to achieve. Not just when it comes to fat loss, but for your health and fitness in general and probably for pretty much every aspect of your life. At least all the stuff you care about (or think you should care about!). Am I right? Whilst striving to better yourself is admirable and certainly preferable to sitting around with no goals or aspirations, the constant pressure from within to always be more/better/different? I’m not such a fan. The truth is that if you are the kind of women who is reading this blog then you are doing enough. Maybe there’s room for improvement, but embrace the ups and downs as part of your journey rather than beating up on yourself for what you could be doing. It’s time to recognise what you are doing and let go of all the fat-storing stress hormones associated with that pressure-cooked mindset of yours!“

Okay. That’s it. At least until I think of the next 10 🙂 … I could go on and on, but in the end it really does (I think) come down to treating your body as it was designed to be treated. Be nice to your body and it will be nice to you. It might still be a bumpy journey, and sure, you might have to pay the price of previous upsets, but you WILL move forward with time, patience, and a good dose of nutritional common sense.

Enjoy your journey, ’cause if you don’t then really – why bother?

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