There’s two months left in the year and you’ve hit a wall.
You felt like you were doing well over the Summer and even in the early Fall, but since then everything feels like a struggle.
You still try to eat well, but you’ve noticed things have slipped. You still try to move your body, but with the time change and weather changes, you don’t feel like your workouts are as productive as they were in the Summer and early Fall.
At times it feels like you’re broken or in a rut that you can’t get out of, and wonder “what’s the point anymore?”
Can you relate to this?
If so, you are not alone!
Later Fall & Your Goals
Fall is closely related to your luteal phase.
In your luteal phase, your progesterone rises, while your estrogen levels decrease to prepare for your period. Though you will still cycle normally in the fall months, these changes in hormones also mirror how you should approach your goals and lifestyle in the fall months.
Luteal phase is all about beginning to wind down to prepare for your period. You focus on completing tasks, organizing, and preparing to rest (aka hibernate). Self-care also becomes more important.
In the fall months, it’s important that we mirror this. The time changes, the colder weather, the shorter days will impact our energy level.
If you continue to push through day in and day out, you will impact your stress levels, leaving you feeling burnt out and drained, and making your goals harder to achieve.
What to do When You’re Struggling to See Results
Check on your nutrition
My clients know that I don’t love doing deficits during the colder months. Mostly because we need body fat to keep us warmer in our hibernation seasons. But also because there are a lot of holidays and get-togethers that revolve around food, so it’s easier to stick to a maintenance phase during the colder months.
However, if you’ve been in a deficit for a while, it’s important to get yourself back to maintenance. I usually recommend being in a deficit for only 3 months.
After that, your metabolism can adapt to the lower numbers, slowing down your progress, and could be why you’re not losing weight.
If you’re not in a phase of tracking, you could be unintentionally undereating as well. If this is the case, lean into your diet and make sure you’re eating every few hours and having protein, fiber, carbs, and healthy fats at every big meal.
Adjust your workouts
Because fall is your luteal season and your energy levels may be lower, your workouts should be adjusted to match your energy levels.
When you are constantly pushing through and not listening to your body’s need for adjustments, you are likely over training and under recovering which leads to a cortisol spike and will be harder to see results.
Adjusting your workouts could look like
- Taking more rest days throughout the week
- Decreasing your actual workout time
- Changing up your workouts to keep things fresh, like following Action Athletes
When adjusting your workouts, it’s important to look at your overall goals as well. Check in with yourself to see if the workouts you’re following still apply to your current goals.
For example, if your goal is to build muscle, you may want to limit long distance cardio workouts for now.
Spot gaps in your lifestyle
After coming off a season – like summer – that’s more social, it’s easy to forget that there are seasons that we need to slow down as well.
If you’re struggling with results, stress management and sleep are key.
Start living a softer life, building boundaries, focusing on hibernating and getting enough sleep every night.
In general, if you are in a deficit, sleep is one of the non negotiable things my clients focus on. If your sleep is trash, you aren’t recovering from your workouts and your hormones aren’t replenishing themselves, making it more difficult to see results.
Listen to your Symptoms
If you have a spike of new symptoms – like more bloating, more fatigue throughout the day, hormonal acne, worsened periods, and more – it’s your body trying to talk to you.
Think about what’s changed. Think about what you can do now to help the symptoms.
And know that, oftentimes, re-focusing on your nutrition, fitness, and key lifestyle habits like stress management and sleep can go a long way with these symptoms.
Have external eyes on your results
Sometimes it’s hard to see where you’re falling short or over doing it, and that’s when hiring a professional comes in handy.
If you are still feeling stuck with your results and want some fresh eyes on your hormone health, nutrition, fitness, and lifestyle, schedule a free Hormone Analysis Call to chat.
