The human body never ceases to amaze me. It is infinitely adaptable — which is both a blessing and curse. Because we are genetically wired for survival, the body automatically responds in a manner that increases the likelihood of survival. Why is this important?
If you are trying to lose weight, the body is going to regulate your metabolism to make it more difficult to “starve to death” (which is how your body sees it when you go in to too much of a calorie deficit). This is why a lot of nutrition plans use a calorie cycling program (2 or 3 days low cal, followed by a high cal day) — right when you body says “I’m starving”, you give it more food — this tricking the metabolism.This same thing applies to fitness — both strength and endurance (cardio) training. This leads to a lot of training principles: undulating periodization (varying sets and reps), switching things up regularly, and just keeping variety in the workout. For example, if you run a lot the body gets better at running, and with time it requires less effort (calories burned and cardiovascular conditioning) to go the same speed and distance.
I happen to be one of those lucky (or unlucky, depending upon your perspective) that has a body that is on the more adaptable end of the scale. My body responds very quickly to any changes. It’s great when it comes to my KB and Z-Health training, less so when it comes to nutrition. What that means from a fitness perspective is that I can get away with doing less and still show great results. What it means from a nutrition perspective is that I get absolutely NO wiggle room. Knowing this is half the battle — I know where to focus my energy; if it comes down to an extra workout versus making sure I have food ready for the next day, the food component is always going to win.
About Jen Waak