If you’ve ever exercised without results, this is for you! This is also for those who are ready to give an exercise regimen a chance to reach their weight and/or strength goals!
I know what it’s like to exercise consistently and be frustrated from not getting results. I know there are a lot of people, especially women, at the gym who are exercising consistently and shedding only a tiny fraction of the weight they could be and only getting very minor muscle-toning results.
In this post, you’ll find the reasons this happens and the things that are being overlooked. Once you address these things, you can get results MUCH faster which will keep you motivated to keep going!
Ensure That DHEA is Adequate
DHEA is our muscle-building, fat-burning hormone. THIS is the missing link when we work out consistently and aren’t building muscle or burning fat. In testing, we usually find that a woman is either very low in DHEA or that it is very high which happens when the body is very stressed and putting all of its efforts into producing cortisol and insulin to combat the stress instead of building muscle and shedding weight/toxins.
You can use our home lab tests to test DHEA and other hormones right from your home and get my free analysis of the results:
Home Lab Tests — Healthy Families for God
After discovering that low DHEA was the reason I was not shedding weight or building muscle, I began taking CortiStop from Young Living to replenish my body’s DHEA. Within a VERY short time, I began losing weight and building muscle with consistent exercise. There is a wealth of other benefits with this supplement including helping protect our body from the effects of stress. I have taken it daily in the morning upon awakening for months and it has been absolutely life-changing. You can read more about it here: CortiStop Spotlight (lifestepseo.com)
Monitor Heart Rate
If you’ve struggled with any adrenal issues due to stress and/or you notice you feel worse after working out, monitor heart rate while exercising and keep heart rate under 160 bpm. This may require diaphragmatic breathing in between short reps and lower-intensity workout. But stressing the body more can actually cause weight gain so doing this with lower intensity may actually make efforts more productive than high-intensity workouts.
I use an Apple watch and/or an Oura ring to monitor heart rate. I use Young Living’s Rosemary oil applied topically to combat and protect from the effects of EMF’s. You can check out some of the research on this here:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27155802/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32086737/
Do not work out fasted
This is mostly for women. When we’ve been overrun with constant stress (physiological and mental), our body becomes extremely sensitive to stress and sometimes even intolerant to it, to the point where it causes weight gain. Since working out on an empty stomach can be sensed by the body as just another stressor, doing this can actually CAUSE weight GAIN! Consume at least 10g of protein before exercising. You should notice this also helping keep heart rate from becoming too high.
Don’t grab workout drinks or electrolytes with sugar.
I see too many people at the gym with these and they’re not getting results. This will just completely wash out the exercise. The best thing to burn to build muscle and burn FAT is protein, not carbs.
Replenish the lost electrolytes (without sugar)
If you sweat, it is crucial that you replace the sodium you lose. Here’s my favorite way to do that and support the body’s adrenal health & energy:
I take these daily which replenish the sodium from sweating (I take more when I do the sauna or sweat from exercising) as well as support my adrenal recovery: Jigsaw Adrenal Cocktail™ + Wholefood Vitamin C (Capsules) — Healthy Families for God
And I add one of these to my water (alternating):
Electrolyte Supreme Fruit Punch (Jar) — Healthy Families for God
Electrolyte Supreme Fruit Punch (Bag of Packets) — Healthy Families for God
Pickleball Blue Raspberry Electrolyte Cocktail (Jar) — Healthy Families for God
Pickleball Blue Raspberry Electrolyte Cocktail (Bag of Packets) — Healthy Families for God
Don’t expect physical results within the first month.
Stay consistent and stay in it for the long haul. And focus on the early wins before the weight and muscles improve, like the win of consistency, the improved sleep, and the mental benefits. Focus on continuing to rearrange your schedule to prioritize exercising in a way that you will stay committed to.
Detox Your Home
Avoid using home and body care products that actually cause weight gain by messing with hormones, like products with synthetic fragrances and parabens.
Parabens, found in home & body care products as well as makeup, mimic the effects of estrogen in the body, and extra estrogen leads to excess fat storage.
For girls, this means excess weight around the stomach, lower butt, upper thighs and back of the upper arms.
For guys, this means fat storage in the stomach and chest.
What you’re using on your skin can literally add pounds to your weight.
The good news is that eliminating products with parabens will significantly benefit your health quickly.
In National Health and Nutrition Examinations Surveys, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, detected propylparaben in greater than 92 percent of Americans tested, and butylparaben in about 50 percent of those tested (Calafat 2010). These results were similar to levels measured in adolescent girls in the 2016 HERMOSA intervention study (Harley 2016).
Following just a three-day intervention, when the girls used products without parabens, propylparaben levels in urine dropped by about 45 percent.
Check all of your home and body care ingredients for words like “fragrance,” “parfum,” “methylparaben,” “propylparaben,” etc. and toss any containing those ingredients out! Check out some of these and many other options from Young Living to ensure you are avoiding those ingredients in everyday products! Thieves Product Collection (lifestepseo.com)
Prioritize sleep!
You may notice that your heart rate is higher during exercise when you haven’t had adequate sleep. This is a sign the body is perceiving the exercise as negative stress. Prioritize going to sleep earlier to wake up earlier for exercise. This will make efforts go much farther and get results faster.
Stabilize Blood Sugar
Most importantly, remember that our results are 70% what we eat and 30% our activity level. You cannot out-exercise a diet that keeps blood sugar on the rollercoaster. At least 80% of non-diabetics in America experience a blood sugar spike from every day foods!
Every blood sugar spike causes fat storage.
Meals should be centered around good protein and vegetables (potatoes and corn are not vegetables btw). For the absolute best results, monitor blood sugar for at least a month to determine how foods, drinks, emotions, and exercise affect your blood sugar personally in order to stabilize it. This will get results with weight, energy, etc. FAST.
Learn more about Glucose Monitoring here: Glucose Monitoring — Healthy Families for God
And check out my group The Leveled Life | Facebook
Implementing some changes in your life can be hard, but giving time and energy to exercise without getting results is even harder! I know these things will absolutely make a difference in helping you reach your goals and feeling better!
Blessings,