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You’re disciplined. You work hard. Even after a long day in the office, you still manage to find time to squeeze in a workout at the gym. You’re not a slacker either. You push hard and are constantly breaking barriers. And by the end of the workout, you are probably so glad you forced yourself in the door because you feel so much better. The only problem is that darn scale, it just won’t budge and you don’t understand why.
If you feel like you are working hard in the gym and not getting the results you want when it comes to weight loss, here are 5 reasons fitness might be making you fatter and 5 tips to help you get better results.
1. Too Much Cortisol
Your workouts are causing your body to release too much cortisol, which may be causing the wrong hormone response.
Notice if you feel wired but tired. If you don’t have a lot of energy to do things but you can’t shut down and just go to sleep, then spend some time focusing on recovering.
Try this: Do yoga for a week, add an adrenal repair supplement, or address any other stresses in your life that may be causing excessive cortisol release.
One of the best ways to test your adrenal function is through a saliva test. Click here to take a 24 hour cortisol test from the comforts of your home.
2. Not Digesting Enough Nutrients
Your digestion improves tremendously when your sympathetic nervous system shuts down and the parasympathetic takes over. Cycling between these two systems will give you a huge edge in the gym and out of the gym.
Try this: Notice if your digestion is off and take steps to repair your gut health. Try eating more bone broth soups like these organic + grass fed, hormone + antibiotic free bone broths from one of our favorite brands, Kettle & Fire. Click here to read the benefits of bone broth for gut health.

3. Your Carb Timing Is Off
Exercising intensely often ramps up your appetite tremendously. When you train really hard, or for extended periods of time, you use up all your sugar stores and so your body needs to replace that as quickly as possible.
The only problem is that right after a workout is when you are most motivated to not eat and you might be thinking that you are saving yourself calories, but that’s actually when you need to be eating the most carbs.
Try this: Notice how long it takes for you to be hungry after a workout and try to fuel your body right after your training session. And don’t forget, not all calories are created equal so instead of counting calories, keep a food log and look at the types of foods you are eating instead.
4. You Are Overtrained
If you are following the “more is better” mentality, it may have led you to overtraining, injuries, and inflammation. Constant inflammation can also cause you to release cortisol which like I mentioned in number 1, sends a signal to your body to store fat.
Try this: Notice how much your joints hurt. If you have injuries that just won’t go away, or how quickly you can recover from a training session, don’t just work out through the pain. A good trainer will create a program that can fix injuries while still allowing you to be active. Set up a free consult with a strength trainer by clicking here
5. Your Adrenals Can’t Keep Up
Stress is stress whether it’s from work, working out, relationships, it doesn’t matter. Too much stress for too long will eventually take its toll on your adrenal health.
Even worse, all that stress will start reversing your androgens, meaning too little testosterone and too much estrogen. This inverted effect on hormones will often show up as an extra layer around the midsection. Notice if your libido is low or, for women, if you’ve had changes in your periods.
Try this: Give your adrenals a boost with these 7 Easy and Cheap Tips to Improve Your Adrenal Function or it may even be time for a full adrenal repair program.
It’s great to workout hard and to push yourself, just don’t do it on too many days back to back.
For the most part, your workouts should be something that envigorate you, not leave you needing a nap. Unless you are training for a competition, then it’s very important to be on a periodization program.
You have to learn to shut it down. It doesn’t have to be yoga, but you need to find a form of restorative exercise that flushes the system of lactic acid and preferably helps to maintain good joint integrity.
Discipline and routine can be good, but always let intuition be your top guide. If you are tired and run down, take a break, lift less, or give only 50% in the workout. It’s better to cycle your intensity to prevent burnout. Plus, this will allow you to be more of a beast on your intense days.
Time your nutrition right. Feed your workouts and starve the sedentary parts of your life. The Golden Rule is to “Train, Don’t Drain.”

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