Last week inside The Metabolic Edge, I taught a workshop all about nutrition when life knocks you on your ass.
Illness. Injury. Travel. A really busy season at work. A sick kid. No time. No energy. Or, in my case right now, being mostly horizontal.
I’m getting quite the education in couch nutrition lately. 😂
While I would obviously prefer NOT to have needed this particular refresher, it’s reminded me of how many times I’ve coached clients through some version of this over the years.
Especially clients who are trying to lose body fat. That’s usually when people assume progress has to stop. You can’t get to the gym. Your steps tank. You’re relying on convenience foods. Maybe you’re sleeping terribly. Your normal routine no longer exists.
So…now what?
Obviously we went into WAY more detail in the workshop, but I wanted to share a few of the bigger things with you here this week.
First, your calorie needs can change pretty significantly when your life changes.
This is something people tend to miss. If you normally strength train 3-4 days / week, get 8,000-10,000 steps and spend a decent amount of your day moving around…and suddenly you’re barely leaving the couch, your total daily energy expenditure is gonna be lower, of course.
That doesn’t mean you should slash your calories in half or anything extreme. Your body still needs adequate energy and nutrients, especially if you’re sick or healing. But it DOES mean that eating exactly the way you did when you were significantly more active may no longer create the same deficit (or maintenance).
This is where I like to make small adjustments with clients instead of blowing everything up.
Keep protein just as high. Keep fiber just as high. Keep produce in. And then look at some of the extras that are easy to reduce when your energy needs are temporarily lower.
Maybe the portion of rice is a little smaller. Maybe you don’t need quite as much added fat or random handfuls of things here + there because you’re bored and 4 feet from the kitchen all day.
Small adjustments add up. Cliche but true.
Protein becomes especially important here because if you’re losing weight AND you’re temporarily unable to strength train, preserving muscle becomes an even bigger priority.
The goal IS NOT just to make your body smaller. Repeat that 5 times out loud right now! We want as much of the weight you’re losing as reasonably possible to come from body fat while keeping your metabolically expensive, extremely-useful-for-the-rest-of-your-life muscle.
Then make the feeding yourself (and others) part stupid easy.
This is one of those times when I care WAY more about having useful food available than I do about making beautiful or elaborate meals.
If I were stocking a kitchen for a season like this — especially if fat loss was still a goal — I’d want some options from each of these categories:
Easy protein: Greek yogurt or skyr, cottage cheese, eggs / hard-boiled eggs, rotisserie chicken, pre-cooked chicken or turkey, tuna / salmon packets, shrimp, sliced turkey, roasted edamame, tofu, lupini beans, protein shakes / bars, cheese sticks, meat sticks, Parm Crisps.
Easy fiber + produce: frozen berries, apples, pears, baby carrots, mini peppers, pre-cut vegetables, bagged salads / slaw, frozen vegetables, prunes, beans / lentils, chia or basil seeds, higher protein / fiber cereal (Three Wishes, Catalina Crunch), higher-fiber wraps.
Easy carbs: fruit, potatoes, frozen rice, oatmeal, beans / lentils, higher-fiber bread / wraps, Simple Mills or Mary's Gone Crackers.
Easy fats / flavor / “please make this taste like something”: individual guacamole cups, hummus, nuts / seeds, granola, cheese, pesto, salad dressing, salsa, dried spices + herbs, hot sauce or sriracha, sauces and condiments you really like.
And then…mix and match.
Greek yogurt + berries + seeds + cinnamon
Eggs + spinach in a higher-fiber wrap + salsa
Rotisserie chicken + quick rice + frozen vegetables + Peanut Nu Sauce
Bagged salad + pre-cooked protein + beans + dressing.
Soup + extra protein or beans + something crunchy on the side.
The heck with impressive ... we need it to be easy enough that you actually eat it, satisfying enough that you’re not hunting for something else in an hour, and appropriate for whatever your current goal is.
Convenience is a TOOL. Especially during a time when your other resources — time, energy, mobility, brainpower — are limited.
One thing I find really helpful is to stop judging the entire DAY and just look for the biggest hole.
It’s 3 PM. Protein is low? Fix that. Grab a Chobani 20g protein yogurt cup.
Fiber is at 12 grams? Add some to your next meal. Think about what that'll be right now so you don't forget.
You’ve somehow eaten nothing that grew from the ground today? Probably a good place to start.
We never need to declare the day a wash and start over tomorrow or worse ... Monday. Just keep course-correcting as you go.
Also, watch the sneaky calorie-dense convenience stuff.
Convenience is useful. We just want to be a little strategic about WHICH conveniences are doing most of the heavy lifting.
There is a big difference between grabbing Greek yogurt, frozen vegetables, fruit, pre-cooked protein and individually portioned foods…and grazing on nuts, crackers, cheese, takeout and whatever else happens to be within reach all day.
None of those foods are 'bad.' Both sets of things are 'convenient.' But if fat loss is your goal (or even just overall health, satiety, digestion, body comp maintenance), that ain't it.
I'm just gonna say it... sometimes the right fat-loss strategy is temporarily not losing fat.
I know, I know. But if you’re recovering from surgery, dealing with a significant illness, sleeping terribly or just don’t have the bandwidth to maintain a reasonable (slight) deficit right now, maintenance can be a VERY productive place to hang out.
You’re practicing keeping your weight relatively stable through a difficult season. That’s a skill! And dare I say, a hard one and one most people don't have so if you're working on it, KUDOS to you.
The person who can operate at 40% for 6 crappy weeks will come out in a much better place than the person who constantly demands 100%, white knuckles and pulls it off for 3 days, and then does 0%.
We don't need our normal routines, no matter how co-dependent we've become on them. We just need to pick different versions of our routines that fit our actual life circumstances right now ... in each moment ... over and over ... for life.
Sometimes that’s enough to keep losing body fat. Sometimes it’s enough to maintain. Both can be big wins though for someone who would otherwise "backslides" the second life throws a curveball.
Stay wild + well,
Tara
P.S. I'm writing this for you as most people reading this are interested in fat loss alongside health right now. But I want to mention that my current goal is maintenance, yet I've still had to adjust things as I'm leaning way more on no cook convenience foods, appetite that's dealing with meds that increase it and meds that decrease it (just letting them battle it out), zero exercise and hardly any walking. My biggest goal with nutrition right now is eating for healing, digestion, energy, and to hold onto every ounce of muscle I possibly can as a 40-something woman who hasn't been able to move for 4+ weeks now and who knows how much longer. So while I'm not chasing fat loss, I AM still using most of this advice for myself. If you're new to my newsletters and have no idea why I've been on the couch, let's catch up on Instagram where I've been trying to update you here and there.