Why Fat Loss Stopped Working And How Reverse Dieting Fixes It
Reverse dieting for weight loss: why metabolic adaptation, chronic dieting, and skipping maintenance are behind your fat loss plateau, on this episode of the Get Sculpted podcast.
Prefer audio? Listen here!
You've been dieting for years, and the scale barely moves. You cut calories again, train harder, and still nothing shifts the way it should. Your metabolism has adapted to exactly what you've been doing, and no amount of eating less will change that.
Coaches Marilynn, Tijana, and Jordanna are talking about reverse dieting for weight loss, what it means to repair a metabolism after years of restriction, and why the maintenance phase most women skip is the very thing standing between them and real, lasting fat-loss results.
Most women who come to Get Sculpted don't realize they're chronic dieters. Not because they've done one diet for a long time, but because they've spent years cycling on and off restriction with little to no time actually eating at maintenance in between. Weight Watchers, keto, intermittent fasting, a challenge or two, and now nothing's working the way it used to. That's metabolic adaptation, and it has nothing to do with willpower.
Here's what we cover:
What metabolic adaptation is, why it happens, and why it's not the same thing as a broken metabolism
The difference between chronic dieting and long-term dieting, and why most women fit the definition without knowing it
How hunger and fullness hormones shift during prolonged restriction, and what that looks like as symptoms like cravings, late-night eating, and feeling unsatisfied after meals
Why muscle loss compounds the problem and what the body composition shift looks like across both scenarios
What a strategic maintenance phase really requires, including consistent calories, training intensity, protein intake, sleep, and stress management
How long maintenance needs to last before a deficit will be effective, and why that window is different for everyone depending on dieting history
What to measure during maintenance when the scale isn't the right tool
The case for staying with one coach through multiple phases instead of restarting with someone new each time
This episode is for the woman who has been cutting calories for months or years and keeps hitting the same wall. For the one who started a fat loss phase and watched it stop working faster than the last one. For anyone who genuinely cannot remember the last time she ate at maintenance and felt okay about it.
"If you've been dieting for years and you feel like your body has stopped responding, your metabolism is not broken. It has adapted. And there's a huge difference between broken and adapted. Something broken can't always be fixed, but an adapted body absolutely can." - Coach Marilynn
The most powerful thing you can do right now might be to stop cutting. Figure out where your metabolism is, build it back up with intention, and then go after fat loss from a place where your body can respond.
Ready to figure out which phase your body actually needs? Head to getsculpted.ca/contact and tell them where you're at.
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More about the Get Sculpted Podcast
Welcome to Get Sculpted, the podcast for women who want to gain muscle and lose belly fat, improve their metabolism, and create real results using science-based fat loss strategies and practical coaching.
We go beyond quick fixes and fad diets to give you sustainable fat loss, strength training for weight loss, and fitness tips for women who want results without burning out. You’ll learn how lifting weights supports fat loss, how to train smarter instead of longer, and how to build habits that fit your lifestyle. Think less about guessing, more about clarity, and about progress you can maintain.
Whether you’re getting started or focused on building muscle after 30, this podcast gives women the tools to lose fat, gain muscle, and feel stronger, without relying on endless cardio or restrictive plans. We emphasize fat loss without cardio extremes, so you can train with confidence and consistency.
We’re your hosts, Jordanna, Marilynn, and Tijana, fitness professionals with over 20 years of combined experience and 1,000+ client transformations. With a strong focus on helping women 30 and older, we specialize in strength training, improving metabolism, and weight training for sustainable, realistic weight loss.
We’ll cover questions like:
Can you build muscle and lose belly fat at the same time?
How does strength training support weight loss?
What’s the best way to lose fat without losing muscle?
What’s the best way to lose fat without relying on cardio?
How can lifting weights improve my metabolism?
Why am I not losing weight even though I’m working out and eating healthy?
How can I stop yo-yo dieting for good?
If you’ve been searching for sustainable fat loss, women’s nutrition, and weight training that actually works, you’re in the right place. Join us every week for practical guidance, honest conversations, and tools to sculpt a stronger body and a more confident life.
Connect with us on Instagram at @getsculted.ca
The unedited podcast transcript for this episode of the Get Sculpted podcast follows:
The Reality of Chronic Dieting and Metabolism
Tijana [00:00:28 - 00:01:20]: [00:00:28] So, here is what is the uncomfortable part. [00:00:31] If you have been dieting consistently for a number of months and years, or heck, maybe even for decades, you've spent most of that time dieting, restrictively dieting, and eating very low calories, and restricting your food, and fasting, and doing all these things, your body and your metabolism might not be in an ideal place for you to diet more and drop your calories more. [00:00:53] And I get it because you might be thinking, but I have fat to lose. [00:00:55] I still didn't achieve my fat loss goal. [00:00:57] I have more to go. [00:00:58] Yes, we're not saying that you should not pursue fat loss, but at this point in time, it might not be what is gonna take your body to that fat loss that you do wanna achieve. [00:01:08] So what we're gonna explain in this episode is why that is and what you can do instead and what that looks like. [00:01:14] So, Jordan, I would love if you would kick us off with explaining the most important thing here, which is all about metabolism.Jordanna [00:01:20 - 00:01:20]: [00:01:20] Yeah.
Marilynn [00:01:21 - 00:01:21]: [00:01:21] Yeah.
Understanding Metabolism: It’s Not Broken
Jordanna [00:01:21 - 00:01:27]: [00:01:21] First and foremost, like I want you to really hear me when I say your metabolism cannot be broken.Marilynn [00:01:27 - 00:01:27]: [00:01:27] Mm-hmm.
Jordanna [00:01:27 - 00:01:36]: [00:01:27] It is not something that you can like literally break. [00:01:30] It's not like a glass vase or anything like that. [00:01:33] Your metabolism isn't even fixed in one place permanently.
Marilynn [00:01:36 - 00:01:36]: [00:01:36] Mm-hmm.
Jordanna [00:01:36 - 00:02:01]: [00:01:36] You always have a metabolism from the day that you are born, but you're not stuck with how it operates. [00:01:42] It can be dialed up and it can be dialed down based on how you treat it and based on how you treat your body. [00:01:48] So, because it's dynamic, it responds and adapts to what you feed it, how you train, how much sleep you get, which, go back to our last episode if you're wondering about that. [00:01:58] And also, a key piece is how long you've been dieting.
Marilynn [00:02:01 - 00:02:02]: [00:02:01] Big time.
How Chronic Dieting Impacts Your Body
Jordanna [00:02:02 - 00:02:56]: [00:02:02] Because, let's break this down for a second. [00:02:04] Your metabolism is essentially your body's engine. [00:02:08] And if we think about how an engine works, we need to know how many calories it's going to burn at rest and in motion. [00:02:17] And so, like any engine, it might need fuel to get the engine to work, but how efficient that engine is going to be is something that we need to talk about further. [00:02:26] So, what our body is always trying to do is trying to find that equilibrium. [00:02:31] When you eat less, your metabolism is going to adapt to that, and so it's going to downregulate, it's going to slow down, so you need less calories to operate. [00:02:40] And when you eat more consistently in the right way with the right muscle stimulus that builds muscle, then your body's going to need more. [00:02:48] You're stoking that engine, you're making it run better and faster, and you're going to be able to adapt to that too and eat more while staying lean.Jordanna [00:02:57 - 00:03:19]: [00:02:57] And when we think about the idea of chronic dieting, years into being in a calorie deficit, doing aggressive cuts, eating very, very little, it teaches your body to become very efficient, very good at surviving on less. [00:03:10] And as we age, we don't want that because that is what makes us frail and weak and tired and sick.
Marilynn [00:03:20 - 00:03:20]: [00:03:20] Right.
Jordanna [00:03:20 - 00:03:48]: [00:03:20] And so we need to get better and better at eating more while staying lean, as opposed to burning fewer calories to eat less and ultimately hang onto fat. [00:03:34] Like, think about the body composition shifts that happen in those 2 scenarios. [00:03:38] And because of this, like, we can actually rebuild our metabolism. [00:03:43] We can, and not that it was ever broken, but we can enhance it. [00:03:47] We can build it back up.
Tijana [00:03:48 - 00:03:48]: [00:03:48] Mm-hmm.
Jordanna [00:03:49 - 00:04:35]: [00:03:49] It just takes intention and time. [00:03:52] And this is what we talk about with our clients before they come on board is we actually assess, hey, what has your dieting history looked like? [00:04:00] How long have you been trying to go after this goal? [00:04:03] What are the tactics that you've taken to get there? [00:04:05] Because that is going to give us as the coaching team, information and data points around, are you really ready for the goal that you have in mind? [00:04:14] Or do we need to do some pre-work to repair what has happened to your body over time so that we're priming the metabolism to be ready for fat loss? [00:04:23] Because if the metabolism is the engine, chronic dieting is what's been slowing and draining the tank. [00:04:29] And we wanna get into what that does a little bit more deeply. [00:04:33] So I'm gonna pass it over to you, Mare, to—
Marilynn [00:04:35 - 00:04:35]: [00:04:35] Yeah.
Jordanna [00:04:35 - 00:04:36]: [00:04:35] Talk us through that piece.
What is Chronic Dieting? Who Experiences It?
Marilynn [00:04:37 - 00:05:10]: [00:04:37] I think this is one of the most important conversations we have with a lot of women who come into our coaching program, because most of them actually don't realize that they fit the definition of a chronic dieter. [00:04:46] Mm-hmm. [00:04:47] Yeah. [00:04:47] You know, they might think that a chronic dieter is someone who's like, you know, done the same diets, like, you know, maybe done it for a couple years. [00:04:54] You know, like I've heard a lot of women coming saying like, you know, yeah, like I did Weight Watchers for the last 2 years. [00:04:58] Okay, that's a form of dieting, but that's not what chronic dieting actually means. [00:05:02] Chronic dieting is not necessarily one diet done for a long period of time. [00:05:07] It's years of on-again, off-again restriction.Marilynn [00:05:10 - 00:05:23]: [00:05:10] And for so many women, I actually would say the majority of women we speak to are in some version of a caloric deficit their entire lives with very little, if any, time spent at maintenance between these diets.
Jordanna [00:05:23 - 00:05:23]: [00:05:23] Mm-hmm.
Marilynn [00:05:23 - 00:06:10]: [00:05:23] So, like, for all of you listening, I want you to think of your dieting history, right? [00:05:26] Like, I know that there's some clients who come in and they're like, Like, I did Weight Watchers, I did keto, I did intermittent fasting, I did this challenge, I did 75 Hard, and so on and so on and so on. [00:05:35] And so, like, what we come to realize is a lot of women have been chasing some version of fat loss for so long that they don't even know what their body at maintenance feels like. [00:05:45] So, what we wanna do is walk you through what's actually happening to your body when you have been in a chronic dieting cycle for years, because you may not think anything of it, but there is a huge impact to what's going on to your body. [00:05:56] Okay, so, Jorde, you touched on a few of these. [00:05:58] We're just going to kind of go a little bit deeper. [00:05:59] So, first is your body downregulates its metabolic rate to match your intake, okay? [00:06:05] The intake of your food. [00:06:06] It learns to function on less. [00:06:08] Your body is like an incredible machine.
Marilynn [00:06:10 - 00:06:13]: [00:06:10] So, if you're giving it little, it's going to function on that little food you give it.
Tijana [00:06:13 - 00:06:14]: [00:06:13] Mm-hmm.
The Physical and Hormonal Effects of Chronic Dieting
Marilynn [00:06:14 - 00:06:38]: [00:06:14] So, this calorie deficit might have worked for you years ago, but now it's not working for you anymore because your maintenance has dropped along with your eating. [00:06:22] And the only way at that point to then lose more body fat is to continue to decrease your calories. [00:06:27] And we've said this so many times, you are not a toddler. [00:06:30] Like, you cannot be eating such low calories as like a child would be eating. [00:06:35] Even so, I actually think some, some kids eat more than a lot of women we talk to.Tijana [00:06:38 - 00:06:39]: [00:06:38] Yeah, 100%.
Marilynn [00:06:39 - 00:07:05]: [00:06:39] Right? [00:06:40] The other thing we have to think about is like your hormones. [00:06:42] Okay? [00:06:42] So, your hunger hormone, when this is happening, gets really loud. [00:06:45] So, ghrelin, we talked about this in past episodes, the hormone that tells you you're hungry, this increases because your body is trying to push you to eat more. [00:06:53] It wants to restore that deficit, 'cause it's saying like, I can't sustain this. [00:06:56] I need you to eat more. [00:06:58] At the same time, leptin drops. [00:07:00] Okay. [00:07:00] So leptin is that hormone that signals fullness and satiety, and it supports burning fat.
Marilynn [00:07:05 - 00:07:10]: [00:07:05] So you're going to feel less satisfied after eating, and your body's going to become less efficient at burning fat.
Jordanna [00:07:11 - 00:07:25]: [00:07:11] And this is why most women will come to us saying, I have horrible cravings. [00:07:16] I'm addicted to sugar. [00:07:18] I am an emotional eater. [00:07:20] I eat late at night. [00:07:22] And most of it comes down to not eating enough during the day.
Tijana [00:07:25 - 00:07:26]: [00:07:25] 100%.
Marilynn [00:07:26 - 00:07:56]: [00:07:26] Remember, easiest way to overeat is to undereat. [00:07:28] I love that saying, right? [00:07:29] Okay, so now, like, if you've been dieting hard without prioritizing protein and strength training, well, guess what? [00:07:36] You've actually been putting yourself in a situation where you're losing muscle, and muscle is that engine. [00:07:41] Okay, so now you're eating less, your hormones are working against you, you have a smaller engine to drive the whole system, which is your body. [00:07:48] So now your metabolism is slowing right down. [00:07:51] Then cortisol rises because prolonged restriction is stress on the body.
Tijana [00:07:56 - 00:07:57]: [00:07:56] Yeah.
Marilynn [00:07:57 - 00:08:20]: [00:07:57] And chronic stress signals store more fat, especially around the midsection. [00:08:02] That's what it's telling your body to do, which is why so many women also tell us, I feel so heavy around my midsection. [00:08:08] Like I've gained so much weight around my midsection, even though they're eating less. [00:08:11] And the cruelest part of all of this is that the harder a woman diets, the harder fat loss becomes because your body is doing what it was designed to do, which is protect you.
Tijana [00:08:20 - 00:08:20]: [00:08:20] Yeah.
The Adaptation of the Body, Not Brokenness
Marilynn [00:08:21 - 00:08:42]: [00:08:21] So, if you have been dieting for years and you feel like your body has stopped responding, like you said, Jordan, your body is not broken. [00:08:27] Your metabolism is not broken. [00:08:29] They have actually adapted. [00:08:30] That's all this is. [00:08:31] Your body has adapted. [00:08:32] Your metabolism has adapted. [00:08:33] And there's a huge difference between broken and adapted. [00:08:36] Something that is broken can't always be fixed, but an adapted body and metabolism absolutely can.Marilynn [00:08:42 - 00:08:57]: [00:08:42] It just takes a different approach than the one that's got you to where you are right now. [00:08:46] And I feel so bad because when women come to us and they are so frustrated, they're eating so little and the scale's not moving and all this is happening, the instinct is always the same. [00:08:54] What do they do? [00:08:55] I gotta eat less. [00:08:56] I gotta train more. Jordanna [00:08:57 - 00:08:57]: [00:08:57] Mm-hmm.
Rethinking the Approach: Earning the Right to Diet
Marilynn [00:08:58 - 00:09:26]: [00:08:58] And you are literally going in the wrong direction because the work is not to push your body more. [00:09:02] It's not to give it less food. [00:09:04] You need to do the opposite, right? [00:09:06] So that's basically what's happening to the body. [00:09:08] It's like you create this perfect storm. [00:09:11] So, T, I think this is interesting because I said this in a Momentum call once and I got met with kind of like, honestly, they were like, huh? [00:09:17] But it's so true, like earning the right to diet. [00:09:19] So, I kind of want to dive into that because I know that sounds a little harsh, like earning your right to diet, but there is a lot of logic to that. [00:09:25] So, can you take us through that?
The Teeter-Totter Analogy: Maintenance vs. Deficit
Tijana [00:09:27 - 00:10:04]: [00:09:27] Yes. [00:09:27] And I will say this, if you're a client listening to this, we've all had conversations with you around like why you need to do this because there's certain points in your fat loss journey when like Let's say you've reached a point where your body's plateaued, or like now we're in very low calorie territory and like, you know, we don't wanna get there. [00:09:45] And like your body's showing signs that your metabolism's downregulating, or if you're a chronic dieter trying to start that first fat loss phase, we need to prime your metabolism so that you are gonna respond better to that fat loss. [00:09:56] And a visual that I like that I heard recently is a teeter-totter, and I thought this was super helpful. [00:10:00] So, if you're not watching me on video, you know, picture a teeter-totter like on the playground.Marilynn [00:10:04 - 00:10:04]: [00:10:04] Yeah.
Tijana [00:10:05 - 00:10:26]: [00:10:05] Like, one side is gonna be maintenance, one side is your deficit. [00:10:08] So, if you're sitting on that deficit side, and you've been just plumped on that deficit, and you're constantly there, your teeter-totter is way imbalanced. [00:10:16] And then, now, you are like at the bottom of your teeter-totter, and you got nowhere to go. [00:10:21] You've never spent that time in maintenance, or it's like the teeter-totter comes up a little in maintenance, bam, back down in a deficit.
Marilynn [00:10:27 - 00:10:27]: [00:10:27] Yeah, yeah.
Rebalancing and the Importance of Maintenance
Tijana [00:10:27 - 00:10:59]: [00:10:27] Your body is not gonna respond from that place. [00:10:30] The reality is, like, what most women do is they spend months there in a cut, or like spend most of the year if we zoom out. [00:10:36] And I've done this, you know, a couple years ago, I honestly reflected and I was like, damn, most of this year was spent on low calories. [00:10:42] And here I am expecting to see more changes when I've never even taken that time to get myself back to that equilibrium. [00:10:48] So that's where we wanna be. [00:10:49] And, you know, Georgie, you talked about that earlier, that, that place where you're in maintenance, your teeter-totter is balanced. [00:10:55] That means you've taken time to intentionally increase your calories, training the right way.Marilynn [00:10:59 - 00:10:59]: [00:10:59] Right.
Tijana [00:11:00 - 00:11:18]: [00:11:00] And this is another sidebar that I know some people are like, Yeah, I go in maintenance, but it's really just like zero meal structure, no more food tracking, no proper training. [00:11:09] That's not maintenance. [00:11:09] You want to maintain your food structure, increase your portions, like actually like do this ideally under the supervision of a coach. [00:11:17] Hello, this is exactly what we do.
Marilynn [00:11:18 - 00:11:18]: [00:11:18] Yeah.
The Benefits and Structure of Maintenance
Tijana [00:11:18 - 00:11:41]: [00:11:18] This is why we tell our clients, you are not done after the fat loss phase, you're just beginning. [00:11:22] Increase it to intentional maintenance, spend months there. [00:11:25] That's when you're going to get to that place where you've earned the right to diet. [00:11:28] So, Now we have more wiggle room, right? [00:11:30] Like you've now increased your calories, put that toward hopefully mostly building that muscle, increasing your resting metabolic rate. [00:11:37] Now your body's like, I'm Gucci. [00:11:38] Like, I'm good at this intake. [00:11:40] I decrease my food a little bit. [00:11:41] Bam.Tijana [00:11:42 - 00:11:43]: [00:11:42] My body responds better.
Jordanna [00:11:43 - 00:11:43]: [00:11:43] Fat loss.
Marilynn [00:11:43 - 00:11:43]: [00:11:43] Yep.
Tijana [00:11:43 - 00:11:57]: And fat loss by not grinding the heck out of it. [00:11:47] Like, oh, I'm gonna do, you know, 75 hard and 2 workouts a day and 1,200 calories. [00:11:51] You don't need to do any of that crap. [00:11:52] No, you're just putting yourself in a very slight deficit. [00:11:54] Maybe 10 or 15% to start. [00:11:56] And you're seeing that room.
Tijana [00:11:58 - 00:12:00]: [00:11:58] And I know you guys, we've all been through this, I think, right?
Timeframes and Realistic Expectations
Jordanna [00:12:02 - 00:12:45]: [00:12:02] I've been through the reverse where it was like, I was dieted down where my metabolism ended up downregulating and it's taken me several years. [00:12:11] And this is where I think people really need to hear this. [00:12:15] Everybody's body's different. [00:12:16] For me, I was in such a tough spot that I needed to Bring calories up so slowly over such a long period of time to create that new maintenance. [00:12:26] And it had to go in multiple cycles. [00:12:28] It didn't all just happen at once, which is why it took years. [00:12:31] And that's what I think people miss the boat on here is like they go into maintenance and then they take away all that structure and they're just like, oh, I can just live life here now. [00:12:41] But without that structure, that's what helps you stay in maintenance.
Breaking Through Plateaus and Embracing Maintenance
Tijana [00:12:58 - 00:13:27]: [00:12:58] Yeah, I've had those conversations too. [00:13:00] I know a couple people will be like, I've dieted and dieted and dieted and counted calories, and I'm not losing, and I'm not losing. [00:13:05] And I'm like, okay, I'm gonna be honest with you. [00:13:06] Your first 6 weeks, at least with us, we're not gonna put you in a deficit. [00:13:09] We're actually gonna keep you, like, some people have actually started them on a reverse and like brought their calories up. [00:13:15] And it's sometimes their body responds well and the metabolism actually, like sometimes, not always, don't quote me on this if it doesn't happen for you, but you'll lose some weight when you're bringing your calories back up, 'cause your metabolism was like, damn, I really needed this.
The Magic of Maintenance
Jordanna [00:13:35 - 00:13:49]: [00:13:35] I love maintenance because most women see it as like doing nothing. [00:13:39] They see it as treading water and waiting to get back to the real work of fat loss, but Maintenance is the real work. [00:13:47] Maintenance is where you wanna be.
Benefits of Maintenance: Physiology and Psychology
Jordanna [00:13:51 - 00:14:21]: [00:13:51] yeah, you haven't done it yet. [00:13:52] Like the magic of maintenance. [00:13:53] Like, I think back to like one of my clients who called it like, I've never felt that life was easy until I hit maintenance, where it's like, you don't really have to think about the dieting piece. [00:14:03] You're not hungry anymore. [00:14:05] Like there's so many things that happen. [00:14:07] And so during like a proper maintenance phase that is taken through with a coach, Your metabolism gets the signal that food is available and it upregulates. [00:14:17] So, you start burning more calories at rest.
Improving Body Composition and Relationship with Food
Jordanna [00:14:23 - 00:15:19]: [00:14:23] Yeah, it's like the best feeling ever. [00:14:26] Your hunger and your fullness hormones, they start to normalize. [00:14:29] So, the things like cravings or being hungry all the time, like all of that stuff just starts to dissipate. [00:14:35] Muscle is preserved. [00:14:37] when we're in maintenance phase, and it can be built, which increases your metabolic rate long-term, which is ultimately what we want to happen. [00:14:46] And so the longer we're able to be in that maintenance phase, the better your body composition is going to be.Marilynn [00:14:52 - 00:14:53]: [00:14:52] Yes.
Jordanna [00:14:53 - 00:15:19]: [00:14:53] And the more toned and tight you are going to look, which then doubles down on the goal that you initially had, which was fat loss. [00:15:00] You're now able to look like you work out, feel lean and toned, Because you're actually eating more. [00:15:06] Your cortisol levels, they reduce, and your stress-related fat storage, which is usually the visceral fat, you know, around the organs, around the belly, that is dissipated too, because we're at a healthy maintenance.
Building Long-Term Success and Mature Approach
Jordanna [00:15:20 - 00:16:23]: [00:15:20] And when you take the time to build those habits over the long haul, your relationship with food, it improves dramatically. [00:15:28] Like, all of these emotional eaters that I I've eventually gotten into our empowerment phase, they are like, I don't think I'm an emotional eater anymore. [00:15:37] Like, this is like magic. [00:15:38] How did we do this? [00:15:39] And it's like, because you're literally eating more food.Marilynn [00:15:42 - 00:15:43]: [00:15:42] Yeah. [00:15:42] Your body's working for you enough.
Jordanna [00:15:43 - 00:15:45]: [00:15:43] Your body's working for you.
Marilynn [00:15:45 - 00:15:45]: [00:15:45] Yeah.
Jordanna [00:15:45 - 00:16:23]: [00:15:45] You're, we're working smarter, not harder. [00:15:47] And the longer the maintenance phase, the more effective the next deficit is going to become. [00:15:53] And this is why I said before, it's like cyclical, right? [00:15:56] Like, If you think about like charging a battery before you use it, a fully charged battery will last a lot longer and perform better. [00:16:04] Like that seems obvious. [00:16:05] And a battery you keep running into the ground and you only do partial charges with, it doesn't hold a charge as well. [00:16:12] It ends up dying faster. [00:16:14] I want you to think of that like with your metabolism. [00:16:17] We really wanna fuel it properly to get exactly what we want out of it in the best possible way.
Why You Shouldn’t Skip Maintenance
Jordanna [00:16:24 - 00:17:12]: [00:16:24] Yeah, the goal of maintenance is not to necessarily maintain forever. [00:16:28] It's to set the stage so that when you do pursue a fat loss phase or any other type of goal that you might have, your body is ready, willing, and able to respond to it. [00:16:38] That's how we can then get into and out of a fat loss phase more quickly, because your body's ready to respond. [00:16:45] And if you're like listening to this and you're like, oh my God, this was a light bulb moment, like I've been chasing fat loss for years, Without ever even coming into a real maintenance, that's why you've been stuck. [00:16:58] Like, this is literally the piece that we need to help you unlock. [00:17:01] And it's such an important conversation that we have with not just our clients who've been with us long term, who have evolving goals, but right at the start before you're even a client, because we need to understand what path we're taking you down.Coach Hopping and Its Pitfalls Tijana [00:18:12 - 00:18:16]: [00:18:12] Yeah, I wanna just quickly share like this exact scenario that I've seen happen quite a few times.
Jordanna [00:18:16 - 00:18:17]: [00:18:16] Mm-hmm.
Tijana [00:18:17 - 00:18:38]: [00:18:17] And that is. [00:18:18] when someone is coach hopping and, and the, the reason you don't wanna coach hop, there's many reasons. [00:18:23] Number one, I always equate it with like a relationship, right? [00:18:25] Like if you're trying to find your person, like your marriage, your hubby knows you inside and out. [00:18:30] They know your phases of your life. [00:18:32] Like they've been through several of those together. [00:18:33] When you have a new relationship, it's like exciting, you're getting something new, but then it's like you have to work that up again.
Jordanna [00:18:38 - 00:18:38]: [00:18:38] Yep.
The Importance of Long-Term Coaching Commitment
Tijana [00:18:38 - 00:19:16]: [00:18:38] So it's the same thing with a coach. [00:18:40] Like you're starting fresh with a coach, you're new to each other. [00:18:42] It's more optimal when you stay committed to one dedicated coach because, yep, they map out those multiple phases and I tell clients this from that first call. [00:18:50] I'm like, our most successful clients are the long haulers. [00:18:54] This is what happens sometimes. [00:18:55] People come to us and say like, okay, I wanna lose body fat. [00:18:58] And we do some digging obviously about how much they're eating, what their diet phase was. [00:19:01] But if you're starting with a coach and they aren't aware of that or not fully aware of it, and they might not be for a variety of reasons, you might have come from doing a fat loss phase with another coach, gone off of that without any reverse or any like interim phase, and like just kind of like—Marilynn [00:19:16 - 00:19:16]: [00:19:16] Yeah.
Repeating Dieting Mistakes and Learning from Experience
Tijana [00:19:16 - 00:19:34]: [00:19:16] done the fat loss with the first coach, not taken a really long break, kind of like let loose and like regain that body fat. [00:19:21] And now you're coming to coach number 2 and saying, okay, let me get a fresh set of eyes and I'll do another fat loss phase. [00:19:26] And then it's not even necessarily that coach's fault, but every time you're coach hopping, you're starting fresh. [00:19:31] They might not realize the extent of how long you've dieted, that you're not primed for that.Marilynn [00:19:34 - 00:19:35]: [00:19:34] That's right.
Tijana [00:19:35 - 00:19:51]: [00:19:35] And then you're just going from coach to coach. [00:19:37] Then you're feeling like, oh my God, this coach isn't working. [00:19:40] This approach isn't working. [00:19:41] Oh, well, with my first person, I was at 1,500 and losing body fat. [00:19:45] Now that 1,500 isn't working. [00:19:46] Yeah, because it's because of your dieting. [00:19:48] It's not because of the strategy. [00:19:50] Have you girls seen this?
Jordanna [00:19:51 - 00:19:51]: [00:19:51] Absolutely.
Tijana [00:19:52 - 00:19:52]: [00:19:52] Totally.
Coaching Is for Every Phase
Jordanna [00:19:52 - 00:20:13]: [00:19:52] And it's kind of like what I said before, where it's like the maturity for your health and fitness comes when you're willing to look at the strategy and do something differently. [00:20:01] It's like, why would you continue to be insane repeating the same thing over and over again that isn't working? [00:20:06] What you really need to do is be like, okay, let's pull back. [00:20:09] Let's be honest about what's been happening and figure out the most appropriate next step.Tijana [00:20:14 - 00:20:19]: [00:20:14] You know, I'll say it once and I'll say it again. [00:20:16] Coaching is for every phase. [00:20:18] It's not just for the fat loss phase.
Jordanna [00:20:19 - 00:20:19]: [00:20:19] Yeah.
Tactical Takeaways: Five Key Steps
Marilynn [00:20:42 - 00:21:20]: [00:20:42] We love to leave you with tactical takeaways. [00:20:44] So, there's 5 big things we want you to get out of this episode, okay? [00:20:47] The first is, get honest about your dieting history. [00:20:50] And I mean, like, really honest, okay? [00:20:53] I want you to sit and think, how long have you been in some version of a deficit? [00:20:58] It might be months, it might be years. [00:21:01] We've actually had clients say to us that they have been dieting for upwards of 30, 40, 50 years. [00:21:06] And I'm going to be— really honest here for myself, when I think back to like my dieting history, I was that person too. [00:21:14] Like, I was thinking about this recently, how like I probably started dieting when I was in grade 7 or 8. [00:21:19] Guys, that's like, like 12.
Step 2: Consider a Dieting Break
Marilynn [00:22:08 - 00:22:30]: [00:22:08] Number 2 is consider a dieting break before you go into a deficit again. [00:22:13] So if you do reflect and you're like, oh dear, like I have been on a diet on and off for longer than I can remember, the most powerful thing you can do right now is commit to a real maintenance phase. [00:22:23] And we've been very specific about this. [00:22:25] A dieting break does not mean a free-for-all. [00:22:27] It is not like I just, I'm just throw caution to the wind.
Step 3: Reframe Success Beyond the Scale
Marilynn [00:23:33 - 00:24:09]: [00:23:33] Third thing, stop measuring success only by the scale during maintenance. [00:23:38] This is huge. [00:23:39] And our clients can attest to this. [00:23:41] If you are watching the scale during maintenance, you are setting yourself up to want to bail because the scale likely will not be going down. [00:23:48] In fact, you might see a little bit of an uptick, actually. [00:23:52] So your success in maintenance, aside from trusting the coach who is pulling you through this maintenance phase with strategy, think about like how your energy is, how your sleep is, how your workouts are feeling. [00:24:02] Are you stronger? [00:24:04] Are you lifting more weight? [00:24:05] How is your mood, right? [00:24:06] How is your relationship with food? [00:24:08] You already brought that up, Jordan. [00:24:09] That's so important.
Step 4: Choose a Coach Who Sees the Whole Picture
Marilynn [00:24:26 - 00:25:02]: [00:24:26] Number 4 is work with someone who understands the full picture, not just someone who will put you in a deficit. [00:24:31] Anybody can do that. [00:24:33] Anybody can say, here, eat like 1,200 calories. [00:24:35] The real skill is knowing when not to put you in a deficit. [00:24:38] Okay? [00:24:38] So, a good coach like us here at Get Sculpted, We look at your whole history, your stress, your sleep, training, hormones, and we tell you the truth, even if it's the thing we know you don't necessarily want to hear. [00:24:50] We tell you what you need to hear, 'cause that's what we do as coaches. [00:24:53] And that is the difference between short-term results and you getting lasting change. [00:24:57] And the 5th is stop hiring a coach or stop doing fat loss alone.
Step 5: The Goal Is Adaptability, Not Just Weight Loss
Marilynn [00:25:02 - 00:25:35]: [00:25:02] The goal is not just to lose weight. [00:25:04] The goal is to have a body that responds and can take you through all of these phases, deficit and maintenance, And a body that can take you through things like vacations, stressful seasons, like events. [00:25:14] That's what you want. [00:25:16] So, you want to build a relationship with a coach through both phases, deficit and maintenance, not just fat loss and being like, I'm done. [00:25:24] I reached my fat loss goal. [00:25:25] The context a coach is going to build with you over time is what makes the process more effective. [00:25:30] So, if you're hiring a coach every single time you want to lose weight and then disappearing because you feel you don't need maintenance—
Final Thoughts and Invitation to Connect
Tijana [00:25:56 - 00:26:23]: [00:25:56] Awesome. [00:25:57] All right, guys. [00:25:57] What we want you to take away here from all of this is that fat loss is not always the answer and it's not always linear. [00:26:03] And if you want a successful fat loss phase, you have to line up the phases that come before. [00:26:06] Before it and after it. [00:26:08] And remember, this is exactly why having a coach is so helpful, and this is exactly what we help our clients do. [00:26:14] It's not just the fat loss, it's not just the reverse diet, it's everything through that journey that is unique to you. [00:26:20] So, this is all gonna be dependent on the context of your situation.Tijana [00:26:24 - 00:26:29]: [00:26:24] So, if you are wondering, like, where the heck do I go from here? [00:26:26] Let's have the conversation around what your body needs. [00:26:29] Go to getsculpted.ca/contact.
Marilynn [00:26:32 - 00:26:32]: [00:26:32] Yeah.
Tijana [00:26:32 - 00:26:53]: [00:26:32] And talk to us about where you're at and we will see if we can help. [00:26:36] And don't forget, if this episode resonated, please share it with a woman who has been stuck in this cycle and/or leave us a review. [00:26:42] We always appreciate it. [00:26:43] We get more awesome women like you tuning in and we're really excited for the next one. [00:26:47] This was a really good chat. [00:26:48] Next week we'll be talking about AI and where it can help and where it can hurt you. [00:26:52] So we'll see you there. [00:26:53] Bye.