Are the Feelings of being tired, fed up and hungry derailing your fat loss efforts? Want to eat all that chocolate in the cupboard and want to skip your next workout because you’re too tired?

It certainly makes things difficult, but that’s not to say you can’t lose fat…you absolutely can, its being aware and making the right alterations at the right time

The 2 key hormones when it comes to the menstrual cycle and it’s impact on losing body fat is oestrogen and progesterone.

Oestrogen

Oestrogen tends to get a bad name, but as you can see from the image it actually has some good benefits when talking about fat loss. Oestrogen sets you up well for losing body fat and changing your body shape with it reducing appetite increasing insulin sensitivity and mobilising fatty acids. The hard part is being able to mentally deal with the fluid retention and the change in the scales

Progesterone

Progesterone is the second key hormone when it comes to female fat loss. At first glance, progesterone doesn’t put you in you in the best position to lose body fat as it induces insulin resistance, lower fat storage and increases hunger/cravings. Studies show the increase of progesterone and drop in oestrogen in the luteal phase can cause you to increase your calorie intake by up to 500 calories. However if you’re aware of the symptoms, you can plan ahead and start to periodise your training/nutrition to factor it in.

The key to female fat loss is being aware of what’s happening, when it’s likely to happen any planning ahead. For example you wouldn’t want to be doing a Joe Wicks high intensity workout when you have no energy. We all know it’s calories in vs calories out to lose body fat, but that’s easier said than done when you want to eat everything in the house.

I will talk about what alterations to make to your training, nutrition and mindset in a future post.