Coming from a super restrictive, sugar-free, dairy-free, gluten-free diet and diving into the “pro-metabolic” lifestyle (principles) can sometimes cause weight gain. Why? Because you were probably undernourished, living on nuts and seeds and you started raw dairy, butter, steaks and sugar (and probably went crazy because your body was like, YES!) So, women ask me, why am I gaining weight (on this diet)? Lots of women are treating pro-metabolic like another diet bandwagon, but it’s not. This lifestyle is not a diet!

Is This Safety Weight?

If you’re overweight or a normal weight and you are eating more calories than you need, you are going to gain weight. That’s just.. science. The focus with pro-metabolic is on nourishment. Gaining a ton of weight when you “go pro-metabolic” is not good. Clients ask me all the time, “Is this safety weight?”. Which, by the way, we have an entire bonus module with the lovely Noelle Kovary in our our Bare Naked Hormones course!

The answer? It depends.

The answer is nuanced. If you were underweight, undernourished and underfed when you started, and you gained weight eating nourishing foods, you probably needed that weight. And it was a good thing for you. But if you are a normal weight or overweight, and you gain 30-50 lbs eating pro-metabolically, that is not healthy. If you are consuming excess calories and your body is not using them, you will gain weight. Are you moving? Are you working on your stress levels? What is your toxic load? What is your history? There are so many individual factors that come in to play.

What If I Am Gaining Weight?

I think it’s important to be honest about how long you’ve been sick. If you’ve been undereating or eating the wrong foods your whole life, it’s not going to happen fast. Take it sloooooow! A nourishing lifestyle mobilizes years of stored toxins, floods the body with minerals, and requires the pathways to be open. Often, women are overeating fat and carbs when they come from a very restricted diet background. Focus on ample protein, watch your fat sources, and look to simple sugars that are rich in minerals rather than starches.

Then, there are little nuances like skimming your milk, making some dairy-products non-fat so others remain full-fat, adding in egg whites with egg yolks. That’s the kind of stuff our course students and 1:1 clients get insight into. Maybe, that’s what you need!

Look at Your Lifestyle

Your environment and your mindset plays a big part in this. If you’re afraid of food, you will never be able to eat in peace. You’ll be stressed out while eating and your cortisol will stay high; your thyroid will stay repressed. A holistic approached is needed. Women do need to be okay with gaining weight. No one should become obese, or having health problems because they gained so much weight. But it is important to ask ourselves, why do I think this is a healthy weight or a non-healthy weight. If you stay skinny when you under-eat but feel fatigued and sick, then that is not a healthy weight for you. Your body’s comfortable weight might be 5-10 pounds more than the weight that you think you should be. Trust the healing process!

Do You Want More Support Around Your Weight?

I highly recommend that you check out my Bare Naked Hormones Course where I teach you all of the aspects of the pro-metabolic lifestyle, including how to eat, what to eat and what safety weight is. I am also taking new clients in my 1:1 coaching program – accepting 6 new basics clients for February and there is an application open to join my 6 month program. Check them out here.