5 Signs You’re Not Eating Enough (Even If You Think You Are)

00:00When you don't eat enough, your body literally doesn't have enough glucose to power your brain, to power your organs, to power your muscles. You are literally running on fumes at that point. What's crazy about this overall is when you consistently do that, especially if you've been doing it for decades, your body is adapted to that. What's going on, everybody? Hey, you guys.

00:30Welcome back to another episode of The WarriorBabe Show. Or if this is one of your first episodes, welcome to the podcast, my friends. On these episodes, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I am your host, Nikkie Stott. And on today's episode, episode number 308, we're going to talk about something that I feel like is something I see in multiple conversations I have with women that are on their fitness journey.

01:07Some conversations that I see their coaches have with Warrior Babes. Some conversations that I've had with Warrior Babes back in the day. And I feel like it's a very, like, it's a sneaky problem that I see with women, especially those who think that they're doing everything, quote unquote, right. And when I mean that, it's like, you know, you're eating healthy, quote unquote. Like you eat salads, you skip the dessert, like you hit the gym, you stay disciplined. But you do all those things, but you're still tired all the time. You feel puffy, you feel constipated, you're moody. And you're not, like, you're not getting to where you think that you would be by eating, quote unquote, healthy and doing all of the right things.

01:43Like, and you feel like you've hit, like, a wall and you can't figure out why. And that's why I want you guys to hear what I say. And I know that I say this a lot, but I truly mean it from my heart. It's like, your metabolism isn't broken. You're not broken. It's just that, you know, this concept I really want to nail home is you being underfed. And I know that you're like, I think I've heard you talk about this all the time, multiple podcasts. Well, guys, listen to me when I say this. I will repeat things over and over and over again. And I think that's what makes a really good coach because even though it may be on the same topic, I may speak different words that or, you know, use different analogies or educate you differently that may resonate with you more than it did the first time you heard it or the second time you heard it or the third time you heard it.

02:30One of the biggest psychological successes that I've seen with women in Warrior Babe is the thing that I said the first time didn't necessarily land, but maybe by the fifth time or the sixth time or the tenth time that I said it, maybe in a different way, light bulbs finally start to go off. You guys are aware, right, with this topic that you may be under eating. And so that's why I want to just kind of like go in depth a little bit more with this because I want you to know the signs that you're not eating enough, even if you think that you are, because I hear so many women say that I eat healthy.

03:07And I'm like, OK, what does that look like for you? Like getting to curious with them. And they're like, oh, you know, I don't eat breakfast. And then I have lunch. And I'll just use a chicken on top of a salad. And like the salad has all the fixings. And I don't eat anything again until dinnertime. And that's you being underfed. And that's you thinking that you're eating healthy and you're doing all the right things, but you're not seeing the results. And then you think it's like, oh, well, maybe I'm just not pushing it hard enough. Or like maybe, you know, I didn't really get my workouts in last week, the week before. So maybe it's like a motivation thing when really it's like it's truly a metabolic one.

03:39It's truly your metabolism. You think you're eating enough. Like a lot of women think that I eat healthy, but it's cool, like eating healthy. But are you eating enough? Because the truth is most of you are eating way below what your body actually needs to function and let alone to be in like that thriving state. So if this is speaking to you and if you're somebody that has been, quote unquote, eating healthy and doing all the right things, but you're still spinning your wheels and you're still feeling exhausted. You're still feeling irritable and you're still feeling stuck. Then I want this episode and I hope this episode is going to be a wake up call for you.

04:12So I want to start first with the why, because this didn't just happen overnight. Like this is decades of conditioning of thinking like you grew up being told that you had to eat less and move more. Like doctors are telling you if your thyroid is low or if your hormones are off balance that you need to go exercise and put yourself on a healthy diet.

04:44But it's so broad. Like what does it actually mean? A lot of women think that they need to eat less, especially they hear something is metabolically really wrong and or hormones are off. And it could be like a majority of women are overweight. So it's like, oh, okay, I just need to eat less. And then in this society, women have been told to take up less space. Like women have been praised throughout the years to be tiny, to not be strong, you know, to be the smallest version. Magazines like back in the day, you know, it's just like it's still, as I said in an episode when I was talking about Ozempic, it's like even the mental realm of things.

05:19It's the same thing through the decades. It's just being repackaged differently. Magazine covers, fitness ads, influencers online, like they're still saying the message of like lose weight, smaller is better. Some people, I know some of you guys are like, well, I follow people that are changing that narrative. And that is very, very true. You follow me and we're changing that narrative. But there's a small little group of us in a very big ocean, right? And that's why I like I think this message is so important to just continue to nail home and bring it to you guys.

05:53Because you've been you've learned to fear food, like you've learned to label foods as either good or bad. And, you know, some see hunger as something to continue to fight instead of something to learn to listen to. And again, like this result is an entire generation of women living bodies that are running on survival mode. Because when you under eat for way, way, way too long, your body starts to go into like, it's like, well, I don't know when this person is going to feed me again. So I'm going to start conserving this energy so I can make sure that I have energy to basically still survive. And that in turn slows your metabolism and messes your hormones.

06:26You guys have heard me say these things before, right? It downregulates your thyroid. It says basically, if she's not feeding me, I'm not going to waste energy burning any more body fat. I'm going to conserve. I'm going to hold on. I'm going to store it. You're going to store the fat. Even if you're eating 800 calories, your body is going to store that food instead of using it in the way that will fuel you to thrive. That's why you can eat so little, 800 calories, and you can still see no change.

06:58Because that's basically metabolically what's happening. It's holding on to the food and also your body doesn't trust you. It's not trying to, you know, kick you any down. It's not trying to sabotage you. It's not trying to be like, ha ha, like you can eat as low as you can. I'm still not going to get you the results you want. Like it's not trying to do that. What it's trying to do scientifically is to protect you, to keep you safe. But that comes at a cost. Like it costs your energy. It costs your health to some degree, your strength, your sleep, like, and your sanity. Because so many of you guys are spinning the wheels of like, why am I not getting the results that I want?

07:31Right? And the first sign that I want you guys to be aware of when it comes to you recognizing that you're not eating enough, even if you're eating healthy. That's like, let me remind you of that concept. Like you could still be not eating enough, even if you're quote unquote eating healthy. But the first sign is like, you're tired. You're fatigued. Like if you're dragging yourself out of bed, if you're, you can't wait to get that second cup of coffee or the third or get that energy drink, or you're having that, you're hitting that afternoon crash, or you're relying on, you know, that pre-workout just to function, just to get through.

08:11That's you under fueling. That's not just you being like, oh, I'm just, I'm just so busy with my day. I do so much in my day. Like, that's not you being busy. That's you being, you're under fueling yourself. When you don't eat enough, your body literally doesn't have enough glucose to power your brain, to power your organs, to power your muscles. Like you are literally running on fumes at that point. What's crazy about this overall is like when you consistently do that, especially if you've been doing it for decades, your body has adapted to that.

08:46And it's going to normalize the fatigue to protect you. So, you know, you could start thinking, well, maybe like I'm just tired because I'm getting older. No, you're tired because you've been dieting since your 20s and your body hasn't had a break. And the crazy part is when women finally start eating more, they realize how bad they actually felt before. Again, because like you've been doing this for so long, it's only become a normalized situation within the confines of your body. It's like your homeostasis.

09:17Like your body is just used to this. It doesn't know what it feels like to feel better, right? And so when you actually interrupt the pattern and you give it what it wants, that's when you start to, and you eat more, you start to know what it feels like to thrive. And you look back and be like, holy cow, I didn't realize how bad I actually felt before. I thought that was just a normal thing. When you start feeling your body, your energy skyrockets, your focus gets sharper.

09:49You feel powerful again. Your workouts feel powerful. You're sleeping better. Like it's like flipping the lights back on because your body was like never meant to run on empty. So for like any of you guys, I feel like, like again, like my story in this past year, like me waking up and being so tired and, and like feeling like I could sleep after sleeping. I sleep again after sleeping eight hours and having the afternoon crashes. It was because like, like my body was trying to say, like, I was like, oh, you're, I'm just getting older.

10:21This is just used to it. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no. I know from my education, from my background, obviously from, from being in the space for 10 years, like I'm well aware of, of this is my body signaling, you know, like for me to focus on fueling my body the right way, which I do, but I needed more of it. And my hormones were off. So I needed to get that aligned. I know that we shouldn't feel that way, right? It's not, we're not meant to feel like we're running on empty.

10:52We're meant to feel like we're thriving. And that's where I was like, I gotta get things checked out. Like I did. And I'm going to share that with you guys. If you guys haven't listened to that life update podcast, podcast, I think it was like maybe like now 10 or 15 ago, but anyway, the story is there. So that's the first one fatigue. The second thing that I want to talk about the second sign is your mood because that one's sneaky. Like, you know, when you wake up fine, but then by noon, like you're anxious and you're edgy and like you're snapping at people for no reason. Dude, that's not you being stressed. That is your blood sugar tanking because when you undereat, your blood sugar spikes and crashes throughout the day.

11:29So for those of you guys, especially like if you skip breakfast or you then grab a snack and then you have lunch, then you grab a snack again and you're eating mostly carbs with no protein. Like that is what your body is doing internally. And what you're, you're secondarily feeling that with your mood is it's literally going, spiking your blood sugar, then crashing. And this is where you get your irritable and moody. And then it spikes it again. And then it crashes and spikes it again. Then it crashes. With each crash, your body is releasing cortisol.

12:02It's releasing that stress hormone. And it's like basically like signaling to your body, like we're in danger. And so then from that, secondarily, you feel wired, you feel restless, you feel anxious, you feel on edge. And then you go grab another coffee and you keep thinking like, okay, like this will help. But then it just spikes your cortisol even more. And it's literally just like this constant roller coaster up, down, up, down. And it's exhausting. And it's why so many women feel emotionally like unstable, even when everything else in their life looks totally fine.

12:37Ladies, are you feeling frustrated with body changes you're experiencing during menopause? It's time to take control. If you're between 45 and 65 years old and tired of struggling with body fat and muscle loss, Warrior Babe is here for you. At Warrior Babe, we've helped over 18,000 women just like you lose body fat, build toned muscle, and understand their bodies better with personalized plans based on hormone and thyroid testing and more.

13:12Imagine knowing exactly what your body needs to see real results and results that last. Look, don't wait anymore. Take charge of your health and join our community of strong, empowered women. Visit warriorbabe.com forward slash apply today to start your transformation. That's warriorbabe.com forward slash apply. All right, let's get back to the show. Your body isn't like, yes, we experience emotions and mood.

13:45Yes, 100%. But if that's you all the time, that is a sign of being malnourished. Because when you start eating enough and you start feeling your body with the right balance of protein, fats, and carbs, like the roller coaster flattens out. It's like this. You're just like on when you're in like an amusement park where you can go on the train and it takes you all around the amusement park. It's like that. Your brain gets stable energy, smooth energy. Your mood evens out. You're even keeled the whole way on the ride.

14:18Your anxiety is near, unless you're an anxious person, but it drops, right? Like you stop feeling like you're fighting yourself all day long. Because when your body feels safe, then your mind does too. So if you feel like you're moody and irritable all the time, maybe take a look at, am I eating enough? And I will tell you that you probably aren't. But if you implement eating enough, you can experience a drastic difference with having a stabilization in your mood. Ladies, are you feeling frustrated with body changes you're experiencing during menopause?

14:53It's time to take control. If you're between 45 and 65 years old and tired of struggling with body fat and muscle loss, Warrior Babe is here for you. At Warrior Babe, we've helped over 18,000 women just like you lose body fat, build toned muscle, and understand their bodies better with personalized plans based on hormone and thyroid testing and more. Imagine knowing exactly what your body needs to see real results and results that last. Look, don't wait anymore.

15:24Take charge of your health and join our community of strong, empowered women. Visit warriorbabe.com forward slash apply today to start your transformation. That's warriorbabe.com forward slash apply. All right, let's get back to the show. A third sign would be something that I don't think a lot of people are aware of. And they think it's just a part of getting older, but it's your digestion. It's your it's if you experience constipation. It's if you experience bloating, like, because this one's huge.

15:54And I want to get real about digestion. Like so many women think that they have gut issues. When in reality, they're just not eating enough to keep digestion moving properly. Because when you under eat, your body slows down everything just to hold on, like I said, to conserve energy. And one of the first system down regulates is your digestion. So think of it like this. Like if you don't put enough gas in your car, then the engine doesn't shut off. The engine doesn't just shut off right away, but is runs pretty rough, right? That's your digestive system.

16:25When you chronically under eat, you get bloated, you get gassy, you get constipated, you get uncomfortable. Even if you're eating clean foods, but your body can't break them down efficiently because it's too busy trying to like be in that survival mode. And then guess what else suffers? Then you get the gut bacteria that is then the secondary culprit to being affected. When you under fuel your body, those healthy gut bugs, bacteria, they die off. And that's only going to lead to even more bloating and even more food sensitivities and even more inflammation.

16:59So if you're bloated all of the time, you think the answer is that you need to eat less. That is the exact opposite. You need to start to feed your metabolism. And then in turn, when you do that and you give enough food, each of these requires you to eat more food. If you are experiencing these signs, each of these signs require you to eat more food. When you do that for your gut, your gut's going to thank you. Number four, this one I think gets missed completely.

17:30I know I've talked about it a lot on the episodes of this podcast platform, but sleep and terrible recovery. Like if you wake up between maybe 2 and 4 a.m., that's your body releasing cortisol because your blood sugar dropped overnight. Your body is literally waking you up to find food. Like have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and your body is just like your stomach is growling? Yeah. Your body is like asking you to feed it with that signal.

18:01And some of you guys are like, oh, man, I just have insomnia. I just can't sleep at night. But what you actually have is a food problem, a fuel problem. Your body is working overnight. Like in your sleep, the most important recovery happens. You are repairing your muscle. You are regulating your hormones. You are detoxifying. Like sleep is such a beautiful system recovery tool. I can't think of the word right off the top of my head that happens for our body.

18:33And all of that requires energy. And if it doesn't have enough, it can't do the job. It can't do the job and it can't finish the job. And that's why you wake up feeling unrefreshed even after eight hours in bed. It's why your recovery sucks after workouts. It's why your soreness lingers for days instead of hours, right? And while I say this, because some of you guys know my story, it's you not eating enough, but also it could be that your hormones need to be looked at to balance.

19:04Because, you know, going, I'm 35 and I'm experiencing going through this now with my hormones. My testosterone was low. My DHEA was low. My cortisol was slightly elevated. My thyroid was low. Even though I was, yo, I've been tracking macros for 10 years, guys. So you could be tracking your macros, but still be experiencing what I'm talking about right now. And the deeper layer to that, if you're not getting the results you want, even though you're tracking your macros, even though you're working out, would be, hey, you need to get your hormones checked.

19:34Because that's a deeper level understanding that you're going to have with your body. Because you could still be experiencing all the things I'm going through with hormones being out of balance. If you're getting poor sleep, you're waking up unrefreshed. When you give your body enough, especially enough carbs at dinnertime, your body finally gets the fuel that it needs to repair while you sleep. And this is the thing. Like, so many women are so afraid of eating past, like, 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. And I get that. And I understand that because when you do eat later at night, yes, it's going to take a little bit longer for your heart rate to lower in the middle of the night.

20:11And you want that because, you know, that helps with the recovery process, but it also helps you go through the different stages of your sleep cycle. But with eating too close to bedtime and your heart rate is staying elevated, it's because your body is trying to digest that food and your body is at work. So I get that. But, and some people are like, well, I can't have carbs at dinner because I've been told that you should not have carbs at dinner. And this is me telling you guys, please have carbs at dinner because it's going to help you with the recovery process while you sleep. And you're going to recover faster with that.

20:42And then your stress response is going to calm down. But this real work, it doesn't work without you fueling your body properly. Okay, the last one that I have for you is, and this one's going to hit hard because this point is where most women panic and double down, is you're training hard, you're tracking your food, you're eating clean, and the scale won't budge. So you think, okay, maybe I just need to eat less. And then you think, okay, I need to train more. And that's the exact moment that your body is like, oh, no, not again.

21:13Here we go. Same stuff, different day. Same month, different decade. When you under eat for a long, long time, and this kind of stems off from what I just talked about in the last podcast as well on Friday. But your metabolism adapts, right? It becomes more efficient, which sounds great when I say that. What it means is it burns fewer calories at rest. It becomes efficient because it recognizes that you're not feeding it what it needs.

21:44So it's going to slow down to conserve. And your body starts to burn fewer calories so that it can conserve energy for a long period of time. And with that, your thyroid is going to drop. The output is going to drop. Your hunger hormones are going to be non-existent. And then your cortisol is going to start to rise. Your body isn't going to start doing the job that you want it to, which is burning fat. It's just going to focus on just sustaining your energy throughout the day and keeping you alive. So if you're chronically underfed, it's going to, again, slow down your metabolism to protect you.

22:15You don't want to starve your way to results or starve your way to sustainability. And it's clicking for so many women now they recognize, especially being either the Warrior Babe program or listening to our Warrior Babe success stories or even listening to this podcast. You can't cut or lose weight from an empty tank. Think about it like this. I think I mentioned this before, but a Warrior Babe comes in. She's eating 800 calories or 1,000 calories, even 1,200 calories. She's like, I want to lose weight. We're like, okay, but the way we're going to do it is by eating more food, not less, because we can't cut from 1,200 calories and have you eat 1,000 calories.

22:50That's just enough to sustain your BMR with you not even – think about it like this. If you don't move at all in the day, you're just sitting in one same spot and you're breathing. Your organs and internal systems and the fact that you are breathing and even little like flinches you may make, that burns calories. Your organs burn calories. And that is like – it ranges differently for everybody, but just using 1,000 calories, for example, alone, by you just not moving at all, your body is still burning calories because your organs are burning it.

23:25You're breathing all, you know, making small little ticks. That's what majority of women eat in a day. And then think about on top of that, okay, people are working out. People are moving around. People have demanding jobs. People are going to – running around with their kids. On top of that, you're probably burning like 1,800 calories and you're only eating 1,000. Yeah, logically to you guys, it would be like, well, that would mean that I should lose weight. But everything that I've been saying here to you guys, your body is adapting to the low intake. It's protecting you because it's not getting enough fuel and it doesn't know when it's going to get enough fuel.

23:56That's why it's storing it as fat and why you are getting bigger even though you're not eating enough, right? So does that make sense? Because I hope that it does because that's what the mental mindset needs to be rewired and people to be okay with eating more food. It's recognizing, hey, I do burn a lot of calories in the day and I need to eat to sustain that because it's all energy, baby. It's all energy. Think about it like that. It's energy. Food is energy. The way you move is energy. All right. So let me just run through those five things really quick again.

24:29So the first one was if you're feeling constant fatigue and low energy, that is a sign that you are not eating enough even if you think that you are. The second sign is you having irritability or mood swings or anxiety. That is a sign that you are not eating enough and you are malnourished. The third sign is bloating and constipation and poor digestion. The fourth sign is poor sleep, terrible recovery. And the fifth sign is like you are stalled at experiencing fat loss and you're stuck at results and or you're eating less but you're gaining weight.

25:08Okay. So you guys know the drill probably by now. How do you fix it? Okay. Just recognizing and bringing awareness that you've been taught the wrong things. And so now we need to just like breathe and like accept like, okay, I need to one track my food. See where I'm at. Honestly, for a week. Don't try to change anything but just track what you actually are eating because it's going to bring awareness. Then you're going to slowly, you're going to find your baseline. You're going to slowly increase your calories. Okay. It's similar to the last podcast I talked to you guys about.

25:39Literally, it's that simple. It's that basic. It doesn't have to be crazy. You're going to start focusing on hitting your protein targets. You're going to listen to your biofeedback. And then most importantly, you're going to be patient. Because if you've been under eating for years, it's going to take months to repair. But every single week, every single day that you, you know, put in the effort and you're consistent, your body starts to trust you again. This isn't another quick fix. It is literally you fixing and restoring your metabolism. And it's so worth it.

26:10It's so worth it for the long haul. I know you guys probably, hopefully, if you listened to the last episode, when I hopefully I got that point across. It's so worth it for the long term. Because then you won't be on this hamster wheel of losing the same 10, 15 pounds over and over and over again. Okay. So I'm going to leave you guys with this one. Let what you've been taught about food and the fear around it just like think about Men in Black. I love this like picture of your mind. If you guys have watched Men in Black, they have that laser zapper. Think about me zapping that laser in front of you right now.

26:41And I'm wiping all of your past thoughts around food. And now I'm saying food is fuel. And you're going to eat more food to lose weight. All right. And that's I really want you guys to train yourselves mentally on accepting that and not allowing the fear to override you. Because you can build the body that you want. You can be energetic, even in your 50s and 60s and 70s years old. Like food isn't the enemy. It's just it's really the key to unlocking everything that you've been chasing in your journey. So I hope that you guys enjoyed this podcast.

27:12I hope it resonated with you guys. If it did, I ask that you guys share this with a friend. Share it with a co-worker. Share it with a family relative. Screenshot this. Post it to your Instagram story. Tag me at Nikki Stott. Tag at The WarriorBabe Show. Leave a little like nugget that resonate with you the most. I love reading those. And until then, until next time, I'll see you guys in the next episode. Love you guys. Peace out. Hey, really quick before you go, I have one small favor to ask. If this episode brought you value or sparked something in you, take just a moment to hit that review button.

27:46Your rating and review make all of the difference. Helping more women discover the tools they need to transform the fitness and their confidence. It takes less than a minute, but it can change the path of someone else's journey. Thank you so much for leaving that review. I appreciate you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.