Why These 3 Diets are Not Ideal for Women Who Want to See Results
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Losing weight often involves following a specific diet, but with so many options out there, it can be hard to know which one to choose. Some diets may not work well for certain people, which can be confusing and frustrating.
So, in this episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast, along with my campaign of helping women achieve their desired body in the most efficient and right way, Iām going to discuss with you three diets that are not ideal for you and the reasons why.
Note: This episode is exclusively for those who are using these diets as a means for weight loss and nothing else.
What I discuss:
Keto Diet
Intermittent Fasting
Vegan Diet
Links Mentioned in the Episode:
Macro Counting Made Simple Academy: https://www.macrocountingmadesimple.com/
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Transcript:
Hey there, beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. A podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I issue a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it, let's go.
Hello and welcome back to another episode on the Embrace Your Real podcast, Why these three diets are not ideal for women who want to see results.
Now, today, I wanted to address three common diets that I see many women turn to in order to lose weight. While these diets may work for men, I want to particularly talk to women and why I believe that they are diets that could potentially lead to adverse results. Now, with these three diets, I want to explain kind of what is happening inside the body over a period of time and how it can become harmful to your body over time. I also want to make you realize that doing something in the immediate time to lose a few pounds is likely not worth the price of what some of these diets can do to your body long term.
So of course, as you're tuning in to this, if you are on one of these diets for ethical reasons or more importantly for medical reasons, please continue to listen to your body and do what's best for you. And also, I want to say that you need to listen to your medical practitioner, so please trust them. I'm not a doctor. I'm not a medical practitioner. I'm speaking from experience on what I've studied and what I have just seen. And it, you know, in trends in terms of working with thousands of women over the last decade. But please, please, please listen to your medical practitioner if they do recommend any of these that I'm talking about and ask them questions before making any changes. And I want to note that this episode is exclusively for those who are using these diets as a means for weight loss and nothing else. So I wanted to state that ahead of time. But before we dive in, I wanted to share the super short review.
It comes from Figure out a bull. 823 She gave a five star review and said two decades. This podcast is absolutely incredible. I have spent two decades talking negatively to myself, not being my own best friend and not practicing gratefulness. Listening to Julie each day has saved my life in just a short amount of time, and I'm so grateful. Thank you, Julie, for blessing us with your voice. I love you so much.
Well, I love you so much. And I am grateful because having just, you know, being in that position for me a decade plus, I would say, you know, a decade and a half, at least in my life of speaking to myself negatively, not loving myself, not fueling my body optimally, using exercise as a means of punishment. I mean, the list goes on and on. I can tell you that that is no way to live. And that's exactly why I created this podcast, so that I can empower you, educate you, encourage you in some way, shape or form in every episode. And so thank you so much for tuning in, and I'm so grateful that this podcast is helping you and thank you for taking time out of your day to send this in. I genuinely appreciate every single one of your guys's reviews. They mean the world to me. They truly help us just know how this podcast is helping you. And also it helps other people when they stumble upon the podcast. And you know, a lot of times people go to reviews first and they like to know like, what are people getting out of this podcast is this podcast for me. And so it really does mean a lot when you switch over to Apple Podcasts in leave a rating and reviews. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay, so let's dive into my take on why these three diets are not ideal for women who want to see results. And again, I want to state that this episode is exclusively for those who are using one of these diets as a means for weight loss and nothing else.
Okay. Number one, the Keto Diet. We all know that the Keto diet has gained so much popularity in the last few years for its potential weight loss benefits. However, is it necessarily the healthiest option for women, especially in the long term?
Not so much. So many of us are willing to do anything to lose a few pounds, and this could even be including keto like without really thinking or knowing about the repercussions that it will have on us later on. I know a lot of people look at the keto diet as a lifestyle and not as a diet, and I know that men can have better success than women, but it's not a diet that is optimal for women. And here's why.
So since the keto diet is a high fat, low carbohydrate diet that can cause hormonal balances in women, this can also lead to menstrual irregularities, mood swings and other hormonal issues. And to be honest, this is the number one reason why it's not ideal for women. The hormones of biggest concern that are affected by the keto diet are directly your thyroid hormones and your sex hormones.
So the thyroid gland produces hormones that regulate your metabolism, your body temperature, your energy levels, and low carbohydrate diets like the keto diet, can actually decrease thyroid hormone levels, which can lead to fatigue, weight gain and depression. Let's be real. A huge amount of women already struggle with thyroid issues, so why are we going to add to it? Plus, if you already struggle with thyroid. Shoes and you going to Quito, you're only going to exacerbate the problem. Right. And like I said, the keto diet can also affect sex hormones like estrogen and progesterone. So estrogen plays a crucial role in the women's reproductive health, their bone health, their cardiovascular health. And most importantly, it can mean loss of period and infertility. Whereas progesterone is another hormone involved really directly in the menstrual cycles in pregnancy, and a low carbohydrate diet can actually decrease those levels, leading to mood swings, anxiety and depression. Let me repeat that again. It can lead to a loss of period infertility, mood swings, anxiety and depression all because you want to lose a few pounds. Something for me is not adding up. And lastly, let's be real. When you're on the keto diet, you guys know I'm all about sustainability and I have found unless you're going with keto friendly ice cream or keto friendly cookies or a keto friendly pizza, you will not be able to really genuinely enjoy life.
I have just found that speaking from experience, when family members have gone keto or friends have gone keto, it's like you can't really do anything without them being like, Oh, I can't have that, oh I can't have this. And it's like, What is sustainable long term? Is this something that you can sustain in six months? Maybe is something you can sustain in a year? Likely not. Is this something that you can sustain in three years or five years? No. A lot of times people fall off the bandwagon within six months to a year and let alone, you know, trying to stay on this 3 to 5 years. Just think about what happens when you have celebrations in your life. It's an anniversary. It's a birthday. It's you're celebrating something big in your life when you don't have the opportunity to be able to just go and eat the dining food without fear of it messing something up. That's no way to live.
And I personally would rather eat in a way that allows me to both enjoy myself and not face all the health issues and be able to eat all my favorite foods. So if that if you're kind of in the same boat as me, I'm guessing that keto is not going to work for you. And and that's all I'm going to say about that. Again, I just believe that it's not sustainable long term and there's too many risks to it just to lose a few pounds when there's another way, which I'll talk about later in this episode.
Number two, intermittent fasting. Okay, just like the keto diet, intermittent fasting has become all the rage in the last few years. But again, just like the keto diet, it is less than optimal for women. So first of all, it can have a similar effect on your hormones then like to the keto diet. So if you're following the six eight protocol, which is fasting for 16 hours a day and then having an eight hour window where you're eating, this is too long of a time for women to fast without causing other issues inside your body long term. Right. It's just the fact that 16 hours is too long and our bodies, women's bodies are designed to be able to be eating more regularly than not eating anything for 16 hours and only having a short eating window.
And this means that intermittent fasting can impair your glucose response, which leads to less estrogen, which can cause potential issues such as infertility and absence of your menstrual cycle as well. And you know what that means? It means that it can cause your body to store fat instead of burning it due to stress responses. Right. Which is increased cortisol level.
So all we know is that it can genuinely lead to an overall increase in body weight and a decrease in lean muscle mass. But weight isn't the purpose of intermittent fasting to lose weight and now we're gaining it? Well, there's a lot of factors that kind of play into why intermittent fasting can decrease your metabolism. But let me give it kind of give you some context. So prolonged periods of fasting can actually lead to an increase in the stress hormone called cortisol. So high levels of cortisol can translate to a slower metabolism.
So why else is intermittent fasting less than ideal for women? Well, intermittent fasting can also trigger disordered eating in women, especially if you have a history of disordered eating. So, for example, someone who has a tendency to eat as little as possible, intermittent fasting is a good cover to cover up for this unhealthy eating pattern. I have found that it can also really cause people to fall into this toxic cycle of, you know, not eating anything, fasting and then going crazy and binge eating or other unhealthy eating behaviors. Right. If you don't eat for 6 hours and then you only have this eight hour window, it can do a lot in terms of a lot of damage, in terms of your mindset. That's just what I have found, especially if you do have a history or an unhealthy relationship with food. Maybe you've had that in the past and you've just you've had those cycles in the past where you have told yourself, I'm not going to eat all day and I'm just I'm going to try and eat as little as possible.
This mindset where you only have an allotted period of time and especially the six eight window can be really, really difficult for that. Another reason that might be interesting to my movement with Julie users in particular is that fasting for an extended period of time can actually lead to a decrease in energy levels, which could negatively impact your workouts, right? Compromised workouts just means less load put on the body, which means less muscle put in the long like put in in the long run. And less muscle means that you are going to struggle with your body composition and build the body that you want.
So you can kind of see how this is a ripple effect right there. There is many different factors that can cause unhealthy behaviors when it comes to this intermittent fasting in particular. With that being said, many leading experts in nutrition, health and physical performance recommend that women do no longer than a 12 hour fast. So if you do want to do intermittent fasting, try to go no longer than a 12 hour fast, which is 12 hours of fasting and 12 hours of an eating went up window, which many women and many of us do naturally like. It's not even something that we really think like. We stop eating at eight, we start eating at seven or eight or nine in the morning. Like it's just it's a natural thing. And so that's the one thing that I would recommend.
And again, this is speaking to women in particular who are just trying to do these things because they think that it's going to lose weight. I have another alternative which I will talk to you about at the end of this podcast.
But let me go on to the third diet that I want to address in this podcast, which is vegan diets. Okay. Obviously this is the only context that I want to talk about going vegan as a tool for weight loss and nothing else.
I talked about earlier. Like if this is an ethical thing or if this is something that your doctor has prescribed to you, please do not listen to what I'm saying. This is only for those who are saying, Well, maybe if I go vegan, then I can lose weight. And you're doing it strictly for that.
While a well-planned vegan diet can be, it can be great for women. There are some potential negative effects that might impact women's hormones. So a vegan diet may be low in certain essential nutrients that are important for hormonal balance, such as iron, zinc, vitamin B12, omega-three fatty acids. Right. These nutrients are crucial for having a healthy menstrual cycle, and deficiencies might lead to irregular periods and other hormonal imbalances.
So a vegan diet might also be lower in foods that contain estrogen, primarily dairy products, which can lower your overall intake of estrogen. And when we are consuming lower amounts of estrogen, that's when you can actually develop a deficiency which can in turn lead to irregular periods. Fertility issues and other symptoms of hormonal imbalances. And vegan diets are also often higher in phytoestrogens, which are a plant based compound that have estrogen like effects in body, which is essentially just fake estrogen. But in an excess of these phyto estrogens can also lead to hormonal imbalances as well.
So there's kind of like I just mentioned a lot there and a lot of it just leads to hormonal imbalances. Another concern of a vegan diet is low levels of iodine. Now, this is especially important because iodine is essential for thyroid function. A deficiency of iodine can really lead. It could lead to hypothyroidism, which is a condition in which the thyroid gland is not producing enough. Thyroid hormones and hypothyroidism can lead to irregular periods, weight gain and other hormonal imbalances.
So as I said before, already so many women have thyroid issues and kind of adding this into the mix, you might just be fueling the fire. So I kind of shared all of that. And like I said, I have seen women be successful on a vegan diet. It just takes a little bit extra in terms of making sure that you're supplementing things that you're not getting from food.
So if you do go into a vegan diet and you are doing this for ethical purposes, you're doing this for other maybe medical reasons, Please, please, please consult with your medical professional practitioner and also just make sure that you're really prioritizing getting those vitamins and minerals that you might not be getting through the vegan diet.
So you probably heard just all those three things, right? I talked about the keto diet, I talked about the intermittent fasting diet, I talked about the vegan diet. You might be saying, okay, so if I want to build the body that I want and I don't want to have the side effects from these three diets, what should I do?
You guys know if you've tuned in this podcast, I am going to say something that I talk about all the time. It's macro counting. I do not believe and I will say this on the record, macro counting is not a diet. It is not a diet because macro counting looks different to every single person. The amount of calories that you. You're eating the types of foods that you're eating. There is so much freedom and flexibility in macro counting. Essentially, just think of macro counting as the proper amount that your specific body needs in order to see results.
So as women, we're very sensitive to severe caloric deficits long term. And all of these diets or many of these diets can put you in a caloric deficit and or not getting all of the proper protein, carbs and fats that each specific macronutrient does in like that. Each specific macronutrient has a different function in your body in order to properly fuel it. Right. Macro counting essentially ensures that your body is getting enough nutrients and that it never deprives your body of what you need.
And so this is literally just holding you accountable to fueling your body enough with what your body needs in the proper proportions of carbs, fats and protein daily so that you can build muscle so that you can change your body composition.
So let me just kind of break down like the three different diets that we just talk to you and why I think it could be difficult for you to properly fill your body with those three different diets in particular, and why macro counting itself can be so much more helpful because it's not really putting an emphasis on any sort of diet. It's just properly fueling your body through a 24 hour period.
So intermittent fasting, since you have such a small window to eat, it can make it super difficult to reach your protein goal, right? Since protein is so filling, it can be hard to eat a lot at once. Like I personally typically can only eat 40 to 45 grams of protein in a meal. And if I'm doing that, like it's a lot to be doing that for all my meals. And so that's why I personally have three meals and then I typically have 2 to 3 snacks. It just kind of depends. And I know that my 2 to 3 snacks are going to make up at least 30 ish percent, 30 to 35% of my protein spread between those three snacks, leaving, you know, the remainder 70% coming from three meals.
But think about if you're doing intermittent fasting, right, you're doing two meals a day. You're trying to hit 140 grams of protein per day. That's 70 grams of protein. And if you have like an eating window of only 8 hours, some people I've seen even do six hour eating windows. I'm like, that means that you're eating seven grams of protein like every couple hours. You know, it's just a lot. It's a lot. And then on top of that, you're also trying to reach your carbohydrate goal and you're also trying to meet reach your fat goal, like it's just a lot of food in a short period of time. And I just think that personally, it's not realistic for me. I have found that it's not realistic for a lot of women that I've worked with.
And also on a vegan diet, it can be extremely difficult to hit your protein goal. So I tell people, if you do want to count macros and begin, that's fine. Just know that it's going to take a little bit more work in terms of hitting your protein goal. And your protein well can be less if you are vegan, but you still are definitely going to want to at least have 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight. And that can be hard when you're a vegan because vegan foods tend to be a little bit less and protein higher in carbs and fat. So keep that in mind.
And then when it comes to the keto diet, like eating too much protein according to some of the keto experts can spike blood sugar levels and it's not recommended to eat the amount your body needs to build muscle and it to be effective. Like there's just so much conflicting information. And with the keto diet you're eating such high fat that you're eating a lot like a lot of people eat a lot of cheese, like a lot of dairy products, a lot of and those are not bad, you know, no food is inherently good or bad, but it's just that when you're on these extreme diets for the sole purpose of weight loss, it's just not sustainable.
You're likely going to cut entire food groups out and it can require you to have this laundry list of off limit foods which can and will likely lead you to develop this kind of good food, bad food mentality that, in my opinion, is just only going to fuel and further fuel an unhealthy relationship with the food. If you've had that previously or if you've never had that, then it could start that. It could start that toxic mindset where you're like, Oh, I can't have that food. That food's going to make me fat, or that food's off limits. And like, what do we want when someone tells us we can't have it? We want that one thing, right? When your parents tell, you know, don't touch that stove, it's her as a kid, the only thing that you wanted to do was touch that stove. Because you wanted to really test the waters and say, is it really hot? Like our mindset wants to go there are just kind of the rebel inside of us, wants to be like, You tell me that I can't do this, okay? I'm going to eventually I'm going to cave, I'm going to want to do it.
And the reason that I am such a big advocate of macro counting is that you can genuinely eat when you want what you want. And the only thing that you're monitoring is how much. And you're doing that with this mindset of I want to make sure that I'm fueling my body enough so that I can see the results that I'm looking for and also know that I'm properly fueling my body, my hormones, all the different parts and the moving functions in our body. And I have just found that when people go at properly fueling their body and utilize the tool of macro counting in a way that helps them, that gives them energy, that allows them to have a better relationship with food, it's sustainable long term. They don't no longer feel like, Oh my gosh, I'm so scared to go on vacation because they know that when they're on vacation, two things.
Number one, they know that consistent, imperfect action over time leads to results. So you don't have to be perfect. And number two, you know what it feels like to be properly fueled. And when you have that feeling and, you know, wow, I have so much energy, wow. I'm actually seeing results for the hard work that I'm putting in in terms of my workouts. It's motivating and you know that there is a better way to live, that you're not living restricted, you're eating the foods that you want in moderation, and you're just overall a more balanced individual on this journey towards reaching your health and fitness goals. So all in all, we really don't need to make things more complicated than they need to be. At the end of the day, it really comes down to two things. Number one, eating the proper amount of food that your body needs and not constantly depriving it or constantly overeating. And number two, be consistent. This doesn't have to be perfect, but you need to be consistent.
It's number two that many of us can't do. And we think that what we're doing is not working. We tell ourselves we're consistent when in reality we really aren't being consistent. If we're eating enough protein, carbs and fats daily, consistently, consistently, we don't need any of these fancy diets that forces to cut out food groups or our favorite foods to see results. Like, we don't need any of that. We just need to stop making things more complicated and just be consistent. Be honest with yourself. Ask yourself my eating enough protein and I truly eating enough carbs. Am I truly eating enough? That's am I doing that consistently?
Again, Doesn't have to be perfect, but you do need to be honest and you do need to be consistent with it. So if you are tired of cutting out food groups, if you're tired of having so many off limit foods, not being able to eat what you want, not being able to eat when you want, but you actually want to see a change in your body composition. I've got a program for you. It's called the macro counting Made Simple Online Academy. It literally breaks down in the most simple terms how to start properly fueling your body. And just like anything, anything that we do, it's going to take a little bit of time for you to be like, okay, how do I do this? If you've never really looked at contents of food, it's you're going to initially be like, Oh my gosh, this is so overwhelming. But the more that you practice it, I'm telling you, you just really dive in with both feet for a day or two days and take an hour to really learn the fundamentals of macro counting and learn how to properly feel your body and what to look for in terms of contents on food. It's you're going to be fine. It's going to be easy. It's going to become natural. And the best part about it is that you'll actually start to see, oh my gosh, I can eat pasta, I can eat pizza, I can have ice cream, all of these foods in moderation. And you learn to develop the muscle of moderation and you learn to develop the muscle of balance. And that will serve you long term.
Because when you're on vacation, when you're celebrating the anniversary, when you're celebrating the birthday, you're able to eat the cake, to eat the ice cream, to have the margarita, whatever it is in moderation, and know that it's not going to derail you from your progress, as so long as you stay consistent. Not perfect, but consistent. Those results over time will compound and you will start seeing results.
So if you want to learn about how to start properly feeling your body, I do have a program again macro counting made simple dot com. I will link it in the show notes below. I hope that this was helpful for you again. I hope that you hear my heart on this and know that I'm not directly attacking you if you're doing the keto diet for health specific reasons that your medical practitioner or your medical doctor has directed you to. Don't listen to me. I'm not your doctor. But if you are just kind of dabbling into this because you thought that that was the best way to lose weight and then you're just not enjoying it. You're not seeing results. Just know that there's a better way. Same goes for intermittent fasting. Same goes for vegan. Just know that there is an alternate way to properly fuel your body, and that's utilizing the tool of macro counting so that you can eat enough to see results for the hard work that you're putting in.
If you have a friend, a coworker or someone in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this specific episode, I just ask that you share that with them. You can copy the link and send it to them in a text message. You can also screenshot this, post it up on your Instagram story. I love connecting with you guys. I love seeing your aha! Moments. You can do that. We have an embrace your real account. I also have a personal account. Julie A Ledbetter. I love you so damn much. I mean it. And I'll talk to you on the next one.
All right, sister. That's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you're not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. Julie, a lot better. Yes. It's with an eye in the middle for that daily post workout real talk, Healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world. And I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it.