Does cardio make your body hold on to fat by increasing cortisol? You need to hear this, especially women over 40!
Plus, is there truth behind the influencers, trainers, and macro coaches who say they lose fat from eating MORE?
I'm breaking it all down today and if you find it helpful, please subscribe and share!
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Kindal Boyle has been a personal trainer for nearly 20 years focusing on women's strength and fitness. She'll teach you how to combine strength training and cardio for a hybrid approach to build the fittest body and life no matter where you are in your fitness journey.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) What's up, guys?
Welcome to a brand new episode of the
Fit Women's Weekly Podcast.
I'm excited today because I am starting a
segment called Really Crappy Advice from Fitness Professionals
and Fitness Influencers.
And we're going to start off with the
two worst pieces of advice that I personally
see on a regular basis.
And I'm going to guess that if I
see it, you do too.
(00:21):
So the first one was actually inspired from
an email that I got from a personal
trainer who I am subscribed to.
And the email is very short and sweet.
I'm going to read it out loud to
you.
So it says, excessive cardio is never a
good thing without proper nutritional support.
But as we age, our bodies take a
harder hit from cardio.
This increases our cortisol production, which causes us
to hold onto more body fat stores, actively
(00:43):
working against our efforts to get toned.
So what is this saying?
It is saying, oh my gosh, if you
are a woman 40 and over, because that's
what this personal trainer focuses on, you better
watch out and stop doing cardio because it's
just going to make you fatter and more
unhealthy in the long run.
And obviously that is not what we want.
(01:04):
Is this true?
And why are they saying that?
And this has been a really big thing.
I feel like maybe it's just me and
my age where I'm seeing a lot of
hormonal health, a lot of balance, your hormone
influencers out in the world, a lot of
personal trainers that are focusing in on that.
And I do too, but I want to
try to come at it from a different
(01:24):
side.
I want to try to come at it
from the science side of what's actually real.
So first off, is this true?
So we all know that cortisol is the
stress hormone.
When your body is undergoing a lot of
stress, whether it's internal or external, it produces
cortisol to try to come back to center,
balance yourself back out.
(01:45):
And the truth is, yes, cardio does increase
your cortisol levels.
However, all exercise does.
Anytime that you are pushing your body outside
of its standard place, right?
Whether you're increasing your heart rate or moving
your muscles at a really hard effort, that
is going to a state of stress where
your cortisol levels are going to rise.
(02:06):
However, it is a short term thing because
that's what your body is naturally supposed to
do.
So yes, your levels will rise, but guess
what?
They're going to come right back down.
The other thing is that exercise is not
the only thing that makes your cortisol levels
rise.
This is a natural thing that happens.
It's a cyclic activity throughout your body, throughout
the day.
When you wake up, your cortisol levels go
very high.
(02:27):
And then as you wake up and go
through the day, they tend to level out,
depending on your recovery and the things that
you do in your daily life, right?
So does this mean that because your cortisol
levels are rising during cardio, that it's making
it harder for you to lose weight or
burn body fat?
Absolutely not.
(02:48):
Absolutely freaking not.
The only way that cortisol levels are going
to go to such a level that it's
going to affect your fat burning potential is
if you're in a chronic state of increased
cortisol levels.
Meaning you're in a chronic state of fatigue,
a chronic state of stress.
And the chances of that from actually coming
from your exercise, for most of us, I'm
(03:10):
not going to say for all of us,
but for most of us, that is very
slim.
You're going to have to go into an
excessive exercise habit where you are doing cardio
every day for a long, about 60, 90
minutes longer every single day.
And most of us aren't doing that.
Most of us have a hard time just
fitting in the exercise that we are required
or not necessarily required, but suggested that we
(03:32):
do just anyways, right?
Consistency is the number one issue for women.
So this idea that you're doing too much,
it's pretty freaking slim to know not only
that, I do want to stress the fact
that cardio is actually extremely important for hormonal
balance, especially as we're getting older, right?
Not only is it helping us to maintain
(03:53):
a healthy body weight, but it's helping with
our heart health.
It's helping to decrease other chronic diseases like
diabetes, like cancer.
It's helping to improve our metabolic health.
It's helping to keep our body in a
healthy state just all together.
It's helping us sleep better.
It's literally helping us decrease stress in the
(04:14):
long run.
We all know that for a lot of
us with mental issues such as anxiety and
depression, that what's one of the best things
that you can do for it?
Exercise.
And so if you're hoping the anxiety, which
is a stressor on your body, you're not
increasing your cortisol levels to excessive amounts.
You're decreasing your levels of cortisol, right?
(04:35):
And so I want you to keep that
in mind.
So if you see a personal trainer that
is trying to push on you, careful, don't
do cardio.
It's going to make your hormones become imbalanced,
which is false.
It actually helps to balance them.
It's going to increase your fat storage.
No, it's actually going to help you maintain
your body composition and help your body composition.
If you are in a caloric deficit, what
(04:57):
things you need to be looking on at
are your lifestyle decisions, which are going to
play a much larger role in the stressors
in your life and how your overall cortisol
levels look in terms of chronic fatigue and
chronic stress.
Does that make sense?
So what are some things that you can
do to make sure that you're not going
to an unhealthy place with your stress levels?
(05:18):
Well, obviously we know getting enough sleep, having
a healthy diet that is fueled around proper
protein, proper carbohydrates, proper fat.
And that isn't so much as a you
want to make sure that you're not eating
a lot of fake processed foods that you're
getting most of your diet from all natural
foods.
(05:38):
That's obviously going to fuel your body the
best, making sure that you are hydrated, making
sure that you are taking your care of
yourself.
You're taking time to rest or journal or
whatever the case may be things that you
do for you that make you feel good.
So why is it that trainers are pushing
this in the first place?
I think that there's two reasons.
One, it's kind of fear mongering a little
(05:59):
bit where you go, oh my gosh.
Well, I don't want to increase my cortisol
levels.
I don't want to add body fat.
This trainer must know what she's talking about.
So I'm going to join her program.
I think the other tidbit is they're giving
you what you are not necessarily you, but
what a lot of people want to hear
versus need to hear when you say, oh,
(06:20):
you shouldn't be doing cardio.
A lot of people go, well, thank God,
I hate cardio.
I don't want to sweat.
I don't have time for it.
This person is telling me that I don't
need to do it.
That makes it easier for my fitness, right?
So I'm going to follow their programming.
So I think it's those two things that
go hand in hand.
I, for one, am trying to bridge that
(06:41):
gap between where, yes, I want to give
you what you want, but I also want
to give you what you need.
So I'm never going to prescribe false, a
false narrative to try to scare you and
to do one thing or sugar coat stuff.
When you want to change your body composition,
or if you want to just be the
healthiest that you want to be in terms
of your fitness and your nutrition, it takes
(07:02):
consistently showing up and it means consistently showing
up with cardio health and with your strength
training, your flexibility, your mobility, all of those
different elements.
And yes, that does take a commitment from
one week to the next, one month to
the next, year after year.
I get out there and I do a
structured cardio workout at least three times a
(07:24):
week, and I've been doing this for 20
years.
Do I have an excessive amount of belly
fat because of that?
Absolutely not.
So that's bad.
Take number one, the trainers out there that
say that cardio is bad for you.
Please don't listen to them.
And then bad take number two is this
narrative of, Oh my gosh, I'm eating more
(07:44):
food than I ever have.
And I'm losing body fat.
So what are they saying?
First off, again, it comes to that narrative
of what you want to hear.
You can eat more and actually lose weight.
So what they're saying is they're just twisting
the words around a little bit.
This is like marketing one-on-one, right?
Where people, professional, like fitness professionals or fitness
(08:07):
influencers, not necessarily professionals, but they are eating
more in terms of density, perhaps where they're
going to start eating more whole foods versus
processed foods.
And so on their plate, it does look
like there's more food because think about like
500 calories worth of salad versus 500 calories
of pizza.
Those plates are going to look extremely different.
(08:29):
There's going to be more food on your
plate for that salad, but that's just called
food density versus I'm eating more, I'm eating
less.
They're still eating the same amount of calories.
It's just designed in a different way.
And so yeah, the people that are eating
500 calories of salad, which is full of
fiber, they're typically going to load it up
with some sort of protein, whether it's chicken
or fish or steak, whatever the case may
(08:51):
be.
So then they're also getting a good dose
of protein on top of that.
They're going to feel fuller faster.
So they might end up eating actually a
little bit less and in return, they're going
to burn body fat and lose weight that
way, but they're not losing weight because they're
eating more that goes against everything with physics,
(09:11):
the law of thermodynamics is if that you
have to be in an imbalance, you have
to burn more calories than what you are
taking in, which means you have to be
in a caloric deficit in order to lose
weight.
So there's no way you can literally be
eating more food than what you should be
eating past your baseline of your metabolism and
(09:32):
lose weight.
It's just not possible, but you can lose
weight from eating more higher dense foods that
in return have fewer calories and are also
more filling with fiber and protein and healthy
fats that will satisfy you from one meal
to the next more so than if you
are eating more of a processed foods, which
typically are more filled with carbohydrates.
(09:55):
So think like pizza, for example, or pasta,
you might have 500 calories worth of pasta
and that'll fill you up in the time
being.
But because that is broken down so quickly,
carbohydrates actually start to break down in your
mouth versus the digestive tract of like your
intestines, like fats or proteins, stomach, it takes
longer to burn those things down, which means
(10:15):
those things keep you fuller longer than pure
carbohydrate.
And that means that you are going to
be hungrier sooner, leading you to eat a
little bit more.
So again, bad take, they're not being fully
transparent.
And so on this podcast podcast, I always
want to be transparent with you guys.
So those are my bad takes for the
week.
(10:36):
Number one, cardio is making you fat.
No, it is not.
Please do your cardio, y'all.
It is going to make you more of
a well-rounded, healthier person.
It's going to protect you from chronic disease.
It's going to help with your metabolic health
as you get older.
It's going to help with your bone health
is also going to help you be able
to maintain your independence longer.
(10:58):
And of course, it's also going to make
you stronger when it comes to your other
forms of exercise, like a deadlift or like
strength training, for example, where you ever deadlifted
for 10 reps.
You put that weight down and you feel
like you ran a mile.
Well, no, that's not actually cardio, but it
is a sign that your cardio is not
where it should be so that you can
do those kind of large sets without being
(11:19):
like, oh, my God, I need 10 minutes
to rest because I just ran a mile
when, in fact, you just did 10 reps
of something.
Right.
So things to think about.
And then the second bad take is that
you are going to lose weight from eating
more.
No, you're going to lose weight from being
a caloric deficit.
It's just the way that you are in
that deficit, the different types of foods that
you eat that will help you.
And so, yes, you might look at your
(11:40):
plate and there's more food on there, but
it's still the same amount of calories or
less.
It's just different types of foods.
So hopefully you guys found this helpful.
It kept me up last night because I
was just reeling off of this email that
I got when I was like, how is
this person so popular?
But they are showing such crappy advice in
(12:00):
order to grow their platform.
I'm just going to give it to you
real.
I'm going to be real with you guys.
I'm going to give you the tough love.
If that hurts me, it means that I'm
not going to get the hundreds of thousands
of followers on Instagram or on YouTube or
whatever platform, then so be it.
But I'd rather be real and honest with
you guys, then give you just what you
want to hear.
(12:21):
I want to give you what you need
to hear to get the results for your
life in the long run.
So if you enjoyed that, let me know.
Join the conversation.
Feel free to DM me or email me
kindle at film weekly dot com.
And of course, like I mentioned before, if
you haven't already, please do me a favor.
Subscribe to the channel, whatever platform it is
that you're listening to.
(12:42):
And if you have friends and family that
are also interested in bettering their self and
learning how fitness truly fits into their life
easier, then share this episode with them.
All right, guys.
Thank you so much for hanging out with
me.
Talk to you soon.
Bye.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) What's up, guys?
Welcome to a brand new episode of the
Fit Women's Weekly Podcast.
I'm excited today because I am starting a
segment called Really Crappy Advice from Fitness Professionals
and Fitness Influencers.
And we're going to start off with the
two worst pieces of advice that I personally
see on a regular basis.
And I'm going to guess that if I
see it, you do too.
(00:21):
So the first one was actually inspired from
an email that I got from a personal
trainer who I am subscribed to.
And the email is very short and sweet.
I'm going to read it out loud to
you.
So it says, excessive cardio is never a
good thing without proper nutritional support.
But as we age, our bodies take a
harder hit from cardio.
This increases our cortisol production, which causes us
to hold onto more body fat stores, actively
(00:43):
working against our efforts to get toned.
So what is this saying?
It is saying, oh my gosh, if you
are a woman 40 and over, because that's
what this personal trainer focuses on, you better
watch out and stop doing cardio because it's
just going to make you fatter and more
unhealthy in the long run.
And obviously that is not what we want.
(01:04):
Is this true?
And why are they saying that?
And this has been a really big thing.
I feel like maybe it's just me and
my age where I'm seeing a lot of
hormonal health, a lot of balance, your hormone
influencers out in the world, a lot of
personal trainers that are focusing in on that.
And I do too, but I want to
try to come at it from a different
(01:24):
side.
I want to try to come at it
from the science side of what's actually real.
So first off, is this true?
So we all know that cortisol is the
stress hormone.
When your body is undergoing a lot of
stress, whether it's internal or external, it produces
cortisol to try to come back to center,
balance yourself back out.
(01:45):
And the truth is, yes, cardio does increase
your cortisol levels.
However, all exercise does.
Anytime that you are pushing your body outside
of its standard place, right?
Whether you're increasing your heart rate or moving
your muscles at a really hard effort, that
is going to a state of stress where
your cortisol levels are going to rise.
(02:06):
However, it is a short term thing because
that's what your body is naturally supposed to
do.
So yes, your levels will rise, but guess
what?
They're going to come right back down.
The other thing is that exercise is not
the only thing that makes your cortisol levels
rise.
This is a natural thing that happens.
It's a cyclic activity throughout your body, throughout
the day.
When you wake up, your cortisol levels go
very high.
(02:27):
And then as you wake up and go
through the day, they tend to level out,
depending on your recovery and the things that
you do in your daily life, right?
So does this mean that because your cortisol
levels are rising during cardio, that it's making
it harder for you to lose weight or
burn body fat?
Absolutely not.
(02:48):
Absolutely freaking not.
The only way that cortisol levels are going
to go to such a level that it's
going to affect your fat burning potential is
if you're in a chronic state of increased
cortisol levels.
Meaning you're in a chronic state of fatigue,
a chronic state of stress.
And the chances of that from actually coming
from your exercise, for most of us, I'm
(03:10):
not going to say for all of us,
but for most of us, that is very
slim.
You're going to have to go into an
excessive exercise habit where you are doing cardio
every day for a long, about 60, 90
minutes longer every single day.
And most of us aren't doing that.
Most of us have a hard time just
fitting in the exercise that we are required
or not necessarily required, but suggested that we
(03:32):
do just anyways, right?
Consistency is the number one issue for women.
So this idea that you're doing too much,
it's pretty freaking slim to know not only
that, I do want to stress the fact
that cardio is actually extremely important for hormonal
balance, especially as we're getting older, right?
Not only is it helping us to maintain
(03:53):
a healthy body weight, but it's helping with
our heart health.
It's helping to decrease other chronic diseases like
diabetes, like cancer.
It's helping to improve our metabolic health.
It's helping to keep our body in a
healthy state just all together.
It's helping us sleep better.
It's literally helping us decrease stress in the
(04:14):
long run.
We all know that for a lot of
us with mental issues such as anxiety and
depression, that what's one of the best things
that you can do for it?
Exercise.
And so if you're hoping the anxiety, which
is a stressor on your body, you're not
increasing your cortisol levels to excessive amounts.
You're decreasing your levels of cortisol, right?
(04:35):
And so I want you to keep that
in mind.
So if you see a personal trainer that
is trying to push on you, careful, don't
do cardio.
It's going to make your hormones become imbalanced,
which is false.
It actually helps to balance them.
It's going to increase your fat storage.
No, it's actually going to help you maintain
your body composition and help your body composition.
If you are in a caloric deficit, what
(04:57):
things you need to be looking on at
are your lifestyle decisions, which are going to
play a much larger role in the stressors
in your life and how your overall cortisol
levels look in terms of chronic fatigue and
chronic stress.
Does that make sense?
So what are some things that you can
do to make sure that you're not going
to an unhealthy place with your stress levels?
(05:18):
Well, obviously we know getting enough sleep, having
a healthy diet that is fueled around proper
protein, proper carbohydrates, proper fat.
And that isn't so much as a you
want to make sure that you're not eating
a lot of fake processed foods that you're
getting most of your diet from all natural
foods.
(05:38):
That's obviously going to fuel your body the
best, making sure that you are hydrated, making
sure that you are taking your care of
yourself.
You're taking time to rest or journal or
whatever the case may be things that you
do for you that make you feel good.
So why is it that trainers are pushing
this in the first place?
I think that there's two reasons.
One, it's kind of fear mongering a little
(05:59):
bit where you go, oh my gosh.
Well, I don't want to increase my cortisol
levels.
I don't want to add body fat.
This trainer must know what she's talking about.
So I'm going to join her program.
I think the other tidbit is they're giving
you what you are not necessarily you, but
what a lot of people want to hear
versus need to hear when you say, oh,
(06:20):
you shouldn't be doing cardio.
A lot of people go, well, thank God,
I hate cardio.
I don't want to sweat.
I don't have time for it.
This person is telling me that I don't
need to do it.
That makes it easier for my fitness, right?
So I'm going to follow their programming.
So I think it's those two things that
go hand in hand.
I, for one, am trying to bridge that
(06:41):
gap between where, yes, I want to give
you what you want, but I also want
to give you what you need.
So I'm never going to prescribe false, a
false narrative to try to scare you and
to do one thing or sugar coat stuff.
When you want to change your body composition,
or if you want to just be the
healthiest that you want to be in terms
of your fitness and your nutrition, it takes
(07:02):
consistently showing up and it means consistently showing
up with cardio health and with your strength
training, your flexibility, your mobility, all of those
different elements.
And yes, that does take a commitment from
one week to the next, one month to
the next, year after year.
I get out there and I do a
structured cardio workout at least three times a
(07:24):
week, and I've been doing this for 20
years.
Do I have an excessive amount of belly
fat because of that?
Absolutely not.
So that's bad.
Take number one, the trainers out there that
say that cardio is bad for you.
Please don't listen to them.
And then bad take number two is this
narrative of, Oh my gosh, I'm eating more
(07:44):
food than I ever have.
And I'm losing body fat.
So what are they saying?
First off, again, it comes to that narrative
of what you want to hear.
You can eat more and actually lose weight.
So what they're saying is they're just twisting
the words around a little bit.
This is like marketing one-on-one, right?
Where people, professional, like fitness professionals or fitness
(08:07):
influencers, not necessarily professionals, but they are eating
more in terms of density, perhaps where they're
going to start eating more whole foods versus
processed foods.
And so on their plate, it does look
like there's more food because think about like
500 calories worth of salad versus 500 calories
of pizza.
Those plates are going to look extremely different.
(08:29):
There's going to be more food on your
plate for that salad, but that's just called
food density versus I'm eating more, I'm eating
less.
They're still eating the same amount of calories.
It's just designed in a different way.
And so yeah, the people that are eating
500 calories of salad, which is full of
fiber, they're typically going to load it up
with some sort of protein, whether it's chicken
or fish or steak, whatever the case may
(08:51):
be.
So then they're also getting a good dose
of protein on top of that.
They're going to feel fuller faster.
So they might end up eating actually a
little bit less and in return, they're going
to burn body fat and lose weight that
way, but they're not losing weight because they're
eating more that goes against everything with physics,
(09:11):
the law of thermodynamics is if that you
have to be in an imbalance, you have
to burn more calories than what you are
taking in, which means you have to be
in a caloric deficit in order to lose
weight.
So there's no way you can literally be
eating more food than what you should be
eating past your baseline of your metabolism and
(09:32):
lose weight.
It's just not possible, but you can lose
weight from eating more higher dense foods that
in return have fewer calories and are also
more filling with fiber and protein and healthy
fats that will satisfy you from one meal
to the next more so than if you
are eating more of a processed foods, which
typically are more filled with carbohydrates.
(09:55):
So think like pizza, for example, or pasta,
you might have 500 calories worth of pasta
and that'll fill you up in the time
being.
But because that is broken down so quickly,
carbohydrates actually start to break down in your
mouth versus the digestive tract of like your
intestines, like fats or proteins, stomach, it takes
longer to burn those things down, which means
(10:15):
those things keep you fuller longer than pure
carbohydrate.
And that means that you are going to
be hungrier sooner, leading you to eat a
little bit more.
So again, bad take, they're not being fully
transparent.
And so on this podcast podcast, I always
want to be transparent with you guys.
So those are my bad takes for the
week.
(10:36):
Number one, cardio is making you fat.
No, it is not.
Please do your cardio, y'all.
It is going to make you more of
a well-rounded, healthier person.
It's going to protect you from chronic disease.
It's going to help with your metabolic health
as you get older.
It's going to help with your bone health
is also going to help you be able
to maintain your independence longer.
(10:58):
And of course, it's also going to make
you stronger when it comes to your other
forms of exercise, like a deadlift or like
strength training, for example, where you ever deadlifted
for 10 reps.
You put that weight down and you feel
like you ran a mile.
Well, no, that's not actually cardio, but it
is a sign that your cardio is not
where it should be so that you can
do those kind of large sets without being
(11:19):
like, oh, my God, I need 10 minutes
to rest because I just ran a mile
when, in fact, you just did 10 reps
of something.
Right.
So things to think about.
And then the second bad take is that
you are going to lose weight from eating
more.
No, you're going to lose weight from being
a caloric deficit.
It's just the way that you are in
that deficit, the different types of foods that
you eat that will help you.
And so, yes, you might look at your
(11:40):
plate and there's more food on there, but
it's still the same amount of calories or
less.
It's just different types of foods.
So hopefully you guys found this helpful.
It kept me up last night because I
was just reeling off of this email that
I got when I was like, how is
this person so popular?
But they are showing such crappy advice in
(12:00):
order to grow their platform.
I'm just going to give it to you
real.
I'm going to be real with you guys.
I'm going to give you the tough love.
If that hurts me, it means that I'm
not going to get the hundreds of thousands
of followers on Instagram or on YouTube or
whatever platform, then so be it.
But I'd rather be real and honest with
you guys, then give you just what you
want to hear.
(12:21):
I want to give you what you need
to hear to get the results for your
life in the long run.
So if you enjoyed that, let me know.
Join the conversation.
Feel free to DM me or email me
kindle at film weekly dot com.
And of course, like I mentioned before, if
you haven't already, please do me a favor.
Subscribe to the channel, whatever platform it is
that you're listening to.
(12:42):
And if you have friends and family that
are also interested in bettering their self and
learning how fitness truly fits into their life
easier, then share this episode with them.
All right, guys.
Thank you so much for hanging out with
me.
Talk to you soon.
Bye.
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