Really interesting article on female cycles and fat loss

stephanj

I found this really interesting - how the different phases affect your metabolism.

http://blog.metaboliceffect.com/2012/06/20/female-phase-training-training-with-the-menstrual-cycle/

hutchy90

I skimmed over this but it's a little too technical for me! The writer totally lost me . lol Interesting concept though.

squashyhelen

Wow, I just read that article and it's amazing! Definitely deserves a bump. It basically says that due to the difference in hormones generated in our bodies from day 1-14 versus day 14-28 of ovulation, 1) we burn a greater percentage of fat on days 1-14, and 2) crave sugar & fatty foods, but tend to burn a greater percentage of muscle on days 14-28. Thus, longer sessions of cardio, with a certain carb intake is recommended for days 1-14. However, shorter and more intense bursts with lower carb intake is recommended for days 14-28. Fascinating!

JezcaLeean

i am getting a 500- Internal server error when trying to view it.

squashyhelen

Strange... I'm copying and pasting it to here. All credits to the original website, author, etc etc.

Female Phase Training: Training with the menstrual cycle
ME exercise, ME Miscellaneous Health and Fitness, ME Natural Health, ME Nutrition by Jade Teta
Jade Teta

Here at the Metabolic Effect clinic we specialize in hormonal fat loss. We have three integrative and functional medicine doctors who are all medically trained naturopathic physicians. I say medically trained, to distinguish what we do from the many “holistic” health practitioners who call themselves naturopaths without attending medical school and with what amounts to associates degree level education in natural medicine. But, that is an aside. The reason I bring this up is because what we, and others like us, do in the realm of body change is a little different from your standard doctor or nutritionist. This is because we look at hormonal influences over fat gain or loss, not just calories.

Female Phase Training or Menstrual Phase Training is one such protocol we have developed. After getting many questions about this from individuals who listened to a recent Robb Wolf podcast with Brad Davidson where this was mentioned, I decided to share the protocol here in a blog rather than answer the question repeatedly on an individual basis. Another aside, Keoni and myself are members of the Paleo Physicians network started by Robb Wolf, for those interested in integrative medicine from physicians educated in the paleolifestyle, this is a great resource.

So, lets get into this.

What is Female Phase Training?
Female phase training is a way to cycle female conditioning and nutrition in a way that takes advantage of the monthly fluctuation of steroid hormones (estrogen and progesterone) in the normal female menstrual cycle. Estrogen and progesterone impact fat gain and loss through their impact directly and on other hormones.
Before I get started and because I know it is going to come up, this protocol does not work for women on contraceptive therapy as these therapies render the normal female cycle obsolete by giving standard and static doses of hormones throughout the month.

Another caveat regarding this program is to understand what we call the primacy of insulin and cortisol. What that means is that a women with high insulin and/or cortisol levels (i.e. eating a standard American high starch diet) and insulin resistance will not see the pronounced effect of this style of training due to the fact that insulin and cortisol are far greater promoters of fat regulation than either estrogen or progesterone.

So, bottom line this protocol only works in the context of a low carb/insulin lifestyle. High levels of insulin and cortisol essentially “wash out” any of the weaker effects of the female reproductive steroids. So, you will have minimal if any effect from this protocol if you can’t control insulin and cortisol (sorry ).

So, this protocol works with women undergoing normal menstrual cycles who are not taking birth control and who are living relatively low insulin promoting lifestyles. Now, we have certainly had women who don’t fit this bill do this protocol and claim it works. Maybe it has an effect, but our guess is that is because it is also going to correct insulin levels in these women. Our judgement of the effectiveness of this protocol comes form working with lean women who were “stuck” and then got moving again using this approach. For that, it has a very nice track record clinically for us.

So, if you are on birth control or do not follow a lower carb lifestyle and want to try this protocol, by all means do so, but just remember we warned you……. but, do let me know how you fare so we can add to our clinical database. What we have seen in the last 5 years using this protocol is promising for those women who are living the lower carb lifestyle, but have found their fat loss results stalled a bit due to female hormone effects.

Brief review of the menstrual cycle.

The hypothalamus (a part of the brain just above the brain stem) at the beginning of the woman’s cycle secretes ganodatropin releasing hormone (GnRH), this hormone then activates the release of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and leutinizing hormone (LH). These two hormones are involved in ripening the follicle (the place where the egg is held) and then causing the follicle to rupture and release an egg (LH).

There are two distinct phases of the menstrual cycle. The follicular phase is marked by the beginning of menses (day 1 of the cycle) and ends at ovulation (day 14 of the cycle in the textbook case). it is called the follicular phase, because the follicle (which contains the female egg) is maturing during this phase mainly under the influence of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). The proper maturation of this follicle is essential for the release of an egg. Improper maturation usually results in the formation of a cyst and no release of an egg. As the follicle matures, estrogen levels released from the ovaries steadily rise.

The second phase of the cycle is the luteal phase. This phase is marked by ovulation and the subsequent transformation of the follicle into the corpus luteum once the egg is released. This phase is triggered by a large surge in lutenizing hormone which causes the follicle to “pop” and release its egg. The corpus luteum becomes the source of progesterone and the rising levels help change the chemistry of the uterine lining increasing the chances that a fertilized egg can attach and implant itself.
If the egg is not fertilized, the corpus luteum degrades estrogen and progesterone levels both fall and the uterine lining is shed resulting in menses.

What does this have to do with fat loss?

In addition to having reproductive function, estrogen and progesterone have an impact on fuel storage and fuel use. In other words, these two hormones can determine what type of fuel is burned (sugar versus fat). This is mainly because they can mildly influence two primary fuel regulating hormones, insulin and cortisol. And, if you think for a minute, this makes sense. The reproductive capacity of a women and the viability of her offspring depends on the ability to store resources. During the follicular phase the egg is not yet released, but after ovulation the possibility of an egg being fertilized means the body shifts into more of fat storing physiology and becomes more reliant on sugar burning.

So, very simply the follicular phase is a time of relatively better fat burning, while the luteal phase shifts the body into more relative use from sugar versus fat.

Estrogen directly opposes the action of insulin on the major fat storing enzyme LPL essentially making the body less prone to fat storage and more prone to fat release. Estrogen is also anti-cortisol (as is progesterone). This means women may be able to better tolerate a little more starch and burn greater proportions of fat during exercise with less consequences of stress hormone production. This is a great time to focus more on steady state longer duration moderate intensity cardiovascular exercise (since women burn higher proportions of fat at all exercise intensities during this phase).

Progesterone opposes the action of estrogen and may make the body more reactive to starch/sugar (i.e. more insulin resistant). So, based on these metabolic changes women would want to watch their starch/sugar intake during the luteal phase. Progesterone, like estrogen, is anti-cortisol as well. With progesterone relatively higher than estrogen in the luteal phase, the female metabolism becomes more of a “sugar burner”, and more reminiscent of the male physiology with enhanced glycogen storage.

The afterburn of exercise MAY be accentuated in the luteal phase because of this, allowing women to take advantage of this unique aspect of exercise. This is a great opportunity to use higher intensity short duration metabolic conditioning and or interval training.

Protocol Overview

So the female phase training protocol looks like this:
Follicular phase (Days 1-14): 30:40:30 macronutrient intake (carbs:protein:fat). 3 times weekly full body traditional weight training (squat, bench press, back row, shoulder press), 4 sets of 10 using a 8-12 rep max. 5 days per week steady state moderate intensity cardio (40-60 minutes).

Luteal phase (Days 14-28): 20:40:40 or 10:45:45 macronutrient intake (carbs:protein:fat). 4-5 days per week metabolic conditioning (mixed weight & cardio interval training). Daily leisure walking (as much as able)
Repeat next month

Other considerations:

Luteal phase increases both energy intake and energy expenditure in women as well as increases cravings for sweet and fatty foods. The cravings are likely a result of the falling estrogen and progesterone levels premenstrually, both of which have receptors sites in the brain and influence both GABA, serotonin and dopamine. We use unsweet cocoa powder & BCAA supplements mixed in water to deal with this as it will raise neurotransmitters (cocoa raises serotonin and dopamine & BCAA increase GABA). Ironically chocolate, most especially dark chocolate is a proven craving in women at this time. Cocoa powder allows a calorie free, brain chemistry directed treatment specific to this issue in women.

The follicular phase is shown to be a more anabolic time overall allowing women to engage in more cardio based exercise with less chance of losing muscle as well as derive enhanced lean tissue gains from weight training. The luteal phase is more of a catabolic time for muscle tissue making long-duration cardio less beneficial and higher protein diets more prudent. There is some evidence the luteal phase has a greater EPOC and afterburn effect associated with it.

Oral contraceptive pills provide clues as to some of the effects stated above. The progestin only OCPs show a greater tendency toward weight gain in studies. The traditional biphasic OCPs show less of an effect illustrating increased metabolic rate along with increased energy intake. This lends credibility to the estrogen and progesterone effects stated above. HRT in menopausal women indeed seems to result in weight gain, but does seem to spare the belly fat accumulation that can occur in menopausal women (this may be the anti-cortisol impact of estrogen and progesterone).

As stated previously, much of the impact of female reproductive hormones is a mute point if background insulin levels are too high. Their influence seems to be exerted only under low carbohydrate intake and consistent training states.

If you are interested in learning where much of the information for this article comes from, see the references below. Also, understand we have extrapolated from this information and applied in our clinic with very good clinical success using this approach. The current state of research in this area is highly controversial as well as contradictory.

This is largely due to the inability to isolate these effects under the influence of other more powerful hormonal influences. Hormones do not work in isolation and estrogen and progesterone are far down the totem poll in their influence on fat metabolism. Their influence becomes relevant only when these other hormones are controlled.

What we offer here is our interpretation of the information and our experience (research, hormonal lab testing in our clinic, and clinical results using the protocol) and our clinical use of it. This protocol has been refined overtime and will continue to be adjusted as we learn more. We hope it is useful for lean/fit women struggling to lose fat from stereotypical stubborn fat deposits (hips/thighs/butt).

References:
Gretchen, et al. Menstrual cycle phase and oral contraceptive effects on triglyceride mobilization during exercise. J Appl Physiol 2004;97: 302–309.
Davidson, et al. Impact of the menstrual cycle on determinants of energy balance: a putative role in weight loss attempts. International Journal of Obesity. 2007;31:1777–1785
D’eon et al. The Roles of Estrogen and Progesterone in Regulating Carbohydrate and Fat Utilization at Rest and during Exercise. Journal women’s health and gender based medicine 2002;11(3):225-237.
Nakamura et al. Hormonal Responses to Resistance Exercise during Different Menstrual Cycle States. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2011 Jun;43(6):967-73
Oosthuyse & Bosch. The Effect of the Menstrual Cycle on Exercise Metabolism. Sports Medicine. 2010;4(3):207-227.