A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on the structural differences between men and women. This week, we’ll talk about the key biochemical differences between men and women, and how they affect training. Sit down, close all the tabs on your browser, and pay attention to this article. If you’re a guy, and it doesn’t apply to you, I’m sure you’ve heard of these creatures called “women.” You might have seen them on television. You might even know one or two. If you do, I’m sure they’ll appreciate you sending them this article.
Here, you will learn:
- How iron, B12 and folic acid deficiency affect both endurance, and the ability to lose fat
- How the different phases of the menstrual cycle affect performance (and yeah, we’ll be talking about PMS: premenstrual syndrome. Or pre-murder syndrome).
- What are the effects of the birth control pill?
- Where does menopause come into the picture, and how does it affect your weight?
- How damn complicated women are!
Original source: here.
Ready? Tabs on the browser all closed? Let’s go.
How Iron, B12 and Folic Acid Deficiency Affect Both Endurance, and the Ability to Lose Fat
Two of the most common reasons that our clients come to see us are fat loss, and more energy. With low iron, B12, and folic acid, it’s hard to do either. Why? Because iron is a component of a protein called “hemoglobin.” What hemoglobin does is it carries oxygen around in the blood. So iron is like the “taxi” for oxygen. No taxi, no oxygen.
And what does your body need to make energy? Oxygen. If your oxygen levels are lower (due to low iron), you won’t have much energy.
Both vitamin B12 and folic acid are needed to make red blood cells (which have oxygen in them). No B12 and/or folic acid, no red blood cells.
What about fat loss? The technical term for fat burning is “fat oxidation.” What’s the root of “oxidation”? You guessed it: oxygen. No iron, B12 and/or folate, no oxygen. No oxygen, no oxidation (fat burning). No fat burning, no skinny jeans, no size 4, 2 or 0 clothes, no confidence. Not good. (I wonder if any professional writers are reading this article… they must be groaning at all the bad grammar in this last paragraph haha).
In other words, you could be eating a great diet, and exercising with the perfect exercise program. But in the presence of low iron, good luck losing body fat.
Case in point, I had a client who didn’t know she had low iron. For 4 months, no matter what we did, her weight wouldn’t move. Not a pound. I kept asking her to get her blood work, but she kept putting it off. Once I finally took a look at her blood chemistry, I saw all kinds of indicators of low iron. So we got her to start supplementing with iron, and miraculously, her weight started dropping, at a rate of 1 pound per week, like clockwork, with no other changes to her exercise or nutrition.
That’s why nowadays, when we work with clients, we’re much more thorough. With some (not all) clients, we request they ask their doctor to run 48 different blood tests to help us figure out what’s going on in their body. Because as you see, you can have great nutrition and exercise, but still have a hard time losing body fat. If that’s you, and you need help that’s more customized than what’s in this article, you can see if you qualify to get our help by filling out this quick, 2-minute questionnaire.
So what causes low iron, B12 and folic acid? A number of factors.
Factor #1: Insufficient Intake
This is usually the case for people who are vegetarians or vegans. Iron and B12 are found in primarily animal products. Yes, iron can also be found in some plant products. However, there are 2 forms of iron: heme iron, and non-heme iron. Heme iron is the kind found in animal products, and it has a high absorption (about 23%). Non-heme iron has a much lower absorption, of only 2-8%. So it’s harder to get sufficient iron from vegetable sources. So have a damn chicken.
Factor #2: Poor Absorption
So you’re not a vegetarian or a vegan. You’re getting your iron and B12 from your delicious meat. But your tests still show low iron/B12. Why would that be?
It could be that you have poor absorption of iron. If you have any digestive symptoms, this is a distinct possibility. Fix your digestive system, fix your iron/B12 deficiency.
Factor #3: Excessive Losses
Menstruating women lose blood every month. The more blood you lose, the more iron you lose. You lose about 1 mg of iron for every 60 ml of blood. And you need about 13-15 mg of iron per day (only about 5 mg for men).
Women who exercise need even more iron than that. And women who are runners need even more iron than that (for that matter, men who are runners also need more iron). Why? Because you can mechanically destroy red blood cells. Your feet have blood vessels. And each time your foot hits the ground, red blood cells get “squished” between the ground and the bone.
Factor #4: You’re Blocking Your Iron
So you’ve ruled out the first 3 factors. You’re not a vegan or vegetarian. You don’t have any digestive issues, and you don’t bleed that heavily. Why might you still have low iron? High coffee or tea consumption.
Coffee and tea contain a natural chemical called “tannic acid”, which blocks the absorption of iron. Simply binds to iron and makes it unavailable for use by the body. Switching to decaf doesn’t help either. It’s not the caffeine in coffee and tea that inhibits iron absorption. Again, it’s tannic acid.
How the Different Phases of the Menstrual Cycle Affect Performance
There are two phases to the menstrual cycle: the follicular phase, and the luteal phase. The follicular phase is dominated by estrogen, and the luteal phase is dominated by progesterone. So for the rest of the article, to keep it simple, I’m going to refer to the phases as simply the “estrogen-dominant” phase and the “progesterone-dominant” phase.
A few interesting things happens during the progesterone dominant phase:
- There is water retention. You might feel bloated during this time. As a result of water retention, you might be a bit heavier, and that will affect your endurance performance (negatively, of course).
- Another reason why endurance may not be so great during this part of your cycle is that your body temperature is higher, so you’re not able to cool yourself off as effectively.
- Your joints are looser, making you more prone to injury. Progesterone is the hormone of progestation (pregnancy). For successful pregnancy, your joints need to be loose. But even if you don’t get pregnant, the progesterone is there, and the joints are loose anyway. This is not the time of the month for intensive stretching, or seriously heavy weight training.
- This is also the phase where you’re most prone to chocolate cravings. Give in only a little bit.
As for the estrogen-dominant phase:
- You’re stronger. You can lift heavier.
- You’re more carb tolerant. So have a few extra carbs than usual. That’s just a few. Don’t go to the buffet.
The day that you ovulate, you’ll have the maximal amount of strength. This would be a good day for a particularly tough workout.
PMS: Pre-Menstrual Syndrome. Or Pre-Murder Syndrome?
PMS is the appearance of certain symptoms within about 4 days before menstruation (“getting your period”), and the disappearance of those symptoms within about 4 days after menstruation.
What are those symptoms? They include:
- Moodiness
- Bloating/water retention
- Back pain
- Headaches
- Craving for sweets
- Depression
- Forgetfulness
- Insomnia
- Skin changes (might get oily)
Man, I’m glad I’m a guy.
But rather than rubbing your nose in it, and describing how bad PMS is (I’m sure you already know), how do we fix it?
Cleaning up your nutrition is good, but adding certain supplements can go a long way. The most effective ones we use with our clients are:
- B complex. Especially one with at least 50 mg of B6 (100 mg might be better).
- Magnesium
- Zinc
The reason these supplements work is because it seems that in women who suffer from PMS (compared to women who don’t), they have a hard time processing a specific type of fat called “linoleic acid.” Vitamins B3, B6, magnesium and zinc help you process it.
The Birth Control Pill
The birth control pill is frequently used for things besides birth control. Like:
- The ability to regulate your cycle
- Prevent PMS
There are many different types of birth control pills. The ones from the “old days” would make women gain a lot of weight. Twenty to forty pounds was normal. Nowadays, some of them have no effect on weight, and some of them make women gain 5-6 pounds.
It seems that the pill reduces endurance a little bit, and not in all those who take it.
Because the birth control pill manipulates the natural hormones, those natural fluctuations in strength and endurance that I talked about in the previous section, disappear. So no longer do you have the same differences between the estrogen-dominant and the progesterone-dominant phases.
The Effects of Menopause
As if the woman’s body wasn’t complicated enough to begin with, it gets even more complex with menopause.
Oh, you think to yourself “no periods, so my hormones no longer fluctuate on a monthly basis.” And you’re correct. But once menopause hits, women can take one of twelve different profiles, depending on their estrogen, progesterone and testosterone levels. It used to be assumed that menopause is nothing more than estrogen deficiency. And so the treatment used to be estrogen replacement therapy. Forget hormonal testing. No need for testing. Menopause IS estrogen deficiency. Oh, how wrong people were. As I mentioned, there are 12 different profiles for menopause.
For example, one woman might have low estrogen, low progesterone, and high testosterone. Another woman might have high estrogen (yes, high estrogen), high testosterone and low progesterone. And yet a third woman can have low estrogen, high progesterone, and high testosterone.
Yeah, there’s 12 variations of this!!! Crazy, I know.
Because of the diversity of women’s menopause experience, it wouldn’t be prudent to make a one-size-fits all recommendation on exercise, nutrition and supplementation, but if you want to be assessed, and figure out exactly what’s going on in your body, you can fill out this quick, 2-minute questionnaire to see if you qualify.
