How to utilize more fat using using your menstrual cycle

Instead of being a personal trainer who doesn’t know how to help your clients work with their hormones, this blog post is going to show you exactly how you can help your clients lose weight using their menstrual cycle.

If you’re new here, my name is Omega Zumpano, I’m an exercise scientist and menstrual cycle educator and this is a just one of my Menstrual Cycle Coaching Academy students who have been able to help their clients get to their goals faster using their menstrual cycle. This video is going to break down how they did it!

Those of you who’ve been watching my Youtube videos know that I preach periodization, and I would be remiss if I didn’t bring it up here too.If you’re new here, periodizing workouts is the process by which you change variables like frequency, intensity, time and duration. 

I take that a step further to periodize according to the fluctuating hormones because the fluctuating hormones do change our metabolism, muscle recovery & muscle strength.

So let’s break all those factors down and look how hormones impact each one starting with metabolism. 
First things first, metabolism is going to change throughout the menstrual cycle. 2020 study by Benton et. al this study showed that our metabolism spikes in the luteal phase ( making our BMR higher than usual). Also during that time, 2021 study by Willet. Et al.  this study shows that we actually use more fat as a substrate, meaning that at submaximal exercise intensity, we are using more fat for fuel. 

Now I preach this all over the internet, but I’ll say it again. The best type of exercise that we can be doing in the mid to late luteal phase (that 5- 7 day window before our period starts) is low intensity, long duration exercise. Why? Because this is submaximal exercise!!
If you put those two things together - BMR being higher and more calories burned + workouts that take advantage of your fat burning potential, my friend, you are going to use more of your body fat for energy!

If you don’t know already, more muscle means more calories burned. More calories burned results in a higher BMR. And when our BMR is higher, we will naturally be more lean and utilize more fat for energy on a day-to-day basis. But how female bodies build that muscle to increase our BMR to make us more lean can either be efficient or inefficient. We have sweet spots in our monthly cycle for building muscle…and times in our cycle where our hormones get so low, that doing hypertrophy exercises are actually counter intuitive to our goals.
This 2021 study by Romero Parra showed us that we have strength loss and muscle fatigue in the beginning and end of our menstrual cycle. While in the middle of our cycle for a week when estrogen and testosterone are highest, we have greater strength and greater muscle recovery. If you’re wondering what sweet spot is for you, it’s your ovulation time. To get a rough estimate of when that would be, count 14 days from the start of your period. If you want a more in depth explanation of tracking your cycle, I’ll link this video on intuitive cycle tracking. 

So if you want to put in a way that works with your hormones, instead of against them for strength and muscle gains, you can use the middle of your cycle (or the time around ovulation) to do that. So putting this all together, you can create a training program that “keeps your body guessing” by having a built in muscle gaining period and fat utilization period. Again your muscle building period, where you max out and go your hardest is the middle of your cycle. While the fat utilization part of your cycle starts about 7-10 days before your cycle starts. The time in between then (in your actually menstrual phase and the week after that in your follicular phase), you can do maintenance workouts at around 50-70% of your effort.

If you want more scientifically validated ways to get your clients to their goals faster and in a more sustainable way, apply for the Confident Menstrual Cycle Coaching Academy. The application process is simple, all you need to do is click this link to book your application call. On our call, I ask you some application questions and you and I will decide if working together could be a fit for both of us. Apply here.