The problem most women have when it comes to fitness is that they try to “lose weight”. Instead, they need to focus on building a strong and functional body, giving their bodies necessary nutrients, and letting their confidence shine through.
Chelsea Linge Fitness has launched its brand new Portland-based nutrition coaching offering, created specifically for women and non-binary people. In just 6 months, Chelsea's strength coaching work has helped over 30 women use barbell work to increase their strength and confidence. Based primarily out of Ironside Training in SE Portland, several women have already progressed from having no experience with strength training at all, to becoming competitive athletes.
Now, her offering has expanded to include custom nutrition planning, macronutrient tracking, and mindset coaching. Already, her clients have begun to notice improvements in mood, body composition, energy levels, and overall outlook on life.
The problem that most people experience when trying to lose weight, is that they see it as "trying to lose weight" as the end goal from the start. They cut their food intake, under-eat, and give their body less fuel than it needs to get through the day, let alone to perform athletically.
Chelsea's program turns this mentality on its head, finding the root cause of someone's goal of trying to lose weight. Almost always, this is actually about building self-confidence. Instead of focusing on dieting and how the body looks, Chelsea's program hinges on first tracking the person's intake via a food intake tracking app, to establish a baseline of a person's eating habits.
Because the vast majority of women do not eat enough protein to create a sustainable energy level for themselves, the first step is almost always to re-balance the client's macronutrients. By implementing an eating plan focused on clean and minimally-processed food, eaten at consistent times throughout the day, healthy habits begin to be created. As the metabolism is raised up to an acceptable level for a period of months - to provide enough fuel for the body to maintain itself naturally - short periods of reduced calorie intake can be introduced, if the client does want to reduce their weight.
As one happy client recently exclaimed, "I was under-eating, overcomplicating my nutrition, and never losing weight. It’s much simpler than I thought!"
Chelsea believes that although many women are interested in fitness to lose weight, that should not be the end goal. Rather, the way to look at fitness is to create a balanced, healthy life where building inner and outer strength lead to a strong body and mind.
