Calorie Deficit Vs Real Life

Signals That Drive Hormone Chaos

Why Women Get Hit Harder

The Five Fixes For Better Rhythm

Consistency, Progress, And Getting Help

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Shift work can be brutal, but it doesn't have to be. Welcome to a healthy shift. My name is Roger Sutherland, certified nutritionist, veteran law enforcement officer, and 24-7 shift worker for almost four decades. Through this podcast, I aim to educate shift workers using evidence-based methods to not only survive the rigors of shift work, but thrive. My goal is to empower shift workers to improve their health and well-being so they have more energy to do the things they love. Enjoy today's show. And welcome back to another episode of a healthy shift podcast. You are more than welcome. My name is Roger Sutherland, and I am your guide on this shift working journey. And ladies, today I've got your back. You think your hormones are broken? And I 100% agree with you. Don't listen to all those social media influences out there that say to you, no, madam, you need to be in a calorie deficit. Your hormones are not broken. I've got your back. I'm telling you, your hormones are broken. There you go. I've said it. Because if you're a female shift worker and you believe or you've been told that your hormones are the problem, I'm going to say this, you are right. There you go. But not in the way you think. There had to be a catch, didn't there? They're not broken. What they're actually doing is they are reacting. So let's talk about that because this is really important. I hear this all the time. I hear it from people who message me. I'm doing all the right things, I'm doing everything. And when they talk to other PTs and they talk to other coaches, the coaches will say to them, you need to be in a calorie deficit. And that's true. You do. You need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. Full stop. I don't care what anyone says, you have to be in a calorie deficit. It is the only way that you can lose weight. The only way. Your energy expenditure has to outweigh your energy input. It's that simple. But how we achieve that is the most difficult part. Extremely difficult. Because what I hear all the time is I can't lose weight, my hormones are shot. And yes, for a lot of female shift workers, your hormone patterns are off. But here is the part that gets missed. Your body is doing exactly what it's designed to do. It is literally responding to the signals that you are giving it. Light, food timing, sleep, stress, movement. These are the key inputs into your body. And your hormones follow them. So when those inputs are messy, what do you think happens to your hormones? Yep. They're all over the place. And in your words, they're broken. Now, let's lay a shift work on top of that. Because you're awake when your biology expects you to be asleep. You're eating at times that your body doesn't recognize as daytime. You're missing natural daylight. Your sleep is broken. Your stress is high. You're chronically fatigued. And this is not a small issue. That is a hundred percent full system disruption. And for women, this hits a lot harder. And this is why I'm categorically say that shift work is harder for women than it is for men. Because you're not just running on a 24-hour clock, uh-uh. You also run on an infradian rhythm, which is your monthly cycle. And that monthly cycle, that 28-day or 26 to 34-day cycle, depends on a stable circadian rhythm. And when your circadian rhythm is out, your monthly rhythm is totally struggling to stay on track. And what do you see? Weight gain that just doesn't make sense. You've got brain fault, your energy is in the toilet, you've got gut issues, IBS, you've got gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, painful or irregular cycles, worsening symptoms of things like endometriosis or PCOS. To you girls that suffer from endometriosis and PCOS, shift work is catastrophic because of that desynchronized circadian rhythm impacting on your Infradian rhythm. And your fertility becomes extremely challenging because your body doesn't feel safe. So therefore, it doesn't feel safe enough to be falling pregnant to have a baby. And this is the reason. It's not random, it's a timing problem. Because when your body doesn't feel safe, it actually doesn't know what time it is. And it doesn't know when to release what. So what it does is it holds and it protects and it slows things down or it gets confused and it releases the wrong thing at the wrong time. Does that make sense? I think it would. I think it would absolutely make sense to a lot of you women that you realize that, oh my God. I'm hoping that this lands with you and it's a real penny drop moment. I'm agreeing with you that your hormones are broken, but it's responding to the inputs that you're putting in. And you have to stop blaming shift work. What you've got to do is you've got to stop making those excuses and you've got to start inputting as close to what is a normal regular routine as you possibly can. And when you do this, it will make a big difference. Now, here is the bit that you are gonna love because you don't fix this with more restriction or trying to diet or more intensity, or having to do a lot more exercise, or sacrificing other things. You fix it by just literally fixing the signals, and the signals are really simple. Really simple. Early light. This is the anchor. Get light in your eyes early in the day, not your clock day, your wake-up day. Natural light as much as possible. This tells your brain, this is morning, start the clock. And that one single input drives everything downstream. Cortisol timing, melatonin timing, all of your hormone release patterns fall in line. Why? Because you've given it early light, you've told your body where it's at in time and space, and suddenly everything starts to feel better and function a lot better. You need to move early. Ideally, outside. You don't have to smash yourself, you don't have to go for a run and squat 200 kilos and smash yourself in the gym. That's not what it's about. It's literally about getting outside and just moving. Walk, train lightly, get outside and do it in the daylight. Because what you're now doing is you're stacking signals, you're getting movement and light. So you're telling your body and reinforcing to your body we are in go time. Light plus movement. That tells your body we're active, we're safe, we're in the day phase. And point three, the third one, is you have to eat at normal times. Majority of these gas and bloating and digestive issues that you are struggling from are because you're eating all the wrong things at the wrong time. And you can tell me, oh yeah, I know that, but don't complain to me about IBS or tell me that you're lactose intolerant or tell me that you're fructose intolerant or tell me that you've got this issue or that issue. Majority of the issues in shift workers are because you're eating at the wrong time. If you fix that, it fixes majority of the issues that you actually have with your gut. So many people I know that struggle. So many clients that have come to me struggling with their gut health and struggling with IBS, constipation, diarrhea, all sorts of issues. And suddenly it's fixed and they don't get these symptoms at all. And I've had some clients that have had classic examples of on their way to go and see a gastroenterologist to try and get all this fixed. And I said, please just give me 12 weeks. Just give me 12 weeks beforehand. Save the money seeing the specialist. Let me help you for 12 weeks, and boom, they've saved on it forever. It's made such a huge difference. Because that alone is where the majority of shift workers go wrong. And this is more impactful on females than it is on males. And I've done numerous podcasts on that. Eating around the clock, small snacks, night eating, random timing, your gut and hormones hate that. So you need to pick structured meal times. I spoke about this in the last podcast. Front load your calories earlier in your waking period and then taper them down as your day goes on. And do me a favor, will you? Stop eating outside of those windows. Tiny little snacks. But eat a substantial and decent meal at breakfast, lunch, and dinner time of what a normal day walker would. Food is a time single signal. Food intake is a time signal. Think about when you're eating and how you're eating with not getting enough daylight. And then you blame the hormones around. Come on. Use your food as a signal of where we're at in time and space. Number four, get as much daylight as you can. Not just get out in 10 minutes and then flop on the couch and scroll Netflix for the rest of the day. You need multiple exposures, short bursts, but just keep reinforcing this rhythm. Daylight, daylight, daylight. And one of the most important, and I mean the most important things that you can do is number five. And that is you must manage your stress and protect your sleep at all costs. You cannot outwork poor sleep. You can't catch up on it either. But you can bank it. Sleep is where hormone regulation occurs. So treat it like it matters. And you know why? Because it does. And don't forget, wind down properly. Don't lie there in bed, scrolling on your phone, watching TV, and then rolling over and going, oh, I can't sleep. Or rolling over exhausted and crashing out, but then waking up about half an hour later or an hour later. Am I right? This is a lot of this because you're desynchronized circadian rhythm and you've actually input light into it from this TV in the bedroom or your phone. It causes all sorts of problems. You don't realize the impact of what that is actually having on your long-term health. Every night that you lie in bed and look at that phone is adding a tax to your biological detriment every time that you do it. And it compounds. You need a consistent routine where possible. Now, remember, I did shift work for a long time. I know it's not always possible, but that doesn't mean you get to a rest day and you sleep in until 10:30, 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock and go, I'm catching up on sleep. Because what you're doing is you're throwing yourself further out. Get up early, get that daylight, get that movement, eat at normal times, and watch how much better you feel. And if you need to, just go and have yourself a nice little kindy nap in the afternoon and you'll feel fantastic. So no, your hormones are not broken beyond repair. But yes, they are absolutely disrupted, which gives you the impression that they're broken. And they will absolutely stay that way if you don't change the input. So, like the last podcast, if you're a female and you listen to the last podcast, the last episode, where I talked about the three main time cues, and I've talked about them again here. Give yourself a week and start getting out and getting in the light and start moving and watch the difference that it makes to how you feel through the day, through the shift, all the time. So, no, your hormones are not broken beyond repair, but they are disrupted, and they will stay that way if you don't change the signals. You've got to fix the inputs because that's what it is responding to. And your body will start to respond and respond really well. We're very critical of our body for gaining body fat, and we stand there and we cuss and curse ourselves. We've got to remember it's only responding to what we've actually done to it. And you've made an informed decision to do that. And yet you're criticizing it for responding for what you've actually done. So, what about if we support it with the right signals and then cheer it on for doing the right thing in reverse? And I think that's very, very important. This is not an instant fix, it's not an eight-week challenge. But by golly, I'm going to tell you, it is absolutely reliable. All right. So that's it for today's episode. If you are stuck and you absolutely have no idea where to start or whether any of this can make sense or how it can, reach out. Because I have literally worked with hundreds of shift workers. Majority of them, in fact, 99.9% of them are female dealing with exactly this weight gain, hormones broken, and there is a way through it. So follow the link in the show notes and let me get you back on track. You'll never look back, I promise you. Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe so you get notified whenever a new episode is released. It would also be ever so helpful if you could leave a rating and review on the app you're currently listening on. If you want to know more about me or work with me, you can go to ahealthyshift.com. I'll catch you on the next one.