Thursday Thrive #5: High Protein Pumpkin Cake + Breaking Weight Loss Plateaus
Happy Thursday team.
Today at a glance:
Actionable strategies to take if you hit a weight loss plateau
A high protein recipe perfect for the season
Let’s go!
If you’re currently trying to get leaner, and you’ve hit a plateau on the scale - first of all don’t worry.
This happens to everyone. It’d be weirder if it didn’t happen.
Let’s get an important thing out of the way first -
The scale isn’t the whole picture when it comes to fat loss.
Many people see themselves getting leaner in the mirror and feel their clothes fitting better even when the number on the scale stays the same.
Why?
Muscle offsets fat. These people are usually those who had been undereating protein and not training properly before starting a program.
So yes, it doesn’t always serve to be myopically focused on the scale — it’s not the whole picture.
But that said, it is a valuable tool to get data on our bodies and one I believe we all should use.
And despite muscle development, people who have a significant amount of weight to lose are going to see the number on the scale go down to get to an ideal body composition.
And it’s frustrating as hell when that number stops going down.
And that’s why we’re here.
I had a client go through this recently, so I’ll share how we got past it and a quick framework for you to do the same.
(That period in red was about ~2 weeks)
Step 1: Look for a change in routine
Your first order of business is to look for something that has changed.
New ingredients your partner is cooking with?
New snacks?
New restaurant you’ve been going to at lunch?
The change doesn’t have to be food, it can be related to activity too.
Maybe you were playing softball and the season ended. Or it got too cold and you stopped walking to the store.
Look back to when the plateau started and see if you can pinpoint the change.
For my client, it was literally that he had started including peanut butter in his daily smoothie.
I bought him some powdered peanut butter, and that was what got him back on track.
Step 2: Look for sneaky calorie sources
The culprit may not be as obvious as peanut butter.
Plenty of things can be hiding plenty of calories even though they seem unassuming.
The worst offenders are:
Calories in drinks
“Healthy snacks” (nuts, anything that is “GMO, paleo-friendly, sugar-free, etc”, dried fruit”
Oils, sauces, and dressings
Oil and sauce is a big one. It’s easy to cook with butter or lots of oil and not think about it. Some of it burns off when cooking in a pan, but you eat most of it.
Sauces too — when you read the nutrition labels for some sauces you’ll be shocked at how much sugar is in them.
If you’re in a plateau and you’ve never tracked what you eat, I’d recommend doing this for a couple of days to make sure nothing is severely out of whack.
Step 3: Check your sleep
Poor sleep can reduce your metabolism and make you hungrier. Bad combination.
Another thing to think about is whether there has been a source of stress in your life that is interfering with sleep.
Or maybe you can improve your sleep hygiene.
Optimize your sleep by:
No TV (especially news) before bed
Consistent bedtimes and wake times
Cool, dark room
Don't eat 2-3 hours before bed
Wind down with a stretch routine
Step 4: Move more
And lastly, your plateau may not be from a change or any problem. It may be from “metabolic adaptation.”
Metabolism slows down as you lose weight because it takes less energy to move a lighter human body around.
You’ll be burning fewer calories per day when you’re 10 pounds lighter.
Metabolic adaptation is when what was a calorie deficit (and resulted in fat loss and the scale dropping) becomes maintenance for you because you’re lighter.
You have 2 options here:
Accept you’re happy where you’re at
Make some adjustments to add some more movement or take calories down a bit further
This might look like:
Look for ways to increase your activity and step count
Reduce your calories by 150 - 300
If not tracking calories, go for less snacking, high-fiber carbs only, and lean sources of protein
When you hit a plateau, stay logical and don’t go to that emotional place where you say:
“This is bullshit - I AM in a calorie deficit.”
“Calories don’t matter, yadayadayada…”
Plateaus happen to everyone, stay calm and figure out the issue.
A perfect high protein Fall Recipe
I love pumpkin.
Pumpkin pie is my favorite pie, and if I have an option to get a pumpkin dessert at a restaurant (this doesn’t happen enough) I’m going for it.
Pumpkin is incredibly nutritious, it’s a fantastic source of fiber, vitamin A, and vitamin C.
A great nutrition hack is to get some canned pumpkin and keep it in a container in your fridge.
Add it to yogurt, oatmeal, or you could make some fruit bowls with some pumpkin, other fruits, a bit of honey or syrup, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
This pumpkin cake is my favorite protein cake I’ve made.
But here’s something cool — if you’re a weirdo who hates pumpkin, the base for this recipe is how you can make any high-protein cake.
All you do is swap canned pumpkin for sugar-free apple sauce.
You can play with other ingredients and protein flavors and make any protein cake your heart desires.
Pretty neat right?
Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
Light Cream cheese
Fat-free Greek Yogurt
Whey/Casein blend (ideally Pumpkin Pie flavor)
Sugar-free canned pumpkin
All-purpose flour
Baking Powder
Egg white
Coconut flour
Cinnamon & nutmeg to taste
0 cal sweetener (Monk fruit or stevia)
This is the Pumpkin Pie protein I like.
I don’t just use it when I make pumpkin cakes (which is not that often), it’s legitimately my favorite flavor of protein.
It might just be the pumpkin love talking, but I think it’s the best.
IMPORTANT NOTE
Whey/casein blend isn’t an arbitrary ingredient.
Casein protein is more absorbent — if you use a whey protein this will not turn out very well.
Make sure you get a whey/casein blend.
You have been warned.
Step 1: Dry Ingredients:
Take:
35g Coconut flour
50g All purpose flour
5g Baking powder
75g Whey/Casein protein powder
Cinnamon and nutmeg
5-10 g 0-cal sweetener
Mix together
Step 2: Wet Ingredients
Take:
100g Canned pumpkin
275g Fat free Greek yogurt
275g Egg whites
Mix em together
Step 3: Stir in the Dry + Wet ingredients together
Step 4: Pop this mix in an 8’ baking tin lined with parchment paper
Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes
Step 5: Frosting
Take:
100g Low-fat cream cheese
100g Fat-free Greek Yogurt
30g Whey/Casein Protein (pumpkin pie flavor)
10g 0 Cal Sweetener
Put in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy
Step 6: Assemble
When the cake is done, take it out and let it cool
When it’s cool, spread your frosting on
Cut into 9 pieces
And there you have it!
If you want more recipes like this, make sure to check out my recipe book below (you can get it for only $10)
When you’re ready, here’s how I can help:
If you want help with a custom solution to get you in incredible shape that works with your life, book a free strategy call to see what that could look like:
Peruse the free programs I offer and see if any look good to you (available in the Welcome Email when you subscribe)
2 Hours Per Week
Upper / Lower Split
Dumbbell Only Home Workout
Resistance band-only Home Workout
Pick up my cookbook Protein Paradise (reg $29) for just $10 with code THRIVE at checkout