Are you looking for a healthy weight loss transformation? Are you ready to learn healthy secrets and tips about long term weight release and reducing body fat percentage.
Did you ever wish you could free yourself from ever stepping on the scale again? I know what you’re thinking. “I just want to lose a few pounds and reduce my body fat percentage. And I don’t necessarily want to compete. Maybe at another point in my life I did, but not now… Just help me get off this hamster wheel and achieve my weight loss goal!!!”
Wait, stay with me for a moment! I promise, this is insanely valuable information for your healthy weight loss journey! I’ve learned many valuable lessons over the past few years as I secretly strived towards a fitness goal. I was finally ready to work towards a goal that I had posted on my vision board 10 years earlier. I was literally freaking out the first time I said out loud that my goal was wanting to reach a competitive fitness level.
Who was I kidding? I was 47 years old and I had never been able to reach a physical level of that nature in my life. I’d be thrilled to just fit back into a smaller size. After two large pregnancies how in the world was I going to achieve this kind of weight loss and reduce my body fat percentage? Ha ha, compete, seriously ~
Maybe my story is familiar to your own or perhaps you think I’m just plain crazy. Regardless, I know I’m not alone. From the time I was young, I had definitely learned how to diet and lose weight only to rebound and gain back what I had lost. And rebound again only to add in a few extra fluffy pounds. It was a cycle of looking in the mirror and being frustrated with the reflection. I had been desperately seeking an answer to a life long question of how to master feeling and looking healthy.
My epiphany moment was when I learned that everything we were told all these years was the exact opposite of what we need to do in order to maintain a healthy body. It is NOT about overexercising and under eating, which is what many of us have done! My jaw literally dropped when I learned that you have to eat more to retrain the metabolism. Eat more of the right foods for your body!
"You have to eat more to retrain the metabolism!"
Let me preface this by saying, I never started on this journey a few years back to necessarily lose weight. After a stressful point in my life and a divorce years ago, I wound up in the hospital. And after a string of tests, doctors identifying an autoimmune disease, I knew I had to regain my health for myself and my kiddos. I was literally scared into healthy!
Every year, I’ve set new goals, I’ve had setbacks and shed tears along the way. I never imagined that this path would lead me to the realization of an incredible goal. I’ve come to realize that reaching a fitness level wasn’t necessarily about the number on the scale, but the insane amount of confidence that came along.
Contrary to what you may believe, while it felt crazy awesome to walk in my closet and wear anything, it was actually so much more for me. It was the confidence in setting such a lofty goal and being able to discipline myself to follow through. This is what still motivates me today. It’s that question of, “What else can I accomplish?”
So what were the secrets I learned along the way?
The reasons that many people have difficulties losing fat and maintaining weight release are contributed to the following…
1. TOO MANY CALORIES
The first thing on the list is always going to be calories. Eating the right amount of healthy foods is best, but eating twice what your body needs in healthy foods or any foods will cause you weight gain. Yes, even too much chicken and broccoli will pack on the excess pounds. Keep it within your calorie range and spread it out into small portion size meals, typically three to five meals.
2. Yes, perhaps you’re even EATING TOO LITTLE CALORIES
Yes, it goes both ways. If you’re on a diet that calls for under 1,200 calories (unless you’re doing fasting days or under doctor supervision) STOP!! You’re in a bad place. It’s too much of a caloric deficit and you need to get out of this place! The body responds best when you feed it what it needs, NOT take away crucial minerals and calories! That means all your macro nutrients, including carbohydrates are vitally important.
The trick is to hit your macro nutrients within your calorie range based on your goal and activity level. Too few calories will turn your metabolism into a “wounded turtle” and your body will hold on to fat. The cycle of constant dieting can essentially stall what metabolism you do have left.
3. YOU’RE NOT DOING A FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE DETOX, INTERMITTENT FASTING OR TIME RESTRICTED FEEDING,
Your body will accumulate nasty toxins that you will acquire from your lifestyle and surrounding environment. Whether it be alcohol, foods, pesticides, the quality of the water you bath in, acidic coffee, cleaning products, your skin care and even makeup, etc., it can’t be avoided.
The body’s natural defense is to hold on to fat and visceral fat (the most dangerous kind) to protect your organs from those toxins. Yes, your fat cells actually absorb and store these toxins. When you detox on a cellular level or do intermittent fasting, you help to rid your body of those toxins and fat is released. And just as important, that sick lethargic, bloated and gassy feeling that the toxins may have been causing you to experience can disappear as well. Enjoying this newly found energy is a HUGE BONUS, YAY!!!
If it is fat loss and muscle growth you seek, I strongly recommend a Functional Medicine Liver Detox. This attacks fat and toxins and supports lean muscle growth. Typically, it is impossible to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. Preservation of muscle is important when you decide to lean out.
There’s only a couple true strategies that promote this opportunity. I DO NOT recommend a vegetable, fruit, or colon cleanse, YUCK! Plus, you will lose valuable muscle and you will almost definitely rebound weight on these types of plans. And they aren’t too pleasant unless you enjoy sitting in the bathroom all day.
4. You’re NOT LIFTING HEAVY
This was intimidating at first! And I had a lot of false beliefs. My first one was that I would “bulk up” and gain all kinds of crazy muscle. I suspect that’s your first reaction too! It’s not the case however. When you learn to eat in combination with an appropriate training schedule you can actually gain beautiful, long lean muscle.
Your muscle is the catalyst to your metabolism. When your goal is to lose fat, the primary role of strength training is to maintain muscle mass.
When you’re cutting calories your muscle is going to want to go bye bye as well. Without getting too “geeky” here, if you’re in to much of a caloric deficit, your body can and will start to feed away on it’s own muscle. In order to combat this effect, you must train to build muscle first. Priority is keeping the metabolism and overall finished look at it’s highest standard. For leaning basics, you’ll probably start by increasing your protein to approximately 1.1 of your body weight.
If I’m training a client I tend to start at a 12-15 repetition range. I’m an advocate of higher reps with lower weight, until failure. These of course are generic baby steps. There’s a lot more detail that goes into a well-rounded fitness and nutrition plan customized to your goals. If you’d like to chat about a personal training plan, please fill out this evaluation to set up a consult. (click here)
5. You’re LETTING STRESS OUTWEIGH YOU
When you’re stressed, your body produces a hormone called cortisol. This increases body fat storage, particularly to the belly, if it’s not controlled.
Stress can be caused mentally, physically, and emotionally and can cause body fat even when dieting. In the hierarchy of fat loss, stress management may be one of the single most important factors.
Therefore, it’s important to find things that you enjoy that will relieve your stress. Do them often, even daily, and get plenty of sleep as well! Balanced nutrition and adequate sleep are the most important variables in allowing the body to recover, whether from exercise, stress and even illness.
The best natural supplement that I’ve found to combat stress is a plant based adaptogen that I use every morning. I do highly recommend adaptogens and magnesium to help naturally balance the body, and appropriate protein and amino acids immediately post workout which will allow for faster recovery.
6. TOO MUCH CARDIO
WOW! This was a big learning lesson for me! Long durations of cardio can lead to an overproduction of cortisol and possible health related issues. The fat burning zone turns into the muscle burning zone after around 45-60 minutes, which is counter productive to fat loss. A great example is a marathon runners build compared to a sprinters, they have the same diet but different training methods.
Keep those training sessions short and intense! Some of my favorites are H.I.I.T. ( 30 seconds of high intensity movements followed by one minute rest for a total of 20 minutes), tabata, sprints, spinning, sled work, and of course boot camps!
7. You’re EATING TOO MUCH FAT
Fat is always an interesting topic and exhausting conversation. Regardless, good fats or not good fats, both contain 9 calories per gram, as opposed to proteins and carbohydrates which are both 4 calories per gram.
All those extra fats add up over time!
Think about this for a moment with the current rage of low carbs and higher fat. So please, don’t go and replace all your carbs with fats. Carbohydrates are necessary for your overall success, brain health, managing blood sugar, energy and digestive support.
Your body needs carbohydrates!
Yes, on the days that you drop your carbohydrates you’ll definitely want to raise your fats. Keep in mind, you still want to keep it within your recommended macro nutrient percentage. And you want to stick to “good fats” such as avocado, sunflower seeds, almonds, coconut milk, coconut oil, etc. Remember, too much of a good thing doesn’t stay a good thing!
8. YOU’RE GOING NUTS ON NUTS
I know you’re going to argue that they’re healthy, but they have a lot of calories, which can add up quickly. I remember one time when working with a client and I asked her to food log for three days. She found that she was consuming almost 80 grams of fat from all the almonds she was eating throughout the day. YIKES, that was 720 calories in almonds!!!
If you’re eating to fill up I suggest lower calorie foods like raw veggies, which are again four calories per gram. If your goal is fat loss, keep it to about 10-15 almonds in a portion a day.
Another tip is that nuts are high in polyunsaturated fat and it can lead to too much Omega 6 and too little Omega 3 in your diet. Another thought to keep in mind is that saturated fat is generally better for improving your metabolism than unsaturated fat.
9. Thoughts on USING PROTEIN POWDER RATHER THAN A MEAL REPLACEMENT POWDER
During training I found that my body works best when given about five to six small nutrient dense meals a day.
A protein powder alone does not count as a meal. If it’s a cheap store bought version, understand that by regulation it only has to be 30% whey to be called a “whey protein” in the retail market. Yep, that means the rest can be fillers and whatever else is inexpensive for the supplier to add to keep their cost down and raise their profit.
How does this affect you? Sub quality protein means bloating, gas, bad breath, no weight loss and no gains, along with an array of possible other side effects.
Your body perhaps also works best when given about 5-6 small nutrient dense meals a day. If you’re looking for convenience for a couple of these meals, go straight for the best meal replacement powder you can find as this may be your most important meal of the day. Why? Because many of your other foods may be depleted of key nutrients and minerals, you’ll want one that contains all the macronutrients, live digestive enzymes, undenatured protein, bcaa’s, trace minerals, and vitamins.
I choose the products that I use because they spend 2 million dollars a year in research to make sure that it has the best possible ingredients available. You should never be too cautious with anything you eat or drink daily. Remember, give to the body not take away, so give it the best if you want the best in return.
10) YOU’RE EXPECTING AN OVERNIGHT FIX…
The body is an amazing machine. It will do whatever you program it to do, by your actions and even by your thoughts.
So, you’ll need to own the idea of what got you to where you are right now and realize how long it took you to get there. If it took years, there is no magic pill to reverse it overnight.
First, you need to adjust your mindset to your mission and vision of what you’ll feel like when you accomplish your goals. Then relentlessly attack this goal while understanding it will take time and daily discipline. Always reward and acknowledge your smaller accomplishments, because those are what lead you to the greater ones.
I’ve found over the years that nutritional cellular cleansing mixed with superfood nutrition is what has worked best for me and my clients, for healthy weight loss. Whatever you choose, give it your all, be patient and don’t wait until you hit your goal to be proud. Love and be patient to yourself the entire journey and realize each day that you are a better version of you.
Lastly, DON’T give yourself the option the QUIT, you will never be defeated as long as you keep fighting. Keep your eye on the prize my friends! The goal for most is to live in the healthiest versions of ourselves. If you need accountability through personal or group coaching, click here to set up an initial consultation.
Cheering you on!
+ show Comments
- Hide Comments
add a comment