If you are like most people, you may be keen to know when you can expect to see results after embarking on your weight loss journey.
It is vital that you know that no one loses weight in the same way. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach that will work the same for everybody. Two people of the same weight and height will lose weight at a different rate, even if they eat the exact same foods and take part in the same activities.
The time of the day and even the season of the year can also affect you managing your weight
The article reviews the top 10 secrets that can help with lasting weight loss.
1. EAT THE RIGHT THINGS
This almost seems too obvious to mention but it is critical to losing weight and yet very few people have a good understanding of what actually constitutes a good diet.
More than 50 years of poor science has vilified fat and encouraged governments and food manufactures to recommend you will fill up on white processed low-calorie foods.
Research now understand that this approach has been a huge mistake, and has directly led to worldwide obesity epidemic. Even the scientist who pioneered the “fat is bad” mantra has seen the error of his ways.
In short you should be filling up on protein like meat and fish, eggs, nuts and seeds, pulses like beans and also lentils and other vegetarian sources of protein like tofu, plenty of vegetables, and also natural fats (and fat containing foods) like oily fish, nuts and seeds, and avocado.
You can also add wholegrain and starchy vegetables like sweet potato.
2. CONSIDER PORTION SIZE
Even healthy foods can provide you with excess energy that your body will store as fat. So how much is just enough? Clearly it depends on what you are doing in the day (if you are a regular exerciser or lead a more sedentary life) but here’s a rough guide:
BREAKFAST – something like a poached egg on sourdough bread or, if you’re a porridge or overnight oats fan, 50g oats (that’s a decent-sized bowl) with some berries and a sprinkling of flaxseeds, or 3 rashers of lean bacon, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, one slice of sourdough bread.
LUNCH – slice of sourdough with mashed avocado, or 3 slices of lean turkey breast, tomato, watercress and a little home-made olive oil-based dressing; or a giant salad and some protein; or a protein-based soup and a slice of sourdough bread
DINNER – 4 slices of grilled halloumi and vegetables; or one salmon filet, loads of vegetables and 40g rice; or a chicken breast or fish fillet with loads of vegetables and potato wedges made from ½ a sweet potato.
SNACKS – an orange and 2 Brazil nuts; or 1 hard-boiled egg and ½ avocado); or 2 gluten free oatcakes topped with nut butter (unsweetened); or a small pot of full fat Greek yogurt and a small handful of raspberries – no more than 2 snacks a day and only if you need them.
3. DON’T FORGET THE EXTRAS!
Drinks add up and so do condiments like ketchup and other sauces. They’re still OK to have in moderation, but they do count, especially the sugary ones, and the numbers add up quickly.
The healthiest condiments include regular mustard (this contains no sugar, just a little vinegar and salt), vinegar, olive oil (for dressings), natural herbs and spices, horseradish, pesto, lemon or lime juice, soy sauce, tahini, most salsas, most bottled hot sauces like Tabasco, and capers.
The worst condiments are ketchup (always full of sugar, whichever way you cut it), brown sauce, barbecue sauce, ranch dressing, commercial salad dressings, tomato-based chilli sauce, Thai sweet chilli sauce, tartar sauce, plum sauce, sweet and sour sauce, Teriyaki sauce, and jams, jellies and other preserves.
You’ll also want to ensure that you are not forgetting drinks. You could have the healthiest diet in the world, but don’t undo all your good work with sugar-laden drinks like fruit smoothies, cordials and fizzy drinks. Wine also goes on the list, as do other alcoholic drinks.
4. DRINK MORE WATER
It is very easy to confuse hunger with thirst so you do need to keep a check on how much water (or other liquids) you are drinking in a day. Also, as you age, it’s harder to read the thirst signals, too.
2litres of water a day should be enough but more depending on activity levels (it goes without saying that you’ll need more if you’ve been to the gym) and the weather.
Enough studies support the notion that increasing water intake leads to weight loss. This is partly through increased number of calories burned. 10 minutes after drinking, you could have turned up your metabolism by 25%. Another study showed that, when overweight women increased their water consumption to 1+ltr, they lost an extra 4kg (4.4lbs) over the course of a year just from doing this one thing.
And one more thing before I excuse you to fill up your water bottle, observational studies point to water-drinkers consuming an average of 200 fewer calories per day.
5. FLUSH OUT TOXINS
Your liver carries out a massive number of really important roles in the body. What you might not know is that it plays a big part in whether you are going to lose weight.
A healthy liver can burn fat, get rid of excess fat (via the bowel) or cause the body to lay down fat due to its relationship with the fat storage hormone insulin. If you have a weight problem – particularly if you’re carrying a spare tyre around your middle – chance are you’ll have an imbalance in insulin levels. And, unless you get a handle on that, you won’t see weight loss any time soon. Added to that, the more insulin you have in your body, the more testosterone is produced, knocking that delicate balance of hormones even further out. On top of that, when you’re losing weight, you’re mobilising stored fat and using it as fuel. The trouble is that the fat is where we store a lot of our toxins.
In this day and age, the liver has such a big job getting rid of the toxins we are absorbing on a daily basis (not least all those petrochemicals from the environment and the synthetic oestrogens found in most ‘normal’ skin care products), that sometimes it just can’t do any more. To stop itself being overburdened, it just won’t allow your body to mobilise those fat stores if it decides, doing so puts your health in danger.
6. SUPPORT YOUR LIVER
Give your liver a break by easing up on all those things it needs to work so hard to get rid of. This means:
Cut back on caffeine and alcohol.
Rethink your personal care products (shampoos, conditioners, deodorants, body lotions). Avoid anything that contains parabens or sodium lauryl sulfate as these are synthetic oestrogens and contribute to hormone imbalance.
Rethink your household cleaning products for exactly the same reason. My favourite natural cleaning brands are Method and Ecover.
Eat organic if you can afford it.
Add in plenty of liver-boosting foods to your diet. This includes:
Sulphur-rich foods like garlic, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cabbage. –
Beetroot and carrots also stimulate the detoxification process.
Leafy green veggies are great for mopping up environmental toxins from the bloodstream
Start the day with warm water, it helps to flush out toxins.
Turmeric and cinnamon support optimum liver function.
7. MAKE EXERCISE YOUR LIFE
Only 50% of people exercise and 32% exercise regularly. When you exercise regularly, you burn energy, strengthen your muscles and bones. In addition, working out regularly (whatever that means for you) leads to more energy, which leads to more movement.
Exercise also improves mood. Not only will you feel better about how you look, exercise stimulates brain chemicals called neurotransmitters that leave you feeling happier and more relaxed. And the happier and more relaxed you feel, the less likely you are to turn to junk foods to compensate.
8. TAKE SELF-CARE SERIOUSLY
You should know that only you hold the key to make yourself happy. The more you look after your self-care (doing lots of nice things for yourself just for the joy of doing it), the happier you will be and importantly, the less you will rely on biscuits and chocolate (or whatever your trigger foods are) to make you happy.
These normal ‘rewards’ are short lived and usually followed by recriminations. If you truly want lasting change, you need to find ways of regularly getting that feel-good feeling from other things.
Build in more appropriate ways of making yourself feel better and look forward to non-food related treats. For example, choose to spend 5 minutes relaxing in the sunshine in the garden to recharge your batteries rather than to grab a handful of biscuits.
9. KEEP YOUR HORMONES HAPPY
Some common hormone imbalances can work against you when you want to lose weight. Three of the main ones are the stress hormone cortisol, which knocks blood sugar out of balance, keeps cravings in full flow and ensures fat stays around the middle. Stress hormones rise too high during and after particularly stressful events (and they can stay high for years after), and even the drip, drip, drip of everyday events has a negative impact.
The second is your thyroid hormones. The thyroid is the body’s internal motor. Low levels are typically linked to low energy, constipation, low sex drive, cold hands and feet, (weirdly) a disappearing outer third of your eyebrow, and an inability to lose weight. If any of these resonate, it’s worth asking your GP to test your thyroid levels. It’s also important to know that many people are ‘sub-clinical’ – their hormone levels are low but not yet quite low enough for the GP to prescribe medication. Additionally, even if you have a diagnosis and are taking thyroxine, it’s entirely possible that you still don’t feel great because the hormone the doctor measures is only part of the picture
The third hormone is oestrogen, an obesogen that can make you put on weight when levels in your body get out of balance. Very heavy or painful periods (even a diagnosis of fibroids or endometriosis) can be an indicator of too much oestrogen. If you suspect that any of these hormones might be out of sync for you, it’s worth knowing that private lab tests are available to diagnose a problem that a nutritional therapy plan may help resolve.
10. ASK FOR HELP
One of the reasons in numbers 1-9 probably will apply to you for sure, but number 10 is often the main thing standing in most people’s way. You know what you SHOULD be doing, but the information alone is not enough. Staying motivated is the hardest part of any plan.
The starting point should be creating a vision for where you want to be. Think about what your goal is and how you will feel when you get there. It’s useful to write this down and refer to it regularly to remind yourself where you’re headed – maybe every day.
Keeping a food diary is one of the best ways to stay on track. Actually, writing down what you are eating and drinking is very illuminating. You’ll also want to keep a weekly meal planner, so that you can get your head around shopping and prepping your meals. This way, it’s less likely that you will stray from your path. The single best way to stay in the zone is to have a buddy or coach who can give you a nudge or call you out if you start to off piste. I’d say this is the single biggest thing that makes the difference between reaching your goal and actually staying there.
That’s where health coaching comes in. You can do ALL of this yourself, but having someone on your side and keeping you accountable will ensure all that good work doesn’t go to waste. As a registered nutritionist and certified health coach, I help people just like you change the way they think about food and lose weight for good. They regain control around food, and have the confidence to live their lives without being ruled by what they eat. If this sounds like what you need right now, book a free call with me to see if my approach is the right fit for you.
TAKE THE FIRST STEP
Need some help putting this all into practice? Why not book in a free, no obligation call to see if my weight transformation programmes are right for you. If that sounds like what you need right now, go here