Without fail, every month there is an article on "Secrets to weight loss". Truth of the matter is that there are no secrets to weight loss. I have seen these articles on magazine covers since the mid-'80's. You can probably Google the subject and get a ton of hits on this. This has been around for so long, that it should not be a surprise when we see an article like this. People are always looking for a quick fix. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix.
Using common sense, here is what seems to work best according to everything I read and hear when I work on my education to maintain my certification.
- Behavior experts say that the best way to change habits is to work on them in small steps. For example, don't try to change smoking habits, drinking habits and exercise habits all at once. These are a lot of changes for your body. Mentally we may be able to think we can change them all at once, but it is easier to change them one at a time. By changing one at a time, you will be more focused, more intentional on that one habit.
- When it comes to diet, a lot of people impose way to many rules. Can't have sweets, can't have bread, can't do this, can't do that. You have all heard what people say. If your end goal is to change all of these items on your diet, that's great. My number one question to you would be, 'is it sustainable for the rest of your life?'. I enjoy food and part of life is enjoying the different tastes of the variety of foods that are out there. Working on getting out of debt, my wife and I learned that the easiest way to do it was to pay the smallest amount first. Then take that money and apply it to the next lower debt and so on. This rule applies to weight loss as well. Start by cutting out/ minimizing soda one week. When your comfortable with that, cut down/minimize fast foods in addition to the soda. A lot of people also tend to think that they can eat more if it is clean or healthy food. You still will need to watch how much you eat.
- In the '90's, a popular concept that was created was the idea of eating good and clean six days, then on the seventh day having a cheat day in which you could eat whatever you want. The problem with this is that people would not moderate what they ate. In theory it looks great. In reality, not so much. The way to solve this issue is to have a cheat meal, not a cheat day. If you want to reward yourself for killing it all week with your nutrition and exercise and you want to go out to Cheesecake Factory, by all means enjoy yourself. The portions there are huge. You can split a meal and desert. Doing this, you take care of your cravings and you get to eat something that you normally don't.
- A lot of people and some trainers still believe that if burning more calories than you consume is good for weight loss, then restricting your calories by a lot would be better for faster weight loss. That just isn't so. Your body requires a bare minimum of calories to survive. This is your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). The human body is an amazing creation. If you don't eat enough, it goes into survival mode and holds on to what it can and gets rid of what it doesn't need. That's why we start to lose muscle after age 30. Along with getting enough calories from nutrient dense food, you also need to get enough water. Not getting enough water can hold you back on that weight loss you are working so hard on as well.
- I also see a lot of people going into weight loss with short term thinking. Weight loss is more of a long term issue. More like life style, less I want to impress people I haven't seen in 25 years. After people do a cleansing diet for say 21 days, they regain the weight very rapidly. You have two organs that can cleanse your system, the liver and your kidneys. To help them out, drink plenty of water and cut/eliminate alcohol and soda. Your body will take care of the rest.
- People also tend to underestimate how much they eat. The solution to this is journaling what you eat. Food, drinks, snacks...if you ingest it, it needs to be logged down. This keeps you honest and it gives you a realistic picture of what your actual calories are. Knowing this, you can make adjustments as it is necessary to meet your weight loss goals. This is not just good for weight loss, but for improving performance in a particular sport as well. This will help with number 2 above.
- Focusing on weight is another issue I see. A lot of people get upset if the scale doesn't go down and they lose it if they gain weight. There are a lot of issues that goes into the up and downs of weight loss. Especially with women. Some issues are water intake, how much sodium they ate, are they regular, for women a big issue is their period. It is also affected by what they do to exercise. Weightlifting will likely add muscle, which is denser than fat, and will add weight. This is a good thing since muscle is a living tissue that needs calories and burns calories too. Fat just sits there. This extra muscle will help with your metabolism.
Please, don't over complicate weight loss. Take it a step at a time, making incremental improvements towards your goals. If you eat something you had not planned for the day, make the adjustments for the meal or the next day. It is not the end of the world. Two things I want you to take from this are: weight loss is a lifestyle change and enjoy life. Yes, you can do both.
