My motto is balance is everything and that applies to weight loss too. Sure, extreme measures will get you extreme results but how long will you be able to keep it up for and we all know life is too short to spend it in a white knuckled death grip and avoidance. And what happens when we finally loosen our grip? You’ve developed an aversion to “dieting” and exercise and start to pile the weight back on and more. This aversion can cost you the mindset needed to truly develop healthy balanced exercise and eating habits; the mindset that will lead you to being your healthiest, most motivated self, helping you create your best version of you!
So here today, I’ve decided to share my five tips to consider if weight loss is your goal and you would like to achieve this goal without all the using up your limited supply of willpower!
Intermittent Fasting; a handy tool:
Consider adding the occasional fast into your day or weekly routine. It’s not as scary as you may think and it can be organised to actually make your life simpler. Remember with any of these recommendation, not all tips may be suitable for you so if in doubt, please consult your doctor before trying this out.
A fast means that in general, you do not consume food during a certain window of time. You can take in water, black tea and coffee. I have seen great results in particular for weight loss with the 5:2 fasting plan. This means that for 5 days of the week you eat relatively normally, not being overly restrictive and consuming a healthy range of foods. On 2 days of the week you will consume 400-800 calories over a 24 hour period.
I have even found my body responds well to just one day of fasting a week. This fasting day helps to regulate your appetite, gives your digestive system a much needed break and allows you to create a calorie deficit which is needed for fat loss. On the other days of the week, while not going crazy, you can eat regularly and not worry too much about what’s coming in and therefore, feel like you’re not constantly on a diet.
You can also fast everyday by only eating in a certain window of time and fasting the rest. Some people find it effective for them to eat only in an 8 hour window during the day. So for example, they might get up and not eat till 12 noon and then their last meal will be around 8pm. I find it helpful if you can time your food around when you are most active, before and after workouts, for example. That way, the carbohydrates you ingest will be shuttled into your muscle cells and put to good use, rather than stored as fat if not needed.
Move More!
Simple as that! Modern life has made us sit more. It’s made our lives easier in many ways but it has also robbed us of using our bodies the way they were designed to be used. When we sit for long periods of time our risk of developing many unfortunate conditions increases whilst our weight loss goals can be stunted. You can find more information here.
Get up from your chair whenever possible. Do a few stretches at your desk. Take the stairs whenever possible. Park as far away from your destination as possible and get those steps in. Stand up and pace when taking phone calls and get your squats in while brushing your teeth. One study has shown that just adding 2 minutes of movement to each waking hour can reduce your risk of mortality by 33%! Every little movement counts at the end of the day so stand up and move.
Lift Heavy Things:
If you can, lift heavy things 2-3 times per week. Weight training for me has been pivotal in allowing me to change the shape of my body. Do you want a narrower waist? Train with weights and focus on your glutes and shoulders.
Weight training progressively over time is the tool you need in your life to modify your body shape. If you are pear shaped and focus on cardio, you will lose weight but your shape will stay the same. By training the upper body with weights, you can bring balance to your body and give the illusion of a more hourglass shape. Weight training will also make your feel tighter and more toned. Not to mention the other numerous benefits of strength training, including the ability to increase your bone density, which is especially important for women!
If weight training seems a little too much aim to start by just training to lift your own bodyweight. Push ups, pullups, squats and lunges should be your friends. And if you need more convincing, then know that by lifting progressively heavier weights over time, you’ll get stronger, tighter and add muscle to your body.
Adding or maintaining your muscle mass while trying to diet and lose fat is very important. Why? Because muscle is a metabolically active substance. What does this mean? Well, it means that it takes energy to maintain it. This leads you to a very happy place! When your metabolism increases, you get to eat more food without it going on as bodyfat and for weight loss, obviously this is key! Win win!
Throw Out Stress!
Being on the weight loss highway can be stressful enough without all the other stressors that can affect us on a day to day basis in this modern world of ours. If you catch yourself getting stressed out about something, if you can, stop and ask yourself: “Will this problem/event/thought mean anything to me in two years time?” If not try to let it go.
Ruminating over things that have happened in the past or focusing on things that you have no control over will do you no good. In fact, they can not only impact the health of your entire body and not in a good way. Stress and it’s corresponding release of cortisol within our bodies can work against us to prevent or slow down the rate of fat loss, especially around our tummy.
Breath work and visualisation are great tools to work stress out of our systems. If you can, at the first signs of upset, take 3 long, deep slow breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth. Focus on taking in good positive life affirming energy as you inhale and as you exhale, let go of anything that does not serve you in this moment. We only ever have this moment right now under our control and it’s worth remembering that. Our power to let go and heal is in this very next breath so use it!
I have a whole e-book dedicated to transforming your life with healthy habits and making that transformation as easy as possible. You can find it here
Take A Balanced Approach To Eating:
Eat responsibly! You might not want to hear that but there is no way around it. If you want to maintain your weight or lose body fat you have to eat responsibly. To lose weight, you must take in less calories than you use up in a day…and that my friends, is never going to change.
However, I believe we can still eat the things we like and get results, if we are reasonable. For example, having a biscuit with a cup of tea after dinner will very unlikely ruin your fat loss goals for that day…5 biscuits, however, will!
We need to recognise and accept that weight loss is down to eating less calories than we burn everyday. My advice to most people starting a fat loss plan is to get to know how many calories you are taking in everyday for a week to see what is happening right now. Once you know that figure you can work to create a slight deficit through reducing your food intake and increasing your expenditure through exercise.
I hope you’ve found these tips helpful. Please feel free to share or comment below.
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