Weight Loss Tips You Might Not Have Tried Yet…and What Tips To Avoid
I’ve talked a lot about health, diet, and fitness myths in the past. (You can read some of these posts here: 4 Myths You Can Abandon, 5 More Myths!, Components of Healthy Weight Loss, and Troubleshooting Weight Loss.)
I’d like to go through some of these from a different angle while also discussing some new ideas you might not have considered yet.
Things to Ditch:
Meal replacement shakes, unless you make them yourself with high-quality ingredients.
Detox drinks and nothing else for 3 days.
Obsessing over lowering and counting calories.
Over-training — sweating too much or being too sore after workouts.
Relying on willpower to get through your day, limiting and restricting yourself until you end up going overboard.
Any supplement that claims to “burn body fat.”
Trying to out-exercise or out-supplement a poor diet.
Targeting trouble areas on your body, obsessively trying to change its shape.
Jumping from trend to trend — whether in the fitness world (like these recumbent bikes that literally have offered nothing new), nutrition world (going from keto to carnivore to cleansing to vegan to…), or supplement world.
Only doing cardio workouts.
Added sugars, inflammatory seed oils (like canola), and any food that causes inflammation (like gas, bloating, acne, anxiety, etc.)
Things to Do Instead:
Eating balanced meals that prioritize getting enough protein first and foremost.
In general, hitting your daily protein targets before considering carbs or fat.
Eating a minimum of 1,800 calories daily and always eating a different “total” per day. Getting clear on this is important.
Drinking small sips of water and electrolytes all throughout the day.
Getting a minimum of 30 minutes outdoors, intentionally, every day — even in bad weather conditions.
Prioritizing sleep — developing a wind-down routine, using blue blocking glasses, setting a specific temperature, etc. Quality and quantity are important here.
Managing stress.
Strength train.
Don’t under-eat fat — we cannot make healthy hormone signals without it, and the body will not burn stored fat without those signals.
Ensure you’re actually digesting and absorbing your food.
Focus on getting the highest-quality food possible.
Clean up the array of personal and home care products you use — many of these contain additives that disrupt hormones, mess with the thyroid, and promote body fat storage.
Use body measurements (with a tailor’s measuring tape) over reliance on a scale to tell you how your weight loss journey is going.
Address nutrient deficiencies — if you’re on any medications, chances are you need to supplement, either with something targeted or a high-quality multivitamin. I suggest the former, and this might require a quick consult.
Either cycle in some intermittent fasting OR reduce your intermittent fasting if you’ve been doing it a while.
Emphasizing a Few Key Points
What do balanced meals look like?
The main macronutrients are proteins, carbs, and fats. Determining how much is right for you can either be determined through trial-and-error (which takes a while to nail down) or through a professional consultation. Either way, I like to tell people to prioritize getting enough protein first and foremost. Focusing on this macronutrient specifically helps build muscle, reduce body fat, increase metabolism, and control cravings. A good place to start is 0.6 to 0.8 grams of protein (in the food, not on a scale) per pound of body weight.
Isn’t cutting calories good for weight loss — calories in, calories out?
The better approach is to keep your body guessing with switching your total caloric intake every day. I recommend not going below 1,800 because — especially if you’re exercising in any capacity — not providing enough fuel to your body will greatly diminish your metabolism and capacity to actually burn stored body fat. I’ve written about this extensively in the past — look at the links above.
What does a good wind-down routine include, in order to get better sleep?
Definitely pencil in the time you should ideally start relaxing in order for you, personally, to be able to fall asleep “on time” (you’ll want to ensure you give yourself a window of at least 7 hours to actually be asleep). Reducing screen time, or using the blue blockers (linked above), can help, but specifically: stop working by dinnertime and enjoy a meal at a table, seated, with your family. Spend quality time. Read a book. Take a bath. Do a skincare routine. Journal. Listen to a podcast. Follow a guided meditation. Go for a walk. Knit, color, or perform any other relaxing hobby you enjoy. Dim the lights. These kinds of things — which are similar to the ways to reduce life’s overall stressload.
Is prioritizing strength training over cardio workouts THAT important?
Yes, yes it is. Building muscle mass helps boost your metabolism, improve functioning of bodily systems, and provide sustainable energy. Similar to the reasons to prioritize protein over other foods, enhancing lean muscle mass aids in burning body fat and promoting a long, healthy life into old age. Cardio is good to cycle in every once in a while but the best ways to do that are short-duration, high-intensity cycles.
How do I know if I’m digesting and absorbing my food properly, or if I have nutrient deficiencies?
Do you have any lingering symptoms that tell you something is wrong? These can include, but are not limited to, things like headaches, anxiety, rosacea on your face, eczema anywhere, constipation or diarrhea, bloating, heartburn, brain fog, etc. To find out the root cause, working with a professional is the best route, but you can also try elimination diets or cycling in some high-quality supplements. In general, most people taking any sort of medication regularly — including hormonal birth control — are suffering from reduced digestive function and, therefore, nutrient deficiencies.
How do I take bodily measurements to track my progress, and when does the scale actually come in handy?
The scale is useful if you’re severely overweight or obese. Otherwise, if you’re losing those last 10-15 lbs. (or less), it might not be super accurate to show you what’s happening.
When you have very little to lose, or you’re trying to push past your body’s set point, the focus is going to be more on body composition over body weight. Why? Because in order to have that lean, strong appearance — and fit into smaller clothing — burning body fat WHILE increasing and maintaining muscle mass is the way to go. In this situation, you are changing the composition of what’s on your body — from fat to muscle. This can give that awesome aesthetic ideal that many of us chase in our “weight loss” efforts. But surprise! You might not actually “lose weight.”
Muscle mass is more dense than fat so when you increase this, the scale might not move much, if at all. You might even GAIN a pound or two! But if you look in the mirror, or compare before and after photos, your physique is much more lean and (the word I hate but what most folks say) “toned.” You lose inches everywhere and increase strength, resilience, endurance, and much more!
To take accurate measurements, you’ll need a tailor’s tape measure, tracking sheets, and to learn how to take consistent measurements in the same locations at each of your milestones (determined by you). Check out this video for where to take the measurements, and ignore the stupid scale recommendation… like I’ve been saying, it’s not always helpful.
Check out this video from some of my favorite fitness gurus for more information.
