3 Habits To Ditch for Weight Loss
Most clients I see have weight loss somewhere on there list of things they want addressed. If you hung around my social media or webpage you’ll know that weight is really just a symptom of something deeper. We address those depths and the weight is a LOT easier to lose. But which of our daily habits are working against us in the battle to do our buttons up?
There are loads but let’s start with 3 that you can easily fix!
1. You skip breakfast
This sets you up for hunger later in the day as well as a pretty wild mood ride! Seriously, breakfast is an opportunity to balance your blood sugar levels by eating a protein rich meal that will also keep you satiated through the morning. WE set ourselves up for an energy deficit by skipping breakfast so lunch might be fine but come 3pm or even dinner time our body is so starved of energy we are insatiable! It’s a snowball effect. Skipping breakfast, or really any meal, can lead to weight gain and some crazy mood swings!
Be kind to yourself and eat the 3 meals a day and make them a good balance of protein, fats and wholefood (unrefined) carbs.
2. You are desperately doing cardio like running or walking
I know, I know we have been conditioned to think this is the best way to lose weight but it’s really stressing out the body! It can raise cortisol levels that can contribute to fat being laid down and also type 2 diabetes…the chronic cortisol elevation not the exercise alone. It’s confusing but in today’s world we seem to have an abundance of stress that doesn’t go away. Our bodies think we are under constant threat because it can’t tell the difference between the stress of running around after kids, traffic, work and deadlines or the stress of being chased by a bear or our survival being under threat. To our body it’s same same….and hard core cardio just adds to, and reinforces that.
Do yourself a favour and switch to yoga, walking, strength training and activities that are fun and make you laugh! Build muscle mass and enjoy yourself for maximum stress relief!
3. You are cutting out food groups like carbs or meat or dairy
Of course this will give you short term weight loss. You stopped eating all the foods you loved but give it time and you find substitutes and the weight piles back on. You also need a balanced diet to support a healthy metabolism to lose weight. Don’t forget that ‘metabolism’ refers to many chemical processes in the body not just how we use food for energy. It’s a lot more complicated and if we starve the body of nutrients by removing a food group, without putting in serious consideration as to how we will replace those nutrients we will end up with a less efficient metabolism that will likely end in weight gain.
Eat a balanced diet. If the only reason you are cutting out a whole food group is weight think again because you are likely going to gain weight in the long run. If you really need to cut out dairy or meat for health reasons then think very carefully about how you will make sure you get all the nutrients you need from other foods.
And of course if you need help with weight loss you can access my FREE webinar “end the Metabolic Madness’ right here https://bit.ly/EndtheMetabolicMadness2 for some sensible, down to earth advice from someone who understands the struggle (that’s me by the way).