8 FACTORS NOT TO MISS FOR SUCCESSFUL WEIGHT LOSS
You might think you have all bases covered, you’re exercising regularly and eating well (and tracking your nutrients, proteins, carbs etc) in a sustainable way but you’re just not hitting your weight loss goals. Why did the plan work for your colleague but not for you? Sound familiar? It does to our health coaches. No matter how strict your diet or how flawless your fitness routine, these 8 factors will be at the root of your results.
Sleep: Why It’s Crucial For Successful Weight Loss
This is a hot topic between my health coaching clients and me and it never gets old. Sleep is essential for our body and brain’s recovery; getting 7-9 hours of sleep per night is important for regulating our bodily functions including balancing hormones. It is ideal to have a regular sleep schedule, going to sleep and waking at a similar time every night to stabilize your circadian rhythm. This controls hormonal rhythms (such as melatonin, insulin, glucagon, cortisol and estrogen) through downstream effects. Can you start to see why your quantity and quality matter so much!
We need good quality sleep to optimize our metabolism. If we are tired we may feel more hungry more often which is not going to help our eating habits and ability to feel in control around food. Sleep is one major source of fuel for your body and mind. If you are running low on fuel, the rest of your body is going to have to sacrifice function to provide more, this is another reason we see hormone imbalances more commonly these days. We are a society of go-go-go and forget just how productive rest and sleep are!
So how do you prep for a restorative night’s sleep?
Eliminate blue light for at least 1.5 hours before bedtime. Ideally no tech but if we need a more realistic list I’d say your phone, bright lights and computer are first to go. I find that taking time to read, write, breathe and practice self care really leaves me with a calming feel and allows my body and brain to fall asleep much easier, I highly recommend trying!
Meditation or breathing exercises. This could be for 5 minutes or half an hour. I go into more detail here.
Eat your evening meal 3 hours before sleep time. This gives your body time to digest your food so your body isn’t still trying to digest as it is being asked to rest, some are more sensitive than others here. To help with digestion I like to take an evening walk with my dog after dinner (this can also help your circadian rhythm).
Sometimes there are deeper factors impacting a client’s sleep and need to do a deeper dive. If you’re already practicing these things above, and still having trouble sleeping, please get in touch so we can help!
2. Stress: It’s a Powerful Thing
Sometimes stress is unavoidable, it is a part of all of our lives and I think it’s important to mention that we are never trying to rid our lives of all our stress, however, what we are trying to do, is improve how we respond to stress, minimize and vary the types so they aren’t also all at once. Stressors that are common “out of your hands” are things like raising kids, death, and other hardships. Our VRHC coaches work with clients to learn habits to improve how stress is felt physiologically and psychologically; it’s foundations like these that are VITAL to a successful weight loss journey.
When we are chronically stressed, our bodies enter a commonly heard of state called”fight or flight”. This state evolved as a survival mechanism. It’s the body's way of helping to protect itself from possible harm. During fight or flight, certain hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, are released into the blood and give the body energy to ‘fight’.
However, if the stressor is a deadline at work, you’re not going to utilize this energy surge (often an increase in blood glucose) like you would running from a lion and the heightened blood sugar and insulin levels can lead to greater fat storage. If you live in a perpetual state of stress, this is going to build and build, creating some very unwanted feelings that could feel like fatigue, energy dips, night time wake ups, trouble sleeping, anxiety, weight gain and more.
The basic foundations I start clients with are in more detail in this blog, but to give you an idea of where to start, try these:
Make time for yourself: Even if it’s just 15 minutes, give yourself some quality time to unwind by taking a bath, lighting candles or stretching.
Journalling: It’s so powerful! A problem shared is a problem halved, if you can get your stressed thoughts out on a page it’s a release. It could be seemingly mundane or it could be huge and not solvable by writing it down but at least it is a step towards dealing with it.
Sunlight: This is so easy to implement and will make a huge difference. (note, it doesn’t need to be sunny, just exposing yourself to sunlight is enough) You could have your morning coffee by the window, walk to work or take a lunch break outside. This will all help your circadian rhythm and by taking a break it will give your brain time to reset.
3. Weight Training is Your Best Friend
It is such a common misconception that if women lift they’ll get bulky. This is simply not true. What you should know about strength training is that it is a great opportunity to improve your blood sugar balance.
Did you know that the more muscle you have the more calories you actually burn when stationary? Wild! And hence why it is a key component to upregulating your metabolism and weight loss. Check out this blog on toning up for more info.
I know it can be intimidating in the weights section of the gym (and it can be unsafe to launch into lifting without any guidance at all), so I suggest booking in a free call to allow us to help guide you both for comfort and for knowledge as you start your strength training journey. We offer casual advice, virtual personal training or coaching to help, we’ll see what is best for you at this point in your journey.
Also, this isn’t to say you should abandon cardio, humans are made to move! And cardio is an important part of your cardiovascular health (your heart). Physical activity is a great healer for stress and has a positive effect on mental health. It can become a competition with yourself to get to your step count everyday, you could go for a run or simply park further from the office, take the stairs or walk round the block at lunch.
4. Are You Eating Enough Good Fats?
Fats have been demonized forever. But healthy fats affect our hormones greatly, and with hormones playing a big role at a cellular level in our bodies, this ultimately impacts our weight loss.
So, if you’ve tried a million diets where restricting foods is the focus, it might be a lack of healthy fats that are hindering your results.
Here are some examples of healthy fats and how to easily incorporate them into your diet:
Avocados: Let’s be real, they go with everything! Eggs, mexican beans, on their own, in a salad, go wild girl.
Nuts: SO versatile. Sprinkle them on your salad, toast walnuts to go in your pasta sauce, blend peanuts for a satay or add them to your oatmeal.
Oily fish: Can you replace some of the red meat you eat with oily fishes like mackerel? It’s also great for your brain functions so it’s a win win. I love smoked peppered mackerel with potatoes and salad, it’s a super quick midweek dinner.
The amount of fats you need is personal, however most women need more than 45g of fat daily to properly support their hormones. We all need different foods (ie: cholesterol status and digestive capacity…) and also react differently to them, so that is why an individualized diet approach is best!
Sometimes there can be underlying factors dictating the right balance for you, we often will run labs to streamline the process of understanding your body and symptoms but we are careful to make sure the foundational ‘free’ things aren’t overlooked. In fact, nutrition coaching is a huge part of VRHC and we take time to help you find the strategy that works for you, whether you’re totally clueless in the kitchen or have a large family to feed. And a quick side note, we customize our coaching programs so focusing solely on one area of your development first can be an option for those on a budget but need the help.
5. Do You Know Your Carb Tolerance?
As mentioned above, nutrition is different for each one of us. And I can relate to a lot of what you’re thinking as I’ve tried all the diets! I did keto, Atkins (when it was a greater trend), paleo, whole30, vegan, weight watchers and so many others. I was there too thinking “why did paleo work for “Lacey” but not for me?” and “Why did I have the worst digestive issues eating keto and the weight barely budged but others thrived and lost 15+ pounds?”
We all process nutrients differently (I’ll spare explaining why right now) however when it comes to carbohydrates, this group of nutrients is also one that varies person to person. Some of us will need more carbs for energy while others struggle to use them for energy and experience greater blood sugar spikes and drops.
Ultimately, weight loss comes down to consuming less energy than you expend, but, this is a BIG BUT, it is not as simple as eating less and moving more if you don’t first check on the systems that are regulating you. To start, I recommend getting consistent to be able to understand your body. It’s hard to hear it when you are inconsistent in what you are doing, you don’t know if you feel one way because you ate too little overall, too much of this nutrient, too little of another. This is why consistency is preached so much! PS: This is another huge focus of our coaching, those who have always struggled to be consistent… we got you!
Again, in this section, we return to blood sugar levels so as an action step to start to understand if your blood sugar is at play, begin to note down how you feel after eating certain foods and certain amounts of foods. If you have a crash after a meal, what did you eat and how can you alter it next time to find the right amount?
6. Do You Know if Your Thyroid Function is Healthy?
Many of you might not realize that what you are feeling (the not so good feels) are stemming from less than optimal thyroid function. Because there are so many symptoms that overlap with what you might feel like if your thyroid isn’t optimal, it can often be overlooked (or sometimes the opposite, hyper focused on and it’s not the issue).
Your thyroid function has great power over your metabolism. What you will often find is that standard labs run by general practitioners actually miss data that is pertinent to understanding how well your thyroid is functioning. You will often see lab markers like TSH only or TSH and Free T4 only…and this misses out on more than half the information you need to understand your thyroid function. TSH is only the signal from the brain to the thyroid, not actually the function of your thyroid. And without Free T3 you don’t understand the energy conversion that you have (this is one common area that is disrupted and one might feel low energy because of it).
So, what should you be checking? TSH, Free T4, Free T3, Reverse T3 and also your antibodies either TPO or Thyroglobulin.
By educating yourself you can better advocate for yourself and your health and ask your doctor to run a FULL set of labs, however, if you are finding that you are losing the battle of advocating for information on your body, apply with us and we can get that done for you and help you learn how to talk to your doctor to help you get them covered by insurance too.
7. Intermittent Fasting Could be For You
There’s a lot of different advice floating around out there surrounding the ‘best’ times to eat, the amounts you should eat, what you should stay away from and how often is ‘best’. As said before, it’s important to look at you individually before deciding what you ‘should’ do. Small, frequent meals throughout the day might be best for your neighbor, but not for you. And also, strategies change with the state of your health and body, keep this in mind!
I have no doubt that you’ve heard about intermittent fasting. It can be a great tool in the RIGHT situation, but in the WRONG situation, it can make things much worse. Before deciding to try intermittent fasting it is best to consider whether your blood sugars are fluctuating and WHY they are fluctuating as well as understanding your adrenal health, thyroid health and hormone balance. Blindly using IF without knowing it is the right fit, is a recipe for potentially digging a deeper hole of issues, be careful!
Once you know that IF is a fit for you, try starting with a 12 hour fast and 10 hour eating window before tightening that up further with a longer fasting time. How long you utilize the tool is also dependent on the results you are seeing and your other bodily symptoms and functions. It’s important to monitor and not think that IF is a way of life, but instead a temporary tool to achieve a response from the body.
8. The Sneakiness of Everyday Toxins
Now that you know the power of thyroid, pituitary and adrenal gland function (our endocrine system) for stabilizing blood sugar and energy levels it’s important to take good care of them. If something interferes with our endocrine system, it impacts how much fat we store.
In our everyday lives, however, there are toxins that can interrupt this system too: plasticizers like bisphenol A, or BPA; dioxins; phthalates; and pesticides like DDT. These can be found in plastic bottles, non-organic foods, drinks cans and receipts. They disrupt the communication between our hormones and fat cells meaning we may start to store more fat.
I wrote a blog on how to detoxify your life which will give you more detail, but some quick suggestions would be to buy organic when possible (specifically the dirty dozen which the ewg.org releases each year based on studies), use clean beauty products and cleaning chemicals and avoid pesticides when gardening. The blog I reference here gives you some ideas of how and what to switch them out with.
The next steps…
There’s a lot to unpack here, I suggest going one by one through the 8 thoughts above to start checking in on your body, mind and lifestyle to make some of the smaller lifestyle changes first. See how that goes and if you find yourself lacking consistency, still feeling quite crummy or with an inability to lose weight, reach out, we are here to help!
Our health, nutrition and fitness coaches will help you make the journey easier, get in touch and we can help you decide if a consultation or coaching is a good fit and create the package that suits your budget.