You’ve finally reached your last straw, and you’re ready to commit. You’re tired of feeling the same way every day and complaining about it. You have that fitness goal ahead of you, and you’re finally ready to commit to the journey to get there. Hopping on the computer to find answers to the questions you have along the way, you just become overwhelmed. There’s so many solutions to weight loss according to the internet. It’s easy to become buried under all the “do this to lose weight” lists you find along the way.
If this is you, you’ve come to the right place. I want to help make this as simple and pain free as possible. Because it really doesn’t have to be that hard. You just have to drown out the extra noise and stick to the basics. So let’s get to it!
Where to start- the foundation
As with building anything, you have to start from the ground up- create a foundation.
You need to label this new journey as a lifestyle rather than a diet. A diet is temporary, while a lifestyle is more permanent. By having this mental shift, you give yourself grace. You don’t need to hurry to move from your current position to your desired destination. This is where I’ve failed a lot in the past. I wanted to reach my weight goal quickly and then get back to eating what I wanted. It simply doesn’t work that way.
This is where you set goals. (Notice I used plural there.) You don’t want to have just one big goal that you make and not be finished until you’ve reached it. I was 207 pounds back in 2013 when I started my journey. It was extremely daunting to say I wanted to lose a minimum of 50 pounds. I didn’t set mini goals until I buckled down at the end of 2018. Setting five pound weight loss goals not only busted my moral, it kept me going when I hit plateaus. So be realistic and have lots of grace with yourself!
Nutrition
Ugh, this is another area that can be easily overwhelming by searching on the internet. Every diet you come across (there will be a lot!) come with promises of quick and easy weight loss. According to an article I came across, there are around 45 million Americans who go on diets each year. Americans spend $33 billion dollars on products to lose weight yearly. Many people are searching in numerous places. They are looking for answers on how to lose weight.
We need to simplify things, not make it more complicated. We need to ask “what’s the cause of gaining weight?” and then do the opposite in pursuit of weight loss.
You gain weight by consuming too many calories. So what are calories then anyway?
A calorie represents the energy your body uses for activities. These activities include breathing, speaking, and walking. So simply put, calories equal energy. If you’re consuming more calories than you’re needing for your daily activities, the excess energy get stored as fat in the body,
With that established, let’s get to the meat and potatoes. You need to be expending more energy than what you’re consuming. Start counting how many calories you’re consuming each meal. We often consume more than we think we do. Let food labels and food scales become your best friends. Don’t start counting things like carbs, protein, and fats until later on down the road. This goes along with setting mini goals. Starting with small, manageable steps will get you to your larger goals.
Now here comes the next question- how many calories am I supposed to consume? I’ve found an online calorie calculator that will help you with this. Every person’s needs are different (depends on weight, height, age, gender). Don’t go eating 12,000 calories because a fitness person on YouTube told you to. The same can go the other way. Don’t go off eating 24,000 calories because some other person on Instagram figured out how to raise her metabolic health level to support those kinds of calories without repercussions.
I’ll be writing another blog later on about metabolic health. For now, we’re sticking to building your foundation. Find out how many calories you personally need to be consuming and start tracking how many you’re taking in.
Exercising
Now that we’ve established the importance of consuming calories, let’s discuss the importance of exerting them. You don’t need to be spending an hour a day at the gym seven days a week. Tie this into your mini goals. Doing 30 minute workouts a day 3-5 days a week is a fantastic goal. Also be mindful of your activity level outside of that designated workout time. Too often, we exercise and then become sedentary for the rest of the day. This can be due to factors like tiredness or soreness. The goal here is to move more. As long as you’re moving, you’re using energy, no matter what workout you choose.
Daily “Musts”
SLEEP! You must be getting an adequate amount of sleep. According to Mayo Clinic, adults need at least 7 hours of sleep each night to support good health. “Sleep is nutrition for the brain”, Amy Paturel simply puts it on WebMD. She continues to write about how not enough sleep triggers high cortisol (the stress hormone) levels in the body. This causes your body to respond by holding onto fat. Lack of sleep also leads to your body not being about to process insulin correctly. “When your body doesn’t respond properly to insulin, your body has trouble processing fats from your bloodstream, so it ends up storing them as fat.”, Amy also states in her article.
Another thing you have to make sure you’re getting enough of is water. Hydration keeps muscles and organs functioning properly. According to an article from MedicalNewsToday, women need to drink at least 9 cups and men need to drink 13 cups of water daily to support good health. It also states that drinking water can actually aid in burning calories. Water can also act as an appetite suppressant. If you aren’t drinking enough water, the body cues can be mistaken for hunger cues. Drink enough water, you’ll feel fuller.
One last thing you’ll want to keep an eye on is your stress level. This ties back to where I mentioned cortisol levels. If you’re stressing about something, it will have negative effects on your body. Elevated cortisol levels can increase your appetite and fat storage (typically around the abdomen area). Cortisol is an important steroid hormone that we have to have. However, if cortisol is elevated for a prolonged period, it can negatively impact the body. These impacts include changes in how our body processes insulin, as mentioned above.
Action Plan
Just keep it simple. Don’t over complicate it. This journey to good health is fun and challenging, filled with lots of up and a whole lot of downs.
-Set mini goals that will help get you to your ultimate goal
-Set your calorie consumption goal and track your calories. Make sure that you’re expending more than you’re taking in. If you’re interested in finding a calorie tracking app, comment below. I’ll share with you which app I use and recommend.
-Setup a realistic workout plan that works for you. You don’t have to go crazy. Movement is key. Start out simple and work your way up to where you want to be.
-Get at least 7 hours of sleep each night to properly support your body and hormones.
-If you’re a woman, try to drink at least 9 cups of water daily. If you’re a man, aim for 13 cups daily.
-Allocate more time in your day to peace and quietness to help keep your stress levels down. Spending time with God can be a huge help!
For More Info
If you’d like to hear my own health transformation story, you can check it out by clicking this link.
Please email me at [email protected] or comment below if you’d like more information on this topic or would just like to chat!
I will be sharing more content related to weight loss tips and health, so you’ll want to keep an eye out for that. Thanks so much for supporting me by reading my content!
Always cheering you on,
Cassondra