Many of my articles come from the topics I find myself explaining most often when working with clients and common comments or questions I receive. If you have a question or topic you'd like me to address, please email me! I'm all ears!
There are a few factors to consider for true, sustainable weight loss:
Time It's SLOW. As much as we would all probably love it if we lost 5 pounds overnight, or after only a week of healthy eating and exercising, it just doesn't happen that way. Typically, it takes time to put weight on, so it's going to take time for it to come off. When it does come off quickly, it usually doesn't last long and the weight returns, or it's mainly water weight, which is the situation with a lot of low-carb diets as carbohydrates help our bodies hold on to water to maintain a homeostatic electrolyte balance. The recommended time frame for weight loss is 0.5-2 pounds per week. Our bodies don't like big changes, so we tend to stay within a certain range, or "set point", and it takes patience to change that range in the long-term. For example, if you lost say, 20 pounds in a month, you would likely regain that weight (and perhaps plus some) because it was too drastic and the body likely thought that it was starving. The body doesn't want to be starving, so eventually any willpower you had to keep calories low, or energy to exercise an hour every day, will likely be overridden by the body's instincts to maintain a certain body fat percentage in case of starvation. And because this happy weight loss was perceived by the body as starvation, it will likely store additional weight just in case this happens again. What's worse, is much of this weight loss was probably water, muscle, and only a bit of fat since it happened so quickly. On the other hand, if you lost that weight over 5 months, however, it's so slow and steady that the body doesn't notice as much and it is adapting with you. The weight loss is more likely coming from fat and it's more like to stay off. Additionally, a common misconception is that we can't lose weight due to a slow metabolism. Metabolism, however, is just our basal metabolic rate (BMR), the calories (energy) needed for basic functions of the body (breathing, heart beat, etc.) even if we were to do absolutely no activity at all. Those with a higher weight have a higher BMR, those with a lower weight have a lower BMR. When we diet, we are actually reducing our BMR, or reducing our metabolism. As we eat less and less and lose weight, our bodies need less and less calories to function. And eventually you find yourself miserable eating only 1200 calories a day wondering why you're not losing weight. Our resting metabolic rate is the calories (energy) we burn at rest. It is possible to improve this amount of energy. The more lean muscle mass we hold on our bodies, the more calories we burn at rest. Additionally, the more activity we perform each day, the more calories we burn in general. I typically recommend a calorie deficit of around 200-500 calories/day through either exercise alone or a combination of exercise and food. If we aim to just eat less and we feel hungry day-to-day, that is when we start to have more issues with slowing our metabolisms, but there are some factors at play that can involve reducing dietary calories, while still feeling satiated.
Calories It does come down to calories. Typically, a calorie surplus results in weight gain, and a calorie deficit results in weight loss. HOWEVER, there are numerous factors that affect how easily or difficult it is to achieve a calorie deficit. Quantity matters, but so does quality. Consider a 100-calorie snack pack, for example. Only 100 calories, right? Must be good! But, how do you feel after eating one of those things? Satisfied? Or still hungry? My bet is you still feel hungry, and if this is the case, likely to consume additional calories. Even though the amount of calories was low, the product itself is made with refined sugar and flour, two things that a) don't fill us up, leading us to consume additional calories, and b) often cause blood sugar highs and lows, leading us to consume additional calories and prevents weight loss. Why is unbalanced blood sugar a problem for weight loss? When our blood sugar spikes, we produce insulin. Insulin does a lot of great things in our bodies, however, it is also known as our "fat storing hormone." So, in simple terms, when we eat foods that spike our blood sugar, insulin shows up to take care of that sugar and gets it where it needs to go. It will either go to the liver or muscles for storage, get used as energy, or get stored as body fat. Because our blood sugar goes up quickly, it comes down quickly, causing an urgency to eat immediately, and usually something carb/sugar dense to bring our blood sugar back up quickly, starting the cycle all over again. Glucagon is a hormone that comes out when insulin is not present. It comes out when our blood sugar drops and helps bring it back up to homeostatic levels. It is known as the "fat burning hormone." We will tend to burn fat when our blood sugar is more steady. When our blood sugar drops too low, too fast, it triggers our need to eat something immediately, using food to elevate our blood sugar, never letting glucagon a chance to do that for us. When our blood sugar dips over time, we may feel hungry in between meals, but it's more mild and we don't feel an urgent need to eat, allowing glucagon to come in and burn stored fat for fuel. Glucagon also comes out during extreme starvation to use fat stores as fuel, but starvation is not a healthy or sustainable way to lose weight. Did you know all this could be happening from one measly little snack pack? This kind of thing can happen with any carbohydrate, especially a refined carb, that is eaten alone, which is why I always advocate for balanced meals and snacks. On the flip side, eating vegetables and enough protein actually helps improve satiety, while likely decreasing calories naturally - without using willpower! Consider chips vs. carrots. If you were left to eat as many chips as you could and as many carrots as you could, which bag would you be able to finish? Probably the chips. Refined foods don't take up much room in the stomach, so although we get loads of calories from them, they don't fill us up much. Carrots, on the other hand, have a lot of fiber and water, causing them to be more filling because they're high in volume, and soon we feel too full to eat anymore of them. This happens similarly with protein as protein and the physical expansion of our stomachs are two factors that actually send satiety signals to our brains. This doesn't mean we can't eat chips! Just that we are more likely to overeat them, especially if not eating mindfully. I do recommend learning how to put together balanced, healthy meals over following a diet due to the time and calorie factors. Diets often boast that they help weight come off quickly, and it's usually true, but most people gain that weight back just as quickly. This happens because many diets are not sustainable in the long term. Most people I work with say they could follow a diet for a few weeks or a month or two, and then get sick of the food or the rules. Furthermore, there's nothing special about diets. There is no one diet that is going to be that magical cure for weight loss.* While it's true that some diets actually focus on better quality and more nutrient-dense foods, they are still all just different ways to cut calories, typically by limiting or eliminating whole food groups, like carbohydrates or fats. *Unless that "diet" is more of protocol for healing and a lot of inflammation is being healed by eating healthier and weight loss is a natural part of that healing process. Though again, these are still not meant to last forever.
Combating Factors Other factors like stress, inflammation, and poor sleep can and often do play a role in making weight loss more difficult, despite efforts to eat healthily and exercise regularly. Read about why stress and sleep affect weight loss efforts. Inflammation affects weight because if our bodies are too busy fighting inflammation, they aren't focused on weight loss. Inflammation occurs due to a wide variety of factors including environmental toxins, poor diet, excess exercise, poor sleep, and stress.
Eating well and losing weight is not all that complicated, but it does involve patience, and often ignoring all the diet hype while focusing on the science of human physiology. If you're confused by the changing science and recommendations and need more guidance with what to eat, schedule a discovery call to learn more about how working with a registered dietitian can help you understand food and reach your health goals.
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