The Fundamentals of Weight Loss
People assume I’ve always been a naturally thin person.
They have no idea that I struggled with my weight for years.
I went from diet to diet looking for the perfect one for me.
I ran 5 miles a day, 6 days a week in an attempt to run off the weight.
NO LUCK!
I’d lose some weight but then I’d always gain it all back (plus some).
I was tired of the diet roller-coaster.
I was tired of having to starve myself, count calories, weight my food, and the massive overeating that happened anytime I just couldn’t hold on anymore.
I was trying to make weight loss harder than it needed to be.
I thought there was only two ways to lose weight – some sort of diet or surgery of some sort.
I’d done dieting and that didn’t last.
I also had family that went the surgery route and that didn’t last either.
I knew there had to be a way to eat like a “normal person” and be at a normal weight and once I found it, I was going to teach it to other women.
I found it and now I’m going to teach you.
Today I want to share with you the 5 Fundamentals of weight loss.
We tend to overcomplicate weight loss. And we make it harder than it needs to be.
It really comes down to these 5 basic things:
Fundamental 1 – Sleep
Most human beings need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep every night.
Very few can go off less.
The world’s greatest athletes and most successful people make sleep their number one priority. That’s how important it is.
If you want to lose weight and be at your natural weight, you need your sleep.
There are lots of reasons this is fundamental 1, but the number one reason is because we tend to overeat when we’re tired, and we typically overeat sugary junk food.
We’re looking for a quick hit of energy to keep us going when what our body really needs is rest.
During our sleep is also the time when the body repairs itself including building muscle, new cells, and getting rid of excess fat.
Fundamental 2 – Drink lots of water.
I recommend starting with ½ your body weight in oz and adjusting from there.
If the body is dehydrated it can mimic hunger and cause us to overeat when really all it’s asking for is water.
Our body also needs lots of water to function properly.
Our organs, our digestive system, our thinking, our endocrine system -meaning our hormones -our metabolism all need plenty of water to function properly.
When they’re at their proper functioning level, it’s much easier for us to be at our natural weight.
Fundamental 3 – Eat when you’re truly hungry and stop when you’re satisfied (not full)
The reason we are carrying more weight than we’d like is because we’re eating more than our body needs for fuel.
To put it plainly, we’re overeating.
Lucky for us, body was designed with a built-in hunger meter.
It can tell us when it’s empty and needs fuel and when it’s had enough.
We just need to pay attention.
In order to do this we have to really tune in to our bodies.
This means we have to know the difference between true physical hunger and emotional hunger.
Most of us confuse the two.
They are very similar feeling, but there is a difference:
One will help you lose weight and the other will cause you to overeat and gain weight.
The easiest way to tell which hunger is which is to once again check in with your body.
If you’re craving something very specific that’s not on your plan (which we’ll talk about here in a minute) then it’s usually emotional hunger.
You’re wanting to eat to fill an emotional need – maybe you’re craving chips or chocolate or an apple or some nuts even (it can be healthy too) when really you’re just needing something to entertain you because you’re bored.
So check-in with yourself and see if you’re truly physically hungry, if you are eat, or if it’s emotional hunger!
If you’re not sure, drink some water and wait 30 minutes and then check back in.
When you’re truly physically hungry you’ll know.
The other half of this fundamental is to stop when you’re satisfied not full.
These days we tend to miss the signal from our body that we’ve fed it enough and we keep on eating.
Usually this is because we eat distracted.
We tune out and eat while reading or watching tv or scrolling on our phones and we miss the message.
It’s really subtle and we need to be listening for it.
Another reason we eat past satisfied is because we eat too fast we don’t give our stomach enough time to signal to the brain that we can stop eating.
We’re just gobbling gobbling and before you know it we’ve eaten too much food.
We need to slow down and pay attention or we’ll miss the signal and end up overeating.
Fundamental 4 – Plan your food ahead of time and then stick to that plan no matter what
There is a ton of scientific evidence to back this up.
I go into the details in my free Breakup With Emotional Eating Guide, if you haven’t already you’ll want to download it. You can find it HERE
Planning is key! “If you fail to plan, plan to fail.”
We make better choices when we plan ahead.
What should you put on your plan?
I know a lot of you are going to try to go all “Cameron Diez” on me and write down only what you would deem “healthy foods” or “allowed” foods from your past diets.
This is the biggest mistake I see because then you just turn it into another diet.
It’s really hard and it uses a ton of willpower if you’re used to eating McDonalds and Taco Bell and ice cream every day, and then all of a sudden it’s all off limits and you’re only allowed to have baked chicken breast, broccoli and an orange (or maybe not depending on if you consider fruit to be a good food or a bad food).
This is why diets aren’t sustainable. They feel like a punishment.
What I recommend and encourage you to do is to start where you are.
Write down the foods you typically eat and drink.
Now I know what you’re thinking:
You’re thinking, how is that going to help me lose weight?
I promise you it will and here’s why:
When you write down and plan your food ahead of time, you start to be intentional about your eating.
Not only will you have a plan, which will keep you from mindlessly going to the pantry or freezer and grabbing whatever is convenient, you’ll also be taking all the emotion out of eating.
Planning ahead of time uses the wise part of our brain that is able to have your weight loss goal in mind and make better choices.
It also helps hold you accountable to yourself. Which just improves your relationship.
Fundamental 5 – Manage your mindset
One of the most common misconceptions about weight loss is that it’s all about the food, well food and exercise, calories in and calories out.
It’s only a teeny tiny bit about the food.
The hardest part of weight loss is controlling our mind around it.
Losing the diet mentality, the all or nothing restrictive thinking, and learning to think differently.
Our thoughts can either help us or hinder us when it comes to weight loss.
Remember our thoughts equal our results.
If you’re thinking “I can’t lose weight. It’s too hard”, guess what your result will be – you won’t lose weight.
Our emotional eating, eating when we’re not truly physically hungry, is also caused by our thoughts.
We think a thought and that thought creates a feeling, an emotion.
That emotion drives our actions.
And what we do or don’t do creates to our results.
Our mindset everything!
The way we do life is the way we do food.
This is why it’s so important to focus on your thoughts.
As you can see, these 5 fundamentals are actually quite simple.
And because they’re simple to do, they’re simple not to do, but I promise you they work you just have to use them and apply them.
One of the principles of becoming A Joyful You is wisdom.
The difference between a person who is knowledgeable and a person who is wise is a wise person applies what they learn.
So please take these things and start applying them today.
If you’d like some help, I really want to encourage you to join me in The Joyful Body Breakthrough– a group coaching program where we’ll go into details on each of these fundamentals as well as I’ll teach you to do the mental and emotional work of weight loss
If you’re ready to go all in with me and not just change your body but also change your entire brain and your relationship with yourself and with food so you never have to diet again, then this is the program for you. Come and check out the program HERE. I’ll take care of you there and we’ll continue on this journey.
