Hello friend! I hope you’re having a beautiful week. I’ve been writing about nutrition, weight loss, and healing for a few years now (over 3 to be precise!!) and today I wanted to share with you a post that outlines the Top 5 Things I Wish Everyone Knew About Weight Loss. There are lots of myths floating around the nutrition and health world, so today’s post is designed to introduce you to a few different ones that, once learned, can make a huge difference in your attempts to lose weight and feel awesome!
You Can’t Outrun your Fork
There is a prevailing belief in weight loss world that losing weight is a simple matter of balancing calories in with calories out. Many people then end up starving themselves with hypo-caloric diets and adopting super intense exercise regiments in order to achieve the weight loss they desire. Does this sound familiar to you?
This belief means that we will often indulge in foods we know aren’t good for us with the caveat that we will “burn it off later” at the gym. Recent research suggests, however, that it is virtually impossible to “outrun” a bad diet and I know for me the combination of eating garbage food while working out intensely leaves me exhausted, bloated, and unhappy. This is because the food we eat send messages to our cells and thus can help control our body weight and health markers.
Eating donuts that are high in refined carbs and fried in unhealthy oils, while working out 6 days a week may work in your early twenties when your metabolism is running on high. However, the best way to achieve lasting weight loss is to transition to a whole-foods, biologically appropriate diet while find the exercise or activity that keeps your body humming along.
Fat Does not Make you Fat
Can we finally put this horrible myth to bed? Numerous studies have debunked this claim, which came along during the era when it was thought that fat clogged up your arteries and caused heart disease.
That whole concept, pushed forward by Ancel Keyes, was predicated on a study that focused on 7 countries where there seemed to be a relationship between saturated fat and cholesterol intake. However, what people don’t often mention is that the study actually looked at TWENTY-ONE countries, but Keyes just said “enh” and left off any countries that contradicted his hypothesis.
Now I’m not a scientist, but that doesn’t seem like the most rigourous scientific method. In fact, a meta-analysis of previously published studies on the diet-heart hypothesis showed that there is no connection between SFA intake and heart disease and another suggests that there is no justification in replacing SFAs in the diet with PUFAs, specifically vegetable oils.
Likewise, these fats do not typically get stored as fat unless we are smashing our daily caloric requirements. In fact this meta-analysis of over 50 studies showed that lower-carb diets lead to better weight loss outcomes than low fat diets.
You know what usually gets stored as fat? Carbs. Yup, that’s right. Sugar is toxic to our bodies in high amounts so when we consume huge amounts we tend to convert it to fat in the liver and store it on our booties. Not so sexy, huh?
Weight Gain is a Symptom, not a Cause
You may think that weight gain is the cause of all of our troubles; however, it is often a sign from your body that all is not well inside. These issues can take the form of hormonal imbalances, toxic overload, chronic inflammation, parasite overgrowth, bacterial imbalance, or systemic yeast infection.
In order to find the weight loss and body you desire, you must first heal your physical body by taking the proper steps to bring balance back into the mix. It is so important that this healing phase be undertaken with love and the knowledge that your body has been working hard to stay healthy.
If you give her the proper nutrients and take adequate rest, while guided by a qualified healthcare practitioner, you will be able to heal your physical body in a way that promotes healthy and lasting weight loss.
Weight Loss is a Byproduct of Good Health
This point ties in with the point above in that you will often lose weight as a byproduct of healing on the inside. As I discussed above, there is so much more complexity to the issue of weight loss than a mere calories in<calories out equation and oftentimes this necessitates healing the inside.
If you are constantly eating high sugar snacks and spiking our insulin and cortisol, we are going to be much more likely to store fat around our midsections. Likewise, if you are constantly inflamed from battling a parasite infection it is going to be a heck of a lot harder to lose weight just by cleaning up our diet.
While changing your diet is definitely the most important first step to take on a healing journey, it really just lays the foundation for further inquiry into what imbalances may be going on inside that need your love and attention. Once you commit to healing and creating a healthy body you will natural stabilize your weight without having to constantly counting calories or log miles on the treadmill.
Weight Loss Takes Time
As you and I have discussed, weight loss is a journey that reflects so many different things going on inside your body. This means that it is a marathon and not a sprint and so to achieve your goals you need to have patience, commitment, compassion, and the desire to heal from the inside out.
Focusing solely on the aesthetic goal of looking hot in your jeans may not be enough of a motivator to keep you on track, so try thinking about your weight loss in terms of the benefits it will bring to your life. These might include:
- More energy to do the things you love with the people you enjoy most
- Not suffering from daily aches and pains
- No more slavery to food cravings
- Beating insomnia so that you finally achieve deep and restorative sleep
- Feeling at home in your body and like you are in a partnership with your best friend
There are so many incredible benefits to healing that I can’t possibly list them all here, but a great step to get started is to list out what you hope to achieve by losing weight and getting fit. Dig deep and get really honest with yourself.
You can also come join the brand new Facebook Group I started to share what you discovered. This group is designed to offer you a behind the scenes look of life as a nutritionist, offer you a place where you can feel supported by other people going through similar life journeys, pick my brains for health tips, and share inspiration on a daily basis. Click here to join us today!
Cait xo
