Following on from my 2 previous articles on the topic of calories, which seems to have got the uninformed pro-calorie Personal Trainers a little off-side, I get asked a lot how to help someone to lose weight, especially as weight gain or weight loss is nothing to do with calories (or kilojoules)! So what is best, or what works to help someone to their optimal or healthy weight?
First let’s look at what doesn’t work, from my clinical experience, and from published studies!
1. Low fat diets don’t work! Your body doesn’t get fat because you eat fat, or because fatty foods have higher calories! There are also very healthy essential fats we have to eat in our diet, but also very unhealthy processed fats and seed oils.
2. Low calorie diets don’t work! Calories are a useless concept for measuring the health of a food, or the effects they have on your body, and nothing to do with weight gain or loss. Low calorie diets mean “low fat”, as fats and oils have the highest calories compared to all other macronutrients.
3. Counting calories doesn’t work, nor does having a calorie deficit, or the whole calories in vs calories out scam! See previous point, and my 2 previous posts on calories.
4. Eating less doesn’t work! Your body needs NUTRIENTS to function properly!
5. Reducing or eliminating meats doesn’t work for fat loss. Instead you may not get enough protein and you lose muscle mass instead of body fat, which wrecks your metabolic rate and makes it more difficult to lose weight, but easier to gain it all back again as fat.
6. Fasting or water fasting doesn’t work for long-term weight loss. Again, your body needs nutrients to function.
7. Detoxing or juicing doesn’t work for weight loss! Juices are just a concentrated sugar drink which will be turned into body fat…
8. “Diet” drinks or foods with artificial sweeteners don’t work for weight loss, and because of the metabolic changes they make in your body, they actually cause you to put on MORE weight, even though you are not having as much sugar or calories!
9. Exercising more doesn’t work, especially if you are just eating the same old cr@p! Some physical activity is good, but needs to be more specific activity or exercise for weight loss at the right times, along with the right foods and lifestyle too, or you can make no difference to your weight.
10. Eating smaller meals more frequently doesn’t work, and can actually increase blood sugars for longer, increase insulin resistance and weight gain, as well as causing chronic digestive issues. Eating more frequently prevents your body from using your body fat stores for energy, so you don’t lose weight.
11. GLP-1 medications can help to lose weight temporarily, but you also lose muscle mass and bone mass too, which is not ideal for your long-term health. Then there’s many other serious side effects they cause, if you can tolerate them. These dangerous medications are not a substitute for a good diet and lifestyle.
So, what works for improving weight loss?
1. Finding and fixing ALL the root causes of weight gain in YOU. There are always root causes and factors which contribute to weight gain including stress, sleep issues, low thyroid function, other hormone imbalances, low stomach function, inflammation, dysbiosis, and more! The causes in you will be different to other people, so what you need is going to be different to others.
2. Low carbohydrate diets work! High carbs turn into high glucose, which then turns into body fat. High carb diets trigger an insulin response, and insulin is a fat-storage hormone. So reducing carbs makes the most sense!
3. LCHF (Low Carb High/Healthy Fats) diets work. Paleo diets work. Ketosis diets work, although I recommend a more modified version of keto compared to the more extreme versions. These diets retrain your body to use your body fat for energy, as well as preventing further fat storage.
4. The best diet for you for weight loss, is one that you will be able to stick to!
5. WHEN you eat is as important as WHAT you eat, HOW you eat, HOW MUCH you eat, HOW you eat, and WHERE you eat too!
6. Some physical activity is needed, but you don’t need to be at the gym for hours each day! The right types of exercise can use the body fat stores for energy, to increase the weight loss.
7. Improving whole body metabolism and function is needed. Weight gain is a whole body issue, not just an issue of what you eat and how little you exercise.
8. Some support for past or current stress or trauma may be needed, or to change mindset over beliefs or behaviours which may be contributing to weight gain or preventing weight loss.
9. Intermittent Fasting works! This means eating food in a smaller and limited window of hours during the day, typically with a delayed breakfast. This can reduce inflammation, and trigger body fat stores being used for energy when you are not eating.
10. Eating smaller dinners works! Unfortunately, we traditionally eat our largest meal for dinner, which can contribute to more weight gain. By the time you have digested your dinner, you’re ready to go to sleep! So your body will turn your unused energy from the recent dinner into body fat to use for later. Especially if your dinner is high in carbs such as potatoes, breads and grains, pasta, rice, or desserts.
11. Avoiding processed and packaged foods works to help with weight loss, as the artificial and toxic additives, preservatives, sweeteners, sugar, colourings etc, can cause chronic inflammation, which in turn can cause weight gain. Just eat real food!
12. Testing for common causes and factors of weight gain with specific blood tests can help to find the causes of YOUR weight gain, and help you to focus on what you need to do to lose weight. Testing for low thyroid function, infections, inflammation, insulin resistance, anaemia, poor liver function, low protein levels, hormone imbalances, and various nutrient deficiencies (or excesses). If any of these issues are found, then they can be treated, to help improve your weight loss!
In summary, there are many factors which cause weight gain. As such, what you need to help with reducing weight, must be specific and personalised to YOU! Your treatment plan needs to take into account your root causes and factors, your lifestyle, your other symptoms and conditions, and to treat and improve whole body function!
Stay healthy!
First let’s look at what doesn’t work, from my clinical experience, and from published studies!
1. Low fat diets don’t work! Your body doesn’t get fat because you eat fat, or because fatty foods have higher calories! There are also very healthy essential fats we have to eat in our diet, but also very unhealthy processed fats and seed oils.
2. Low calorie diets don’t work! Calories are a useless concept for measuring the health of a food, or the effects they have on your body, and nothing to do with weight gain or loss. Low calorie diets mean “low fat”, as fats and oils have the highest calories compared to all other macronutrients.
3. Counting calories doesn’t work, nor does having a calorie deficit, or the whole calories in vs calories out scam! See previous point, and my 2 previous posts on calories.
4. Eating less doesn’t work! Your body needs NUTRIENTS to function properly!
5. Reducing or eliminating meats doesn’t work for fat loss. Instead you may not get enough protein and you lose muscle mass instead of body fat, which wrecks your metabolic rate and makes it more difficult to lose weight, but easier to gain it all back again as fat.
6. Fasting or water fasting doesn’t work for long-term weight loss. Again, your body needs nutrients to function.
7. Detoxing or juicing doesn’t work for weight loss! Juices are just a concentrated sugar drink which will be turned into body fat…
8. “Diet” drinks or foods with artificial sweeteners don’t work for weight loss, and because of the metabolic changes they make in your body, they actually cause you to put on MORE weight, even though you are not having as much sugar or calories!
9. Exercising more doesn’t work, especially if you are just eating the same old cr@p! Some physical activity is good, but needs to be more specific activity or exercise for weight loss at the right times, along with the right foods and lifestyle too, or you can make no difference to your weight.
10. Eating smaller meals more frequently doesn’t work, and can actually increase blood sugars for longer, increase insulin resistance and weight gain, as well as causing chronic digestive issues. Eating more frequently prevents your body from using your body fat stores for energy, so you don’t lose weight.
11. GLP-1 medications can help to lose weight temporarily, but you also lose muscle mass and bone mass too, which is not ideal for your long-term health. Then there’s many other serious side effects they cause, if you can tolerate them. These dangerous medications are not a substitute for a good diet and lifestyle.
So, what works for improving weight loss?
1. Finding and fixing ALL the root causes of weight gain in YOU. There are always root causes and factors which contribute to weight gain including stress, sleep issues, low thyroid function, other hormone imbalances, low stomach function, inflammation, dysbiosis, and more! The causes in you will be different to other people, so what you need is going to be different to others.
2. Low carbohydrate diets work! High carbs turn into high glucose, which then turns into body fat. High carb diets trigger an insulin response, and insulin is a fat-storage hormone. So reducing carbs makes the most sense!
3. LCHF (Low Carb High/Healthy Fats) diets work. Paleo diets work. Ketosis diets work, although I recommend a more modified version of keto compared to the more extreme versions. These diets retrain your body to use your body fat for energy, as well as preventing further fat storage.
4. The best diet for you for weight loss, is one that you will be able to stick to!
5. WHEN you eat is as important as WHAT you eat, HOW you eat, HOW MUCH you eat, HOW you eat, and WHERE you eat too!
6. Some physical activity is needed, but you don’t need to be at the gym for hours each day! The right types of exercise can use the body fat stores for energy, to increase the weight loss.
7. Improving whole body metabolism and function is needed. Weight gain is a whole body issue, not just an issue of what you eat and how little you exercise.
8. Some support for past or current stress or trauma may be needed, or to change mindset over beliefs or behaviours which may be contributing to weight gain or preventing weight loss.
9. Intermittent Fasting works! This means eating food in a smaller and limited window of hours during the day, typically with a delayed breakfast. This can reduce inflammation, and trigger body fat stores being used for energy when you are not eating.
10. Eating smaller dinners works! Unfortunately, we traditionally eat our largest meal for dinner, which can contribute to more weight gain. By the time you have digested your dinner, you’re ready to go to sleep! So your body will turn your unused energy from the recent dinner into body fat to use for later. Especially if your dinner is high in carbs such as potatoes, breads and grains, pasta, rice, or desserts.
11. Avoiding processed and packaged foods works to help with weight loss, as the artificial and toxic additives, preservatives, sweeteners, sugar, colourings etc, can cause chronic inflammation, which in turn can cause weight gain. Just eat real food!
12. Testing for common causes and factors of weight gain with specific blood tests can help to find the causes of YOUR weight gain, and help you to focus on what you need to do to lose weight. Testing for low thyroid function, infections, inflammation, insulin resistance, anaemia, poor liver function, low protein levels, hormone imbalances, and various nutrient deficiencies (or excesses). If any of these issues are found, then they can be treated, to help improve your weight loss!
In summary, there are many factors which cause weight gain. As such, what you need to help with reducing weight, must be specific and personalised to YOU! Your treatment plan needs to take into account your root causes and factors, your lifestyle, your other symptoms and conditions, and to treat and improve whole body function!
Stay healthy!
RSS Feed