I’m so proud of the 50+ moms who kicked off our first Transformation Contest this week. They are ROCKIN’. If you follow us on Facebook, you’ve seen the awesome effort they are making to become healthier and more fit by July 4th. I’m already dying to see the final results!
I was going to share this information privately with my Transformation Mamas today, but I decided it was well worth sharing with everyone.
Here’s the deal. Initial weight loss (what you lose in the first 1-2 months of your effort is at least80% diet. That’s not to say exercise is not important. It is. It will help you start building that lean muscle that will make you a lean, mean, calorie burning machine. It will also make a huge difference in your long term weight loss and weight loss maintanence (where many people struggle the most). But initially it really is mostly about what you put in your mouth.
Let’s suppose you workout about 30 minutes a day, most days a week. That means there are 23.5 hours left in each day where your DIET will dictate your success in a weight loss program. That is A LOT of time to be responsible for what you put in your mouth. When you look at it that way you can see why so many people struggle with the food component of weight loss.
Research has shown that everyday you make 200-250 decisions that impact your weight. WHOA. Again, that is a lot to be responsible for! In some respects, that’s awesome, if you have a little blunder here or there, you have manyopportunities to make up for it. However, a day’s worth of poor decisions (250!) can really derail you. And many times after 1-2 poor decisions, we just throw in the towel for the day and let all our decisions be less than optimal. Please, stop doing that to yourself. You are worth more than that.
When it comes to my most successful weight loss clients, the ones who lose 40-50 pounds in a 3-6 months, here are the habits they consistently practice. Note: these based on the philosophies, meal plans and recipes that come with our Pregnancy Weight Loss program and SuperMoms Program. If you struggle with food, we highly recommend you follow one of those plans to get everything dialed in right for success.
1. Water – consume half your body weight in ounces EVERY day. That means a 150 pound person would consume 75 ounces, minimum. Water helps keep you full and satisfied. Being hydrated curbs sugar and salt cravings. Most importantly, being hydrated keeps your metabolism functioning optimally. Dehydration slows your metabolism. We can’t have that.
2. Carb strategies – Eat most of your carbs for the day early in the day (and ALWAYS paired with protein). After lunch you really do not need carbs as fuel. Your carb intake from late afternoon on should be limited to the carbs in vegetables. If you’re having carb cravings later in the day, you can opt for starchy veggies (yams, squashes, corn, peas) or legumes. Legumes, by the way, are often lumped with grains, given their starchiness and carb content. They are also high in protein, though. Great for mid-day fuel or in small quantities at dinner. Here are a bunch of easy recipes with noodle and rice substitutes, perfect for dinner options!
3. Decrease or eliminating grains – because most grains are highly processed, they really serve us no nutritional value. In fact, recent research shows that whole wheat bread spikes our blood sugar as much as straight white sugar. WOW. Not cool, given how much the media pushes “whole grains” on us. Sadly, it’s just a marketing ploy. There are some grains that are still healthy in their most pure form: steel cut oats, millet, amaranth, brown rice, quinoa (technically a seed, not a grain). These can be consumed early in the day for fuel, but should be limited in the evening, if you’re looking for maximal weight loss.
4. Cut out artificial sweeteners – these are just TRASH, clean and simple. Funny thing, they are anything but “clean and simple”…. These chemicals are more likely to give you cancer than help you lose weight. In fact, the most recent research on artificial sweeteners shows us that they actually INCREASE your sugar/carb cravings. This means you should cut Splenda, Nutra Sweet, aspartame, Sweet & Low (pretty much anything in a colored packet). The only safe sugar alternative is stevia (PURE stevia, I don’t even recommend Truvia, made by Coke – mostly because I don’t trust anything made by the Coca Cola company to be good for me. They have never proven themselves to have their consumer’s best health interest at heart.) And, really, if you want some sugar, go for the real thing – in raw form. A packet of raw sugar in your coffee is 15 calories – a negligible amount in your daily total. And it won’t give you cancer.
5. Eat REAL food – stop eating junk that comes in a package. Just because it says All Natural, Premium, Select, Whole Grain, Healthy Choice, Fat Free, Low Fat, No Sugar Added, or Gluten Free does not make it healthy. Fill up on lean proteins (organic poultry, lean ground beef, pork loin, nitrate free lunch meats, wild fish) fruits and vegetables – if you’re looking for maximal weight loss and optimal health, that is all you need. I’m not saying that’s easy. It can be a bit of a tough transition, but eating real food will help you look your best, feel your best and shape your body in a way you never thought possible. Stock pile these foods in your fridge. Prep them at the beginning of the week, so you have lots of “grab ‘n go” options. Pre cook your meats, pre cut veggies, roast a bunch of veggies, hard boil a dozen eggs, fill your fruit bowl. One of the best ways to fill up at any meal is with a big source of greens. This can be in the form of a salad or sauteed greens (kale, chard, spinach) in coconut oil, garlic, sea salt and red pepper flakes – YUM! This gives you a ton of food for very few calories – and totally fills you up!
6. Eat fat – healthy fats are good for you and your health. But, when it comes to weight loss they are really good for curbing cravings and keeping you satisfied. Healthy fat in your mouth does not give you fat on your butt. Extra calories and sugar give you fat on your butt (and belly!) If you find you’re struggling with feeling satisfied or keeping sugar cravings at bay, you are probably not getting enough fat. Your best sources of fat are coconut oil, olive oil (saute in theses rather than fat free cooking sprays), nuts, nut butters, avocado, chia seeds, wild salmon and sardines, eggs (yes, with the yolk). Note: none of my most successful weight loss clients eat a low fat/fat free diet. That 1990’s diet philosophy is exhausted and utterly wrong when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off.
7. Protein base – every meal or snack should start with a source of protein. From there you can add fruits, veggies and healthy carbs as you like. You do not need to worry about over eating protein. This kind of cracks me up. Do people worry about how many grams of sugar they have each day – or how many grams of carbs? Not really. But people panic about, “I don’t want to eat too much protein”. I’ve never know anyone to overeat protein to the point where their body couldn’t process it. And I’ve known some crazy competitive body builder types who consume the stuff in quantities greater than you could ever imagine. A good starting place for protein is about 20 grams per meal or snack. Yes, that is more than the USDA recommends. But the USDA has made us really fat over the years, so I’m done listening to them. 20 grams per meal/snack will keep you full and satisfied and help you build and maintain lean, fat burning muscle, the most critical thing for long term weight loss.
So, based on this, how will you change your diet?
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