Functional Fitness -- on losing weight

by Carry Thibaut -- Losing weight can be a confusing process, but it doesn’t have to be! There are ways to gently help your body move into the fat-burning state more easily. Without forcing yourself to exercise like a maniac or count calories down to the last crumb, you’re able to relearn new ways of interacting with food that will help you drop extra weight and keep it off. Clean Eating isn’t a gimmick, it’s a simple philosophy that encompasses eating real food, avoiding overly processed junk that’s proven to be bad for your body and reducing your inflammation so your body can do its job more efficiency. Quit Counting Calories Calories in, calories out is not an effective weight loss plan. More researchers are coming out to explain why counting calories to lose weight is a flawed ideal. You now the term “quality over quantity”, well that’s exactly how it works with Clean Eating and weight loss. Eating a bag of chips is not the same as  eating an entire meal of grass-fed meat and veggies. With your chips, you have overly processed bad fats and oils and empty carbohydrates, and with a healthy meal you’re getting nutrients and healthy fat that your body can recognize, break down, utilize and digest. It’s more important to watch what you’re eating, than it is to obsess about how much. In the process of getting your body to a healthy weight, focus on learning how to eat good food. Amazingly, yet not so surprisingly, when you eat real food, your “I’m full” receptors begin to switch back on and regulate. Through the process of Clean Eating, your brain and body slowly learn to crave good food, stop when you’re full. The body changes overtime with consistent effort and patience. Ditch the Scale Very much like counting calories, constantly weighing yourself is a stressful way to live. Not only that, but it’s highly ineffective. If you were to weigh yourself 5 times in a 24 hour period, you’d likely get a different number each time. It’s more important to focus on how you feel energetically, the quality of your sleep, and how your clothes fit. You can weight yourself a couple times per month, but it shouldn’t be a daily measurement of your progress. Make a Plan Not everyone is good at planning, and if you’re running a busy life then fitting in what to eat 3 or more times per day when you’re trying to get healthy isn’t easy! Even more challenging, is not knowing what to eat and what to avoid to reach your goals. Consistency is crucial to losing weight naturally, but preparing your food on the go will inevitably leave room for eating out or blood sugar crashes that cause intense cravings. Meal Prep Meal prepping is a total life saver. By having a menu for the week and always having meals in the fridge ready to go, you avoid falling into the trap of eating fast foods because you’re starving or breaking down and eating something rich in sugar because there’s nothing else available. Drink Clean Water Are you sure you’re hungry and not thirsty? We commonly reach for a snack when our bodies really just need water. Hydrating with purified water is a simple hack for cravings, and also supports your body in shedding unwanted weight. Drinking water can naturally boost your metabolism and help cleanse your body. In order to release water weight, your body needs adequate hydration. You also lower inflammation levels and increase energy flow by giving your body what it needs. Be Kind to Yourself Self-love is paramount to truly embracing change in a positive way. Without self-love along the way, there are too many ways to fail. Negative self-talk, beating yourself up over a hard day, and even comparing your process to others all dampen your ability to appreciate the little changes happening along the way. Remember, your body is unique, beautiful and has its own way of making change. Give yourself permission to go as slow as you need in order to get the results you desire. Talk nicely to yourself and give yourself the gift of having support. Be Patient with the Process It’s not a race. Clean Eating works. If you don’t see the results you want right away, don’t give up and you will reach your goals. Pay attention to more than just what number is on the scale. How do you feel? Do you have more energy? Is your mood better? Are you feeling more empowered? How abut your clothes, do they fit better overtime? These are true measurements of progress. Let yourself move slowly if that’s your nature, it doesn’t have to happen overnight. You’re learning how to create long-lasting permanent change in your life, that’s big. Give yourself acknowledgement daily and allow yourself whatever time you need. Trust the results you see around you from members in the group and stories people are sharing with you about their own journey inside the private groups. Not everyone’s journey looks the same, and that’s ok. You will get where you want to go, so love yourself all the way there.     Read more local news – return to the home page at www.thefallonpost.org/ Support your local news source, make a contribution today. www.thefallonpost.org/support-our-work/ Never miss a local public meeting – sign up for the Friday email and get stories delivered straight to your inbox. www.thefallonpost.org/sign-up