Simple Strategies for Lasting Weight Loss

Anyone who’s had a weight issue, knows how hard it is to keep it off. I hate to break it to you, but focusing on calories and exercise may work in the short term, but this approach becomes increasingly harder to maintain and manage over time.

Here are some simple, yet profoundly effective strategies for long term weight loss and weight management. These are strategies that will help balance blood sugar, keep insulin low, enable you to tap into fat for fuel, improve your gut health, and stop hunger and sugar cravings.

1) Limit sugar - You’re going to need to be choosy about the carbs you consume. Start with the easy stuff first - steer away from boxed, bagged, and packaged foods that are high in processed carbs. This includes things like bread, crackers, chips, cookies, candy, etc. Go for green veggies first and add in starchier veggies when needed, like sweet potato, squashes, etc. When it comes to fruit, choose low glycemic options like berries and be sure to always pair carbs with fat and/or protein. For example, if you have berries, add some heavy whipping cream and some nuts. If you’re having a sweet potato, pair it with grass-fed butter and some pecans. This is going to slow down the absorption and keep you filled and satisfied for longer.

2) Limit alcohol - Sorry, alcohol is not your friend.

3) Macro-Balanced meals - All meals need good quality fats, quality animal protein sources, and non-starchy vegetables, so you stay satiated. Fat is your friend, it tastes good and will keep you filled. Same with animal protein, it helps with satiety. Be mindful of starchier carbs. Take stock of how you feel after you eat.

4) Food timing matters - When you eat is as important as what you eat. You want to get to the point that you’re eating 3 square meals a day with no snacking. If you’re not there yet, that’s ok. Every meal is an opportunity to adjust and recalibrate. If you’re getting hungry every two hours, then add more fat and protein to the next meal and be choosy with the carbs you incorporate.

5) Avoid snacking - You want to strive for long periods of time where insulin remains low, so you can tap into your fat stores. Another good strategy is to expand the time without food between dinner and breakfast. Start by not eating after dinner and/or two hours before bed.

6) Sleep is your friend - A crappy nights sleep spells blood sugar dysregulation, we want stable blood sugar(3). Sleep deprivation can also mess with our hunger hormones leading to more carb cravings(3).

7) Move your body - We aren’t trying to “burn-off” calories, that’s just silly talk. However, we are trying to make cells more insulin sensitive(3), improve mitochondrial density(5), and help with lymphatic circulation(4).

8) Walk after you eat - this will help keep blood sugar in check(2)

9) Consume probiotic rich foods - Did you know that the make-up of bacteria in your gut can impact your weight loss goals(1,6)? You can easily change the make-up of gut bacteria by incorporating things like raw sauerkraut and kimchi, full fat yogurt, full-fat kefir, kombucha, water kefir, etc. There’s so many great options out there now!

References:

(1) Ley RE, Turnbaugh PJ, Klein S, Gordon JI. Microbial ecology: human gut microbes associated with obesity. Nature. 2006;444(7122):1022‐1023. doi:10.1038/4441022a Retrieved from: https://www.nature.com/news/2006/061218/full/news061218-6.htm

(2) Myette-Côté, É., Durrer, C., Neudorf, H., Bammert, T. D., Botezelli, J. D., Johnson, J. D., DeSouza, C. A., & Little, J. P. (2018). The effect of a short-term low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet with or without postmeal walks on glycemic control and inflammation in type 2 diabetes: a randomized trial. American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology, 315(6), R1210–R1219. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.00240.2018

(3) Nutritional Therapy Association. Blood Sugar Regulation Student Guide. Olympia, WA.

(4) Nutritional Therapy Association. Module 12 Nutritional Detoxification. Olympia, WA.

(5) Oliveira, Ashley N. and Hood, David A. (2019). Exercise is mitochondrial medicine for muscle, Sports Medicine and Health Science, Volume 1, Issue 1, 11-18. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666337619300083

(6) Perlmutter, David, MD (2015). Brain Maker. New York, NY Little Brown and Company