Few people start focusing on their nutrition because they love counting calories and cutting out all the foods they love. Weight loss might be a big reason. But wanting weight loss usually means more than the number on the scale.
For most of us, we want to have greater energy, change our clothing size and become healthy. Doing things that won’t work for your lifestyle long term, can cause you to quit because the effort doesn’t seem worth the reward.
To help, here are my five daily habits to make nutrition simple and low stress and attain any weight loss goals you might have!
People don’t quit “diets” because they don’t produce results, people quit because they are too complicated and time consuming.
The good news? You can change that.
1. Write down your WHY.
If you are sluggish during the day, miserable in your clothes, or borderline pre-diabetic, your WHY might be to:
A. Wake Up Excited to Start the Day! Take the kids to the park, excel at work, get rid of that afternoon crash.
B. Change your Medical “Future” so it doesn’t match your Medical History!
C. Stop your physical body from limiting your choices. This is a huge one we hear about.
If you have a deep understanding of WHY you want to change, you can focus on that when the times get tough. And they will get tough. When you start, things will creep in and get in the way. You have to go back to your why. Is your WHY enough?
2. Drink Water.
Water is key to a healthy body but can also help with weight loss. Not only does water make you feel fuller, so you eat less, drinking water also helps you replace calorie-containing drinks like juice, soda pop, and energy drinks. People on average drink over 400 kcal/day in North America. Water may even increase metabolism. Calories deficit helps with weight loss.
A few years back, a study found that if you drank 16oz of water, your body would use 24% more calories for 60 minutes after drinking water.
3. Eat Protein.
When you eat more protein you tend to feel full longer. How much do YOU need? It depends. If you’d like me to give you an estimate, reply back with “protein” and I’m happy to help you determine it.
When you are in a calorie deficit (necessary for weight loss) your body will burn everything: fat, muscle, bone, etc. — all the stuff you need. It doesn’t tend to throw out just fat and keep muscle… unless you eat lots of protein.
As you get older, you lose lean mass (both muscle and bone). This affects how long you live as well as how functional and healthy that life is. The more protein in your muscles, the stronger your muscles can get.
4. Daily Movement
Our new normal in life has become structured in a way that makes it very easy to avoid movement. We sit in cars, sit at our desks, come home and sit on the couch. The little ones haven’t hit that point yet so they are moving swiftly and pain free, because that is how bodies are meant to move. However, because of our sedentary lifestyle, pain in knees, stiff backs and “I have no energy to keep up with the kids!” have become the norm.
Start by moving 30 minutes a day. A walk outside, hop on the treadmill, and get in strength training 3 to 5 times a week. When is the last time you intentionally moved and then wanted to go to McDonald’s? Intentional movement can help with weight loss, not just in calories, but in mindset.
5. Remember That You’re Driving the Bus
You’re in charge of the direction of your energy, clothing sizes, your medical future vs medical history. Out of all of these top 5 tactics, this one might be the most important. It’s up to you. Unforeseen obstacles are going to happen. Life is not going to be perfect for even the most elite athlete. However, the most elite athlete has a plan they follow everyday for food, fitness and mindset. If an obstacle tries to derail them, at least they have their meals available and have built a good structure to get them right back on track. I know that my best days are ones I have a plan for.
I’ve got a business that I work in 7 days a week, 2 kids at home that only want to eat out of the pantry, 1 granddaughter at home that thinks she should run the place, a husband who has no trouble at all eating what he wants and losing weight and myself – a stubborn set in her ways 50 year old woman that hates walking into a Globo gym and being judged.
I would never get done what I needed to at work without a plan, I certainly DO NOT eat healthy or get my movement in without a plan.
Following these 5 tactics will not be easy in the beginning. But they can be simple, if you focus. The time it saves you, and the time it GIVES you, is well worth the effort, even on my worst days.
If you need help implementing strategies in your life to help with your weight loss goals, schedule a 10 minute chat with us to get started!
Good luck!
Coach Jennifer
ps. What is your Why?