5 Ways to Lose Weight for Life
I have been up and down in weight. I am tall and I have boobs! I was never going to be a catwalk model- but then I never ever wanted to be. I am a trained actress- all I ever wanted was to be on the stage or in a period drama. I was advised I could do two things- lose weight and be the pretty role or I could gain weight and be the fat friend. There was not many roles inbetween. I put my hours in and did some things (our devised pieces were completely awesome!) but really I did a lot of catering work and my brain felt like it was on pause. I loved the feeling after a great workout and I always felt happier moving and doing.
I decided to become a personal trainer to keep me in the gym, keep me fit and happy whilst still having time and flexibility to pursue my acting career. I never looked back. I loved my job so much I wanted to expand my tool box so became a Naturopath and Nutritional Therapist. However supporting and nurturing other people is very different from supporting and nurturing yourself. When helping others I was constantly aware of the idea that you draw people into your life to listen to the advice you tell them- YOURSELF!
About a year ago- maybe less I decided to start to listen to myself and start to look at why I didn’t like what I saw in the mirror. I saw pictures of myself as a teenager and wished to be back in that body. A body I so hated at the time as I was so big! It is all so relative! I threw away my scales years ago and started focusing on how I was feeling on the inside to be finally reflected on the outside. This is what I mean by losing weight for life. Not only losing the physical weight and excess but really losing the heavy weight of what you have to do, give up, suffer through and push yourself to do. Lose that weight; it is truly suffocating.
By loving and accepting yourself you will make choices for your lifestyle to nurture and deepen that love. It sounds airy fairy but believe me it works. Stop giving into the media’s clap trap about ‘go on treat yourself’ and start to use the only thing your body recognises- natural, real food.
1. First and foremost you need to start to change the way you look and feel about your body. Whether that is through EFT (see here) or through meditation (try this one here). You can also read books like Elizabeth Wallings’ Love Your Body. However you do it- you need to change your limiting core belief. When you say ‘I need to lose weight’ pay attention to how you feel when you say that. Are you afraid, guilty, stressed, apprehensive or are you excited, motivated and energised towards change. This is going to have a massive effect on whether you make this change for life.
Think about what will happen if you do lose weight- are your thoughts negative or positive. Do you think- crap I will have to buy a whole new wardrobe or do you think I cant wait to getting a new wardrobe? Thinking about what may gain (happiness or envy from friends and family or attention, negative and positive) and what you may lose (sometimes change- whatever it is can make people very fearful) when you reach your goal- which one feels right? There are also limiting beliefs such as “in order to lose weight I have to work really hard and give up everything I love- I will have to suffer”. None of this has to be true. All of it can easy, energising and fun! You just have to believe it!
If you can visualise yourself and tap into feeling amazing and happy- you will make choices to support that and vice versa!
2. Changing your metabolism is absolutely key to actually losing fat. You have to change how your body burns fuel. Low calorie, low fat limiting diets have a massive affect on metabolism. Combine that with the feelings of giving up, sacrifice and stress surrounding having to make new choices and change a lifestyle. Read Matt Stone’s Eat for Heat or Diet Recovery 2 or Elizabeth Wallings’ The Nourished Metabolism to learn about how you can make positive changes in your life without starving or feeling like you have to sacrifice everything. Your metabolism has a huge role in your hormone balance too which can affect your mood, ability to lose weight, your cravings and so on.
The Bacteria in fermented foods play a huge role in energy production and of course nutrient absorption. These are absolutely necessary in any weight loss plan. Try Kefir or Kombucha as an easy way to include fermented foods into your daily life. Check out my book Culture Your life for easy how to’s and tons of recipes like this one.
3. Fats are your friend and fats burn fat. They are absolutely essential to life and are actually anti-inflammatory and incredibly healing. For mood, cell health and strength (all human cells are built from a protein and fat wall), for hormone production and most of all for brain health. Coconut oil, Avocado’s, eggs, flax oil, nuts, seeds, fish and butter (from grass-fed animals) are just some examples of awesome healing fats. I am certainly not talking about the man-made and manipulated canola oils and margarine which should be banished from this earth forever.
Chocolate made from coconut oil and cacao powder knock the socks of the poorly made crappy vegetable oil chocolate made by the leading brands. Fat makes you feel full- more importantly it makes you feel satiated (happily nourished and full!). The feel of good fats will makes your mouth happy.
You cannot eat more fat than you need- your body will stop you (you can’t say the same for refined sugar which you can keep eating forever!). These great fats plays a healthy role in heart strength and plays a huge role in hormonal imbalance (think type 2 diabetes, hypothyroidism, PCOS and so on). Flax oil for example plays a huge role in the way we form and use oestrogen (the difference being that flax oil can make oestrogen (2) anti-cancer and without it it oestrogen (16) may be carcinogenic).
Is you have trouble digesting fats you may need a little digestive support- try drinking some lemon in water before meals to stimulate gastric juices or try this Yummy Wake Up drink in the morning- you could eve make your own Apple Peel Cider Vinegar
4. Every thing in moderation. The body recognises real food. Food that has its origin in nature and has not been manipulated or processed too far from its origin. Otherwise it does not recognise it and rejects it. When the balance of food and non-food things are consumed damage is the result. Mostly to the digestive system.
If you are not giving the body the tools (nutrients) to undo this damage then chronic illnesses may start to appear. Weight gain is commonly a symptom of mass inflammation. Especially weight gain around the middle. The inflammation is generally found in the organs in that area, (liver and digestive system).
Refined foods such as sugar, dairy and wheat which are in so many of these foods therefore become a big problem for the body and they generally need to be taken away so that they do not further irritate and acerbate the problem. However sugar is a necessary part of life. It is when the process and breakdown of this sugar leeches nutrients (magnesium, zinc, b vitamins and others) that sugar becomes inflammatory and dangerous. See my post on sugar here. Fat, protein, carbs(except refined carbs) have a vital role in your body and should all be consumed at every meal and snack to get a well-rounded nutrient dense diet. Including bone broths, and super foods like grass-fed butter, liver, gelatin and many others will help to end the cravings for the empty foods.
When you change your metabolism, heal your digestive system, can value yourself and see who you really are all your choice will be for the good of your body and moderation will happen naturally and effortlessly!
5. Exercise. I can write about exercise for days! Movement is key- walking is exercise! Getting stronger will keep you motivated and you will continue to see results. Yes exercise is key but how you feel about exercise will enhance your success. If you are doing something that makes you happy you will keep doing it. Find a team to join or a race to run or swimming or yoga. Try different things until you find something to look forward to.
