Dieting for “fat loss” 101

What’s the first thing that came to mind when you read this week’s topic? Lots of people don’t like the word “diet.” Diet doesn’t necessarily mean what most people know it to be. Most of the time, people think that diet means restrictions, low calories, giving up one food group; and so on. While these can be called diets but they are not all inclusive. Diet simply means the kind of food you eat (either eating too much, too little or just right). Your diet can involve all refined and processed food, some may involve whole foods, high fats, low carbs, high protein, some may involve no grains diet, and so on. Whatever diet you choose, we need to be mindful of its long-term effects on our health.  Your diet could make you gain weight, lose weight or make you sick. So, is your diet making you to gain weight? Keep reading…

I have noticed that the first thing that people do when they want to lose weight is to start exercising. While there is nothing wrong with exercising but ignoring nutrition is the reason why most people fail in this journey. Nutrition is 70 to 80% while exercise is 20-30% of this journey. Meaning, you can lose weight without exercise if you are eating less calorie than your body requires but you cannot lose weight if you exercise without being mindful of your nutrition. I used to be that person that would workout 2 hours and eat little to nothing. I used to be very afraid to eat because I believed that starvation is the best way to lose weight. I have tried every diet on the market even fasting for couple of days so that the number on the scale could go down but I would gained everything back after eating a meal or two.  I have tried keto, whole 30, paleo, no meat, no carbs, water diet, juice, etc. One thing that I noticed after every fad diet I tried is that I would always get stuck and be back to where I started. It never gave me lasting results.

The best diet out there is the one that would enable you to develop good relationship with food without eliminating any food group unless your health provider says so(be very sure). You would notice that I did not say “weight loss” I said “Fat loss” because that’s what you should be aiming for.  Fat loss means, to lose that fat you gained not just water weight. I always tell my client that “quick fix” would get you stuck and you may not be able to keep up with it. Weight gain did not happen overnight so don’t expect an overnight miracle.

Dieting for fat loss is not as complicated as we think. This is not the time to start eliminating food group, you want to develop a relationship with food and you want a lifestyle. Don’t over think the process. I have below the steps that I have tried that really worked for me. These are steps by steps, you can move to the next level whenever you feel comfortable with one level. You don’t necessarily have to start with level 1 if you are already comfortable dieting.  

Why:  

Why do you want to go on a diet? Most of us just wake up one day and just decide that we want to go on a diet, we want to stop eating carbs, we want to stop juice for a month, we want to stop eating sugar, we want to detox, we want to eat fish only, we want to go on no salt diet and on and on. Why? Doing something without a goal is a waste of time in my own opinion. What do you plan to get from sacrificing all these efforts?  if you don’t know, please reevaluate.

Level 1: Mouth to paper

If you are new to dieting, start by writing down everything that goes inside your mouth for a week or two. You may think this is too much, but after doing this for a day or two, you would be amazed at what you have on your paper. If you lick a spoon of soup, write it down, if you finished your children’s left over cereal, write it down. If you are a big taster while cooking, write it down. Whenever people approach me about nutrition and I ask them what they eat, the answer is mostly “I don’t really eat that much.”  Writing down what you eat daily for a start would give you an idea of how much you eat in a day/week and would guide you on what to do in the next coming weeks. This is what I do with every client I work with because this is the first step in this journey. If you want, you can do this for as long as you want before moving to the next step.

Level 2: 25 to 50% Cut

If you are comfortable with your tracking log, do you feel that it’s necessary to cut back? You have to be the judge of this. Cutting back 25 to 50 percent maybe what you need to get started. If you are used to eating 2 cups of carbs every time you eat, maybe cut it to one or one and half.  If you are used to drinking 3 cans of Soda per day, decrease to one per day or drink it every other day until you can wean yourself off of it completely (that should be the goal). Maybe cut back on snacking.

Level 3: Read Labels

Start reading anything you buy or anything you want to eat. You would be surprised that even a piece of gum has a nutrition fact assigned to it. Don’t let that packaging or the so called “organic,” “healthy,” “low sugar,” drinks fool you. Just because it says healthy or low calorie does not mean it’s good enough for you. If the sugar/carbs, fat, sodium or protein is too high, do you think it’s sufficient to fill you up? Is it worth it? Read the added ingredients. If it’s supposed to be sugar free, read the added ingredients and see if there are sugar alternatives added; e.g Corn syrup, you would be amazed. When you start reading labels, you are training your mind the proper way to feed your body.

Level 3: Meal Planning

Meal planning/prepping saves the nation. Cut back on processed food, add more vegetables to your diet. Choose lean meat always. If possible, get a measuring cups and portion out your food. The best meal plans out there is a plan that includes the food that you like to eat. Don’t restrict yourself to a meal plan that would restrict you from eating what you like to eat. Weekly meal plans would enable you to stick to your goal and you would even find it difficult to eat out. You would be able to explore different meal options until you find something you are comfortable with. Eat but don’t over eat. You may have to utilize level 2 as your guide.

Level 4: Food tracking app

This step may be a little advanced, that’s why I encourage you to find your level and get comfortable first before advancing. The common one out there is myfitnesspal and plus it’s free. They have nutrition facts for almost every food in the universe, utilize this to calculate your caloric intake and stick to it.

Level 5: Get a coach

If you have tried all these levels and still did not get the results you need, please get a nutrition coach to guide and keep you accountable. When I was stuck and couldn’t figure things out, I hired a coach; this was the best investment ever. A coach would put your health issues, age, weight and other factors into considerations and would give you a macronutrient to work with proper re-evaluations whenever needed. When you get to this level, it would be a game changer.

Don’t forget to also ask google if you are stuck, lol. I hope you enjoy this week’s post. I would be sharing the common errors people make while they are on diets next week. Until then, please help a friend by sharing this with them.

Remember to make it a lifestyle.

Xoxo Forlahkeh.