Probably 75% of the people you meet on a daily basis are not satisfied with how they look- specifically their weight. Everywhere you turn there is someone out there trying to tell you how to lose weight. When you first decide to lose weight, exercise is typically your first concern. There are endless options including Body Pump, CrossFit, Zumba, walking, running, cycling all the way down to the shake weight.
The other piece of the puzzle you need to think about is nutrition. There’s high carb, Low Carb, carb cycling, Paleo, South Beach, Primal, Weight Watchers and that list could go on and on as well.
It can be a daunting and intimidating process when you are first starting out, but I am here to give you some simple steps to help you get started losing weight.
#4: Sleep More
Being short on sleep can really affect your weight. When you’re short on sleep, it’s easy to lean on caffeine to get moving. You might be tempted to skip exercise because you are too tired. You get takeout for dinner, and then go to sleep late because you’re uncomfortably full.
Why? Because insufficient sleep impacts your hunger and fullness hormones, including two called ghrelin and leptin.
Ghrelin signals your brain that it’s time to eat. When you’re sleep-deprived, your body makes more ghrelin.
Leptin, on the other hand, cues your brain to put the fork down. When you’re not getting enough sleep, leptin levels plummet, signaling your brain to eat more food.
Then there’s the cortisol spike that comes from too little sleep. This stress hormone signals your body to conserve energy to fuel your waking hours. (1)
Bottom line: Sleep more to help with weight loss.
#3: Drink MORE Water
Drinking water is not the new Fat burner. However, there are so many examples of how more water consumption can help with weight loss. Here is how:
- Keeps you from overeating. The more water you drink the less likely you are to eat too much.
- If you are drinking water you are not drinking sugary drinks.
- Staying hydrated makes your whole system run better. You body is 70% water, so make sure it has enough to function properly. Its kind of like the oil in your car– When you are dehydrated its like the “Low Oil” light coming on.
How much should I drink? You are safe drinking anywhere between 80-120 oz a day. At least 80, 100 is good, 120 is best.
#2: MOVE
As we talked about earlier, there are tons of different ways to get in shape. One of the problems we are having in our society is that many jobs today require people to sit behind a desk or a computer all day. Thus we have grown sedentary.
QUESTION: How many pictures of your great grand parents or even your grandparents have you seen where they were OVERWEIGHT?
I’ll answer that for you, NONE. Why? Because they moved. They were farming, working in a factory, they were going and doing instead of sitting behind a desk. This is not a free pass to be overweight if you have a desk job. There are tons of ways out there to exercise and most of them have a promise of it not taking very long.
Here is the thing, If you want to lose weight and more important than that be healthy, you are going to have to move and be uncomfortable. Get out of breath, lift something heavy. You have to do more than you are doing now. My recommendation is doing something in a group. That’s part of the reason I push CrossFit. It is an amazing sport that helps people be better at life. The other recommendation I have is group fitness classes such as Body Pump, TRX and Zumba. The bottom line is you need to get out of breath and move. You may say, “I already exercise” without knowing you and knowing what you do I would say you probably need to do more and get more uncomfortable when you are doing it.
#1: Change Your Diet
When I say change your diet I am talking more about taking things that are bad out of what you eat as opposed to adding what many people perceive as good. If someone asked me “If you could only change one thing about someone’s diet in order for them to lose weight what would it be?”
SUGAR. Eliminate all sugar from your diet. You do that, and you will see results.
In order to change, you must……change. Your diet is the most important thing that will contribute to weight loss. Taking sugar out of your diet can change everything about you. You are probably consuming a lot more sugar than you think. You body will go through some great but sometimes difficult changes when you do.
Many people believe that exercise is the most important aspect to losing weight. Yes exercising is key. But if your nutrition does not change then it does not really matter.
Final Thought: If you workout for 5 hours a week that is great. You typically eat 3 times a day for about 30 min at a time. That comes out to about 10 ½ hours a week of eating. The one you do more probably needs to be your focus.
QUESTION: What is your choice of exercise and why?
Let us know in the comments below!
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