Growing up I always struggled with my weight, but high school is when I really struggled. I had about 10 surgeries on my knee and a hip surgery from a sports injury. During this time I was so unhappy and desperate for change, I would try all of the fad diets! Literally all of them, I tried them, but deep down I knew there had to be a way I could find my healthy balance, lose the weight, and never have to struggle with healthy eating again.
When I went away to college, my Nutrition & Dietetics courses changed everything for me! I learned the right way to lose weight, healthy lifestyle tips, and healthy balanced, eating. Over the course of 4 years, I lost 50-60 pounds and have kept the weight off ever since. These are my top 3 tips that helped me lose weight sustainably, and I still use them today! That’s the beauty in success, you can continue to repeat the process once you find what works for you. Keep in mind, everyone’s journey is different and nutrition is highly individualized. You may already be applying these tips, but hopefully you find value in this and can apply it to your weight-loss journey.
TOP 3 Weight Loss Tips
#1 Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
That may not sound like the easiest thing to do, but i’m not here to sugar coat things, I’m here to transform your life. When I struggled with my weight, I found myself eating constantly throughout the day. I normalized eating past the feeling of “fullness” and convinced myself that I was still hungry and needed more. I believed that my body needed it for “fuel” and any feeling of not being “full” felt extremely uncomfortable for me. I had a false sense of hunger. I realized my body functioned properly with much less food AND I felt so much better!
The light bulb clicked when I realized my feeling of “hunger” was not false, it was real, but not in the way that I thought. In my nutrition education, I learned that fat cells are key components in regulating our feelings of hunger & satiety. So the more weight you gain, the hungrier you will feel! In other words, the more fat cells you have, the harder it is to lose weight. Your body will fight weight loss in an effort to try and prevent you from losing weight. Biology kind of sucks doesn’t it? It does this because it wants to hold onto any fat you have, just in case you need it later for energy!
Now I KNOW what your are thinking, and I get it. What kind of messed up trickery is our biology?! And I HEAR you. We all come from different backgrounds, we have different DNA, and this explains why it is harder for some to lose and maintain weight than others. BUT that doesn’t mean you are doomed, our lifestyle (diet, exercise) is much more important and you can lose the weight!
This is when it clicked for me! This realization truly was my breakthrough in my weight loss journey. I was never crazy for feeling hungry all of the time, my body was signaling me to eat more! I began to push past those feelings of “hunger” and the weight fell off. Yes, of course it was uncomfortable at first, but eventually you begin to recognize it for what it is, and it becomes a new sense of normal. Once you learn what true hunger &satiety cues feel like for you, you will transform your health. I teach you how to recognize & honor your bodies unique hunger & satiety cues in my nutrition coaching program, but for now just know it’s not in your head.
#2 Learn the rules so you can break them.
This tip had the biggest effect on my weight-loss. I can say with certainty that the more nutrition knowledge you have, you can use it to your advantage and find what eating style works for you and your lifestyle. Remember, the best diet is sustainable, AND enjoyable. Once I learned about food, cooking, macronutrients, calories, energy needs, metabolism, food science, etc. I learned how to eat more of the foods I loved in volume while losing weight. My program teaches you everything you need to know about nutrition so that you can find your unique eating style that works for you and gets you the results you want.
I became more and more excited about eating and I started to cook new, delicious recipes while losing weight. I was making SIMPLE changes, that’s what it’s all about, simple changes that add up to big results! That’s how you lose weight sustainably.
What I did was focus on reducing energy-dense foods in my diet, while adding in satiety inducing foods. I swapped out energy-dense ingredients in my favorite recipes, and reduced energy-dense foods in my diet. For example, I used low-fat cheese on my pizzas, used less cooking oil, asked for sugar-free flavors shots in my coffee instead of pumps of sugar, the list goes on! I simply reduced the foods that contain a lot of empty calories (sugars, fat) with little nutrients (vitamins, minerals, etc.) Did you know that certain foods help you feel full, causing you to eat less calories throughout the day? This adds up to pounds of weight loss per year. Yup. Protein and fiber are your best friends. Start incorporating protein at each meal, and aim for at least the AI for fiber, daily.
#3 Are you logging your food intake?!
Again, not the most exciting but I promise if you haven’t logged your intake before or you fell-off a bit (totally normal) this can really help you get back on track with weight loss. I promise this isn’t a life-sentence, I recommend doing this temporarily to learn, and then you can go back as needed. That’s how I lost weight initially, and now I log my intake as needed. I use MyFitnessPal app to track. What I love about this tip is that it helps you become more aware of the food you are eating. Sometimes we don’t realize how much we are eating or that certain foods aren’t helping us achieve our goals.
I hope you found these tips helpful. I’ve made it my mission to share my knowledge and experience to help others because I know what it feels like to wonder if you will ever have “food freedom.” I know how it feels to desperately want to achieve weight loss and I know what it feels like to see how easy it is for others to eat what they want and not gain weight and wonder why your body doesn’t work that way.
I am here to tell you that you can achieve whatever goals you set for yourself, and I’m here whenever you decide you may want help achieving your nutrition goals. I offer 1 on 1 nutrition coaching, giving you the accountability and expertise you need to reach your goals. The days of wasting time and money on fad diets and yo-yo dieting are over. I promise you, the investment you make on yourself & your health is one you will never regret. Click below to learn more about my nutrition coaching program.
