Are you one of the hundreds of women who can’t believe you can lose weight without working out? That you need to be a warrior and spend hours exercising to lose weight? Did you join a gym or fitness program in January as part of your resolution only to find after one month you’re already finding excuses not to show up?
This was me. I have wasted so much money over the years on unused gym memberships and fitness programs because I would give up and lose motivation.
There was however, this one time when I went faithfully five days a week and sometimes even on the weekends, for months but I never saw results that I thought I deserved from all that working out.
I used to assume muscle weighed more than fat so that explained the numbers on the scale, but my clothes weren’t getting looser. I joked that somewhere under my belly fat there had to be amazing abs from all the crunches I was doing.
Exercise more, eat less myth
The diet mentality teaches you to exercise more and eat less. I believed it, even my Dr. said it, to lose weight you need to exercise more and eat less. And boy was I eating less, I counted calories, points, and carbs. I starved all day to save room for calories for a little late-night snacking. But nothing worked.
How about you?
Have you felt like that?
Then we are not alone. As a matter of fact, approximately 40% of us make New Years Resolutions to lose weight or get in shape. Yet, according to the CDC, 42% of Americans are obese.
Calories in, calories out
Many of you are aware that energy aka calories come from food and need to be burned through movement. The abundance of calories that is not burned off is stored as fat. In theory, it makes perfect sense, but why doesn’t it work?
Most of us are not professional athletes so it’s impossible to burn off all the calories eaten every day on a typical American meal plan.
Your metabolism is set at a speed called the basal metabolic rate. This is the process in which you use energy(calories) to run the systems in your body when you are at rest.
Yup, that’s right, as you are reading this, you are burning calories from breathing, your heart pumping, brain and nerve function, and even the regulating of your temperature.
Here’s the problem, a calorie is not just a calorie.
The 100 calories in a bag of almonds are going to react differently in your body than the low-calorie cookie, or even the healthy fruit on the bottom yogurt.
Diet Mentality
The diet mentality teaches you to count calories, points, and carbs. Yet all types of food digest at very different rates, affecting your blood sugar and hormones such as insulin, ghrelin, and leptin. These are responsible for what turns into fat, and what gets used (burned off) as energy.
This mentality, believing the dieting “rules” you have been told for years, is why diets don’t work.
As a certified health & lifestyle coach, I discovered the no-diet approach and how with healthy habits you can help you break free from the diet mentality and achieve sustainable weight loss.
But, the truth is you do not need to exercise to lose weight!
I know, you are probably shaking your head wondering how that can be.
Exercise for health, change your habits for weight loss
Before you get too excited, you do need to exercise for your health.
Exercise is a wonder drug for anti-aging! It reduces your risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, cancer, depression, and even Alzheimers.
So, you don’t lose weight with exercise, but you do need to move your body to strengthen your heart to pump oxygen and nutrients to your body and brain. You also need to build muscle. Muscle is your body’s calorie-burning furnace, firing up your metabolism, strength, and stability. Muscle is nature’s metabolic Spanx.
But to lose fat and stubborn pounds, you need to retrain your brain and change your habits.
Eat to live, not live to eat
Eat to live rather than live to eat, means connecting the dots between your food, mind, and how your body digests, not just food, but life.
This all starts with creating healthy habits around sugar, snacking, sleeping, stress, and sitting
Here are my top 5 tips for losing weight without working out
1. Drink water
It is recommended that you drink water in the amount of ½ your body weight in oz. per day. This allows for optimal hydration of all your organs and systems. Your body is made up of 60 % water, and most adults lose between 2.5-3 liters (84 oz) just with sweat, normal respiration, and daily living. Replenishing that water keeps your energy up, and your hunger at bay.
2. Eat Lots of Protein
Protein is described as a building block of life. They are found throughout the body from your hair to your toes. The body needs protein for the growth and development of new cells, and to repair damaged tissue and old cells. It is a major factor in your overall health.
But, for weight loss, it serves an even better purpose! Protein increases your feelings of fullness and reduces hunger and therefore snaking. Practice balancing meals and snacks with protein, to keep you from daytime, night time or any time snacking.
Protein is a superfood, it can help you feel full and stay full longer …and lose weight as a result.
3. Reduce sugar:
Sugar is linked to obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and cancer As a matter of fact, the diagnostic tool used for cancer called a PET scan uses radioactive glucose (sugar) to help diagnose cancer.
If sugar is so unhealthy, why is it so hard to stop?
Sugar is tasty and addictive. It is in processed food that makes meals quick and easy. It’s hidden in foods that are sold as healthy and especially in “diet foods”. In the Reset your Relationship with Food Bootcamp we discover where sugar, as well as other intolerant foods, are hidden. Eating too much sugar increases your hormones levels that make you hungry, it shuts off your full signal, causing you to overeat, and it sends your blood sugar on a rollercoaster ride of emotions leading to more comfort foods. My clients start by reading food labels, not calories and carbs but sugar. Then choosing to swap for less sugar foods for a small step to healthy habits.
4. Increase Fiber and Healthy Fats
Healthy fats such as olive oil, avocado oil, nuts, and avocados make you feel full and satisfied at every meal. The diet mentality tells you not to eat fat, but they don’t differentiate between saturated fat (unhealthy) and unsaturated fat( healthy) My proven methods of healthy habits allow you to eat fat and grow slim.
Adding plenty of fiber, with slow low carbs and non-starchy veggies, keeps you full longer and slows down the release of sugar into your blood, keeping you off the sugar rollercoaster
5. Slow Down
Your brain needs time to process that you have had enough to eat. It takes 20 minutes for your brain to get the full signal When you eat quickly, the signal never arrives causing you to consume more food and overeat. Your body will not make the connection you’ve eaten, and you will be more likely to snack.
Digestion starts long before the first bite. Becoming more mindful when and how you eat is key to my no diet approach and losing weight.
Start with 5 simple breaths to reduce stress. Then smell the food. This signals your brain to begin secreting your digestive enzymes.
Adding these habits into your daily lifestyle will help you get to your healthy weight and keep you running full speed into a healthier lifestyle.
If you need help and accountability implementing these habits, let’s jump on a no-obligation call.
Make 2022 the year you become a healthier YOU!
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