We typically think about changing what we eat to lose weight, but weight loss also requires certain conditions:
Be motivated to keep going with your weight loss plan by monitoring your weight daily
Many women tell me that they don’t like to weigh themselves because they don’t like to see the number on the scales, and know how much they weigh. If this is you, I urge you to let go of this thinking, because tracking your weight daily is hands down the best motivation to keep going with a weight loss plan. You will be gathering data, not using your weight as a stick to beat yourself up with. In my clinical experience, all the women that lasted the distance and achieved their weight goals used the approach below, others… not so much – they found it tough to keep motivated day in and day out.
- Weigh yourself first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
- Make a note of your numbers in your journal
- If your evening weight is 1 kg over your morning weight then you have eaten too much carbohydrate. Reduce your portions of carbohydrate and aim to lose around 1kg per week.
- You should be aiming to lose around 1 kg a week
Monitoring your weight loss also means that you will know when you have reached a weight loss plateau – no weight loss for more than 3 days. This happens because your body has adapted to the amount and type of food that you are eating. At this point you can boost your metabolism by having a day off! For 1 day, eat all the foods that you’ve been missing, but still follow the guidelines below.
Don’t snack between meals
Between meals, as long as you don’t snack, your insulin level will go down and your fat cells can then release their stored sugar, to be used as energy. You lose weight when you let our insulin levels go down. Avoiding snacking allows the insulin level to go down far enough and for long enough that you burn off your fat.
Have your last meal 3-4 hours before bed, ideally by 6pm
An overnight fast of 12-18 hours improves blood sugar sensitivity, gives your gut a break, reduces inflammation and improves clearing sugar and burning fat.
Go to sleep by 10:30pm for maximum fat burning
Go to bed by 10pm and be asleep by 10.30pm. Fat burning happens at night, within a specific window of time. To lose weight you will need to be asleep by 10.30pm so that your body can make a run up to the fat burning window of 12am-4am. Going to sleep late means that you miss this weight loss timeframe and weight loss will slow down.
