Eating right and still not seeing results?

You decided you’re going to do it right this time and stay away from the fad diets and magic pills; you’re going to go for the real whole food and exercise. Hell yes!! You made the right choice. It’s been a couple months and you aren’t seeing the results you want, there are a few things that could be holding you up that you didn’t even think of. This whole lifestyle change thing can be tricky at first and the first few months are the most important to stay consistent and get on the right track. Let’s go over a few things that could be messing with you reaching your goals.

• Are you eating enough? I’ve gone over the importance of consuming enough calories so that your body’s metabolism doesn’t slow down to a snail’s pace to conserve energy.
• Are you eating the right foods? A good general rule to follow is somewhere in the range of 40% carbohydrates, 40% protein, and 20% fats. The carbohydrates should be complex carbohydrates, the protein should be lean quality protein from lean meats, fish, beans and legumes, or high quality whey/casein/soy/pea/egg protein powder, the fat should be from vegetable oils, omega 3 fatty acids, fats from avocados and nuts.
• Are you sleeping enough? Lack of sleep causes hormonal imbalances and an inflammatory response that is not weight loss friendly. When you don’t get enough sleep your body is under more stress than usual since it did not get the rest and recovery at the cellular level it needs. Coritsol (your stress hormone) is released at the wrong time and increases your blood sugar level which causes your body to release insulin when it is not needed. Insulin causes excess fat to be stored because it brings excess sugar into your cells to be converted to fat.
• Gut health is very important; your GI tract is where digestion, absorption, and elimination occur. If your digestive tract is not in proper working order, think of a traffic jam due to a bunch of road work, it’s going to cause some issues on the weight loss front. There are cleanses (a few days, I don’t like any longer than that) that can be helpful and probiotics from yogurt (a supplement if you are dairy free) are some ways to get your GI tract back to working properly.
• Start writing everything down, you may think you only “cheat” very rarely but you could be lying to yourself. We tend to do things mindlessly and forget about them, write EVERYTHING down and you can’t really forget. You also can’t have cheat weekends; your body needs consistency when you are trying to “reboot” it. FYI…you can have cheat meals, don’t restrict too much!
• Alcohol…yes I said it. Alcohol can be a huge road block on your weight loss journey. It causes blood sugar levels to rise and drop drastically and this will increase the amount of insulin secreted and cause unnecessary hormonal imbalances. Your liver is what metabolizes fat as well as alcohol, if your liver is busy metabolizing alcohol it puts fat burning on the back burner.
• Last but definitely not least is exercise! Exercise is super important when trying to transform your body. I have always believed you can’t really just rely on exercise or healthy eating, you need both. I could go into the science behind the benefits of both but let’s just say exercise helps control hormone levels, increases lean body mass, decreases body fat, and helps you be a better mover which will keep you active throughout your life. You need a healthy balance between resistance training and high intensity interval training for cardio to increase your metabolism. Remember to rest or else your body can’t recover and we can start talking about hormone imbalances and stress again.

So even though you may think you’re doing everything right there’s usually something that can be changed and it will give your body that kick start it needs. Think of your body as a car, when one little thing in your car isn’t working properly it effects the way your car runs. Your body is the same way, if one system is down and needs repair it affects everything, everything is connected. Treat your body right consistently and I promise you will see the results you are looking for.