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What’s the Best Way to Lose Weight?

“What makes Advocare better than Isogenix?”

“Would you do Weight Watchers again?”

“Can’t I just ‘eat healthier’?”

These questions have come up from the last few months and I think it boils down to: “What’s the best way to lose weight?”That’s the real question isn’t it? What works? Really, really works.

What's the best way to lose weight

I’ve read a lot of diet books, been on a lot of diets, read so many magazines with healthy eating plans, and I think that weight loss for the average person (if you’re diabetic, have thyroid issues or other health problems it may not be this simple) boils down to this:

  1. Eat less food. Aka portion control.
  2. Eat more nutritious food. Aka Eat less crap, white anything, sweets, chips, overly processed food, pop, fast food, JUNK and eat more fruits, vegetables, lean protein, fish, nuts, 100% whole grain, and healthy fats.

It’s really not rocket science.

 

gunsout

Let’s look at Eat Less Food. Now the math tells us that your body needs a deficit of 3500 calories in order to lose a pound of weight. You can create that deficit by reducing the amount of food you eat, increasing the amount of calories you burn by working out, or a combination of less food and more exercise (what I would consider the best choice). So even if you are eating super “clean”–no processed food or junk, but are binge eating bananas and avocados you won’t lose weight if you aren’t creating that calorie deficit. So eat a little less at each meal. Go for a walk or run. Skip a tv snack or dessert. Measure out your food for a couple of days to get perspective on your portions, it’s super-easy for them to get out of control!

banan peanut butter smoothie-delicious!

Now, the type of food you eat does matter; we need to Eat More Nutritious Food as well as eat less food. I don’t like the term “clean” food or “good” food because food doesn’t have morals and hopefully your food doesn’t have dirt on it. 😉 So I have found “nutritious” is the best term to define this food. In general, try to make sure 80% of your food is nutritious–whole grains, rich protein sources (lean ground beef, steak, chicken breasts, pork loin, lean ground turkey are favorites of mine!), fish, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats like nuts, nut butters, avocados, olive and coconut oil, and water. You can make SO much delicious food from these whole food sources! YUM! And all of these foods serve your body in some way….they build it up not tear it down. Of course, you will still have some wiggle room for treats in that extra 20% or so. If you notice your weight not going the direction you want, tweak your wiggle room.

pizza win

So with those principles in mind many diets are simple re-packaging of that same material. In general they help us eat less and eat more nutritious foods. But they do it in different ways. And that to me is AWESOME. Because I’m not like you. I might need things a bit more black and white. You might want to completely cut out some foods. I may need to keep things like chocolate in my life. You may be cool with drinking a shake for lunch everyday. A lot comes down to personal preference and what “clicks” for you.

Paleo, Whole 30, Advocare 24 Day Challenge, Weight Watchers, calorie tracking (MyFitnessPal), Beachbody programs (think P90X, Piyo, 21 Day Fix, etc.), meal services, the South Beach diet, and probably more I’m not thinking of right now are ALL solid choices IF they work for you! Weight loss is hard, but simple.

(Of course, you need to talk with your doctor! Your doctor will be able to help you navigate diets that help you lose weight in a healthy way. Anything that seems to good to be true…..probably is).

Kalamazoo 5K runners

And remember if something works for you–the system “clicks” for you–that’s awesome, and I’m sure you want to tell everyone and help people begin that same journey, but it’s okay if they don’t want to lose weight the same way you have. So no need to fight or be right. Lots of things work because they follow the same, tried and true weight loss principles that aren’t rooted in fads, but gosh-darn science. But some methods definitely mesh better with different lifestyles; finding that sweet spot can be tough and may take different methods, I’m definitely proof of that!

Resources: Affiliates links below:

100 Days of Real Food Cookbook (My favorite! Great source of recipes and cutting out processed foods.)

What You Can When You Can (Changing your life habits)

It Starts with Food (Good overview of Paleo/Whole 30 eating)

If you’re interested in doing the Advocare 24 Day Challenge it’s a great healthy reset where for 24 days you focus on eating nutritiously 100% of the time as well as adding some great supplements to supercharge your weight loss and healthy, feel free to hit me up with any questions and if you want to order a challenge pack you can do it here!

What’s your go-to weight loss method or system or anything? What has worked really well for YOU? I have loved the easy tracking of MyFitnessPal, the in-person support of Weight Watchers meetings, and the get-it-done approach of the Advocare 24 Day Challenge. 🙂

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