I was hesitant to do a post on weight loss because I want you to focus more on your health than your weight. Our focus on our weight is really only societal programming telling you what you should look like.  Since my mission is to help you lead a happier and healthier life these tips will help you do that along with shedding some pounds if you’re into that sort of thing. 

(This post gets a little bit wordy because I really want you guys to understand the information but for those scrollers in here (I see you), I have bolded the key takeaways.  I still recommend you read the whole post but this will give you a quick insight if you need to come back and read it thoroughly later.)

In our culture we spend a lot of time obsessing about what we should be eating.  There is a new diet (or many) coming out every season that claim to be the “best” or have all the answers or be the magic “pill” that will make all your weight loss goals come to life in a matter of days.  Honestly, it’s mostly all a bunch of bullshit, pardon my language but it’s true.  So lets start with the truth:  You are perfect, you were born perfect, your worth is not attached to the number on the scale and anything that is trying to tell or sell you differently is completely full of it.  What is also true, is that sometimes we need to make tweaks to feel our best and get our health to where we want it to be (and weight loss can be an added bonus to that).  So lets dive into my tips:

1. With dozens of diets out there that may work for some but not everyone we need to focus on reducing our toxic load so our digestive system and elimination channels can work properly.  When you are eating whole organic foods there are less chemicals, pesticides and additives getting into your system, which frees up a lot of your body to properly digest your foods.  When we overload our systems with toxins and “food-like” substances our bodies spend a lot of their energy ridding it of toxins.  When your liver is bogged down trying to process this crap, the amount of energy left for digestion and weight loss is lowered.  The liver is the organ that breaks down fat for weight loss.  If it is working on removing and cleansing toxins you’re ingesting everyday it cannot break down fat for you (this goes for other stuff in your surroundings too like your cleaning and body products but we will discuss that at a later date).  Eating these unhealthy and toxin laden “foods” can also be a reason you’re storing fat.  Your body has many ways to relieve itself from these toxins and when your organs can’t remove them fast enough, they start to store them in your fat cells to take the load off.  This is one reason you may experience detox symptoms when losing weight as they are released from fat cells. *Key Takeaway: your liver can’t break down fat while it is constantly removing new toxins your consuming so whole organic foods are the best way to avoid them.
2. Make lifestyle changes that reflect your weight loss (and hopefully health!) goals.  Dieting doesn’t work for the long term.  Sorry, to be the bearer of bad news.  What dieting fails to address is what happens when you get off of it.  If the diet isn’t a long-term solution for you, you will end up right back where you started and that is the harsh reality.  What is even worse is that most people end up gaining back even more; so I want to help you get off that stupid-ass rollercoaster that no one is enjoying in the first place.  Anytime you overhaul your entire diet you will see changes but if you go back to your old dietary choices after the diet is over everything else will go back too. *Key takeaway: Choose positive lifestyle changes over dieting.
3. One solution doesn’t fit everyone.  So many people I talk to have tried everything from paleo and keto to vegetarian or low fat, you name it, so if this is you, you are not alone.  I get it, so many false promises or you know someone who had great success and so you thought maybe you could find success in the new “it” diet too.  There are two main problems with this.  First, go back to my last point, these diets aren’t sustainable and, second, bioindividuality.  Which is basically a fancy term to explain that we are all unique.  No one diet or specific foods are good for everyone. All of us have a unique make up that includes our genetics, gut flora and more.  Also, we all have different lifestyles and activity levels.  There are a million variables and so what works for one person doesn’t always work for another.  *Key Takeaway: Don’t assume a diet will work for you because it has worked for someone else.
4. Learn to eat intuitively.  This is probably the best piece of advice I can give you.  Learn to listen to your body and see how it is interacting with the foods you eat.  Start to ask yourself how you feel right after you eat, a couple hours after you eat and even in the morning when you wake up.  When you tune in to how you feel after eating, your body will give you lots of clues to how the food is affecting you.  Starting a food journal with a place to add how you feel is a great help when first learning to eat intuitively.  By asking yourself how the food makes you feel you start to see patterns and this can guide you to making better lifestyle choices.  *Key takeaway:  tune in to your body to see how different foods are making you feel.
5. Set your goals for how you want to feel instead of how much weight you want to lose.  If the only thing driving you is the number on the scale, then it can be hard to stick with it long enough to see if work. When your goal is to feel good and healthy you can start feeling those changes right away.  On the other hand, if you are checking your scale every morning but the needle hasn’t started to move yet then you won’t be inclined to stick with it.  *Key takeaway: base your goals on how you want to feel, not how much weight you want to lose.

And so there you have it. My not so obvious tips for how to lose weight.  If you liked this post you may also love one of my favorite snacks, Golden Bliss Balls.

If you are ready to make some changes in your life, drop me a line here and we can discuss how to start making positive changes in the health and happiness department right away!

Follow the bliss!