Tag: Weight loss

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How To Lose Weight Part Three

After we talked about the 3 reaction that take place in our bodies at any given time: physical, psychological and chemical, in Part I, and about how to keep the physical side in balance, or strive to keep it in balance, in Part II, we will now talk about psychological aspects of weight gain and weight loss.

Read Part I and Part II before continuing.
Psychological reactions means stress, depression, frustration, worry, anxiety and so on. We already know that stress causes imbalance at a hormonal level. we talked a bit about cortisol hormone in Part II.

A bit of stress is alright, but excessive stress can also affect thyroid function. And when hormones are out of balance we may experience excessive weight gain, even if we exercise and eat healthy. You can’t have 2 and not the 3rd, all three reactions have to be in balance, or as close to it at possible.

No need to explain more about the negative impact of stress on your health. I’d rather give you a list of bullet point ideas of how to actually reduce stress. You may have already done some and didn’t work, try others.
For example meditation doesn’t always work with me, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. That’s why I have many other ways to relax. And here are some of them for you to try as well:

 

  • Breathing – stress and anxiety? Do some breathing exercises and you will be like new. To download a FREE ebook I wrote on breathing exercises click here.
  • Meditate – just close your eyes and focus on your breath, the sounds around you or parts of your body you want to relax, no need for fancy stuff, just do nothing for a while
  • Run – go for a run if you are a runner, and go for a run even if you are not a runner, put some gym shoes on and run…outdoors where you have space and room to breathe
  • Martial Arts – chose a martial art and be consistent with your training, it’s great stress releaver even if you don’t punch pads (Martial Arts are not always about punching bag and pads, not until you actually learn how to punch)
  • Sleep – take a power nap; when I am stressed I also feel tired, sometimes a nap is all I need so I can get back to work and be very productive
  • Eat – have a nice, healthy and satisfying meal, not comfort food, rather food with healthy fats, unprocessed carbs and protein, all you need and crave from comfort food but healthier and in another form
  • Walk – go for a walk, sometimes this is all we need to clear our mind
  • Social media and email? – no, no, this is not what you need, this will stress you even more, disconnect, you are not addicted to it. If you believe you are turn off internet on your phone when you are out for that walk, turn off the phone even

 

So here they are, a few suggestions to keep the mental part calm and happy.

Remember exercising and eating healthy are just part of your weight loss journey. If you want to do this, do it right, quick fixes will get you short lasting results.
Look at your style of life, make the necessary changes and you will see how, little by little, your whole life will change.

 

Read Part I and Part II of How to lose weight

 

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How To Lose Weight Part Two

In Part 1 of how to lose weight we talked about the three reactions that take place in the body at any given time: physical, psychological and chemical. If you haven’t read part 1 read that first, click here.

The 3 reactions influence each other. And when one is out of balance the other 2 will be as well. If you are very stressed out (psychological), the brain will send resources to deal with the problem. However it will take resources from the other 2 system and so hormones are affected. With hormones out of balance, because we know too much stress affects hormones, many people easily gain weight.

Stress can be psychological and physical as well. For example, too much exercise, I mean really too much, causes the body to release more of the cortisol hormone, and so does mental stress. Cortisol is a double edge sword, it’s always there and we need it, but too much of it can cause weight gain and other problems.

Today I only want to talk about how you can keep the physical reactions in balance.

Your style of life

Whether skinny or not, healthy or not, fit or not, you have a style of life. A way you live your life day by day.

We are all a bundle of habits. This is not a bad thing, if we didn’t have habits there will be no consistency and no progress. On the other hand if the habits are not the best ones, being consistent with them is not what we want.

Now it is time to look at your style of life. So here are a few questions for you to ask yourself and answer honestly:

Do I walk at least 30 min every day?
Do I exercise and move in proportion to what I eat?
Am I using the energy (calories) I ingest throughout the day?
Am I training and conditioning my body to develop muscles which keep my metabolism up and running? (walking and running alone are not enough)
Within the week, do I walk, run and move in proportion to the amount of time I sit?
Do I always keep a good posture, even when no one is looking?
Do I stretch enough so I never feel my body stiff or muscles tight?

The list can go on. These are questions you can answer yourself and you can start changing them one by one.

To summarize here are ways you can ensure your body is fit and strong:

  • within the week move more than you sit, or at least the same amount of time – your body was no designed to sit for hours
  • train your whole body, not just upper and lower body, full body training is essential for a full system development
  • train your heart (cardiovascular) but also your muscles (strength)
  • walk, run, lift, carry, throw, catch etc move in as many ways as possible
  • balance exercises – don’t underestimate the power of balance for strong foot muscles, ankles, knees and core
  • have a strong core as that is where every movement starts from
  • develop your core through a many different exercises – never limit yourself to just a few you like
  • stretch your body daily or whenever you have time – here is a full body stretch for you
 

See what changes you can make. You don’t need to change everything. Identify the most important areas and start working on them.

Remember that progress is made through small changes and not the most complicated processes.

And always bear in my that no matter what you strive for, if you are not out of your comfort zone you are not making much progress.

Need advice? I can schedule you for a FREE coaching call. To book straight into my calendar click here, , alternatively contact me.

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How To Lose Weight Part One

I would first like to look at how we gain weight. What are some of the most common factors of weight gain. Once we understand how we gain weight, we can then tackle the root cause I go the other way, losing weight.

No one gains weight over night, it doesn’t just happen all of a sudden. And there is always more than one cause. In fact everything we do, the way we live our lives, or the way we were taught we should live it impacts the chemical, physical and psychological reactions taking place in the body at any given time.

Weight gain is not your fault. It is the environment around you. The environment affects you at all levels, and often leads to imbalances in the system. Within the environment surrounding us there are things we cannot directly and personally control, but then there are the things we can.

 

The 3 reactions

Let’s clarify the 3 reactions  I will write a separate article as well, in more detail. But for now remember there are 3 reactions present in your body at all times: physical, psychological and chemical.

1. Physical – everything that has to do with mechanics, any injuries, strains, pulled muscles, any kind of tension in the body or relaxation.

2. Psychological – the mental activity, such as happiness, calmness, or stress, anxiety, depression etc

3. Chemical – all the chemical processes taking place in your body, digestion for example

 

When there is an imbalance in any of the 3 sections, such as too much stress or a fracture, the body sends more resources there to fix the problem. It does this at the expense of the other 2 systems, as it takes some of the resources from there, for example it might take from digestion.

Swimming. If you have a large meal more blood is sent to the digestive system to break down the food. If you go for a swim straight away, some of the blood busy with digestion is quickly directed to the muscles needed for swimming, and so some people experience cramps.

Thus, an imbalance in one of the 3 systems causes imbalances in the remaining 2. If this happens on a regular basis then digestion and metabolism is affected and the body slowly begins to put on weight.

Let’s not forget that hormones are affected as well. And hormones regulate everything in the body. A hormonal imbalance can lead to a lot of weight gain

 

And so, to tackle weight gain we must strive for balance within all 3 systems. We must also focus more on the aspects of our life and environment that we can personally control rather then the ones we don’t have much control over.

Finally, all 3 reactions and our environment are influenced by our lifestyle and the choices we make. The 3 reactions are the root, the causes are in there. In the following articles of How To Lose Weight we will be talking about each reaction, some of the imbalances and ways to bring them back to balance.

 

As I said before it is not your fault, even if your choices are not the ones you believe to be the best for you. However, it doesn’t matter who’s fault is it, what matters is to tackle the general style of life, change the environment and restore balance between the physical, psychological and chemical reactions.

This is a very difficult thing to do. It is always easier to take a pill, go on a diet and get it over with. Then what? What did you learn? If learning is not something you want then my method is no the one for you.

If instead you want to learn about how the body and mind function, what and how to what to eat to feel satisfied for longer and maintain your energy levels, how to reduce the risks of injuries, aches and pain and much more then make sure you come back to read Part 2 of How To Lose Weight.

In Part 2 of this I will list a few ways to re balance the 3 reactions taking place in the body, starting with the Physical reactions.