Prepared by: Allison Tannis, MSc, R.H.N. | allisontannis.com
Are you going about weight loss the wrong way?
Ditch the diet! There is no one size fits all solution.
Is it possible you’ve been thinking about this all wrong? Dieting doesn’t equal sustainable weight loss. In fact, most people would say dieting results in frustration. Successful, sustainable weight loss comes with a holistic healthy lifestyle – not from a diet. It is more than just counting calories! Holistic weight loss not only helps you drop the weight – it also promotes energy and a sense of well-being cognitive, as well as cognitive and cardiovascular health. It’s time to ditch the diet and start feeling healthy.
How do you lose weight fast?
Quick weight loss is never healthy. You lose weight fast on popular trendy diets because they involve drastic or restrictive changes in food intake. Successful, sustainable weight loss is not cutting out donuts and other sugary carbohydrates for a few weeks. If weight loss was just about cutting back on certain foods, trendy diets, such as Atkin’s, Keto or the Paleo, wouldn’t be “trendy”. They wouldn’t be popular one year and then gone the next. Diets aren’t sustainable – the weight comes back! Even worse, some diets can be dangerous if the restrictions cause nutritional deficiencies.
Become the best version of you
We’re all unique. It’s not just your hair colour, eye colour or personality that makes you different. You are unique because of the recipes inside your cells which us science geeks call DNA. Give your DNA the right ingredients and it will whip up the best version of you! The ingredients your cells need goes beyond the calories, vitamins and minerals you find on your fork. The DNA in your cells responds to lifestyle factors: exercise, stress, sleep, emotions. Are these factors holding you back from reaching your weight loss goals?
Consistently, evidence points to a healthy holistic lifestyle for successful long-term weight loss. A healthy holistic lifestyle includes eating healthy whole foods (vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans, legumes). Researched benefits to eating healthy foods include: weight loss, longer life expectancy and lower rates of chronic diseases (cardiovascular, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease).
A healthy holistic lifestyle also includes physical activity. Did you just say, “I hate exercise”? There is no one-size-fits-all exercise class. The same way your body needs specific nutrients to make you the best version of you, it also needs exercise that’s right for you.
If you have negative feelings about exercise, your mindset may be inhibiting your weight loss.
Do you hate exercise because your goals are unrealistic? If set too high, you fail. A positive mindset is key to reaching weight loss success. At the University of Alberta, 273 sedentary adults participated in a study that involved 3 one-hour exercise sessions per week. One year later, despite noting positive outcomes, such as having more energy, improved sleep and less stress, some quit exercising. They quit largely because they were disillusioned about meeting preconceived unrealistic weight loss or body changes. Set smaller, achievable goals to stay motivated and maintain a healthy mindset.
What is holistic weight loss?
You can achieve even greater health by going beyond food and exercise. Holistic weight loss looks at your whole body. Does your body want to put on weight because of your stress-levels, sleep habits, food choices or your exercise strategy? Or could the reason your body is putting on weight be an underlying imbalance in your microbiome or hormones? Designed uniquely for your lifestyle and body needs, a holistic weight loss is a personalized plan. It will help you not only reach your weight loss goal, but start living a healthy, balanced life.
To be successful at weight loss and be truly healthy, you need a sustainable plan that’s realistic. You need a holistic weight loss plan. A plan that fits into your unique lifestyle and needs to give your body all of the ingredients to be the best version of you.
-Posted April 2019-
Allison Tannis, MSc R.H.N., is an author of five nutrition books including Aging Bites: how the foods you’re eating may be making you age faster. Read more of her articles on her popular blog allisontannis.com or on social media @deliciouslygeeky
References:
Changes in diet and lifestyle and long-term weight gain in women and men. N Engl J Med. 2011 Jun 23;364(25):2392-404.
Effects of popular diets on weight loss outcomes
Can we say what diet is best for health? Ann Rev Pub Health 2014; 35(1):83-103.