A Foolproof Formula for Weight Loss

Trendy diets come and go, but the Law of Conservation of Energy cannot be broken. 

If you want to lose weight, you must burn more calories than your body absorbs.

Weight loss surgery is a popular option nowadays. I'm not knocking it because it's proven to be effective for those who really need it. However, it's an extreme intervention. I think even my friends and clients who have had it will tell you that. 

And when that's done, you will need to develop a healthy weight management plan. 

Your doctor can prescribe some weight loss pills such as Adipex. I hear this can be taken via infusion as well. Beware of the side effects. And is this a long-term solution? Eventually, you will need to come off of the Adipex and establish healthy habits.

What we have found that what works well are interventions that can be maintained throughout your lifetime. These interventions can help you achieve and maintain and healthy body-weight.

Lifestyle Interventions That Can Be Maintained for Consistent and Permanent Weight-Loss

The biggest bang for your buck will be addressing your nutrition. 

Your eating habits have the most impact when it comes to managing your weight.

1. Intermittent Fasting - There are plenty of health benefits to Intermittent Fasting. We recommend working your way into a 16:8 fasting feeding window. But you can really start anywhere. Start with a 12 hour fast and work your way up.

2. Food tracking. We use MyFitness Pal to track our food. It has a huge database and has a free version. 

3. Whole Foods - We encourage our clients to switch to whole foods as much as possible. Even consuming 80% of your nutrition as whole foods would be a huge improvement for most. The higher the better, but you have to live your life and enjoy treats sometimes as well. Whole foods are food that is grown on a farm or had a mother. It's real food: meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, a little starch. Limit sugar as much as possible. 

4. Speaking of whole foods. Almost nobody we work with is eating enough protein. Maybe one or two clients out of a 100 are consistently hitting their protein targets. If you have normal functioning kidneys, you almost can't get enough. Protein is metabolically expensive to digest, which means that your body burns extra calories to break it down. It promotes healing from injury, builds lean muscle which also burns more calories, and prevents sarcopenia which is a loss of muscle mass as you age.

5. Stay hydrated. Your metabolism slows down when you’re dehydrated. Carry a water bottle to quench your thirst throughout the day. We suggest one half of you body-weight in ounces of water per day. Helps quench hunger pangs. 

These 5 nutrition tips will get you a long way. If you need help applying these to your particular situation, my contact info is at the bottom of this post.

So, now let's talk about the burning calories side of things. 

You can always start with walking, but your body adapts quickly to walking and you may find yourself plateauing fairly quickly. You can progress into jogging, but this can be hard on your feet, ankles, knees and back. Bike riding, jumping rope, and trampoline are ways to burn calories, but none of these interventions will tone your core and upper body sufficiently. 

So, what we recommend is HIIT which stands for High Intensity Interval Training. We do this in-person or online through a variety of groups. HIIT gets your heart-rate up and burn maximum calories. We also incorporate resistance training that is appropriate for you. For some, it's the barbell; for some it's dumbbells. We also, constantly vary our workouts which is huge. Boredom causes people to lose interest. 

Resistance training will tone your muscles and prevent muscle loss as you age. Toned muscles burn more calories, so the more we can build and maintain, the better.

Miscellaneous
Of course, we also advocate moving more outside the gym. Avoid prolonged sitting. Take a break at least once each hour. Spend some time gardening and doing manual housework. Set a timer if you need to. However, these activities probably won't get your heart-rate up enough for you to see consistent improvement. 

Sleep management is beyond the scope of this blog, but sleep is where you recover from your efforts. Athletes sleep. So, start thinking of yourself as an athlete and you will begin to do things that athletes do. 

See a doctor. LOL Everything we recommend is safe, but you should run everything by a medical professional who can advise you on the correct path YOU should take in light of YOUR unique medical situation. We are not doctors. And don't pretend to know how everything interacts with everything else. 

Supplements. Please don't go to GNC and buy expensive supplements. And don't go to Wal-Mart and buy the cheap ones. We recommend some moderately priced, yet highly effective supplements that work for us and our clients. Check them out by clicking here.

So, let me end with the one thing your should not do: 

Please don't starve yourself. You will rob yourself of essential nutrients and and you gain back any weight you lose. Follow a gradual and sensible formula for taking in fewer calories than you burn.

If you need help with any of this, or would we run 6-week groups continually as well as work with clients individually.  Email me at richmathis@hotmail.com, text me at 229-425-6616. Find me on Facebook Messenger. Or contact me through this website.

If you need to see some progress pics and testimonials, scroll to the bottom of this website. There are so many. And they keep rolling in. I don't post them all.  

Peace, 

Rich