Most of the time when a new client comes to work with us they are shocked by what we get them to do with their diet. Most of these people have followed a certain way of eating for many years thinking it’s “healthy” but then we tell them to eat more. Why?
Well more often than not once we have analysed our clients’ diets it becomes apparent that they are restricting their calorie intake because that’s “how to lose weight”, but the problem is that they are often restricting their calories too much.
Now the large majority of the people we work with are in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s and not their 20’s. This means their bodies and hormones can’t take the same abuse as they once could, so instead of stressing them by severely restricting calories, we like to nourish their bodies first and increase their health. This helps to balance their hormones and reset the damage that may have previously been done.
It is of course easy to lose “weight” by restricting calories. I’m sure you have tried it before too? But the problem with this approach is that losing weight doesn’t mean losing fat. It’s fat that people really want to lose. They want to look better in their clothes and ultimately look better in front of the mirror.
Where Do We Begin?
So what we need to do first and foremost is to improve the quality of the food people eat and flood the body with all the essential vitamins and minerals that are needed for all the important processes within the body to work.
Our clients often find that simply by doing this they start to feel better, have more energy and their mood improves too.
Once we have got our clients into the habit of eating more nutritious food we then start to change the proportions of food groups. For example we may add more protein and fats and reduce the amount of carbohydrates or visa versa. It all depends on the individual. At this point we aren’t even considering calories, but one thing that’s likely to happen is that weight will start to shift and yet the amount of food being eaten is plenty.
What About Calories?
We may consider the amount of calories being eaten but we certainly don’t rely on them for most people. Instead we like to focus our efforts on other aspects of someone’s lifestyle first such as stress, sleep, digestion, the type of exercise they are doing and how toxic their body might be.
If you’re over 40 it’s important to realise that your hormones play a key part in your weight loss journey and that you can’t simply lose weight by restricting your body what it needs.
Final Tips
So my top tips for for weight loss are;
- Stop counting calories
- Increase the amount of coloured vegetables you’re eating
- Get a balance of protein, fats and carbohydrates
- Every meal must contain at least 2 portions of vegetables, some protein and some fats
- If you want to cut anything out, cut out the processed food that are nutritionally poor.
If there’s anything you would like to discuss with us regarding your health or weight loss then give us a call on 0203 356 7060 or book yourself in for a free mini consultation using the form below.