Tag: weight loss

woman walking on pathway under the sun
June 22, 2022
Blog

10000 Steps – A Worthwhile Goal?

10000 steps per day – it’s preset into most fitness trackers and, by now, many of us believe we’re “supposed” to attain that number each day. However, this number is not actually derived from science. Actually, an ad for a Japanese step tracker started it all back in the 60s. The product took off and the number stuck with us.

So does this mean aiming for 10000 steps is pointless? No! Particularly if you tend towards a more sedentary lifestyle, aiming for that 10K a day can help increase your daily movement goals. Plus, it’s easy to remember and attainable for many.

Walking is among the most beneficial things you can do for your health. And most of us don’t do nearly enough of it. So, if having a goal of 10K steps per day gets you walking more, that’s awesome! However, studies have shown that even 7-8,000 steps per day positively impact health.

Our bodies are made to move. And having a daily step goal can be a great motivator and reminder to get moving. One thing to watch out for: attaining that step goal becoming too much of a focus. Also, keep in mind that fitness trackers are not super accurate. It’s important to be practical and balanced with these goals. If you’re tired or achey, your body is telling you something. Closing your rings or seeing 10000 on your tracker isn’t worth injury. So, find daily movement goals that feel best for you.

Do you aim for 10000 steps per day? Do you find it helpful?

nutrition facts label
June 16, 2022
Blog

What does serving size mean

What does serving size mean? Is it how much you’re supposed to eat? Is it a dietary guideline?

You might be surprised to know that it’s neither!

The serving size listed on a food label is actually a standardization created to allow you to compare different foods. 

If you look at the bottom of a Nutrition Facts panel, you’ll see that it’s based on a 2000 calorie diet – the standardization that everything else on the label is based on. So a serving size of 2/3 cup means: if you eat 2/3 cup of this food, you will consume X proportion of 2000 calories. 

So surely there must be a good reason why 2000 calories is the standardization…right? Right? 

Oof, I wish. The FDA arrived at 2000 calories based on self-reported surveys from men, women, and children of how much they ate per day (self-reported information is notoriously unreliable). Well, actually, based on those surveys, they chose to go with 2350 calories. But, when critics worried that setting it at 2350 would encourage people to overeat, they decreased it to 2000 calories. (See FDA calorie recommendations here).

However, while the methodology behind Nutrition Facts labels leaves a lot to be desired, the information on the label is not completely useless. It still can give you a rough idea of that food’s nutritional content. And it does allow you to compare different foods to each other. It can also serve as a starting point for finding a reasonable serving size for you. 

However, you should not be eating what the serving size states just because that’s what’s on the label. And you definitely shouldn’t feel guilty if you eat more than the serving size. 

close up photo of delicious meat being grilled
May 26, 2022
Blog

Healthy Cookout Tips

As we are heading into the unofficial start of summer with Memorial Day weekend, many are likely curious about some healthy cookout tips. As with all things, I think the key here is balance – we should be able to enjoy our favorite cookout treats while also eating nourishing foods as well and not feel guilty about it. Here are some healthy cookout tips to help you do just that.

1. Don’t try to compensate

The first thing that many people try to do when it comes to any special occasion involving food is compensate for their food choices either by under eating or overexercising before or after. There are 2 issues with this approach: 1.) it doesn’t work, and 2.) it actually creates more issues. 

If you under eat in order to “make room” for your favorite cookout foods, you set yourself up to arrive at your event extra hungry. And in response to that, you tend to eat more food and more quickly than you would otherwise. In fact, studies have shown that folks who under eat prior to an event actually consume more in total that day than folks who eat normally prior to the event. It’s just not an effective strategy. 

Beyond that, when we restrict and binge as this strategy sets us up to do, we tend to experience feelings of guilt and shame. And those feelings then prompt us to restrict more, which inevitably ends with another binge. This is how the binge-restrict cycle self-perpetuates.

Likewise, overexercising to “burn off” what you ate does not work either. You don’t get to pick and choose what you body burns for fuel. And it takes a lot more to burn calories than you think. Overexercising to compensate for special occasion eating is much more likely to result in your getting injured, possibly keeping you from exercising later. 

2. Don’t deprive yourself of the food you want to eat

Take the stress and pressure off yourself by giving yourself permission to eat the foods you want to eat. If you arrive with a list of foods you’ve told yourself you’re not allowed to have, those exact foods are going to exert so much power over you and it’s going to be increasingly more difficult to resist them. So that once you finally have them, you are likely to binge on them. The best way to avoid that is to allow yourself to have them, normalize them, treat them like any other food. This will help you strike the right balance for yourself.

3. Stay hydrated

A lot of those foods we like so much at cookouts are really salty and can dehydrate you, as can the alcohol. Ironically, the more alcohol you drink, the more of those salty dehydrating snacks you’re likely to eat and vice versa. On top of that, cookouts take place outside in the heat offering more opportunity for dehydration. Make sure you drink plenty of water before, during, and after your gathering.

4. Moderate your alcohol intake

In addition to contributing to dehydration, alcohol can also cause you to eat in ways that you normally wouldn’t – hello, drunk eating! But there is another way in which alcohol can hinder your healthy eating efforts. Alcohol is literally a poison to our body. And so, when we consume it, our body tries to process it out as quickly as possible. This means that the alcohol is processed before anything else you’ve consumed thereby increasing the amount of food you ate that gets stored as fat. Additionally, alcohol can impact your metabolism by disrupting your sleep. It can also impede your performance the next day regardless of whether you feel hungover.

5. Eat mindfully

This is a tricky one for social situations, but it is extremely helpful to eat as mindfully as possible at a cookout or other social event. This means dishing out a portion for yourself and walking away from the food table rather than mindlessly picking from it while you talk. It means pausing to check in with yourself while you’re eating and between portions to see how you feel. Should you eat more? Wait? What are you craving? It also means being consciously aware while we eat. Enjoyment of the food we eat is a key component of satisfaction and to experience that enjoyment we need to be mindful while we eat.

6. Mind your own plate

Avoid comparing your plate to others’ and don’t allow the comments other may make impact your enjoyment of your food. Remember, we all have different nutritional needs. What works for you won’t work for someone else. Comparing how you’re eating to how someone else is eating simply is not helpful. Here are some tips on what to do if someone does try to comment on how you eat.

Follow these healthy cookout tips to find balance for yourself so you can enjoy enjoy the cookout season and meet your goals.

yellow and red round fruit on brown and white weighing scale
May 17, 2022
Blog

Is 1200 Calories Enough?

Is 1200 calories enough? If you spend time on social media, you may be a bit confused on this issue. On the one hand there is a crowd that is vehement that 1200 is plenty (it’s actually a hashtag). And on the other hand, you can find loads of posts about how 1200 is sufficient for a toddler. So which is true?

(Click here if you’d prefer to listen to this instead of reading it)

Content Warning: Discussion of calorie restriction, dieting, and weight loss

To answer whether 1200 calories is enough, let’s look at an example of calorie restriction from the past. During WWII, researchers conducted the Minnesota Starvation Experiment in which study participants underwent 6 months of strict and heavily monitored calorie restriction. As a result of that starvation period, researchers noted the following changes in study participants: decreased energy, increased fatigue, increased moodiness, decreased libido, decreased energy and strength (~20%), slowed heart rate and decreased heart size, and decreased blood volume. They also noted that participants developed an obsession with food. Participants talked incessantly about food, dreamed about food, and ate painstakingly slowly so as to make each meal last as long as possible.

During the re-feeding period that followed, researchers noted that participants regained the weight they lost but it took much longer for them to regain the lean body mass they started with. As a result, by the time participants regained that lean body mass, they weighed more than they did before the study.

The results of this study lead one to believe that these participants were hardly eating anything at all. But, on the contrary, they were consuming about 1550 calories per day.

How many calories per day should an adult consume?

From this we can surmise that if 1550 calories per day elicited that response, then 1200 calories per day certainly can’t be much better.

So if 1200 is not enough, then how many calories should an adult consume per day? According to the FDA, adults assigned male at birth ages 21-35 should consume 2400-3000 calories per day. After the age of 40, the FDA recommends 2200-2800 calories per day. For adults assigned female at birth ages 26-50, the FDA recommends 1800-2200 calories per day. How many an individual should consume within those ranges depends on factors such as: body size, activity level, underlying conditions, goals, etc.

What about weight loss?

We typically see 1200 calories set as a limit in low calorie diets. However, you do not have to stick to 1200 calories to lose weight. You simply must maintain a small calorie deficit, meaning consume fewer calories than your body uses. Please note, that weight loss is not as simple as calories in < calories out, however, as factors such as hormone status, hydration, underlying conditions, environmental factors, and more exert an influence on our weight. However, you do need a calorie deficit to lose weight.

I have several issues with 1200 calorie diets. First, it is extremely difficult to obtain the nutrition your body needs in just 1200 calories per day. Second, that few calories will not only leave you hungry, it’s just not sustainable. Our bodies respond to intense calorie restriction like this by reacting as though we are starving. That reaction includes slowing down our metabolic processes and also enacting a series of responses that drive us to find and consume food. As a result, you can only maintain a low calorie diet for so long before you overeat or binge. This is why dieters experience weight and diet cycling. Those periods of intense restriction AKA dieting can only be sustained for so long. And when they end, the dieter regains the weight they lost (and then some) and starts a new restrictive diet. And so on and so forth.

If you seek intentional weight loss, I recommend working with a professional who can set an appropriate caloric goal personal to you.

dinnerware set on brown wooden table
April 8, 2022
Blog

Eating after 7 PM

Does eating after 7 pm cause weight gain, really?

Many of us have heard this and believe that food eaten after a certain time is automatically stored as fat. 

The good news is that this is not true. But there are some reasons to be cautious about eating too late at night. 

First thing’s first, there is no time after which your body automatically stores the food you eat as fat. Furthermore, your digestion doesn’t just stop when you go to sleep. Sleep is actually quite an active time for our bodies and they need fuel to carry important processes. Our bodies process food eaten later at night the same way as the food you eat earlier in the day. 

Where did the myth of eating after 7 pm come from?

This myth partly arose from the fact that, in American society, we tend to eat our most calorie-dense meal at night. On top of that, many of us snack after that dinner. So that evening eating could place us into a calorie surplus, leading to weight gain. Therefore, if we stop eating after 7 pm, we most likely inadvertently reduce our calorie intake, possibly creating a calorie deficit which could lead to weight loss. As you can see, it has nothing to do with timing and everything to do with the amount of food eaten.  

So should I eat at night or not?

Eating larger meals close to bedtime could cause heartburn or GI upset as we lie down before that food has been digested and moved out of our stomach. That discomfort can disrupt our sleep which, when experienced chronically, can create other issues.

So what should you do if you are hungry close to bedtime? My advice? Eat. If you choose to ignore that hunger, you could lose sleep because of it. You could also wake up ravenous and eat in ways you normally wouldn’t and that don’t resonate with your goals. If you do need to eat close to bedtime, keep it on the lighter side of things (avoid acidic foods) and eat just enough to be satisfied. This should help prevent any GI upset. 

pasta with sauce in the plate
February 10, 2022
Blog

How often should you have carbs?

I was recently speaking with someone who reminded me of a diet myth about how often we should have carbs: you can only have carbs at one meal per day. I think many of us subconsciously follow this rule. In fact, I actually recently caught myself thinking, “I had a bagel for breakfast so we shouldn’t have pasta for dinner.” I caught myself – WHY NOT? Who said we can only have carbs one meal per day? Is there any legitimacy to this?

This diet rule arose out of the low-carb and keto diet craze. And it stems from this belief that carbs are bad for you and cause weight gain. Surprise, surprise, like most diet rules, there is no science to back this one up.

You can have carbs for every meal of the day if you want.

  1. Carbs don’t cause weight gain. There is no single food that causes weight gain. Weight gain is a product of calorie excess and other complicating factors such as hormonal status.
  2. Carbs are not bad for you. Our bodies need carbohydrates and are designed to run on them. It’s our body’s preferred fuel source. In fact, our brain is extremely dependent on carbs for its fuel. Our bodies are not designed to burn fat as our primary fuel source – ketosis is a survival mechanism.
  3. Carbs are nutritious. Different carbohydrates contain important nutrients and, if we’re restricting our carb intake dramatically, we could be missing out on that nutrition. Take fiber as a prime example.
  4. Eating for enjoyment is important. We, as humans, eat for many reasons. Enjoyment being among them and just as legitimate as every other reason to eat. If you’re not enjoying what you eat, you’re not going to be satisfied by it. And when that happens, you’re probably going to continue to eat more as you seek out that satisfaction. This can lead us to feel frustrated and out of control around food.

For more information about low carb diets, check out this blog post.

baguette bakery blur bread
December 4, 2021
Blog

Why Low-Carb Diets Don’t Work

  • Low carb diets don’t work for effective, lasting weight loss
  • They come with several side effects

The 80s-90s had the low-fat craze and the 2000s have the low-carb craze. Proponents of low-carb and ketogenic diets proclaim their remarkable ability to help you lose weight fast, but, when really looked at, those claims simply don’t hold water.

About Low-Carb Diets

There have been a number of iterations on low-carb diets over the years – from the Atkins Diet to South Beach to the latest craze, ketogenic diets. The basic premise of them is that consuming carbohydrates makes you gain weight and so, if you cut down on carbs, you’ll lose weight. These diets range in their approach from only making certain “types” of carbs off-limits to limiting your overall carb intake in order to achieve ketosis, a state in which your body relies on fat for energy rather than glucose.

The Problems with Low-Carb Diets

How Low-Carb Weight Loss Works

Nearly everyone who has done a low-carb diet says: 1. they plateaued at a certain point and couldn’t get the scale to budge from there, and 2. once they started eating carbs again they gained all their weight back and then some.

I don’t know about you, but this doesn’t sound like an effective diet to me.

In fact, numerous scientific studies have shown that low-carb and ketogenic diets are no more effective at creating weight loss than any other diet out there. In other words, just like any other diet on the market, it works for a short time but then, inevitably, you will regain the weight you lost.

So why is this?

One of the things that people love about low-carb diets is that they see a big drop in their weight very quickly. To understand why that is, we need a little science lesson.

Glucose is our body’s preferred energy source. When we eat, our body breaks down our food into smaller chemical units, including glucose. Of that glucose, what we immediately need gets used for energy and what we don’t need immediately, gets stored in our body for later in the form of glycogen. Here’s the clincher: for every gram of glycogen stored in our body, 3-4 grams of water is stored with it.

And so, when we restrict or eliminate carbs, our bodies burn through our glycogen stores, releasing that water which then passes out of our body. What does this mean? That exciting weight loss that happens when you start a low-carb diet is just water weight. Hence weight loss quickly slows down on low-carb diets and you will regain weight as soon as you start eating carbs again. This also contributes to that plateau effect I mentioned earlier.

What about the rest of the weight loss?

After that initial drop in water weight, the rest of the weight loss from low carb diets comes from the same source as any other diet: calorie deficit. That’s right, carbs don’t make you gain weight.

By removing or restricting an entire macronutrient from your diet, you are consuming fewer calories without even thinking about it.

And it follows that, once you start to each carbs again, you will come out of that calorie deficit and regain the weight you lost. This also explains the plateauing that many low-carbers experience: our bodies adapt to calorie restriction by slowing down our metabolism. Calorie restriction to our bodies is famine and starvation, so they compensate to try to keep up alive by becoming more efficient with less fuel – as happens with any other low-calorie diet.

Sustainability

Think back to a time you wanted something and someone told you that you couldn’t have it. How did you react?

You wanted it even more, right?

That is how our bodies respond to restriction and deprivation as well. Remember that your body is designed to keep you alive. When you start restricting its energy source through calorie and carb restriction, it panics that it doesn’t have what it needs to keep you alive. And so it mobilizes every tactic it has to compel you to find and consume food. You think about food. You crave certain foods. Smelling food makes you salivate. Your stomach grumbles and aches. You find it harder and harder to resist.

And so we can only hold out on restrictive diets for so long. And then when we go back to our old eating habits. It’s just not effective strategy in the long-term.

Side Effects of Low Carb Diets

Many people don’t realize there are some unpleasant side effects that come with low-carb diets.

You may have heard of “keto fog” referring to a feeling of absentmindedness or difficulty focusing while on a low-carb diet. This occurs because glucose is your brain’s preferred fuel source and it does not burn fat for fuel efficiently. If you deprive your brain of its most efficient fuel, it’s not going to work as well.

Many low-carb dieters also report fatigue and crankiness. The former is also related to the lack of an efficient fuel source for your body. And the latter, well…have you ever had a carbohydrate? They’re delicious. I’d be cranky without them, too.

There are also concerns about the long-term health effects of low-carb and ketogenic diets.

The state of ketosis is, in fact, a survival mechanism to keep our vital processes going during periods of famine. The human body is not designed to exist in ketosis for any extended period of time. Thus, many health professionals are concerned about the long-term effects this may have on our health. This is a focus on ongoing study.

Finally, studies have shown a link between ketogenic diets and cardiovascular disease. Low carb diets’ focus on fat consumption runs contrary to decades of medical science demonstrating the adverse effects of high saturated fat consumption on our heart health. We simply don’t need all that much in our diet and should not consume high amounts of it.

What You Need to Know about Low Carb Diets

Long story short, low-carb diets are not effective means of lasting weight loss and come with a number of risks that don’t outweigh the benefits. They’re just another fad.

top view of a family praying before christmas dinner
November 18, 2021
Blog

Managing Diet Comments from Family

Family holiday dinners are coming up and for many of us that could mean difficult, hurtful, or triggering comments about diet and weight with relatives.

Just like everyone has an opinion about the weather, it seems like everyone has an opinion on diet and weight loss. Unfortunately, many people feel compelled to share those opinions without consent or thinking about how it could land for the person on the receiving end. I think we probably all have that one relative who holds nothing back.

Some things to keep in mind: what is on your plate is your business only and it doesn’t matter what or how much anyone else at the table is eating. Your needs are unique to you and you are the only one who can tune into them. So, as much as you’re able, allow any unwanted comments to slide away and try to focus on your hunger and satiety, your cravings, and your satisfaction and enjoyment.

But, how do we curtail these unwanted conversations? Whether it be a relative going on and on about their latest diet or a relative claiming to be concerned about your health and relating it to your weight, here are some ways you can respond and enforce your boundaries.

To the relative detailing everything about their latest diet:

  • I’m really glad that you’ve found something that works for you but would you mind if we changed the subject?
  • I’m finding this topic kind of triggering, can we talk about something else?
  • This is clearly something you’re very passionate about, but this might not be the best time to discuss it. 

To the relative commenting on your holiday dinner plate:

  • Excuse me, why is my plate so interesting to you? (OK that one is confrontational)
  • You have the food that works best for you on your plate and this is what works best for me. 
  • I know you think you’re being helpful, but you’re actually doing the opposite. I would appreciate it if you would direct your attention back to your own plate.
  • I’m so happy we could get together today, but I didn’t get together to discuss my eating habits. 
  • What I choose to eat today is my business. 

To the relative making comments about diet and weight loss:

  • I know you think you’re being helpful, but I’m finding your comments hurtful. 
  • I understand that you want to help, but I am not looking for your advice on this. 
  • I prefer to keep conversations about my health between me and my physician so I’d like to change the subject. 
  • I’m not looking for weight loss tips right now. 
  • This conversation is making me very uncomfortable. I’d like to talk about something else. 

As long as there are family gatherings, there will probably always be comments about diet. However, by setting good boundaries for yourself and protecting those boundaries, you can minimize those comments and their impact on you.

bowl with yummy colorful gummies on table
October 22, 2021
Blog

Losing Control around Halloween Candy

There is currently a video going around on social media showing a woman creating a cute Halloween candy display in a large glass bowl. But that’s not the part that has been raising eyebrows. At the end of the video, she nonchalantly sprays hair spray all over the candy and the caption reads “so you don’t eat all the candy.”

Responses have been mixed, with some commenting that it’s funny or even a good idea. Others have been commenting that there is something wrong if you are spraying toxic inedible chemicals on food to avoid eating it. Here is my take.

When I first saw this video, it immediately harkened back to a practice that some individuals with eating disorders resort to: they in some way “ruin” their food so they can’t continue to eat it. Indeed, when I was in the peak of my disordered eating habits in college, I would routinely dump a shaker of pepper onto what was left on my dinner plate so I wouldn’t eat it while waiting for my friends to finish up. This is a very problematic and disordered practice and the woman in this video is promoting it like it’s the next greatest idea. So that is issue #1.

This video also prompts the question: why are you feeling that out of control around Halloween candy? As an anti-diet nutrition coach, I can answer this one. Deprivation and restriction are the top causes of binging and overeating. In other words, the foods that you feel the least in control around are the foods you allow yourself to consume the least. You may also have thoughts about those foods along the lines of: “I can’t trust myself around that food,” “it’s my weakness,” “it’s my guilty pleasure,” or “I’m being bad when I eat that.” And if you believe these things, of course you’re going to avoid certain foods!

The urge to binge or overeat when we are around foods we seldom allow ourselves to consume is a normal human response to deprivation. It’s not always conscious, but it is both a mental and physical response. When we do engage in these behaviors, it’s referred to as “last supper eating” because we tend to consume a food as though it’s the last time we will have it. And, indeed, it can feel that way because we truly don’t know when we will allow ourselves to have it again.

So what is the antidote for this?

In order to break this cycle of restriction and overeating, we must put those “trigger foods” on the same level as every other food we eat. Take the novelty out of them. Take the guilt and shame out of them. We do this by giving ourselves unconditional permission to eat them.

This unconditional permission does a few things:

  1. It removes the novelty from them and with that novelty goes the allure.
  2. It provides the reassurance to us that we can have those foods whenever we want, so we don’t need to overindulge as though we won’t have them again.
  3. Even if you at first overindulge in these foods once you give yourself permission to eat them, it will eventually level out and they will just become “normal” foods once that initial excitement wears off.

So, if you thought spraying hair spray onto your Halloween candy to prevent yourself from eating it was an appealing strategy, it’s probably because you rarely allow yourself candy or sweets to begin with. You may want to consider making candy a more run-of-the-mill presence in your life and see how that changes your relationship with it. And, from a nutritional perspective, this coach can assure you that having some candy from time to time or even a small piece of candy every day is perfectly fine. There is room in every healthy diet for some fun foods. And, having those fun foods regularly, makes your healthy eating habits more sustainable in the long-term.

color colour fitness health
September 21, 2021
Blog

5 Tips to Help You Start Exercising

To start exercising regularly when you aren’t used to it can be a challenge. Where should I start? What should I do? What if I’m not motivated? Depending on the day of the week, there is a new headline out touting the superior benefits of one style of exercise over another. But here’s the thing, it’s not supposed to be that complicated. Very simply, our bodies are made to move. Here are a few tips to help you start exercising.

1. Start simply

Start by just trying to move more each day. Increasing your daily movement can boost your energy levels as well as your motivation and confidence. Plus, it’s good for you! This can look like choosing the stairs over the elevator or taking a short walk on your lunch break. While fitness trackers can be problematic if you live and die by them, aiming for that 10,000 steps per day, can be a simple way to make sure you’re moving more.

2. Go with what you like

What happens if you try to force yourself to do something you hate? Chances are you will find every excuse in the book not to do that thing. One of the best ways to ensure your success when you start exercising is to start with something you think or know you will enjoy. For example, if you know you like to dance, try a Zumba class or barre. If you know you hate cardio, start with strength training. If you like it, you are more likely to do it.

3. Don’t rely on motivation to start exercising

woman stretching on ground
Photo by Jonathan Borba on Pexels.com

One of the most common pitfalls I see is when folks assume that motivation is a force that just materializes out of nowhere or it doesn’t. Waiting for motivation to spontaneously strike is a recipe for failure because it just doesn’t work that way. Very often, a little bit of action must precede motivation. For example, have you ever noticed how sometimes getting yourself to the gym is the hardest part but then once you’re there and moving, you’re fine? That’s a great example of how pushing yourself through a little action (getting yourself to the gym and starting) helps create motivation to continue. Not sure if you’re up for a run? Trying lacing up those sneakers and walking for a bit. Not feeling the idea of lifting today? Try doing some stretches or yoga first.

4. Accountability

Peer pressure can be a very effective tool! Well, maybe it’s not peer pressure. But having the accountability of a gym buddy or workout partner can be very helpful when you start exercising.

5. Don’t go crazy

The quickest way to sabotage your fitness goals is to do too much too soon. This could mean setting overly ambitious goals so that you become discouraged when you can’t meet them. Or it could look like pushing too hard and getting injured. As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day and muscles aren’t either! Take your time, listen to your body, and go easy on yourself.

- Theme by Grace Themes

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