7 Things NOT To Do When You’re Trying To Lose Weight (#2 fools everyone!)

4) YOU CUT OUT ALL THINGS CATEGORIZED AS “SUGAR”

While cutting sugars like high fructose corn syrup, fake sweeteners, and agave is great, some people take this way too far and cut out truly nourishing sugar too—fruits, fresh fruit juices, maple syrup, molasses, and even honey (!). Cutting out sugar completely can send your metabolism into a tailspin, hindering your body’s natural ability to store glycogen, which is necessary to convert inactive thyroid hormone (t4) to the active form (t3), that keeps your metabolism’s motor running.

Cutting out too many potassium-rich fruits and starchy vegetables can also tank your potassium levels, which really screws with your thyroid function even more. This is not exactly a good thing for weight loss! This reason alone is why you should always question a “health guru” who’s instructing you not to eat fruit…

Not to mention effect carb-cutting can have on your digestive system (hello constipation)!

5) DEPRIVING YOUR BODY

In my nutrition practice, excessive weight signifies a severe nutritional deficit. How do you resolve a deficit? Hint: it’s not by limiting or depriving your body of nutrients (limiting calories= restricting nutrients). If you think of your body like a bank account deep in debt, doesn’t it make sense to make as many nutritional deposits in to your bank account every day instead? Now we’re on to something!

Besides, if you are trying to eat a diet that is generally dissatisfying; you do not feel satiated or nourished, and you’re not working toward healthy weight loss. A good diet should reduce cravings over time, NOT deepen them. You can lose weight while listening and responding to your body’s needs!

6) IGNORING FATTY ACID IMBALANCE

There is a lot of misinformation out there about fat. “Fat makes you fat” is the most accepted notion, but where did this actually come from? Natural fats (butter, coconut oil, cream, egg yolks, lard, etc.) have been used for thousands of years with no “fattening” effect. The low-fat craze of the early 90′s had a huge brainwashing effect on the perception of healthy foods. When you choose fat-free, you naturally choose higher sugar/higher carb and low protein foods, because protein in its natural state comes with a healthy dose of fat! You also eat more of these foods because low-fat= low satiety, meaning you must eat MORE to get full than those who eat fat liberally.

Cutting out fat from your diet and/or getting the wrong kinds of fats in your diet also robs you of fat soluble vitamins A, D, E K, and omega fatty acids because these nutrients are found only in fatty foods. Therefore, fat-free diets deplete you of more nutrients, and that is weight loss’s worst enemy.

7) DRINKING TOO MUCH WATER

Obey your thirst, not some blanket requirement! According to Matt Stone in Eat For Heat, “No other creature is so removed from its own instinctual programming to the point of accidentally overdrinking. The mechanisms of the body generally prevent such a thing. Intellectual interference between our bodies’ needs and what we think are our bodies’ needs forms a barrier that can be quite problematic, especially when it comes to flooding out the electrical supply of our entire inner metropolis.”

So drink when you are thirsty, and don’t when you’re not.

8) IGNORING MINERAL BALANCE

Did you know that minerals have a big influence on how you feel as well as influencing weight via your thyroid health? Mineral balance, especially calcium and potassium support thyroid health which is closely tied to your waistline. Dieting, taking supplements you don’t need and under-eating can disturb mineral balance in unfavorable ways, especially if weight loss is your goal.

9) IGNORING YOUR GUT

Did you know that certain conditions in your gut encourage weight gain and will make anything you try to do with your nutrition a losing battle?

A few gut conditions that can make you weight loss resistant are:

• Estrogen dominance — When I’m talking about estrogen dominance, I’m talking about symptoms like: weight gain (especially around the hips and thighs), edema, infertility, varicose veins, mood swings and depression around cycle time, breast tenderness, variations or skipped cycles, vaginal dryness or itchiness, excessive or scanty blood flow during periods, cyclic insomnia, night sweats and fatigue.You see, once estrogen has done its job, usually it is detoxified by the liver and sent out in the trash via bile to get out through your digestive system. BUT, if too many of the wrong gut bacteria are present, they actually RE-ACTIVATE the estrogen bringing it back into circulation. This is via gut bacteria that produce beta-glucuronidase enzymes that can re-activate (or deconjugate) estrogens that were already detoxified (conjugated) and on their way out of the body.Decreasing levels of beta-glucuronidase enzyme producing bacteria in your gut is key to stopping the cycle of estrogen recirculation.
• Low Akkermansia Muciniphila — (A. muciniphila) is a mucin-degrading bacterium naturally found in the human gut that is associated with obesity, diabetes, inflammation, and metabolic disorders. [1]. And the good news? A. muciniphila can be increased through dietary interventions such as polyphenols, specific probiotics containing specific Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains, sodium butyrate as well as prebiotic foods like inulin. [2]
• High Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes Ratio —  Research over the last few decades has identified certain human gut microbiota or “fatbugs” that can increase the caloric energy harvest from the foods you eat. Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes bacteria are two classifications of gut flora that are used to characterize the composition of the microbes in your gut. Research has found a high ratio of Firmicutes “fatbugs” to Bacteroidetes “thinbugs” (F/B ratio) in obese subjects when compared to the F/B ratio of lean subjects. They also saw that as obese subjects lost weight, the F/B ratio decreased.

If you feel like your body is weight loss resistant and you have digestive issues, a GI map test is a great way to understand what’s actually going on, so you can do something about it!

10) NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO BLOOD SUGAR

Did you know your blood sugar and specifically insulin resistance has a huge impact on your waistline?

Blood sugar dysregulation wrecks havoc on your hormones and encourages weight gain no matter what you eat!

It’s one of the first things you must address to align your body to weight loss.

HOW TO ALIGN TO WEIGHT LOSS

The best way to get results is to play on the same team as your body, not work against it!

Discover your body’s internal fires that are stalling your progress and address them sequentially to see sustainable progress.

My masterclass — How to Align to Weight Loss to Reboot your Metabolism is designed to get your body and metabolism back on track so you can conquer your weight loss goals while avoiding restrictive dieting. Read more about it here so you can get healthy to lose weight naturally!

BE PATIENT WITH YOUR BODY

Weight gain doesn’t happen overnight, and getting healthy to lose weight takes time. Respect your body by listening to your cravings and fueling it right.

Weight gain doesn’t happen overnight, and getting healthy to lose weight takes time. Respect your body by listening to your cravings and fueling it right.