Do you step on the sales in the morning only to find that later that day you are 5 pounds heavier or even the next morning? You might get excited that you lost 3 pounds one week and did great and the next week you overeat one day and you are back where you started. What!!!!!! This is not a good way to measure your success. Keep reading to learn how to lose weight.
I remember writing a post a year ago for women over 50 about flabby arms. I said if you workout with heavier weights and eat good food you won’t get them. I’ve been cursed I have them…… in one year! And yes I weight train what’s going on?
First of all, get rid of the scale don’t even look at it. If you are working out hard (more on that later) and eating clean food then keep doing what you are doing but think about the following ideas below.
Stress
Your body doesn’t know the difference between internal and external stress. The more stress of any kind, that you have the harder it will be to lose weight or change your body shape.
The diagram below shows that there are 6 main types of stressors:
- Physical
- Chemical
- Electro-magnetic
- Psychic
- Nutritional
- Thermal
From Paul Chek’s book “Eat Move and Be Healthy”.
Paul Chek says, We are exposed to each of these stressors every day and they are all crucial to our physical, mental and emotional health. The problem begins when we are exposed to too much or the wrong type of stress. The diagram also shows that we have Control Systems that help to rebalance the body in order to keep our bodies in balance, which is known as homeostasis.
If you exercise too much or too hard that’s stress, if you eat foods that are not good for you (sweets or maybe even carrots) that’s stress.
If your body is under any kind of stress that could be what’s holding you back and keeping you from your weight loss and health goals.
Diet
So let’s talk about diet, “everyone is as different on the inside as they are on the outside so we all have different nutritional needs”. That’s why your spouse or friend goes on the same diet as you and they lose weight and you gain. Keto and Paleo are the big craze right now and yes people lose weight on them. But if you are not an Eskimo then maybe you shouldn’t eat like one. Read this post from William Wolcott, the founder of Healthexcel and author of the Metabolic Typing Diet.
What I am saying is “one man’s food is another man’s poison. So eat the foods that your body doesn’t need and you will be putting fire on the wood. It could be sugar, carrots, or any food not just “Bad” foods. Read more about how to fine-tune your diet here http://elitephysiquesinc.com/nutrition-and-lifestyle-coachingutrition-metabolic-typing-and-lifestyle-coaching/
Exercise
Like I said above exercise can be good stress or bad stress. A good exercise program might be a program you worked up to doing. Starting with light weights and increasing the weights safely to a weight that can overload the muscle and increase muscle mass (to help prevent osteoporosis and burn more calories). This needs to be done slowly over time in order to strengthen the tendons and ligament and small stabilizing muscles. If you enjoy cardio do what you love but don’t overdo it. If you lose form or don’t like what you’re doing that is stress.
A bad exercise program causes stress. This might be a weight training program using poor technique or not lifting enough weight to overload the muscle, killing yourself doing a treadmill or running every day. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying you shouldn’t run or do cardio just work smart. Next time you go to a park watch the people running. Some have good form, stand tall and use their core, they run with ease others run with their shoulders forward hunched over. The latter do not have the strength or energy to be running. They are just adding stress to their bodies.
You are not going to lose weight by always being in a stress mode. Don’t be afraid to lift heavy but be careful, eat for your genetics, your Metabolic Type and do meditation, yoga, Tai Chi, or Qi Gong for stress. Oh ya about my arms, as you get older you need to work out a little more and a little smarter. I increased the weight I use and reduced my stress by meditating and doing Qi Gong. They are starting to tighten up:).
Read “Eat Move, and Be Healthy by, Paul Chek.
Check out my new course, Eat Cleaner to Get Leaner https://sherry-macdonald-s-school.teachable.com/p/6-week-total-body-transformation
