Sustainable Weight Loss Journey - Summary, Tips & Tricks
For the 8th and final post in my Sensible & Sustainable Weight Loss Series, I'm providing a quick summary of the process I recommend for losing weight in a healthy way. I also wanted to answer a few questions and provide a couple of tips.
Watch Me Discuss It
If you missed the other blog posts, you can always go back and read them to learn more. Also, no matter how slow and gentle we make the weight-loss journey, it won't be for everyone. Please take a moment to read the disclaimer below.
Disclaimer
If you have a history of disordered eating, tread carefully. Work with a therapist trained in disordered eating before even considering a weight-loss journey.
Discuss potential lifestyle changes with your doctor. Changes to eating patterns and exercise routines are healthy for most people, but you must keep in mind any risk factors or underlying health issues when making lifestyle changes, even healthy ones.
The changes I suggest are considered healthy and beneficial by most standards. The suggestions I make have worked well for me and for people I know. These are common concepts used among successful nutrition and wellness coaches. But you know you best. Don't do anything that doesn't feel right to you.
While I recommend exercise for most people, if you have an injury or other physical issue, some exercises might not work for you. Listen to your body.
First, A Couple of Thoughts
1) I started putting this series together months ago to help people who were, like me, feeling powerless to lose weight. This is the process I used to lose over 20 lbs at the age of 51.
2) I want to reiterate that weight loss is not a 1-size fits all process, but I will give you a framework to create your own journey. Feel free to personalize the process.
3) None of what I shared was an original idea of mine. Most of this is the stuff we know. Stuff we learned back in health class but have worked really hard to ignore.
Summary
Start where you are. Before you make any changes, learn to track your food intake and your daily weight. This allows you to learn the habits of tracking, honestly assess your current habits, and understand your typical weight fluctuations. Also, take some 'before' pictures.
Calculate your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) to determine how many calories you need to consume to MAINTAIN your weight. Spend a few weeks (or more) eating at this level. Use this time to make food tracking a habit and to learn to make healthier food choices. This is also a great time to increase your daily activity levels. If you struggle eating at maintenance level, stay here longer. Experiment with new foods and recipes, and build habits that make this feel easy.
Subtract roughly 300 calories from your TDEE to enter a calorie deficit. Eat at this level for about 12 weeks. Find a balance of healthy, low-calorie, high-volume foods and the treats you love. You must love the food you eat. You are building lifelong eating habits.
Focus your meals around protein and fiber, but remember that carbs are not the enemy. Balanced eating is necessary for long-term success.
Take a diet break of at least 3-4 days every 12 weeks or so. A diet break means returning to maintenance calorie levels. Three to four days is good, but you can also go back to maintenance for much longer if you need to.
Go back to maintenance whenever life gets in the way. If you are under stress, or just struggling to maintain your calorie deficit, take a break. You can do this one day a week, every weekend, during a vacation or holiday, during your period, whenever. Going back to maintenance is always better than giving up and reverting to old bad habits.
Cycle through calorie deficit and maintenance as many times as it takes to reach your goal.
Slowly transition from calorie deficit back to maintenance for the final time. Continue tracking your food and weight until you feel good about maintaining.
Slowly transition away from food and body weight tracking.
Read previous blog posts or watch my YouTube videos for more specific details.
Frequently Asked Questions
1) If my body weight fluctuates up and down, how do I know what I really weigh?
First, you can average several measurements together for a fairly accurate number. Second, you can assume that a recent low weight is accurate, knowing that you didn’t suddenly gain 3 lbs of body fat. Either way, you are close enough.
2) What do I do if my weight loss slows down or plateaus while still in a calorie deficit?
a. Verify with data. Look at the last 4 weeks of weight data. How much weight have you lost? If it’s 4+ lbs, you’re doing amazing. If it’s 2-4 lbs, you are still doing great. Maybe your expectations are just a little off. If it’s less than 2 lbs, let’s move on to b.
b. Have you been logging calories accurately? If you are not logging all of your food, or maybe you aren’t being completely honest in your logging, you might be consuming more calories than you think. Take a couple weeks to log religiously, weigh and measure your food, stay in your deficit, and see what happens.
c. Has your exercise level slowed down? If so, can you jump-start your activity again?
d. If you are doing everything accurately, but weight loss has truly stalled a bit, you have a couple of options. If you feel like you could successfully drop your calories by 50-100 calories a day, you could do that. If you feel like you could successfully increase your activity level, you could do that. However, if you feel like you would be too hungry and too tired to do either, take a pause. Go back to maintenance calories for a few weeks, even a month, to give your body a chance to reset. Then start back into the deficit, 200-300 below maintenance.
e. Consider how much your weight loss has changed since your last TDEE calculation. If you have lost significant weight, you may need to recalculate your maintenance level and then subtract 200-300 from that new number.
Whatever you do, don’t react harshly. A slowdown in weight loss is just your body telling you that something isn’t right anymore. Don’t overcorrect. Come from a place of self-love and support.
3) Can I lose weight without counting and logging calories?
Yes, of course you can. People use several strategies to do this, but they're all a bit like taking a shot in the dark and hoping it works out.
a. Some focus only on tracking macros. Make sure you get enough protein and fiber, but don’t worry about calories at all. For some people, this creates filling meals that help avoid overeating. However, high protein can easily translate to high calories, which can lead to weight gain instead.
b. Focusing on low-calorie, high-volume foods for every meal. Think of big salads and meals of mostly vegetables.
c. Meal replacement. If you replace 2 meals with pre-packaged meals or shakes, you know exactly how many calories you consume and only have to plan and track 1 meal per day. However, this doesn’t teach you how to eat in the future, and you are more likely to revert to negative eating habits and gain the weight back.
Without detailed tracking, you don’t have the data to adjust your methods as you continue through the process. Tracking gives you real data that can be used to troubleshoot issues later in the process. And eating regular foods/meals increases your ability to eat correctly so you can maintain weight loss.
4) When meal planning, what is more important: Calories or Macros?
For weight loss, it’s Calories. Macros are important for health, but I think people sometimes get a little too caught up in protein intake these days. Yes, protein is important, as is fiber. And most of us don’t get enough of either. However, while I always encourage you to prioritize both protein and fiber in your meals, weight loss comes down to calories. You can eat nothing but cookies and, as long as you stay in your calorie deficit, you will lose weight. However, you will also be very hungry, and I don't recommend this.
Tips
Here are a handful of tips in no particular order:
If you feel like your TDEE calculation is unrealistically low (typically because you are sedentary), focus on increasing your activity level to light to moderate activity.
Try to include protein and fiber in every meal AND snack.
Spread your calories out throughout the day so you don't get ravenously hungry.
If you know you will have a higher-calorie day coming up, skim a small amount of calories off other days that week (think of your weekly calories vs. daily calories). Just be careful to avoid binge-restrict cycles.
Find meals you love and include them in your meal plans.
Automate breakfast and lunch by choosing a few meals you love and rotating through them.
Limit eating out. Restaurant meals are almost always higher in calories than eating at home.
Pair your 'unhealthy'/higher calorie treats with more filling/healthier foods. Examples: air-popped popcorn paired with a couple of miniature candy bars or a plate of raw veggies and a cookie. Often the treats aren't filling and will leave us unfulfilled. So fill up on lower-calorie, high-volume foods and then end with the higher-calorie, low-nutrient foods we love.
Don't rush the process. We often go too strict because we want to lose weight fast. But then we burn out and rebound back to old habits. Slow and steady might not win the race, but it will keep you at the finish line.
Don't underestimate the importance of hydration and sleep! It's hard to navigate life when you are dehydrated and exhausted.
The End
I wish you luck on your weight loss journey. Remember to go slow and treat yourself with love and care.
Remember, it’s not really about the number on the scale; it’s about feeling good in your own body.
Above all, take care of yourself!
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