2 Critical Factors for Successful Weight Loss

Phillip Grouls

October 15, 2022

Weight Loss / Burning Fat

Weight loss is about more than just eating less and moving more. Although this is the most critical factor, there are many things you need to do for successful and sustainable weight loss. If you’re a busy professional or don’t have the time for regular meal prep or going on long walks, strategies that are fast and easy to follow become critical to your overall success.

In this post, we’ll cover 2 of the most important things you need to be including in your food & lifestyle that will dramatically increase your chances of success. Plateaus can happen, setbacks, holidays, crazy weekends and whatever else life may throw at us.

That’s fine! It’s about building a solid foundation to enjoy life and look great. It takes discipline and a plan. This post will cover the plan; the rest is up to you!

NUMBER 1: NUTRITION & DIET FOR WEIGHT LOSS

CALORIES IN VS CALORIES OUT

This one is the unavoidable number 1 priority for successful weight loss. If more calories go in than out, you’re losing the battle! A new way of thinking about this is to not go daily and think the world is over if you have a bad day. Think about being at an overall caloric deficit weekly rather than daily basis.

We’ll review some ways to stay in a caloric deficit while enjoying yourself on the weekends. You don’t need to have a monk’s discipline. You just need a plan!

CALCULATE YOUR CALORIC NEEDS IN A FEW MINUTES

The first is to calculate your BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate and add your lifestyle to the mix. BMR is the number of calories your body burns per day at rest. You then check out the graph and see how many you burn per day when your exercise and movement have been added.

You can do this easily with the following link https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html. Simply add in your details and check based on your activity level to see how many calories your neutral position is. This will surely help you a lot in the game of successful weight loss.

WORK OUT YOUR DEFICIT STRATEGY

Let’s say it’s 2000 calories per day. That is 14,000 calories per week. So each day, be aware of your routine and what you are eating. This will determine days you are in a deficit versus a surplus, giving you a clear indication of what needs to be made up.

I know it sounds complicated, but it’s not too bad. People eat similar things each week, so just get a rough idea using google or my fitness pal to see how many calories your food contains. You can also check the packaging of the foods you’re eating to get a rough idea.

ENJOY THE WEEKENDS, THEN MAKE UP

This is our personal strategy for ensuring we stay in a deficit while having a blast on the weekends! You don’t need to do this, but it’s totally up to you. We eat what we want at the weekend and don’t worry about it too much.

Of course, not going too crazy here and still sticking to fasting at night as much as possible. Knowing this will put us in a surplus, we make up for it on Mondays and Tuesdays with a caloric deficit. We do the 5:2 intermittent fasting method and only have 1 meal per day on those 2 days.

This is an example of our head trainer’s plan. His BMR + Activity is about 2700 calories per day, and his 1 meal is about 5 to 600 calories. Starting the week with a 2200 calorie deficit puts him in a prime position to stay under even when he has what he wants on the weekend.

Don’t rush into this strategy!

Your body needs to adjust, so we suggest taking it slow and just skipping a meal on those days or eating really clean to ensure the deficit. You’re doing it right if you don’t feel lightheaded, dizzy, have headaches, or are overly lethargic. So to recap. Monday and Tuesday are one meal per day, Wednesday to Friday are 2 meals per day with strict eating (you can have 3 if you prefer), Saturday and Sunday are much more chill but still trying to finish consuming calories by around 5 to 6 pm. Of course, this is what works for us, and you will have to tweak it to make it work for you.

DON’T DRINK YOUR CALORIES

This one is significant. An intense HIIT class will burn around 300 to 400 calories in 30 minutes. 1 bottle of coke has nearly 400 calories! When they say you can’t out-train a bad diet, they aren’t lying. Only drink water the vast majority of the time to stay ahead. It’s so much easier to put calories in than burn them off, and if you’re drinking them, it’s even easier.

NO CALORIES AT NIGHT

Eating at night, especially before bed, is not ideal if you want good sleep and weight loss. Your body is preparing for sleep at this time, and digesting food harms this process. Have dinner at around 5 or 6 pm and don’t have a single calorie after that. This will give you a fasting benefit since you won’t eat again until the next day. This will give your body a chance to tap into its fat stores, which is critical!

NO SNACKING

Snacking hits you in multiple harmful ways. It spikes blood glucose which is something you definitely don’t want! Glucose is much easier to convert to energy, so if it’s always present, there is no need for your body to target its fat stores. Great for survival when food was scarce but not so great for hitting your targets! Stick to main meals and give your body the rest it deserves to complete other essential processes instead of constantly dealing with small amounts of food!

NUMBER 2: INFLAMMATION IS A WEIGHT LOSS KILLER

WHAT IS INFLAMMATION?

If your body is highly inflamed, weight loss becomes extremely difficult. On an acute level, inflammation is when you see some swelling around an injury, or your immune system takes action to stop and kill invaders like a splinter or pathogen.

On the other hand, chronic inflammation is when negative immune responses hang around for extended periods and have been linked to diabetes, cancers, and various other diseases. This is usually caused by chronic stress, eating inflammatory foods, smoking, drinking, poor sleep, etc.

Cells give off signals when this state of excess inflammation takes place, and a doctor can actually test you to see how inflamed you are. They will test C-reactive protein or CRP. Other factors will be cytokines which are the signals cells send out when they feel threatened (basically asking for help).

This is ok in the short term but long-term chronic stress and inflammation have been linked to increased weight gain, metabolic issues & diseases, hormonal imbalances and various other issues. Luckily you can reduce inflammation with the strategies below.

REDUCE PRO-INFLAMMATORY FOODS

Reducing pro-inflammatory foods is an excellent start to tackling this serious issue. The main ones to avoid are what you would probably guess already, with a few that may surprise you.

Bloating, excess gas or irregular bowel movements are signs of gastrointestinal upset and inflammation, so be aware of what is occurring. If it is, let your doctor know immediately, as you may have Celiac disease or an intolerance you’re unaware of.

The main foods to avoid are processed vegetable oils such as canola, sunflower, vegetable, etc. These are horrible for the system and aren’t welcome in a well-functioning human body. Try using grass-fed ghee or extra virgin olive oil instead for cooking. Also, avoid processed meats (salami etc.), processed sugars, and refined grains such as white bread, rice, cereal and pasta.

REDUCE STRESS LEVELS

I know you’re well aware of this; some things are unavoidable. So we won’t just say stress less here but give you some actual methods and strategies to handle stress better and not let it negatively affect the body. Starting the day as stress-free as possible is vital, so something as simple as waking up 10 or 15 minutes earlier is a good place to start.

Only do this if you are getting enough sleep. If not, get all the sleep you can! Placing your body under positive stress is a great way to strengthen your ability to adapt and deal with stress better. We recommend hot and cold stress using saunas, cold showers or ice baths.

This has many health benefits and is a great way to challenge the body. Check out the article in the references section for more info on hot and cold therapy. Please do this safely and consult a professional before taking on anything too challenging. A great way to lower stress is with a breathing technique that has terrific calming effects and only takes a few rounds to feel better.

This is called box breathing and is done by doing the following. Only nasal breathing with this technique is recommended both in and out. Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, breathe out 4 seconds, and hold 4 seconds. It’s that easy!

You can do this for several minutes, a few rounds or longer if you feel it’s what you need. Finally, on this topic, more movement is recommended as long as you are not injured. Walking, getting out in nature and exercising are great ways to release some pent-up energy and feel much better.

CONCLUSION

Implementing even a few of these strategies will significantly impact your results. You hear people saying the kilos won’t come off when exercising regularly and trying to eat healthily. We have helped clients lose weight for over 12 years and have seen what works and doesn’t.

Often, the changes needed for great results aren’t that extreme.

Giving your body a chance to tap into fat stores by cutting out snacking, having fasted periods, and increasing movement are great places to start. And finally, reducing inflammation with breathing techniques and placing your body under positive stresses like exercise and hot/cold exposure techniques will have you seeing weight loss results in no time!

We are always here to help with any additional questions you may have. If you’re looking for additional help, get in touch for a health assessment if you live in the Brisbane area so we can see what is going on and, more importantly, what may be holding you back!

We hope you found this article helpful with all the comprehensive info about successful weight loss. Have a good one, and we’ll catch you next time!