For those of you who have committed to the New Year’s Resolution of losing eeight in 2023, here are suggestions to make the arduous weeks ahead, a little less stressful and more successful.
Lainey Younkin, M.S., RD, LDN with a review by Victoria Seaver, M.S., RD have recommended ditching drastic diets and switching to 6 more successful habits to see your scale’s numbers move.
1. YOU ARE FOCUSING ON EXERCISE MORE THAN FOOD:
Even calorie trackers are not always accurate. But worse yet, the public does not generally accurately estimate how many calories they have burned through exercise. As a result, they eat back the calories. Younkin and Seaver inform us that exercise calories are a small percentage of overall energy expenditure. Most calories burned daily come from the body’s basal metabolic rate (BMR) burned at rest (lungs breathing, heart pumping, and other internal organs working daily). Building muscle can increase the BMR, but only with diet changes.
2. YOU ARE EATING TOO LITTLE:
“Not eating enough during the day is associated with overeating at night,” state our dietitians. Because the body, with less fuel to do its job, tends to restrict its calorie consumption over time, this can lead to a slower metabolism. Here is where the types of food you eat to get those calories matter the most. All calories are not alike nor are the hormonal responses to the types of food eaten. The info produced by the food type will tell your body whether to store fat or burn it, and whether to promote good health or promote inflammation. Fat-burning mode means eating protein, fiber and healthy fats at each daily meal, and reducing carbs and refined sugars. Fiber, itself, will fill you up by slowing digestion. And protein suppresses ghrelin, the hormone that tells the brain you are hungry.
3. YOU’RE COUNTING CALORIES:
This habit often leads to making unconscious eating choices with food quality and ignoring body signals that indicate body fullness or hunger as calories are counted. Instead, your nutritionists advise you to focus on food quality with proper portion sizes for your chosen diet.
4. YOU ARE SACRIFICING SLEEP FOR EXERCISE:
According to Megan Kober, RD, at The Nutrition Addiction, “The number one habit you should break to lose weight is sacrificing sleep for exercise.” Lack of sleep throws leptin (hormone that helps your body maintain your normal body fat on a long-term basis) and ghrelin, (brain info hormone indicating hunger) out of whack. Skip the morning workout and add it later in the day. Sleep deprivation affects the prefrontal cortex of the brain which is responsible for proper decision-making (seen often not working well after taking in too much alcohol).
5. YOU’RE MINDLESSLY SNACKING:
Eating mindfully means pausing before eating and asking yourself if you are physically hungry, stressed, bored, or, simply craving something specific. Then you can make the best choice for food and your diet goals. Our nutritionists suggest “Whatever you choose to eat, start with the portion on the nutrition label, put it in a bowl, sit down at the table and savor the snack, paying attention to how satiated you feel. Still feel hungry afterward? Go back for more.”
6. YOU ARE DRINKING YOUR CALORIES:
Watch the wasted calories that can go into a sugar-laden coffee and Starbucks’ grande mocha, not to even mention wine and beer. Reduce the number of drinks with the number of nights you drink weekly, as you reduce the sugar in your favorite liquid of habit.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Younkin and Seaver agree that weight loss does not depend on drastic diets which may also bring about havoc on your metabolism leading to weight regain. They add instead “Take the simple and more effective approach of changing your habits instead for weight loss that lasts.”
