By If you’ve been struggling to lose weight, this will help you take a new path
Would you like to stop tabulating what you eat and how many calories you consume daily?
You are not alone if you said HELL YES!
Limiting calories and keeping track of your macros is tedious and exhausting.
I did this for years (as well as weighing all my food!) to prepare for bodybuilding shows.
At first, it was exciting — I loved keeping tabs on what I was eating, and it helped me pack everything to grab them on the run.
But, after a while, I realised how much time I wasted. Spending hours in the kitchen and shopping was becoming super painful.
After a while, I felt quite sick because I was eating so much protein.
When that ended, I put on weight — as to be expected. I abused my body for too long, and it was fighting back.
Perhaps that’s an issue for a lot of individuals too.
Dieting so much can harm our bodies — not to mention our mental health too! What surprised me the most was — just how profoundly impacted my mind became.
Diet flexibility is the key to sustainable weight loss results.
The problem is that following a program or only consuming certain foods for six to 12 months — you end up back to square one.
That can be frustrating and very expensive, and it’s also discouraging.
The research
Now researchers have taken another approach.
A group of people ranging from 24 to 59 underwent a clinical trial.
All of these people were either obese or overweight. In addition, they had related conditions such as blood pressure and tried a few commercial weight loss and diet products in the past.
What they had to do
Each day, participants had to weigh themselves on a wifi scale.
Then, it followed a weekly chat showing weight loss progress and the intended loss rate — including the targeted six-month weight loss goal.
No counting calories or food diaries were allowed! How refreshing!
During this time, the participants were lucky enough to get some coaching to assist them with meal planning.
This included group lectures offering nutrition information and applying that knowledge to grocery shopping and cooking.
Participants were also well informed of the positive outcomes physical activity brings, how to pivot when a weight loss plateau arrives, and the most important part — maintenance.
Each participant had three individual advisory coaching sessions as well.
What did this result in
Out of the 14 participants, 12 finished the program.
Half achieved their weight loss goal, which was to lose at least 5 per cent of their body weight and maintain it during the six-month follow-up.
Key takeaways
Now, I know what you will say — these guys had a lot of coaching and help.
In light of this, I must mention how important all this information is when researching online.
You can easily read many tips (I have a lot) and recipes and help with your healthy shopping trips.
Furthermore, all these valuable nuggets of information are free and available when you start looking for them.
If you are lucky enough to afford a nutritionist and coach, they can help you.
But, for everyone else watching their budget — there is no harm in looking online for easy meal plans, buying a scale and then getting started.
You don’t have to do much — just the basics. Start making up some healthy meal plans and exercising. Monitor accordingly via your scale.
It sounds very easy — and it is, and it just takes time and effort.
And, of course, you are worth the time and effort.
In case you missed the research paper, here it is.
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