2629: 5 Simple Ways to Get a Jump Start on Your Fat Loss Goals by Lea Genders on Healthy Weight Loss

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[00:01:38] 5 Simple Ways To Get A Jumpstart On Your Fat Loss Goals by Leah Genders of leagendersfitness.com And I'm Dr. Neil. Hey there, happy Saturday! Thank you so much for being here and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily

[00:01:52] where I act as your narrator of the best health and fitness blogs, all for free. And don't forget we have a few shows where we do this covering a bunch of topics. Just search for Optimal Living Daily in any podcast app to find them.

[00:02:06] But with that, let's get right to it and start optimizing your life. 5 Simple Ways To Get A Jumpstart On Your Fat Loss Goals by Leah Genders of leagendersfitness.com I write a lot about healthy habits on this blog because habits are the building blocks of a healthy lifestyle.

[00:02:28] Once you develop healthy habits, you no longer have to rely on willpower or motivation. It's freedom from deprivation. It takes work, but it is worth it. If you have fat loss goals, there is no better time to get started than now.

[00:02:43] You don't have to overhaul your whole life. You can start by incorporating some simple healthy habits to get a jumpstart on your fat loss goals. The idea behind healthy habits is that they work within your already busy lifestyle. Life is probably never gonna get less busy.

[00:02:59] Let's do what we can right now. These are 5 simple things you can do today that will position you for fat loss. 1. Eat Your Veggies Eat a serving of veggies at every meal and snack. Vegetables are high in nutrients and low in calories.

[00:03:15] Veggies keep your digestive tract running smoothly and can reduce the risk of heart disease. Choose a wide variety of colorful vegetables to take in the micronutrients that help you feel your best. When you feel your best,

[00:03:28] you're more likely to make better choices in other areas of your life. 2. Prioritize Protein Prioritize a protein source at every meal and snack. Protein helps you feel full at each meal. Protein has a higher thermic effect than carbs and fat,

[00:03:44] which means you burn more calories just to process and digest protein. Your body needs protein to build and maintain lean muscle, which is essential for healthy fat loss. Aim for 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight. If you haven't been keeping track,

[00:04:00] this is likely more than you've been taking in. It pays off to pay attention. 3. Walk Every Single Day Walking is a fantastic way to increase your daily energy expenditure. The great thing about walking is that it is low-impact, so you can do it every single day.

[00:04:18] You don't necessarily have to head out for an hour-long walk, although this would be a great idea too. You can add in additional walking into your day by parking farther away from the entrances of a building, taking the stairs instead of the elevator,

[00:04:31] taking 5-minute walk breaks every hour, and always returning the shopping cart to the store. You should do this anyway. It all counts. It may not seem like much, but it all adds up and makes a difference working towards fat loss. The little things add up to big results.

[00:04:48] Don't discount them. 4. Strength Train You'll notice when I talk about losing weight, I always specify fat loss instead of weight loss. Why? Because when you're losing weight, you want to take care that you are losing fat and not muscle.

[00:05:04] If you lose muscle, you may see a lower number on the scale, but muscle loss is not good. Muscle loss slows your metabolism because muscle requires more energy than fat to maintain. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn during the day.

[00:05:19] If you lose muscle, it's harder to keep the weight off. You can combat muscle loss during weight loss by prioritizing protein and strength training. You don't have to hit the gym for an hour a day or train to be a muscle-bound human.

[00:05:33] You can do some simple bodyweight or dumbbell exercises right in your own home to build and maintain lean muscle. Aim for just 3, 20-minute, full-body strength training sessions a week at first. It does go a long way for healthy fat loss. And 5. Eat slowly until 80% full

[00:05:53] This may be the simplest but hardest to execute advice for fat loss. It takes a lot of practice to get it right. Eat slowly because it takes time for your body to send the signal to your brain that you're full.

[00:06:04] If you scarf down your dinner down in 3 minutes flat, it's easy to overeat. I am as guilty as any. Eat slowly. Put your fork down between bites. Take a sip of water between bites. Count your chews. Can you chew 20 times? Or even 30? Chewing helps with digestion

[00:06:23] and can reduce bloating too. Now, this is harder than it sounds. If you're anything like me, it's a habit to rush through your meal so you can get on with your day. Savor your food. When you eat slowly, you can start to feel fullness signals while you eat,

[00:06:37] not once it's already too late. Stop eating before you feel overly full. Listening to your body is one of the best ways to control calorie intake. If we learn to tune in, our bodies will tell us what it needs. It can be hard. We forget. We rush.

[00:06:54] We scarf. Eating slow is a habit worth cultivating. The good news is that we eat several times a day so we have plenty of opportunities to practice. Notice, I didn't recommend an extreme diet or joining your local boot camp 6 days a week.

[00:07:10] It's the small things that are sustainable over time that make the biggest difference when it comes to lifestyle change. Get really good at being consistent. If you spend the rest of the year cultivating these healthy habits, in the new year, you'll be 10 steps ahead with a solid foundation.

[00:07:30] You just listened to the post titled 5 Simple Ways to Get a Jumpstart on Your Fat Loss Goals by Leah Genders of leagendersfitness.com and I'll be right back with my commentary. Dr. Neil here for my commentary. I want to go back to Leah's point about how losing weight

[00:07:47] may lead to a loss of muscle. It's true that if we're trying to lose weight by reducing our calorie intake, the body will actually turn to breaking down muscle for energy first. That means, the body will tear down muscles before it uses fat for fuel.

[00:08:02] Totally backwards from what we want, I know. So how can we make the body preserve the muscle we have and not break it down for fuel? Researchers looked into this very question and would agree with Leah's suggestions. They found that eating fewer calories with a balanced diet,

[00:08:18] along with increased physical activity, especially resistance training or strength training, is helpful to maintain muscle mass and improve muscle strength while losing weight. That news probably isn't earth-shattering, I know. But the good news is, it just goes down to the basics. Alright, that'll do it for today.

[00:08:39] Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for listening every day. I hope you have a great weekend and I'll see you back here tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.