3571: Things Dieters Do that Maintainers Don't by Lea Genders on Maintaining Weight Loss

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[00:01:01] This is Optimal Health Daily. Things dieters do that maintainers don't. By Leah Genders of LeahGendersFitness.com. And I'm Dr. Neil, your host and narrator. Let's keep this intro really short and get right to another post and continue optimizing your life. Things dieters do that maintainers don't. By Leah Genders of LeahGendersFitness.com.

[00:01:28] I could speak on the subject of dieting with some authority because I consider myself an expert in weight loss. What makes me an expert? I lost weight more times than I care to admit. Losing weight was always the easy part for me. Maintaining it was the ultimate challenge. It took me a long time to figure out how to lose the weight and keep it off for life. You can learn from my experiences, so you don't make the same mistakes.

[00:01:53] These are a few of the lessons that I learned when I ultimately figured out how to keep the weight off for good. There are certain ways of thinking that sabotaged my efforts, and once I overcame them, I was able to maintain a healthy weight. Things dieters do that maintainers don't. Go on and off diets. It's been proven time and time again. Diets don't work.

[00:02:17] Instead of setting up strict rules about what you can and cannot eat, it's more effective to make healthy choices most of the time, and allow some room in your lifestyle for treats in moderation. Getting over the all-or-nothing mindset was a game-changer for me. When there's no wagon, you can't fall off it. Cut out entire macronutrient groups. A lot of the popular fad diets cut out entire macronutrient groups. The fat-free diet was popular in the 90s.

[00:02:46] Then it was all about low carb. The truth is we need all of the macronutrients, protein, carbs, and fats, in our diets. Protein helps repair and build muscle. Carbs are our body's preferred energy source. And fats are essential for protection of our organs and insulation of nerve cells. Focus on the quality, think whole foods, and quantity of each macronutrient instead of cutting anything out completely. Fats don't make you fat.

[00:03:15] Carbs don't make you fat. Eating more calories than you expend causes fat storage. Don't eat enough. Eating very low calories can cause your metabolism to slow down to compensate. When you don't eat enough, you're probably missing specific vitamins and minerals because you're not eating a wide variety of whole foods in your diet. It can make you feel terrible, sluggish, and cranky. Very low-calorie diets can often lead to overindulgences later.

[00:03:44] Eat a wide variety of quality foods in the proper portions for your activity levels to look, feel, and perform your best. Obsess over the scale. The scale is a tool and only one measure of success. Stepping on the scale every day and obsessing over every fluctuation can cause unnecessary anxiety. Focus on non-scale victories. How do your clothes fit? How do you feel? How are your workouts?

[00:04:11] The scale doesn't tell the whole story and often tells an inaccurate one. Focus on fat loss, not just weight loss. Losing water will make the number drop on the scale. So will losing muscle. And that is something we want to avoid. Step on the scale every once in a while to make sure your weight is trending in the right direction. But obsessing over the scale isn't the answer. Rush the process. You wouldn't turn up the temperature in the oven to cook your dinner faster.

[00:04:40] And weight loss doesn't work that way either. Learn to enjoy the journey because there is no finish line. Look for sustainable ways to live a healthy lifestyle. It took time to put on the weight and it may take some time to take it off. I look at it like this. What if it took a year to take off the weight? It seems like a long time. But you can play the long game, the slow approach, and do it in a safe, sane, and sustainable manner. Or you could spend the next year going on and off diets and exercise programs

[00:05:08] and not make any actual real progress in the same time frame. Slow and steady really does win the race. Don't sleep enough. Sleep and stress management are often overlooked completely, but are an important part of any fat loss plan. Aim to sleep 7-8 hours per night. Participate in stress relieving activities, whether it be meditation, prayer, bubble baths, massages,

[00:05:36] reading, or low intensity physical activity like walking or yoga. High levels of stress can cause your body to hold on to fat. Eat diet foods. Food marketing is tricky these days. It's easy to be fooled by marketing labels that advertise health foods that are not healthy at all. They use labels like all-natural, low-fat, low-carb, organic, sugar-free, gluten-free,

[00:06:02] and healthy on all kinds of processed foods that are not healthy at all. If it says diet on the package, it's likely an unhealthy processed food. You can absolutely enjoy these types of foods in moderation as part of a healthier lifestyle, just as long as you eat them with the full knowledge that they are not health foods. Try to stick to whole foods from nature most of the time. Skip exercise. Strength training can help you maintain lean muscle while you work to lose weight.

[00:06:31] Muscle tissue requires more energy to maintain than fat. So, a person with more muscle burns more calories at rest. Strength training increases lean mass, which increases calorie burn throughout the day. You don't have to try to look like a bodybuilder. Some simple bodyweight or dumbbell exercises can help you maintain or increase lean mass. Cardio exercise can help put you in a calorie deficit, which is important for weight loss.

[00:06:58] For best results, include a balance of both strength and cardio in your weekly schedule. You just listened to the post titled, Things dieters do that maintainers don't, by Leah Genders of leahgendersfitness.com. And I'll be right back with my commentary.

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[00:08:07] And golf balls priced so you could afford to lose one. Or a few. Head to Sierra or Sierra.com for the brands you want at the prices that let you do it all. From athletic to athletic-ish, Sierra's got it. Dr. Neal here for my commentary. I want to mention something about the importance of sleep and weight management. Leah was absolutely right when she said that lack of sleep and too much stress can increase the body's likelihood of hanging on to fat.

[00:08:33] But multiple studies have found that a lack of sleep can also lead to increased food intake. Why? How is that possible? Well first, the more hours we're awake, the more likely we are to eat. Second, lack of sleep can actually increase the body's production of hormones that make us feel hungry. So, getting adequate sleep is important not only for our overall health, but can be a really

[00:08:59] important lifestyle habit for weight management over the long term. Alright, that'll do it for today. I hope you have a great rest of your day and I'll see you back here tomorrow for the Friday Q&A and where your optimal life awaits.