We’ve all seen those “new” diets that promise immense weight loss – so long as you follow their diet plan. Yes, some of these diets help you lose weight, but none of them are sustainable. What do I mean by this?
Sustainable weight loss comes from changing your lifestyle and your habits so when you lose the weight, you’re able to keep the weight off. This is incredibly difficult to do, especially when there aren’t many diets out there that are easily integrated into your normal life and routine. Many are so restrictive, you end up binging on “off plan” foods and feel horrible about yourself. Or the second you hit your goal weight, come off the diet, you regain 10lbs!
At Parker Mason Wellness, one of the pillars of our weight loss program is nutrition. As a nurse practitioner, I counsel my patients on nutrition daily to help them stay as healthy as possible. Yes, you could pay money to see a nutritionist, but they can’t prescribe you a custom exercise plan nor can they prescribe you medication – two of the other pillars of our weight loss package!
So let’s break down some nutrition basics to help you reach your goals.
Calories – we all need them, just not too many of them.
Our body uses calories as fuel. Think of your body like a car. You wouldn’t (shouldn’t) run your car on empty. It needs gasoline to move! The same applies to your body – it needs calories (fuel) to move and complete all of its many complex functions. We can get calories from 3 main sources – proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.
Proteins can be found in meats, dairy, and some plants like beans and legumes. When our body takes in protein, it’s broken down into fuel for our cells, as well as amino acids. Amino acids are important building blocks for our bodies on a cellular level. They help with things like our immune system and building muscles. Your body needs protein when you’re losing weight, to help preserve your muscle mass. If you don’t get enough protein in while losing weight, your hard earned muscles could atrophy – or shrink.
Carbohydrates are found in foods like breads, pastas, sweets, fruits, and dairy. These can be further defined by simple or complex carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates are usually processed, contain more sugar than nutrients. Examples of these are sweets, candy, white rice and white bread and soda. Complex carbohydrates contain nutrients and take your body a little longer to process. These are healthier for you! Examples of these are whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, fruits with fiber like apples and berries, and dairy. Our bodies need carbohydrates. Your brain especially needs carbohydrates to function. If you know anyone who tired the Keto diet – a severe diet limiting almost all sugar/carbohydrates – they can tell you about the brain fog and sluggishness they felt while on that diet. Carbohydrates are not inherently bad. They become bad for you when you have them in excessive amounts, and without other nutrients.
Fats are important building blocks for our hormones! We need fats in our diets for our bodies to do their daily functions. Fat can also be broken down into energy, or stored for energy use another day. There are healthy and unhealthy fats. Unsaturated fats can help lower cholesterol while saturated fats raise cholesterol. When choosing foods, aim for the unsaturated fats. These can be found in vegetable and olive oils, fatty fish like salmon, and nuts. Saturated fats can be found in animal products like meats and dairy, as well as processed foods.
So now that we understand a little more about where our bodies get energy for the day, we can review how to eat well AND lose weight!
The basics of any weight loss is to take in less calories (fuel) than you use. You can do this by exercising and by eating healthy choices that fuel your body without adding extra calories from unhealthy fats and unhealthy carbohydrates.
Weight loss is possible with diet and exercise alone. Diet and exercise alone will, however, take a longer time than using medications as a tool to get the weight loss process started.
If you’re interested in learning more, or working with Parker Mason Wellness to feel your best, reach out for a consultation. We’re offering a FREE 30 minute consultation with one of our expert nurse practitioners for a limited time.
