Effective Strategies for Successful Weight Management

It’s the start of the year with great aspirations to be the best version of yourself going forward, which might be getting fitter, stronger, taking up a new hobby, going to more gigs, finishing a course or, for many it could be maintaining or losing weight.

Healthy meal

For most of us, at some point or another we have wrestled with, managing our weight and now with the new pharmaceutical drugs that can assist it’s a much-debated topic more than ever. So, what are the key things to consider when you are trying to manage weight? Let’s start with asking the question, are we suppose to be 1 weight the whole time? Most people would think yes …. But think about that for a moment, really think about it and all of the things that change over a 12 month period that could influence / impact your weight. I’ll give you a few to start: seasons, Temperature, holidays, stress, eating habits linked to the fore-mentioned, spare time, boredom, dissatisfaction, disposable income, birthdays, Christmas… the list could go on.

It isn’t difficult to see that naturally we are likely to fluctuate in our weight over a year. Increase in weight over winter months and possibly lose over the summer months. However, studies have shown, an average adults increase in mass at a rate of 0.5kg yearly, but that’s a biological norm, that’s unhealthy weight gain.

What some people miss is that if you put weight on over a week’s holiday (for example) Christmas, just by going back to your normal routine it’s unlikely to return to a “normal” weight. You overeat or change what you eat in these periods and if you don’t consciously change your behaviours to then lose this weight or reset the body to a lower weight it might retain the weight you have gained. Over a period of time the body will reset its “normal” weigh to this “Holiday” weight and use this as its new set point, adapting its responses to hormone and neurological stimuli & habits to reflect its new normal weight. The body has a very complex control system to regulate weight and isn’t as simple as in vs out. Generally speaking, it responds to a consistent input, so the odd week it might be able to deal with, but longer changes in habits nutritionally, it will have the most significant impact long term. This changes the responsiveness to hormones in the body that control hunger and other elements of metabolism, like your basal metabolic rate. This is the base line energy requirement the body uses  to tick over before doing anything.  You starve the body, after a few weeks it turns down its basal metabolic rate to reflect the energy sparce environment (you are purposely inflicting on it), so you stop losing weight. As soon as you then increase what you eat the body turns back up its metabolic rate back up and then super compensates by storing more energy as fat for the next “starvation” period. That’s why fad, low carb, extreme kcal restricted diets don’t lead to long term weight loss and actually leads to long term weight gain overall.

Ok let’s park that for the moment, let’s look at weight, or more accurately body mass, what is this made up of? It’s simply a snapshot of your overall body mass at that point in time when you step on the scales. It varies day to day and will depend on what you have eaten, drunk and how many times you’ve been to the loo. So best take it first thing in the morning when you have smaller likelihood of variation in these factors. I would also recommend doing it weekly to biweekly to track trends. People get too fixated on changes over days. Look at changes over weeks to months to see any really changes in mass.  So how do we best manage our weight? So ultimately its ok for weight to go up and down day to day, and over the year but we want to make sure we track trends and change behaviours that are sensible based on our lifestyle/ environment / stressors at the time.

Consistency is key and therefore there are no real quick fixes, and in most that includes the weight loss jab. It has a place and purpose but, in my opinion, should be used alongside traditional methods of education and small changes to nutritional habits. As recent studies have shown that upon stopping the jab the was faster weight gain than stopping a normal diet. As the drug simulates a natural hormone, if you don’t change your nutritional input of what, when, how much and why you’re eating then your body won’t have changed (in its responsiveness to the natural hormone made in the body controlling appetite) and the effect of the drug will cease having its effect. That’s ok if you want to be injecting a synthetic drug into you for your rest of your life with possible side effects at a significant financial cost. The good news is that there are a few simple steps to best help manage our weight over our lifespan. So, if it’s to maintain or lose weight these are the key steps.

There are 5 major things:

1.        Reduce sugar

2.        Reduce Carbs

3.        Reduced processed foods

4.        Reduce snacks

5.        Mindful eating rather than mindless eating

Consider: stress, sleep and influence of any medications that you may be on.

Reducing sugar will increase insulin sensitivity, reduce likelihood of Type 2 diabetes, of yo-yoing in your blood sugar/energy levels and cravings. It’s addictive and is so prominent in our western diet it’s hard to avoid but it’s the key thing to tackle to help manage your weight and improve energy/ wellbeing long term.  This leads into reducing your carbohydrate intake, basically your beige carbs (breads, pasta, crips, potatoes etc) that are also mostly processed. Try to get carbs from whole foods, rice, beans, pulses, vegetables and a mix of natural sources. This leads to eating less processed foods, they are normally very kcal dense, full of sugar as well as preservatives, additives, E numbers and sweeteners that we have a very little detailed understanding on the full amplitude of their impact to our overall health.

Looking at reducing snacks and re learning the usefulness of being hungry is key. We burn fat when have a period of fasting to maintain our blood glucose/sugar levels so essential in managing / maintaining or losing weight. This is where for some people a structured period of fasting (16:8 or the 5:2 strategies) can be really helping in relearning how to deal with hunger and getting the body use to metabolising fats again. This will help with hormone sensitivities that control hunger, blood sugar levels as well as basal metabolic rate.

This leads into the final point of mindful eating. Taking time to stop & eat, slow down and allow the body to register hunger, the delay until your full and not over eating, savouring what you’re eating. Sitting down and connecting to others whilst having a proper cooked from natural ingredients, hearty meal that is satisfying in mind and body.

You could talk a lot about the other factors such as sleep, stress and medication but quite briefly they are wide ranging effects that cannot and should not be overlooked. If you are struggling with weight management and aren’t sleeping, stressed and on meds these are some of the key big things that will affect the 5 key points above, your behaviours. Look at these alongside the 5 points above to make greatest chance in successful results in your efforts.

There are no easy “fixes” but long term lifestyle choice and changes are imperative for it to be sustainable and Poniente in its impact. It is about finding the sweet spot for you, your body, your life, your preferences, activities, your work & your lifestyle to protect you long-term keeping you in good health.

Ultimately are we supposed to be a fixed weight? No. Are we supposed to get heavier as we get older? No. Is it easy? No, but it doesn’t have to be hard all the time. It takes some consistent directed effort across the board in lifestyle changes, physically, mentally, nutritionally. If you get the right balance it should be manageable.