#139: 5 of the most effective weight loss tips (that are often forgotten about)
With all the noise out there surrounding weight loss and health, it can be easy to forget the MAIN principles and the most effective ways to lose weight that actually work and are proven by science time and time again. People are becoming stuck on things like:
How many times a week for red meat?
What plant milk is best?
Should I go vegan?
What time of the day should I eat?
Whilst it's good to be health concious, sometimes these nitty gritty little things don't REALLY matter. What matters most is the proven, overarching facts that often people forget when they are narrowed in on such tiny aspects of dieting and forgetting about the bigger picture. SO, I'm here to remind you of some of the things that ACTUALLY work, because people seem to forget!
Links:
As promised in the episode, I have far more podcasts that delve into each tip below:
More on calorie deficits:
#120: Is calorie counting & using the apps ACTUALLY useful? What are the pros and cons?
More on protein needs:
#65: 7 (Fat Burning) Reasons To Eat More Protein
More on exercise and strength training:
#124: All your questions about EXERCISE answered! Weight training, fat burning, mistakes and more
More on sugar cravings, keeping blood sugars low and low carb diets:
#105: Tried Everything and Can’t Shift Weight? 4 Reasons You May Want to Try a Low(er) Carb Diet
#46: 12 Scientifically Proven Ways to Cut the Sugar Cravings and Lose Weight for Good!
#20: 7 Common Low Carb Mistakes That May Be Sabotaging Your Success
#5: 9 Proven Benefits of Cutting the Carbs and Eating More Fat
#7: Keto Vs Low Carb - and More Myths Debunked
More of importance of sleep and my best tips:
#35: Can Sleep Loss Make You Gain Weight?
Links:
Start your weight loss journey now: 3 Week Body Reset
Continue your journey and figuring out YOUR own balance in the Health with Bec Tribe
Download my FREE eBook with 4 15 minute meals: click here
Explore my free recipes, other eBooks & website: Click here
Follow me on instagram: @health_with_bec
Read This Episode:
In this episode, I'm going to be talking to you about five of the most simple and effective weight loss tips that are often just forgotten about because I do feel like there is so much noise out there in the weight loss world, the dieting world and the health world on Instagram with what's the absolute best way to lose fat and the absolute best little hack to increase your energy and whilst there are so many little hacks that can help and new things that come about in the world, I really think that so many people forget some of the most key and simple principles to weight loss, because they're just searching for all the, silver shiny things that will give them a quick fix and have it like a magic pill.
I do think that it's really good to just remind you of the basics and the things that will actually give you the best results and sometimes when you simplify things, you will get the best results as well, because when you're overwhelmed with too many options and you're trying to do too much, you think - is this better than that? Is that person's advice better than that? What should I do? It can actually lead you into a bit of a state of overwhelm and inaction and cause you to think - what the hell should I do? So you do nothing!
I'm going to be talking to you about these five things today and they are things that I've talked about throughout the podcast, so I've done longer episodes on all of these topics. What I'm going to do is just remind you of them because we all need reminders. Even when you listen to something, it's so easy to forget about it, so I just want to be your reminder today in this really simple episode and run you through the most important things if you are focused on dropping some weight and keeping it off sustainably.
Before I get into the podcast just in case you're not following me yet, I'm @health_with_bec on Instagram, so absolutely come and say hi to me over there. I really help women who have tried it all when it comes to weight loss, bloating and gut issues. I help the women who have tried it all and can't get any success and I have a program, my 3 Week Body Reset which is what women start with as Step 1. and then Step 2. is the Health with Bec Tribe, where they can really turn their new diet into a sustainable lifestyle without the feelings of missing out without hunger. I really show women how it's possible to get results after trying it all and to keep the results up rather than yo-yo dieting.
I'm actually recording this from Melbourne at the moment and I'm feeling really excited. I love being in new places. At home, my house is being painted. I've just moved into a new house, which I'm obsessed with and I'm doing some renos on it, so I'm in Melbourne at the moment working here and looking out at the river and I'm going to the semifinals of the tennis on Thursday, so feeling really inspired to record this podcast for you today.
Okay, one of the most important tips is to track your calories. Now, the main principle of weight loss is that you have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. It's science. It is what has to happen and whilst there is so much more to it, that's why I've got so many episodes on Body Bites with Bec. It's why it's taken me years to create my approach. There are a lot of other things to it because it really is important to focus on the quality of the calories too. For instance, for breakfast, you wouldn't want to have a chocolate bar if that's 300 calories, instead of eggs and greens.
Obviously there's so much more to it, but if you want to lose weight, you do need to be in a calorie deficit. I used to say this all the time when I worked with women really closely in my first one to three years of business. They would say - “Bec, I'm doing everything right, I'm eating really healthy” and they would run me through what they're eating and I would think to myself - that is healthy but when they would follow a meal plan that I made for them that was controlled in calories, they didn't have to calorie count themselves and they were eating at a certain calorie level, they would drop weight.
There's other factors to it as well, some women were sensitive to gluten and dairy and cutting that out really helped them lose inflammatory weight too, so there's lots of other things, but my point here is that so many women were eating healthy and trying their best, but it's so easy to slightly overeat on the healthy stuff. It can literally look like not being conscious when you're making dinner and having three tablespoons of olive oil instead of one or two, or having 250 grams of chicken instead of 200 grams and whilst that's still healthy and amazing, you do need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight, so you do need to be a little bit conscious.
I talk about this lots more in Episode #120: Is calorie counting & using the apps ACTUALLY useful? What are the pros and cons?, if you're wondering how many calories should I have a day? What calorie counting app should I use? How do I even track my calories? How can I track my calories without being over without being obsessed? I don’t want to make you obsessed about calories, but you need to be conscious of it.
Let's say for instance that the average person needs 2000 calories a day to remain weight. If they eat 2000 calories and they're burning through 2000 calories a day, they'll remain weight and this is just the average person. I'm talking rough numbers here. For them to lose weight at a gradual rate, and of course there's lots of other things that affect this, but it's recommended to eat about 500 calories less than that.
If someone needs 2000 calories to remain weight, they'd want to aim for about 1500 a day for steady weight loss and the 500 calories to be in a calorie deficit - that's not a lot. That literally could look like picking at some of your kids leftover food, or adding an extra tablespoon or two of olive oil to your dinner or if you're doing that, plus a bit of olive oil, plus you're maybe having a glass of wine, those calories easily add up, but my point here is that I see it all the time and a lot of women are actually eating at their weight maintenance level when they're trying to lose weight and that's why they're not losing weight.
I had a consult with a woman last week and that's why I feel really passionate to record this episode for you because she was like - Bec, I've been with you in the Tribe for three months and I lost lots of weight at the beginning and then I've been on a holiday and I've been really getting back into it, but it's not shifting anymore. When we started talking, we worked out that she's stopped following my recipes. My recipes are calorie controlled for women, so if they follow my meal plans, it's done for them. They don't have to use the apps. It's so easy and so when they're doing it, they don't have to spend time tracking calories themselves. They just know that they're eating the right amount of calories for their own body because my meal plans are set at an average amount that helps women, which is between 1400 to 1600 calories a day, but I walk women through exactly how they can remove a snack or add a snack to meet their own calorie needs.
My 3 Week Body Reset is a huge learning approach in that way, so that women can stay calorie controlled without being obsessed and having to use apps themselves, but basically because she was still following my principles, we did get to the key of what her issue was and that was her just not being conscious because she was starting to create recipes herself and not really think about portion sizes etc. She is now going to follow my recipes again and then if she's not following my recipes, she is going to use an app as well as my recipes just to make sure that she's eating at the calorie amount that I suggested for her body, which I think was about 1400 calories a day.
So I hope that makes sense. You really do have to track your calories to be in a calorie deficit. Not every day of the week. I really believe in the 80/ 20 approach. I think it's really good on the weekend to go out for dinner, enjoy life, have a few drinks and eat at your weight maintenance level on the weekend and then eat at a calorie deficit through the week. That's exactly what I teach women in my 3 Week Body Reset and in the Health with Bec tribe. There are blank spaces over the weekend for women to do that and I educate them on how to eat at those times so that they can really learn how to eat with that 80/ 20 balance. So that is the first tip - you have to be in a calorie deficit and so many people still forget that, but it is the most important principle with weight loss to get right.
Tip number 2 is to eat enough protein. Protein is so important to include with every single meal for so many reasons and once again, I'm not going to make this episode too long and explain all the science and how to meet your needs and all the other things because I do have another episode related to this - Episode #65: 7 (Fat Burning) Reasons To Eat More Protein!, but basically protein really helps to keep you full, which means it helps you eat less throughout the day, which means it helps you stay in that calorie deficit.
If you're not having protein with your meals, you're going to feel hungry all the time and it's going to be really hard to stay in that calorie deficit, so you really want to make sure you're eating enough protein so that you stay full. Not only that, when you're losing weight, you don't just lose fat. So if you're going to put yourself in a calorie deficit, you run the risk of losing your muscle mass and your muscles are your most highly metabolic active tissue. What that means is the more muscle you have, the more calories you can burn. So what you don't want to do when you're losing weight is not meet your protein needs, because then when you're in a calorie deficit and you're not eating enough protein for your body, you can actually start to lose muscle.
When you start to lose muscle, your metabolism gets slower and slower and that's one of the reasons why so many people regain the weight after they've lost it. If you're constantly in a calorie deficit and you're dieting, but you're not meeting your protein needs, you could be losing muscle mass and your metabolism gets slower and slower, which causes easy weight gain.
If you want to hear more about how much protein you should be eating and far more about protein, listen to Episode #65: 7 (Fat Burning) Reasons To Eat More Protein. Once again though, in my 3 Week Body Reset and the Health with Bec Tribe, I make sure the protein needs are really high, so most women will meet their protein needs without them having to do any of the guesswork themselves.
Tip number 3 is to lift weights and do strength training, not just cardio. I was a victim of this in the past. I used to think cardio only was best. I used to think that weight training would make me bulky. It couldn't be further from the truth. The benefit of this is exactly what I just said about eating protein.
When you're losing weight, if you're only doing cardio and you're in a calorie deficit, once again, you run the risk of losing your muscle mass. I've got a podcast all about this where I answer all of your questions about exercise and what strength training means and what I do - Episode #124: All your questions about EXERCISE answered! Weight training, fat burning, mistakes and more.
Lifting weights and doing strength training/ resistance training is absolutely key and I really recommend women to do resistance training at least two to three times a week and that is going to really help you burn fat and gain muscle. We don't want you to lose that muscle and honestly since I've started consistently strength training in my own life, I really started being consistent with it about three years ago, I have seen so much changes in my body. I'm prone to carrying fat on my stomach. I don't have much natural muscle mass at all. Some of my friends do, I really don't and since I've started a strength train, I've found that I can eat a little bit more than I used to because obviously my metabolism is getting stronger and it's definitely changing my body composition to be a bit more strong with a bit less fat percentage.
I couldn't stress this more that resistance training and weights do not make you bulky. It's really hard for women to get bulky because we're made up differently to men with our hormones. So if you really focus on doing that, it's going to help with your weight loss efforts, I promise. It will also help you get more of a toned, strong body which everyone should be aiming for. There’s more about that in the exercise episode, but it's a really important tip if you're wanting to lose weight and keep it off.
Tip number 4 is to try and keep your blood sugars as low as you possibly can. This is going to be one of the best things for you, especially if you are someone that is absolutely trying it all and can't seem to lose weight, your blood sugars might not be low enough. You will know if you're eating the wrong foods and you're eating foods that are spiking your blood sugars and giving you energy crashes, if you constantly feel like you are getting energy crashes throughout the day, if you constantly feel like you're hungry throughout the day and you have to have five or six meals, if that's you - you could be eating the wrong foods. That is because when you get highs and lows in your blood sugars, it makes you tired, it makes you crave more, and it makes you hungry all the time and when your blood sugars are low, it means that your insulin is low. When your insulin is low, your body burns fat far easier and this is one of the biggest principles that I have been teaching women and practicing myself.
One of the best ways to do this is to cut out sugar. So try to be as sugar-free as you possibly can, and same with refined carbohydrates, both of those foods will spike your blood sugar levels, which in turn spikes your insulin levels and that is not really a state that prioritizes fat burning, so you're going to find it far easier to lose weight if you're eating food that's low in refined carbohydrates, low in sugar and low GI.
One of the best ways to do this is to follow a low carb diet, which is what I teach women. It's not keto. It's still extremely healthy. It's full of vegetables, full of nutrients and also to make sure every meal has protein, healthy fats and fiber in there. So that is the key to low blood sugar levels, low insulin levels and then, a far higher chance at burning fat. I just could not believe this more. It has been the secret to thousands of women finally losing weight after trying it all. There's lots of other little secrets that are in my approach, but that is one of the biggest ones and so if you want to see how that's done without any of the guesswork, so that you are following a lower carb diet, that's sugar-free and extremely healthy and sustainable, then I would love you to check out my approach, but if not, just start researching and look into that and try to do it yourself.
So, really try to keep your blood sugars as low as possible. One of the best ways to do that is to follow a lower carb diet, prioritise protein in your meals, don't cut out healthy fats, and make sure that you're meeting your fibre needs as well, which is minimum 25 grams a day, which is also extremely good for your gut health.
Now I have got a few amazing episodes about the benefits of low carb diets and the importance of cutting out sugar and getting rid of your sugar cravings - Episode #105: Tried Everything and Can’t Shift Weight? 4 Reasons You May Want to Try a Low(er) Carb Diet, Episode #46: 12 Scientifically Proven Ways to Cut Sugar Cravings and Lose Weight for Good!, Episode #20: 7 Simple and Common Low Carb Mistakes That Sabotage Your Success, Episode #5: 9 Scientifically Proven Benefits of Low Carb Diets & Episode #7: Keto Vs. Low Carb - and More Myths Debunked.
Just a side note as well - if you are trying to be in a calorie deficit, and you're really trying to lose weight, but you're addicted to sugar, and you can't stop eating sugar, your willpower to stay in that calorie deficit is going to be so hard to fight because sugar is so addictive. I truly believe that it's really important to get rid of the cravings before you even start to think about cutting your calories and losing weight, because it's really hard to cut your calories and lose weight when you've got a body that's addicted to sugar.
In Episode #46: 12 Scientifically Proven Ways to Cut Sugar Cravings and Lose Weight for Good! I really talk about how you can quit sugar and the importance of that to really motivate you to get that done because I truly believe that's super important and that's exactly what I teach women in my 3 Week Body Reset program as well. I really hold their hand through that phase of them going through sugar withdrawals, because some people do get withdrawals.
So, we have talked about making sure you are in a calorie deficit, lifting weights and not only doing cardio. Now when I say weights, it can be your own weights in the gym, it can be a Reformer Pilates. They're the 2 things that I do. There's lots of different forms of resistance exercise. I've just talked about cutting out sugar, cutting out as many refined carbohydrates as you can, and following a lower carb diet or just figuring out a way to eat that's going to keep your blood sugars really low. Complex carbs can still fit in. They're really slowly digested carbs that don't spike your blood sugars as fast as refined carbohydrates and as long as you're pairing them also with some protein, that's going to keep your blood sugars low.
My last tip that is really overlooked all the time, and I know this is hard for a lot of people, including myself, and I'm working on this all the time - prioritising your sleep and getting quality sleep is really important if you're really trying to lose weight and if you're someone that is trying to lose weight and it isn't working and you're craving food all the time and you're feeling tired all the time, it's going to be really hard to lose weight and so that might be because you're not sleeping well enough.
Everyone's different but we all need a minimum six to eight hours of good quality sleep. If you don't get that, the next day your hormones change and you crave far more sugar. Your hunger levels go up, and so what happens is that you're far hungrier, you're craving the sugary, carby foods, and so unless you've got really strong willpower, it's hard to resist those foods, so people often overeat when they're sleep deprived and they're tired, purely because their body is craving the wrong foods and they're far hungrier.
Also when you're tired, obviously your motivation for exercise goes down and so you'll be burning less calories in that way as well. Chronic sleep deprivation is a form of stress to your body. It can end up causing hormonal imbalances and burnout and then when your hormones are out of whack that's something else that's going to affect your weight down the track too.
If you are really focused on reaching your balanced weight, one of the most important things to do is really look at your sleep and do your best to try and get good quality sleep. Once again, I know this is hard. Some people that are listening will have a newborn, some people that are listening will have toddlers, some people that are listening will have insomnia that's really hard to fix.
I have had insomnia since I started this business, because I've got such an overactive mind it's something that I need to constantly work on and I've really noticed with myself that if I have too much work and I commit to too many commitments, it just affects my sleep. I go through periods of insomnia. That happened to me last year, but the year after going through chronic insomnia because of it, I really tried to find more of my balance and not make my weeks and days too overwhelming because I know that's going to affect my sleep, then it's a whole cycle because then the next day I'll wake up, the work won't be as good quality and it's a really upsetting cycle that I get into.
So what I do every single week now is try my best. Obviously some seasons of my life are inevitable when things come up, but I do try my best to set boundaries. For instance, I'll always finish work at 5pm or 6pm. I won't let myself work after dinner because that is something that keeps my brain too active. I really try to not have days that are go, go, go without a break and too overwhelming and stressful because I know I can't sleep when I'm like that. I always make time for exercise. Exercise really helps with your sleep at night. I really try to wind down at nighttime.
If I go out for dinner, I try to be home so that I have at least an hour of just Netflix and chill time in bed so that I can really wind down and switch off and there are so many other different tips for sleep. I have a really good podcast on this as well with all of my best tips for sleep too - Episode #35: Can Sleep Loss Make You Gain Weight?, but I just wanted to bring your awareness back to the fact that if you really want to lose weight and keep it off, focusing on your sleep is super important.
Of course, as a lot of you would know, sleep is one of the most important things for every other part of your health as well, including going back to tip 3 - lifting weights. You need good quality sleep in order for your muscles to repair and grow and so when you're really trying to weight train and eat healthy and tone up and lose fat and grow muscle, if you're not getting adequate sleep, it's going to really be really hard to reach those goals as well.
You can be doing everything right, but if you haven't got your sleep under control, that can be one thing that can hold you back a little bit. Look, last year I had lots of issues with my sleep and there were lots of nights that I didn't get quality sleep, but I still felt like I grew and gained muscle last year, so it's not the be-all-and-end-all, but I promise it's really important, so do your best. I know that some seasons are different and I'm saying that from personal experience, it is something that I'm working on every single week myself, but I just had to bring it to your awareness to constantly work out ways for yourself to improve your sleep. I have to wear an eye mask to make sure it's black and the room has to be cool.
So, there are five tips that are quite often overlooked. There are lots more tips, but that's why I keep doing podcast episodes for you to hear all about these topics that I've just spoken about in far more depth. Maybe think about the one that you feel like you're lacking in?
If you enjoyed this episode as well, it would really mean the world to me if you shared it with a friend or shared it on your Instagram story and tagged me and even better, please if you haven’t, leave me a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. It is the way that you can support me back for giving you this free advice and it's how other women find me.
Also, if you want to learn about my programs, the 3 Week Body Reset and the Health with Bec Tribe, which is Step 2., so that all of these tips that I've just said today are done for you in a program without you having to do the guesswork yourself, which means you will receive results far faster than just trying to do it on your own, the links to those are throughout this episode. Thousands of women around the world have received so much success and completely changed their life after following this approach. I couldn't believe in it more. It's exactly how I eat every single day and I wouldn't have it any other way. So I would love you to join my programs if you're ready. If not, please just keep following me on Instagram at @health_with_bec.