Four Simple Tips For Weight Loss

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Guest post By Mike Occhipinti, manager of The Body Shop Studio,  22 July, 2015


One of the most frequently asked questions are “what do you eat” or “what should I eat if I want to lose some weight?” If you are one of those people who find yourself asking or wondering these questions, you might find this article as a good stepping stone to get you on your way. Now let me state I am not a nutritionist or dietician, but I can share with you some tools I have seen personally work for me and my clients. Lets talk about four simple ways to get the ball rolling.

1. Increase meal frequency.

Eating small, frequent meals throughout the day is good way to get your metabolism moving. You want to eat anywhere between 2.5 to 4 hours. Try not to go beyond 4 hours because after that your body goes into starvation mode and will store calories instead of burning them off. When you eat often you also prevent overeating later in the day. If you’re someone who skips meals, especially breakfast, I challenge you to eat 4 balances meals throughout the day then go home and try to overeat. You won’t want to. Why? Because you’ve given your body adequate fuel throughout the day so it’s not craving CRAP (like sugar, which the body will convert quickest to energy) and you will have that willpower you’ve been yearning for. YES IT”S THAT EASY.  Also, the because our bodies are way smarter than we are, when it comes to food rationing and storing for energy it will do it when it needs to whether you WANT it to or not. So keep that engine, your metabolism, running by fueling it, literally, and it won’t have the opportunity to store the fuel as fat. But there is no magic number of meals you need to eat a day or exact time range that you need to follow. The truth is that you need to find what works for your body and metabolism. This comes with some trial and error. Maybe start with 4 meals and 1 snack, or 5 small meals, or three small meals and 2 snacks and see what works best for you and your life. Ultimately, what works for you, will work for you.

2. Eliminate sugar and processed foods.

WHAT?! NO!? REALLY?! YES!!! Sugar is the root of all evil. Just bite the bullet, take the plunge. cut the cord and DO IT. We are often told fat is makes you fat and you should by fat free items but the truth is, when companies take fat out of a product, the taste changes and therefore they must add something. That something is usually sugar, which just so happens to be more addicting than cocaine according to numerous studies performed. You will not only look better but you will feel better too. Science has shown and I personally can share from experience that when you go cold turkey, you begin to not miss it. Then something REALLY cool happens, once you give it up and then reintroduce it because the chocolate brownies your Aunt makes every holiday are just too good to pass up, you actually feel SICK. Processed, white sugar makes you sick. You have two options: You can throw out all of the refined carbohydrates and sugary food/drinks in your house, or just finish them off and not replace them. Food shopping should be done around the outside perimeters of the supermarket. Stay away from the boxed foods and sugary drinks. Something as simple as eliminating sugar goes a long way when it comes to weight loss.

3. Have the majority of your diet come from these food sources:

Lean protein: chicken, steak, fish,eggs, turkey, etc that are grilled baked or boiled.
Fibrous Carbohydrates aka Vegetables: broccoli, asparagus, kale, spinach, ya know, the GREEN stuff
Fats: avocado, coconut oil and other oil variations,
Starchy Carbohydrates: Sweet potato, quinoa, rice, legumes

4. DRINK WATER.

I could go on and on about the importance of water but lets remember the body is somewhere between 60-70% water. It helps with digestion,  flushing bodily waste, maintaining body temperature, helps clear up your skin, and balances your electrolytes. Your muscles alone are 73% water, so if you suffer from muscle cramps, drinking water could alleviate some of those aches and pains. But how much should you drink? A good starting point is to do ½ your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 140 lbs, you want to drink 70 oz of water a day. If you’re exercising you’re going to want to increase that amount. Also, let’s make something clear, coffee, tea, soda, juice IS NOT WATER. When we say drink more water, we mean WATER as in H2O. If you have a tough time drinking water one way to increase your intake is to do it while your eating your meals because you’re already sitting down and can remember to drink it. Drinking water before and during meals will also help you eat less because there won’t be as much room for the food.

The four above tips for losing weight while simple, will go along way. I have seen people make great strides following just these four steps. Stay focused and take it one meal, one day at a time.

www.thebodyshopstudio.com/blog  239 Main Ave, Stirling, NJ 07980 (908) 307-3777

Must get fit!

Dieting alone won't work long term, or at all, a fitness plan is required too. You may have gained weight because of overeating, but also probably because you aren't burning off as much as you eat.

You need to increase your activity, I've noticed that I clock 5,000 steps a day doing what I do every day. That isn't enough, and apparently is in the sedentary category. I had no idea that 5,000 steps is sedentary, I thought it was good. The goal is 10,000 steps and often more. But even 7,000 steps has marked improvement on your health.

How do you increase your activity? Well I'm sure you've read the ways to increase steps, park further from the store, walk to nearby stores, walk your pets or bike ride with your kids, etc. But you will also need to do a strenuous activity a few times a week as well as doing your steps. Perhaps a light jog/walk, or an exercise or yoga class in town, go to a gym, or bike ride around town. There are tons of different options for beginners and you can choose your favorite activity. Don't limit yourself, perhaps you like dancing, enroll in a class or two.

You can also do a workout from home by doing a DVD or you tube routine. There are literally tons of options these days. From on demand exercise classes, online website classes, videos/DVD's and more. Don't get stuck on only one option either as you may get bored or want a change of pace. If you change your workouts you will vary the muscle groups used and be fitter than if you only did one activity.

See if you can encourage your friends to do an activity with you, you get to enjoy their company and this will keep you active too. Perhaps see if your next friends get together can be a fitness activity instead of a restaurant or drinks.

You may also need someone to keep you honest and improving, if you are looking for a specific goal. Perhaps a doctor can monitor your progress. Go to weight watchers they have weigh ins, or find a weight loss buddy online or nearby.

Keep at it, every increase in activity is important and necessary. You will start to feel better, especially if you are also watching your meal plan/diet.

Any other ideas or comments on an easy way to incorporate fitness in your life?

@myHFjourney

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Weight loss surgery is it an option?

If you have been obese for a while you may have considered weight loss surgery. It seems like a cop-out, the easy way out. Since I have blood sugar issues, managing my blood sugar while trying to diet is very difficult. I can workout 3+ times a week but if I don't manage my blood sugar, I don't lose the weight. So recently I have considered weight loss surgery because of the difficulty involved and the implications of diabetes. It would be negligent to not consider all options, in fact Dr Oz mentioned in one of his episodes that weight loss surgery is the underperformed surgery he thinks you should be getting. 

So out of swimsuit season desperation I have looked at the implications of surgery and if I can manage the lifestyle. I found a couple of great links for weight loss post surgery diets and tried them out to see if they is manageable.  One is the Highland Hospital Bariatric Surgery Center 3 month – 6 month bariatric lifestyle meal plan (1000 – 1300 Calories Daily, 60 Grams Protein Daily) The bariatric meal plan consisting of a tips section,

• Potential problem foods, 
• my favorite section is the Sample meal plan, 
• Food groups and serving sizes,
• Keeping active
• and a very important Protein tally.

There is a puree and soft foods plan after the weight loss surgery but you graduate to a low calorie regular diet. Except that you have three small well balanced meals daily plus one to two snacks as needed. Can you manage that? You may have to consider the plan if you opt for the surgery.

Another great site is the Gastric Bypass Diet by GI care.  It has a vitamin and supplement section,

• Nutrition facts
• Special considerations
• Fluids
• The abc's of eating right
• a Sample menu

But by far my favorite is by the University of California San Francisco Medical Center on Dietary Guidelines After Bariatric Surgery, it has a General Guidelines section

• Fluids, protein, supplements sections
• Diet progression after bariatric surgery, Diet in the hospital, 
• Diet for the first two weeks post-surgery, Diet for weeks two to four post-surgery
• Recommended meal plan for weeks two to eight until two months post-surgery with a sample menu, 
• Recommended meal plan for two to six months post-surgery with a sample menu, 
• Recommended meal plan for six months post-surgery and Beyond and long-term dietary guidelines

My favorite menu is the sample menu for the Recommended Meal Plan for Two to Six Months Post-Surgery. Out of curiosity I thought I would attempt this plan and I have some interesting observations. In this plan you eat almost every 2 hours but you eat a little at each time, there 8 possible meals. You can eat 900-1000 calories in the day so each meal is only 120 calories or so, or maybe 200 for meals and 100 for snacks. So it is like continual snacking, which is similar to my usual eating pattern trying to satisfy my blood sugar levels. The meals don't satisfy you as they are so small but since you will eat again in 2 hours you can tolerate the discomfort. Also my blood sugar is balanced better if I eat healthy foods for my 1000 calories rather than any calories.

I haven't weight myself as I tend not to but I have noticed I am not as bloated and it only has been a couple of days. Today was Fathers day and I did splurge a little on half restaurant salad, glass of wine and cake but I was still only 1500 calories for the day. But I might have blood sugar issues later in the evening cause the wine and the cake don't help balance your blood sugar. That is the thing about blood sugar, it doesn't take a break. Take care of yourself before you ruin your pancreas. 

So instead of doing the surgery I am experimenting with the surgery diets to see if it is something I can do, and a side benefit may be that I finally lose some weight. I still have a long way to go but a start is better than doing nothing.

I really don't like the post surgery diets the liquids diet, the puree foods diet, and soft foods sounds boring. Surgery may be something I still need to do sometime, but for now lets see what happens with the sample diets for long term weight management for surgery patients. 

@myHFjourney