There is no one size fits all way to lose weight fast. Ditch the diet.
Is it possible by thinking about how do I to lose weight fast, you're going about it all wrong? Dieting doesn’t equal sustainable weight loss. In fact, most people would say dieting results in frustration. Successful, sustainable weight loss comes with a holistic healthy lifestyle – not from a diet. It is more than just counting calories! Holistic weight loss not only helps you drop the weight – it also promotes energy and a sense of well-being cognitive, as well as cognitive and cardiovascular health. It’s time to ditch the diet and start feeling healthy.
Imagine if you could lose weight fast with little effort. Scientifically speaking, fast weight loss is not healthy, nor is it sustainable, or easy to achieve. You can lose weight fast on popular trendy diets because they involve drastic or restrictive changes in food intake. Successful, sustainable weight loss is not cutting out donuts and other sugary carbohydrates for a few weeks. If weight loss was just about cutting back on certain foods, trendy diets, such as Atkin’s, Keto or the Paleo, wouldn’t be “trendy”. They wouldn’t be popular one year and then gone the next. Diets aren’t sustainable – the weight comes back! Even worse, some diets can be dangerous if the restrictions cause nutritional deficiencies.
We’re all unique. It’s not just your hair colour, eye colour or personality that makes you different. You are unique because of the recipes inside your cells which us science geeks call DNA. Give your DNA the right ingredients and it will whip up the best version of you! The ingredients your cells need goes beyond the calories, vitamins and minerals you find on your fork. The DNA in your cells responds to lifestyle factors: exercise, stress, sleep, emotions. Are these factors holding you back from reaching your weight loss goals?
Consistently, evidence points to a healthy holistic lifestyle for successful long-term weight loss. A healthy holistic lifestyle includes eating healthy whole foods (vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans, legumes). Researched benefits to eating healthy foods include: weight loss, longer life expectancy and lower rates of chronic diseases (cardiovascular, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease). Imagine the ability to age perfectly – that sounds pretty good to my middle-aged ears. It’s possible to never want to say, “Aging Bites“.
A healthy holistic lifestyle also includes physical activity. Did you just say, “I hate exercise”? There is no one-size-fits-all exercise class. The same way your body needs specific nutrients to make you the best version of you, it also needs exercise that’s right for you. If you have negative feelings about exercise, your mindset may be inhibiting your weight loss.
Do you hate exercise because your goals are unrealistic? If set too high, you fail. A positive mindset is key to reaching weight loss success. At the University of Alberta, 273 sedentary adults participated in a study that involved 3 one-hour exercise sessions per week. One year later, despite noting positive outcomes, such as having more energy, improved sleep and less stress, some quit exercising. They quit largely because they were disillusioned about meeting preconceived unrealistic weight loss or body changes. Set smaller, achievable goals to stay motivated and help you maintain a healthy mindset – it can suddenly make exercise something you love. Choose activities that you enjoy, from throwing a frisbee at the park, or taking the dog for a long walk in the wooded trails. When you love the movement, you’ll find you’re more likely to fit exercise into your day.
You can achieve even greater health by going beyond food and exercise. Holistic weight loss looks at your whole body. Does your body want to put on weight because of your stress-levels, sleep habits, food choices or your exercise strategy? Or could the reason your body is putting on weight be an underlying imbalance in your microbiome or hormones? Designed uniquely for your lifestyle and body needs, a holistic weight loss is a personalized plan. It will help you not only reach your weight loss goal, but start living a healthy, balanced life.
To be successful at weight loss and be truly healthy, you need a sustainable plan that’s realistic. That may mean changing your mind on what exactly it means to lose weight fast – perhaps speed is less important, than how successful you are at it. You need a holistic weight loss plan. A plan that fits into your unique lifestyle and needs to give your body all of the ingredients to be the best version of you.
Changes in diet and lifestyle and long-term weight gain in women and men. N Engl J Med. 2011 Jun 23;364(25):2392-404.
Effects of popular diets on weight loss outcomes
Can we say what diet is best for health? Ann Rev Pub Health 2014; 35(1):83-103.