Exercise, Diet and Hormone Tips for Weight Loss

As the weather warms up, we start to shed layers and think about how all those winter treats may have effected our beach-body readiness. Whether you are hoping to drop a few pounds or are looking to make major lifestyle changes to get healthy, Dr. Riley shares some of his advice for people looking to loose weight.

Change Your Attitude

As you attempt to change your body, it always starts with the mind. Clear out the negative thoughts about food, body image, peers, and your own past failures with this challenging behavior we call “diet.” Food cannot be viewed as an enemy in this battle for weight loss. You must mentally accept that you need calories to live, and you need nutritious foods to get those calories into your blood. However, you may be getting too many calories into your blood which is causing the additional weight. Once you have reset your mind that food is fuel and not the enemy, you can begin the work toward making health, life-enriching food choices that will help you achieve your goals.

Recognize the Power of Hormones

A few hormones regulate most of your fat storage and usage. Insulin is the first hormone you need to make sure is in proper balance. Insulin is the hormone that signals the cells in your body to literally insulate your body. This means it will store fat. If you can get insulin out of your blood stream, your body will burn the insulating fat layer once you have burned up your available sugars. You will also want to have your cortisol levels checked to ensure they are stable. You can have both insulin and cortisol checked through a simple blood test.

How do I get Insulin out of my blood stream so I stop storing fat? 

1. Burn 400 extra calories to get the excess sugar in your blood to burn off.
2. Avoid eating any refined sugars such as candy, soda, and juice. And limit your carbs.
3. Limit your daily calories, and drink more water when you feel hungry.

How do I reduce my cortisol levels so I stop storing fat? 

1. Limit your stressors. Heal your relationship, avoid negative news feeds, apologize more and get off of social media forums, find a dog that you can pet, avoid drugs and alcohol, avoid negative peers. Search out new coping mechanisms that you have not yet tried such as walking or yoga.
2. Begin a program of daily prayer and meditation. Use this time to count your blessings. Once you start listing out all of the blessings and wholesome influences in your life, write them down. Once you acknowledge that you live well and are fortunate, you can relax.
3. Take your daily exercise seriously and use it as your personal stress reduction time. Invite a friend or spouse to go walking with you and carry weights in your hands. Commit to each other that you will only share good news during your exercise time together. If it is a negative thought, kick it out.

Burn More Calories than You Eat

Take a day and write down all of the calories that you eat and categorize them into carbs, protein, or fat. Once you actually do the math to see how many calories you put into your body in a typical day, go online and spend five minutes figuring out your basal metabolic rate (this is how fast your body burns calories just as you go throughout your normal day). Weight loss is a form of management. If you cannot measure it you can’t manage it.

If you are eating more than you are burning and you have sugar in your diet, you are not going to lose weight like you want to.

Breakfast is NOT the most important meal of the day. If you are eating a sweet breakfast, you are fighting a battle against insulin and you will lose. Skip breakfast and go burn 400 calories instead. Drink all the water you want when you get back from morning exercise. Avoid refined sugar. This one nugget of advice is worth all of the other information above.

Food for thought: There are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat stored on your body. That means that if you do not eat anything for two days you will only burn one pound of fat because you first have to burn off 700 calories of sugar from your liver and muscles before you ever get to burning fat.

Thanks for considering this important information. If you do what is listed on in this blog, you will lose weight, be less stressed, and get the daily exercise your body requires for a long happy life. If you want help implementing this information, make an appointment for a 30 minute consultation.

If you want to be able to burn more of your body fat, stop eating sugar and go burn off some calories!