Weight Loss Goals

1. Drink Water

Lipolysis, the process of breaking down fat, is done via hydrolysis. Meaning, breaking down body fat requires water. Now how much water you should drink depends on your physical activity, weather, and a few other factors. One key piece of advice is to drink a glass of water within the first few minutes of waking up. Ideally you would also add a dash of salt or include some electrolytes with this water. 

2. Make Sure You're Eating Enough Protein.

A common mistake many people make is not eating enough protein. Ideally, you should eat 0.8-1g of protein for every pound of your goal body weight. For example, if you are 200 pounds and you'd like to be 150 pounds, you should eat around 150g of protein every day. 

It is also important to eat quality proteins. If you find it difficult to consume protein in the form of food, you may need to incorporate a protein supplement. It is also important to make sure that your protein source does not put you over your daily carb and/or fat limit.

3. Walk!

Just get up and move! The American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association recommend walking and increasing your steps every day to promote a healthy lifestyle. The reason for this is, most people don't get enough exercise. So by walking and burning more calories every day, you are increasing your body's need for energy which draws in glucose from your blood stream and reduces your risk for insulin resistance and weight gain.

There is a lot more to this, but the main point is to set a step goal every day (10,000+ steps if you can) and increase that goal once you've reached it (i.e. you've met your step goal for 3+ days in a row, you should increase your step goal).  

4. Get Sunlight!

Sunlight kicks off many cyclical biological processes that you need to maintain great health overall. Some of our biological functions rely on sunlight (your circadian rhythm) to include digestion and lipolysis. Ideally, getting 10min of sunlight in the morning will start your day off right. Maybe take your water and electrolytes outside or by a window (windows block some sun rays so you might need to stand their longer). Dr. Andrew Huberman at Huberman Labs spends a lot of time and energy along with a lot of research dedicated to this topic so I recommend you check him out.

5. Limit Sugar

Sugar is not the enemy. But too much sugar is. Limit how much candy, desserts, or all other sweets from your diet. It is ok to treat yourself, but make that moment special aka infrequent. I won't touch too much on this 

6. Limit processed foods

Processed foods ARE the enemy. I know they're delicious, but there are so many unprocessed/healthy alternatives. Limit your fast food intake and all other processed foods. Ideally you should limit them to zero, but if you do cave that is ok. Just try to work on making your consumption of processed food to none.

7. Be Mindful Of Artificial Sweeteners/Sugar Substitutes

Not all artificial sweeteners are the best for you. There has been a tremendous amount of research published in the last decade that has suggested that artificial sweeteners can increase your risk to heart attacks, stroke, osteoporosis and more. Mayo Clinic and the FDA have a few articles I recommend if you are curious on learning more.  

8. Carbs 

Finding how many carbs you should be eating is difficult. Once you've made the changes in tips #1-7 & 9, give your body time to adjust and continue eating however many carbs you've been eating. If after a few weeks or even a month after making these changes you notice you've plateaued or aren't losing any weight, start to slowly reduce your carbs. Do the opposite if you are too hungry, find it difficult to concentrate or are losing too much weight.

With each change to your carb intake give your body a few weeks to adjust. You may end up adjusting your carbs and fats at the same time. This gets difficult and may require you hire a certified nutrition specialist or certified personal trainer. Nonetheless, make sure you speak with your medical care provider first. Some medications and medical aliments can effect how much or how little you adjust your carbs, protein and/or fats.

9. Fat

This is basically the same as step 8. Specifically referring to unsaturated or "good" fat and not animal or saturated fat (not good or bad when in moderation). It is recommend you have a healthy amount of unsaturated fats every day. This can be in the form of nuts, avocado, extra virgin olive oil, lean animal fats, etc. And once again, be sure to consult your medical care provider prior to making any changes. 

10. Here Are Some Products I Recommend