Decoding Weight Loss: Insights from an Experienced Personal Trainer
Embarking on a weight loss journey can be both thrilling and super challenging, depending on whether you have found a new workout program or are trying out a new way of eating. As a personal trainer with a decade of experience, I've witnessed the incredible transformations that come with dedication, knowledge, and a holistic approach to fitness. In this blog post, I'll share some insights into the weight loss perspective from my years of training, along with an exclusive excerpt from my eBook and 8-week exercise program, "Getting to the Core of Postpartum Fitness."
In My Experience…
When I wrote the original draft of the eBook I didn’t include anything about weight loss. Nothing, not a word. Surprising, perhaps, for a personal trainer, as the assumption might be that weight loss would be my primary focus.
However, having worked extensively with clients, a substantial number targeting weight loss, I've come to a profound realization over the years—the most critical factor in successful weight loss is the individual's mindset.
My primary focus of the eBook was on postpartum corrective exercises, as this specialty resonates deeply with my expertise and passion. I intentionally left out discussions on weight loss to avoid presuming that every woman dealing with diastasis recti, prolapse, or incontinence automatically had a weight loss goal in mind. Depending on various factors like body type, current weight status, and the specific postpartum issue at hand, weight loss might not be a necessity. I strongly believe that you should be able to feel confident in your body and heal in the postpartum without always having to hear about weight loss. As women the pressure can be unbearable, at times.
When a friend of mine was helping to edit the eBook she had asked if I wanted to mention anything about weight loss. After thoughtful consideration, I knew that I would either have to continue to refrain from discussing weight loss altogether or delve into my mindset theory. This decision stemmed from my steadfast belief that mindset is the key to success. If you get the mindset down, the weight loss is so much easier. However, if you don’t have the mindset down the weight loss can seem absolutely impossible. Or, you lose the weight only to gain it back again.
Below, is an excerpt from the "Getting to the Core of Postpartum Fitness" eBook, specifically from the Tips & Tricks chapter. While it may be a bit extensive, I feel that it holds significant value. I hope you think so, too!
My Theory on Weight Loss
Weight loss can be a tricky topic. We are bombarded by images, advertisements, and cultural programming that says we need to have a specific look or weigh a certain amount. It can be so complex if we are trying to "fit in" or if we're just trying to "fit in" to those pre-pregnancy jeans...
We all want to be healthy and feel good. We want good energy, and we want to get dressed in the morning without stressing about whether our clothes fit comfortably or not. Still, it can be a struggle to lose weight and make the diet changes necessary for our health. If you are struggling, there may be many reasons why. Just to name a couple, sleep (or lack thereof) and our hormones can affect us in many ways.
If you feel you are eating right and exercising, and yet you are struggling to lose weight, head to your physician's office. Have your doctor do a thorough blood test to see where your hormone levels are at (full thyroid panel, sex hormones, autoimmune testing, etc.) This may be the key to understanding why your body is resisting weight loss. In order to get the most comprehensive testing done, I recommend a naturopath or functional medicine doctor, if this is possible for you.
When trying to lose weight, it's best to start slowly. Try one small thing per day or per week. You may start with drinking more water or making one meal a day a healthy one. You can try walking for 15 minutes per day or cutting out dessert. Schedule a time for meal planning (make it fun!), or toss out the junk food; whatever works into your schedule that you can begin applying now.
As you gain momentum with these small changes, get confident in your change and make it something you enjoy. The same message I suggested earlier can apply here: Catch it and correct it!
If you slip up on a meal that was supposed to be a "healthy" choice, correct it by making it your next meal. Don't beat yourself up! Berating ourselves is the fastest way to get off track when making lifestyle changes. Just make the next choice a better choice and be proud of that.
If you are just looking to fit into those pre-pregnancy jeans, I have a quick piece of advice: Get new jeans! Your body may have changed just enough (weight loss or not) that those jeans might not ever fit the same. It doesn't mean you can't be comfortable in a pair of jeans again, though. You may have simply graduated out of those old jeans, and that's OK! Buy yourself a new favorite pair of jeans. Feel cozy, look good and move past it.
Other than buying a new pair of jeans, my take on weight loss is to come at it from a mind/body connection. I have found that if we speak kindly to ourselves and really enjoy our meals, our desired results are more likely to follow suit. Showing respect to yourself and to your meals may be one of the keys to achieving your goals, whatever they may be.
Here's my theory... Have you heard of the placebo effect? Research has shown that a tiny little pill filled with an inactive ingredient can have pretty great effects on our body's ability to heal. While the person taking the medication is attempting to heal with the belief that the medication will help, often the body does in fact, make improvements.
What is that? It's the mind-body connection, and it's real.
When we believe in the ability to heal, our bodies respond more often than is statistically probable. What I'm saying here is that the mind/body connection may truly be able to help us reach our goals with positive thinking. However, I am in no way saying to take yourself off of prescribed medicine. Always consult with your physician. My point is that there is a mind/body connection, and we do have a very real ability to affect it.
What would happen if we enjoy whatever we are doing on a daily basis as much as possible? What if we believed that we could make positive, lasting, healthy changes in our lives?
Whatever you're doing on a daily basis, believe that it can be done. If you are trying a new, healthy way of eating, believe that you will achieve your desired goals. If you are beginning a new workout routine, believe that you can get the results you want.
Try not to doubt yourself. Believe.
If there are aspects that you don't like about these changes, adjust the new habits, make them yours, and continue.
The grind of disliking yourself and your food all day long is really wearing. We might tell ourselves that we will never lose the weight or that we won't keep it off because we've tried before and it didn't work. We might eat "good" food that we hate in order to lose weight. Then what does our body do with this food? How does it process this food? You may think these thoughts don't affect your digestion and metabolism, but what if they do?
To some, this may seem like a strange concept, I'll admit that it is. But think about it. If our body can begin to heal from one teeny, tiny placebo pill because we believe it is helpful and good for us, doesn't it make sense that it can do the same thing with our food? What if you enjoy your food? What if you look at the valuable nutrition that you are getting from your food and believe that it is good for you?
While we must eat literally to survive, how about eating to thrive? When those meals you eat every day turn into a positive experience, instead of a negative experience, you might just start feeling better. Isn't that why we want to lose the weight anyway, to feel better about ourselves?
Now what do we do? Where do we start? Begin by eating eat bright, colorful, lean, homegrown food as often as possible. I subscribe to the 80/20 rule of clean eating - eat healthy 80% of the time, and then you can get away with eating the not-so-healthy food 20% of the time.
Regardless of what you are eating, imagine the nutrition you are getting from it. Believe it or not, you can get fiber from a piece of chocolate cake for goodness sake! Granted, this isn't the type of fiber you want to be getting daily, but your body will still extract fiber out of the cake from all of those endless kids' birthday parties that we go to! Enjoy that cake like it's the best cake you've had in your life.
I'm serious here; no more complaining about your food or body; enjoy that cake! Begin to enjoy every bite of your food. Truly enjoy it. And check out this video about how our bodies physically respond to our thoughts. It's pretty incredible!
Now, this is not a free pass to go to McDonald's every day because you really, really like it. We all have a personal responsibility to make healthy choices. Just don't beat yourself up if you're not able to make every meal a healthy one.
So many of us end up going to birthday or work parties, having dinner at friend or family member's house, or needing to pick up a quick pizza after a late soccer practice, not to mention the holidays! What if we decide not to let these occasions completely derail our weight loss goals and instead just think of them as a slight detour? Onto the next healthy choice!
The main point is that we don't always have the chance to make a healthy meal choice. More often than not (say 80% of the time), it just takes a little planning to make some healthy choices. Okay, sometimes it takes a lot of planning. But no matter what, enjoy your food. And, say some kind words to yourself. Believe that YOU are able to make positive changes in YOUR life.
My theory aside, I don't want to belittle any struggles you may have encountered with weight loss. It can be so dang hard to lose weight and make the necessary diet changes. I do understand. My viewpoint on nutrition stems from speaking horribly about my meals (and myself) for far too many years. Meal times were just a struggle. I had found myself in the habit of thinking how bad each meal was; I would pick it apart in a negative way. I didn't even realize it, let alone think I could break this bad habit.
From personal experience, I know that this is not a pleasant way to live. We have to eat every day, so let's try to make it a more pleasant experience. And I do believe that when meals are more pleasant, the journey of weight loss can be more pleasant, as well.
Get your copy of the eBook “Getting to the Core of Postpartum Fitness” here.
