Nutrition
- Not getting enough vitamins and minerals (Micro-nutrients):
- While one needs to understand that we need to be in calorie deficit (we need to burn more energy than what we get from food), not focusing on getting sufficient Micro Nutrients (Vitamins, Minerals) may be detrimental. We need to Eat Nutrient dense foods and reduce calorie dense foods. Many people eat less food to lose weight and miss out some crucial vitamins and minerals. Vitamins and minerals are needed to efficiently support macro-nutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, fats) metabolism.
- Some of the main symptoms of not having optimum vitamins/nutrients are low immunity, increased infection rate, feeling anxious and moody, tiredness and fatigue, muscular pain, joint pain, cognitive decline, hair loss, brittle nails, acne, hormone imbalance, other cellular disfunctions, neurological abnormalities, brain fog, red blood cell disorders etc., to name a few.
- Eating too much of healthy foods:
- Unknowingly over-eating natural/whole foods and not being in calorie deficit may slow down our weight loss. Many people say that they eat only healthy and whole foods but unable to lose weight. One of the reasons for this might be that they are over-eating the healthier foods. Many people would be under the assumption that over-eating healthy foods would not result in weight gain. Moderation is important and calories intake need to be controlled.
- For instance, Nuts are an excellent source of healthy fats, protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals but they are also calorie dense due to high fat content in them. Nuts like Almonds, Cashews, Peanuts, Walnuts are very nutritious but they are also dense in calories, hence we need to eat them moderately and also at right time of the day.
- Snacking :
- Snacking in between the meals or eating lot of small meals may not work for many people and could hamper weight loss. Because eating any food raises blood sugar and insulin in blood. We need to keep a gap of at least 3 to 4 ours in between meals. If you have health conditions, you may have some healthy snack in between meals like some nuts or a fruit or a protein bar, but otherwise snacking in between meals is not really necessary.
- Sugar and Refined foods:
- Sugar or jaggery or coconut/palm sugar or other derivatives including honey are all carbohydrates without much (or no) nutritional value attached to them. Jaggery or honey or coconut sugar may be better than sugar because they have some trace minerals in very trace amounts which does not make a huge health difference. They have almost same calories as sugar. All these sweet substances lack protein, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals.
- Sugary foods and drinks will add unwanted empty calories to our diet program. Sugar and comfort foods need to be reduced to minimum or completed avoided for quicker results. Instead we can plan and prepare healthier options like protein bars or protein rich food which are tasty and healthy at the same time. Take some time out to prepare tasty and healthier foods which keeps you satiated for longer time. Use healthier alternatives to sugar like natural sweeteners (Stevia extract, Monk fruit extract) which have zero calories.
- Fruit Juices:
- We need to eat whole fruits. Do not drink them. Avoid drinking fruit juices. When you juice them and drink, they create a high sugar spike and insulin spike in blood because it is very easy for our digestive system to dump sugars from fruit juice into blood. We need to avoid untimely sugar and insulin spikes . When we eat a whole fruit it goes through slower digestion process which releases energy and nutrients slowing into our blood.
- Not eating enough Protein
- Optimum Protein intake is very important during loosing weight. Getting enough protein can help support a healthy metabolism and reduce your appetite. It can also help you lose body fat without losing muscle. Protein may decrease your appetite by affecting your hunger hormones. It may also help you feel full for longer. Protein may temporarily increase metabolism because of the energy required to digest and metabolize it. When combined with resistance training, adding more protein can also help you build muscle.
- Eating late night meals.
- Our body absorbs and assimilates food when eaten in regular intervals at right times. When we do certain activities ignoring our Circadian Rhythm, we might dysregulate cellular/metabolic events and could later impair glucose metabolism. When we eat too late in the night or eat close to going to bed, according to some studies there is a possibility of changing the balance between glucose and lipid utilization predisposing to obesity and diabetes.
- Fasting
- Intermittent fasting or Time restricted feeding helps many people. There are other health benefits of fasting along with weight loss if done correctly. Fasting is a protocol or a lifestyle rather than dieting. Fasting is about when to eat food and does not specify what to eat. Many people binge eat after fasting or eat unhealthy foods. Even if we eat just one time a day, if we eat excess calories than what we need then our t body just stores all the extra energy as fat. Whether we eat once or thrice a day, eating a balanced nutritious meal is important. After a water fast, we need to plan our meals in such a way that we get daily requirement of calories, protein, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals.
Exercise
- Not Exercising enough:
- It is easy to over-estimate the amount of exercise we do. Especially when it comes to strength training. It is relatively easier to approximate the amount of calories burnt if we do aerobic exercises like walking or jogging or cycling. We can use various mobile apps or fitness bands to calculate various exercise parameters when it comes to cardio or aerobic exercises.
- When it comes to resistance/strength training, it requires bit of attention to details like doing exercises in right form, lifting weights for full range of motion, training to failure, doing the sets and repetitions optimally, progressively overloading.
- Over-training:
- Exercising excessively would make recovery difficult from previous workout. Body takes a bit more time to repair itself when you are in calorie deficit for weight loss. So use a training program that is well balanced and gives enough time for rest and recovery.
- Not incorporating Weight training:
- Doing only Aerobic exercises (Cardio) like walking, jogging, cycling etc., would enable fat loss but at the same time you would lose significant amount of muscle as well. Muscle is metabolically active organ and losing muscle lowers our BMR. A low BMR would make us feel lethargic, low energy, cold, trigger food craving etc., Our focus needs to be fat loss and not muscle loss when we loose weight. Lifting weights in right form and strategy will stimulate the body to keep the muscle and burn more of fat. So include a good mix of resistance training along with cardio for a healthy weight loss. It is inevitable that we will loose some muscle when we shed some weight, but by using the right exercise protocol it is definitely possible to loose fat to the maximum and keep the muscle loss to minimum.
Rest
- Not Sleeping enough:
- There are enough scientific studies which show that lack of sleep causes insulin resistance, impaired blood sugar metabolism, makes you hungry, triggers stress and anxiety, creates other health issues and hormonal imbalances. Our body recovers and repairs itself during sleep. Sleep enables fat loss. So, not getting enough sleep will slow down your weight loss goals.
Hormones
- Hormonal imbalances:
- Not addressing existing hormonal imbalances like High Insulin, Low Testosterone, High Prolactin, High or Low Thyroxin could cause serious problems during weight loss. You need to optimize hormonal function during weight loss program to prevent other health issues in future.
- Stress:
- Chronic stress and anxiety would trigger stress hormones like Cortisol in body which hampers with our weight loss. Stress is not good for overall health and wellbeing. Stress negates all other essential functions in our body and reduces the efficiency of critical organs in our body.
Mindset
- Lacking Discipline:
- Discipline is doing the right thing that is in our best interest even though we don’t feel like doing it. We need to do the things that that we know are good for us even though we do not feel like doing them.
- It is our natural tendency to avoid pain and struggle, seek pleasure and easier options, avoid any activity that consumes our energy. We need to be mindful of these natural tendencies of our sub-conscious mind and push through the resistance.
- There is no magic pill or book or diet or exercise or a 30 day program for healthy and happy life. We must not fall for those marketing gimmicks. Nothing works unless we work and keep working.
- As someone said “Reasons don’t matter, only results will”. Commitment and consistency is needed for a meaningful change in our mindset towards healthy lifestyle. It takes time to reach that momentum. We need to remember that life has its own plans. People around we will have their own expectations out of us and unexpected events keep happening in our life.
- Our goal and vision must not be impacted by the external circumstances. Our decisions cannot be dependent on external circumstances. Let’s control our choices and not external factors that are uncontrollable.
- There is no end to leading a quality lifestyle. We need to learn to fall in love with the process and make it a life long journey. A healthy body and mind, loving relationships, financial security and fulfilling job needs daily attendance. It is not like we give everything for a day or two and take the benefits for ever after. We need to go through the grind daily to have a harmonious life. We need to pay a rent to have a high quality life and this rent is due daily.
- Postponing : Not taking a strong decision to act on most important value of our life which is our Health and Wellness could be a costly mistake. Our procrastination only compounds the interest we pay and the interest we pay here is in magnitude of amount of suffering in future. We generally look out for a right moment and right day to start with our health goals. We all know that there is no such right day or a convenient time to start with anything in life. Every day has its own challenges to deal with. We need to do something immediately to start the momentum and evaluate how serious we are in making a change and make some adjustments if needed.
- We need to change the way we think for better especially in the areas of health, personal wellbeing, relationships, emotional health, which then leads to having better feelings and emotions, which then leads to having better outlook and attitude towards our life, which then leads to taking better decisions and choices, which then leads to taking right action, which then leads to better results.
- Reaching out to an expert or educating oneself with right information is very important before venturing out on a weight loss program or any other life goal for that matter.
- Apart from that, taking a comprehensive health check up and blood test is highly recommended. Once we understand the current state of our body and its functioning, we can plan the nutrition and training program accordingly.
Important parameters in the Blood test that would help us to plan our wellness program include
- Complete Blood Count, Hemogram/Hematology
- Kidney Function Test
- Complete Lipid Profile
- Liver Function Test
- HBA1C
- Fasting Blood Glucose
- Fasting Insulin
- Thyroid Profile
- Testosterone test
- Vitamins Test – Folate, Vitamin D3, Vitamin B12
- Mineral
- Magnesium
- Zinc
- Chloride
- Potassium
- Sodium
- Calcium
- Chromium
- Copper
- Iron
- Lead
- Mercury
- Selenium
- Enzymes and Inflammatory markers
- Anti CCP
- Anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA)
- Erythrocyte Sedimentation rate
- Cysteine C
- Homocysteine
- HS C- Reactive Protein
- Lipoprotein A
- APOLIPOPROTEIN – A1
- APOLIPOPROTEIN – B
- Ferritin
- TOTAL IRON BINDING CAPACITY
- Amylase
- Lipase
- SGOT, SGPT
- EST. GLOMERULAR FILTRATION RATE (eGFR)
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