Losing weight doesn’t make us happy in and of itself, but when we’re happy it’s easier to lose weight because we naturally engage in those activities that make us feel good and support weight loss – getting outside, time in nature, walking, exercising and eating healthfully.
Some say that weight loss is really simple … in theory! It’s a simple equation, calories out should be greater than calories in. Which is often fine when we are younger, so how come it becomes increasingly difficult to shift our extra weight as we get older, and around menopause it becomes almost impossible?
Well, it’s a bit more complex than we were led to believe in our youth. Having embarked on the weight loss journey myself post menopause, I have read so much about different theories and methods. I contemplated writing a blog summarizing each book I read, but I’m not sure there’s much mileage in that. However, I’ve listed a few issues that I’ve read about below:
- Ultra Processed Foods (UPFs). It doesn’t sound like rocket science, basically if a food is ultra processed (which happens more often than we might like to admit) it ain’t good for us. Manufacturers make huge profits from engineering “foods” that are addictive and unsatisfying and lead to us feeling out of control around them, which can result in people who are overweight but simultaneously malnourished (check out the documentary about what happened when the floating supermarkets started making their way up the Amazon river…). I’m sure we all realise it, but if a food contains ingredients that we can’t find in a regular kitchen then it’s not that good for us, and we’re encouraged to go for foods that contain just one ingredient (fresh produce). But does that mean that we can eat as much as we want of these simple, unprocessed foods and still lose weight? Unfortunately not.
- Sugar (particularly white sugar) has been labelled as highly addictive. In fact there is a book titled “Pure, White and Deadly” all about the evils of sugar. But I’m sure we all realised that anyway … So does that mean we can eat as much of any food as long as it doesn’t contain sugar? ‘Fraid not.
- Keto is king. How many people have you heard touting the wonders of the Keto diet? How many people have lost weight following the Atkins diet, or paleo or similar? But what happens when they stop? Bounce back. And the number of recipes I’m bombarded with on Facebook for some alleged keto friendly diet menu that contains huge quantities of sugar is incredible …. sugar is a very simple carbohydrate and definitely not Keto. And how many people can cut out all carbs from their diet for any length of time and remain sane, happy and healthy? It just isn’t sustainable in the long-term.
- High fat/low carb – again it doesn’t mean you can eat unlimited amounts of olives, avocados, nuts and coconut oil.
- You just need to eat less and move more – sure, if you’re in your 20s this works fine.
- A calorie is just a calorie. Counting calories is the only way, just look at how many calories a woman or man should consume a day and eat less than this amount. The problem is that some people under-eat, or eat the wrong things. And again this approach used to work fine for me in my 20s, but something changed when I hit peri-menopause.
- Intermittent fasting – helps to control hormones such as insulin, which is the hormone that encourages us to store fat. Sounds simple, right? In reality, the hormones responsible for weight loss and gain involve more than just insulin. For a start there’s Leptin and Grehlin which control our hunger/satiety response. Then how about cortisol, the stress hormone that encourages us to store fat? Add in falling levels of oestrogen when you hit peri-menopause… you’d need a degree in science and nutrition to understand all of these.
So the conclusion I have come to at this juncture is that the theory behind weight loss is indeed quite simple, but not as simplistic as the calories in v. calories out equation. We all know as individuals what works for us, and need to trust in ourselves. What works for me is a combination of several aspects described above: hydration, managing my stress levels, getting 7-9 hours sleep each night, getting in 10,000 steps per day (even if it’s following Get Fit with Rick on YouTube when the weather is rubbish), doing weights, planning every meal around protein and fresh produce, tracking macros and keeping in calorie deficit.
What works for you? What are your healthy habits? Do you need help building healthy habits and developing consistency? If so, hypnotherapy might be the answer to developing a consistent lifestyle that supports you in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.