A recent survey by Harris Poll/HealthDay indicates 67% of adults, mostly between 18 and 44, plan to make dietary changes to lose weight in 2022. Many adults have
gained weight over the last 18 months due to significant lifestyle changes from the pandemic. Most suggested they plan to either cut back on calories or reduce certain food types, such as carbohydrates or fats, to lose weight.
Are you one of the 2 out of 3 American’s planning to lose weight in 2022? If so, do you have a plan or diet pattern in mind?
There are no secret diets or magic pills that help people lose more weight. The key to successful weight loss is consistency in diet and lifestyle. Most people do best when they identify small, sustainable changes and create habits from those changes. Once those habits are easier to incorporate into daily life, repeat the process to continue to improve your overall diet and lifestyle.
On paper, this process seems easy. Though, it isn’t so simple. Busy work schedules, kid’s activities, social events, and the list goes on of ways life gets in the way, slowing down or even preventing our success. Even when motivation is high, if consistency is lacking, success often takes too long, or we don’t see any change at all.
So, how do we break the cycle? That answer will be different for everyone, there is no singular path to successful weight loss. What we do know is weight loss requires a calorie deficit. How we create that calorie deficit is personal.
Current popular diet trends that can create a calorie deficit include Ketogenic (Keto), Atkins, low-fat diets, and Intermittent Fasting. All these diets will fail though if you aren’t in a calorie deficit. Just because you’re following a high fat, low carb Keto diet doesn’t mean you’ll automatically lose weight.
How do we create a calorie deficit? Simple answer, eat less and/or exercise more. While this seems simple enough, there are better ways to create these habits and behaviors. Eating less and exercising more often increases hunger, making it difficult to maintain a calorie deficit. Working with a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) can help you pick better food and meal options to help reduce hunger while staying in a deficit. You also don’t need to be in a deficit every day. Giving yourself one day a week to be in calorie maintenance, not a cheat day, can help you in the long run maintain a weekly calorie deficit.
If you are exercising more, you may notice the scale doesn’t change, which makes you feel like you’re not being successful. Often, by exercising more you’re building muscle and losing body fat. Your body composition is changing, but that suborn scale won’t. Working with an RDN or a Personal Trainer can help guide you through body composition changes and help you understand what is happening with your body as it changes.
Successful weight loss will look different for everyone. As mentioned before, consistency is the key. Motivation will only take you so far. Diet fads may work for you, but they must be sustainable for long term success. Working with a professional RDN, Personal Trainer, or Health Coach can increase your likelihood of success. Professional guidance to give you feedback about dietary choices or exercise, as well proving accountability and support, vastly increases your chances of being successful in the long run.
Finding the right person to help you along the way is an important decision. Take advantage of free consultations and free personal training sessions to learn more about the professional you may work with. Make sure they are someone who motivates you and supports you and your lifestyle. If they want you to make dramatic changes that don’t fit your lifestyle, consider finding someone who will work with you. Many “professionals” will promise you success, but only if you fit into their very ridged meal planning and exercise regimen that may not work for your life. You may be successful in the short term, but if you can’t maintain those changes, you’ll end up back at your starting point.
The key take away's for you to get started on successful weight loss is, create a calorie deficit throughout the week and find the right person to help support you on your way to healthy body composition change!