What You CAN Do - Part II

You've had 24 hours to get moving and get sleeping.  How'd you do?  Don't beat yourself up if nothing changed, just remember the definition of Insanity - doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result!  In my opinion, it's easier for you to start adding in some of these steps as you go along.  Master 1 or 2 and then master a few more.  You'll fell less overwhelmed and you're much more likely to stick with it.  Regardless, let's talk about number 3 and 4.

3. Space Your Meals Every 3-4 Hours Apart
I am almost 100% certain that this is nothing new to you.  Fitness and nutrition professionals around North America have been preaching this for year now.  But why is it so important?  Your energy level isn't the only thing that your diet and nutrition directly affect.  Food and nutrient timing also affects hormones in your body responsible for fat storage and fat mobilization.  In other words, if your meals are too far apart, your body will go into fat storage mode in order to ensure that there is energy for activities that may be coming later.  However, if you can keep your hormones balanced, your body will continue to release fat as an energy source, confident that your energy demands are not going to exceed energy intake. 

In a typical day, where you are awake for 16 hours (ensuring you are getting 8 hours of sleep per night), you should eat 4-5 meals a day.  An average male should aim for 400-500 kcal per meal and an average female should aim for 350-450 kcal per meal.  These can be space out as breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner.  Notice there is not after dinner snack, I have chosen to advise against it, only because late night eating is often done on the couch, in front of the tv and is mindless.  This can lead to over indulging in unnecessary calories and junk.  If this is a habit you currently have, replace it with drinking a large glass of ice water with lemon or herbal tea post dinner.

4. Control Your Stress Level
There are two types of people in this world, those that eat when stressed and those that can't!  However, regardless of which type you may be, a high stress level could still be affecting your waist size.  Increased stress increases your cortisol level.  Yes, the same hormone that was increased when we didn't get enough sleep in a night.  Leading to an increased appetite and/or increased fat storage in your abdominal region. 

Even if we don't tend to "overeat" when we are stressed, chances are that the food we are choosing aren't the best.  Our mind is often distracted and busy thinking about our stressors that we don't pay attention to what we are putting into our mouth.  It may lead to increased habits of grabbing food on the go (rarely a healthy choice to be found), snacking on high sugar, high fat or empty calorie snacks and/or taking in too many calories through liquids (such as alcohol). 

In order to decrease your stress, you must first become aware of what is causing it.  Sources of stress can come from anywhere, pay attention to when you are feeling the most stress and if there is a way to remove yourself from the situation.  A lot of stress comes from temporary situations such as deaths, divorces, moving, new job, etc... Discover what stress busting strategies work best for you and begin to implement them immediately.  Some strategies include meditation, journaling, participating in team sports or individual physical activity, etc.

Add these 2 tips to your weight loss/body shaping strategies to start to see some real results!  Tomorrow we will discuss alcohol and portion control.

Questions or Comments, I would love to hear them!

In Health,
Jessica & Tristan