Fat Loss 101
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Fat loss is possible at any age!
Maintaining a healthy weight is critical to good health. Being overweight or obese is a risk factor for nearly every chronic disease – including cancer, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
But even though Americans spend roughly $33 billion on weight loss products each year, we don’t seem to be getting any thinner – or healthier.
So what’s the solution?
Maybe the answer isn’t in a “product”.
MaxWell Clinic’s registered dietitian, Alisson Molinares, has helped many of our patients achieve their fat loss goals. She knows how frustrating it is to work so hard without getting the results you want.
Watch the video and:
- Learn the different ways to achieve fat loss
- Uncover safe, sustainable strategies you can implement now to support fat loss
- Discover 6 things preventing you from losing fat that have nothing to do with food
If you’ve been frustrated with your weight and searching for safe, common-sense solutions, this video is for you.
Did you know appointments with a dietitian are included in your MaxWell Care program at no additional charge? Our unique model of care surrounds you with a full team of compassionate health care professionals.We’re committed to finding and addressing the root causes of your illness so you can achieve MAXimum WELLness.
Understanding the Science Behind Fat Loss: A Comprehensive Guide
Are you struggling to shed those stubborn pounds despite your best efforts? You’re not alone. In the quest for fat loss, there’s a myriad of factors at play beyond just diet and exercise. From hormones to stress levels, the journey to a healthier, leaner body involves understanding the intricate science behind it all. In this guide, we’ll delve into the depths of fat loss, exploring key principles and actionable steps to help you achieve your goals.
The Role of Inflammation and Hormones
Did you know that inflammation could be hindering your fat loss efforts? It’s true. Chronic inflammation in the body can disrupt hormonal balance, leading to increased hunger and cravings. When the body is inflamed, it’s less likely to release stored fat, making weight loss a challenging endeavor. Additionally, stress, toxic relationships, and underlying trauma can further exacerbate inflammation and disrupt hormonal equilibrium.
According to a study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), chronic stress can lead to dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, resulting in hormonal imbalances that contribute to weight gain.
Understanding Caloric Deficits and Macronutrients
One of the fundamental principles of fat loss is creating a caloric deficit, where you consume fewer calories than your body expends. However, it’s essential to strike a balance and avoid extreme calorie restriction, as this can backfire and slow down your metabolism over time. Instead, focus on sustainable dietary changes that promote a moderate caloric deficit.
Moreover, the composition of your diet matters just as much as the total calories consumed. Protein and vegetables play crucial roles in supporting fat loss efforts. Protein helps keep you feeling full and preserves lean muscle mass, while vegetables provide essential nutrients and fiber to aid digestion and promote satiety.
The Pitfalls of Extreme Dieting and Yo-Yo Dieting
Have you ever tried crash diets or extreme calorie-cutting measures, only to find yourself right back where you started? This phenomenon, known as yo-yo dieting, can wreak havoc on your metabolism and make long-term fat loss even more challenging. When you drastically reduce your calorie intake, your body may perceive it as starvation and respond by slowing down your metabolic rate to conserve energy.
To avoid this cycle of weight loss and regain, focus on sustainable lifestyle changes rather than quick fixes. Gradually reduce your calorie intake to create a modest deficit, and prioritize whole, nutrient-dense foods to fuel your body effectively.
The Importance of Sleep and Stress Management
Believe it or not, your sleep habits and stress levels can significantly impact your ability to lose fat. Poor sleep quality and chronic stress can disrupt hormonal balance, leading to increased appetite, cravings, and decreased metabolism. Furthermore, inadequate sleep can impair cognitive function and decision-making, making it harder to stick to healthy eating habits.
To optimize fat loss, prioritize quality sleep and implement stress management techniques such as meditation, deep breathing exercises, or yoga. By reducing stress levels and improving sleep quality, you can support your body’s natural fat-burning processes and enhance overall well-being.
Getting Started on Your Fat Loss Journey
Now that you understand the science behind fat loss, it’s time to take action. Start by identifying your reasons for wanting to lose weight, whether it’s improving your health, boosting your confidence, or enhancing your quality of life. Establish realistic goals and develop a plan that aligns with your lifestyle and preferences.
If you’re unsure where to begin, consider seeking guidance from a healthcare professional or registered dietitian. They can help you determine your caloric needs, create a personalized meal plan, and provide ongoing support and accountability on your fat loss journey.
Remember, fat loss is a gradual process that requires patience, consistency, and dedication. Focus on making small, sustainable changes to your diet and lifestyle, and celebrate non-scale victories along the way, such as improved energy levels, better sleep, and enhanced overall well-being.
By taking a holistic approach to fat loss and addressing underlying factors such as inflammation, hormonal imbalances, and stress, you can achieve lasting results and transform your body from the inside out.
So, are you ready to embark on your fat loss journey? With the right knowledge, mindset, and support, you have the power to achieve your goals and live a healthier, happier life.
If you’re in the Nashville area and want to become a patient at MaxWell Clinic, we’d love to talk to you! Schedule your free 20-minute discovery call with our New Patient Coordinator to see how you can start your healing journey today.
today we’re going to be talking about
fat loss as you all know my name is allison bonaires i am the registered dietitian at the maxwell
clinic and i’m very very excited about today’s topic um
so how and why does the body store fat i know we’re talking about fat loss and you probably kind of know this but i
just want to give you a big overview on this um so let’s get started on why and how does
it do it so first i want to start with like a steam engine analogy i’ve heard this you know a few years ago i believe
and it kind of stuck with me and i think it’s helpful to think about it this way so a steam engine is gonna need
you know coal to to run so you have to put in some coal for it to then burn and
produce some of that energy and humans are about the same give or take um we need food food is
what we burn to then produce energy so the more we add in uh the more we should be burning and
utilizing however sometimes we add in maybe too much of that coal into the steam engine and it doesn’t burn all the
way let’s say it gets turned off it doesn’t get used and so some of that coal is just going to remain there and
that is what happens with our food as well so we eat the food and if we don’t use it for energy we don’t burn it then
we just store it that’s how we store fat essentially in a very broad generalized
term that is how it happens so if you keep consuming new food the food that
does not get used just gets stored as fat and then more new food keeps coming in and the process just keeps on going
so i always like this analogy because it’s very broad but that is how it works essentially um
so why does the body store fat to begin with why does the body have this mechanism to store fat and the primary
reason that our body stores fat it’s because it then can be broken down for energy so food we use it we use it for
energy yes there’s you know amino acids and muscle building and all these things but in general we burn food for energy
if you notice you eat your proteins your carbs your fats and then they get broken down even smaller into amino acids and
glucose and then to fatty acids but you see all those yellow arrows and they all
can end up as energy synthesis production of energy more energy for you to be able to do the
things that you need so let’s say that you eat perhaps a little too much protein yes you’re going to be using
those amino acids to build protein but that excess amino acid can then be utilized for energy as well and now if
energy does not get utilized if you notice where the glucose has a little yellow arrow it can be stored in the
liver and muscles as glycogen but it can also be stored as fatty acids and
lipid synthesis now we do this so that we can later then break it down to use for energy if needed okay
all right now something i will say is that we do
store uh glycogen in the liver and muscles however the muscles don’t necessarily
take up a ton of that glycogen we don’t necessarily see a ton of glycogen in the
muscles enough for maybe 14 to 24 hours but it does not store more than that however there can be more fat storage in
the liver and i’m sure you’ve heard of fatty liver before and that comes from having too much storage in the liver as
well okay all right now how does the fat get accumulated how
does your body actually store the fat so like i said excess uh glucose is
ex stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen but then it also in the primary storage happens um
by being produced into triglycerides and then goes to the adipose tissue that’s the actual fat that you see in the body
so that excess glucose does go through some cycling gets the triglycerides and
then your your adipose tissue so where there is an abundance of fat in
the liver like i said that’s when we can see the non-alcoholic fatty liver so that doesn’t have anything to do with
the excess alcohol but more so just excess fat that gets stored there so that is how we do it
now i did want to bring this up because i don’t feel like a lot of people know about this and it is uh somewhat new and
Types of Adipose Tissue
it kind of speaks to uh the types of adipose tissue so adipose tissue is kind of your fat
tissue as you can see in that picture so to date there are several types of adipose tissue there is a white tissue
that can be broken down in subcutaneous or visceral you might have heard of this um so the the white tissue like i said
broken down in both of those so subcutaneous it’s kind of below under your skin like right below it
where uh visceral is kind of integrated and intra abdominally near your organs now i
am sure you have heard that that fat adjacent to your organs is not a good thing that visceral fat can contribute
to metabolic syndrome it can contribute to systemic inflammation it can contribute to
dyslipidemia atherosclerosis um you know predisposition to pre-diabetes as well as like i said
non-alcoholic fatty liver so i’m sure you’ve heard of subcutaneous fat and that just means that it’s right below
the skin where visceral is kind of close and tucked into those organs which we don’t like now there is other types
of adipose tissue actually not just the white but there is also brown and brown is
given that name and because of the color it kind of gets a brownish tone because there is a lot of mitochondria in it and
that gives it the the brownish color so the brown was thought to just be happening in animals who hibernate like
bears however we have found that it makes up one to two percent of the total fat source of humans
brown fat is great because it helps generate heat so ideally in a perfect world we would all have more of that
brown fat because it’s actually being uh utilized for for that heat
and that’s where the beige comes in so the beige fat is kind of white fat that has some of that browning happening to
it now there’s still some research that has to be done on how can we make more of that white fat into the brown and
beige however the only few things that they have right now are colder temperatures as well as exercise
i just wanted to give you kind of an idea of of that tissue because previously we thought of
you know the adipose tissue or your fat tissue as not having a function except just storing fat it was originally
classified as a storage organ what just that was it however we now know that it
functions as a major uh major endocrine system it secretes out of adipocytes
growth factor cytokines and chemokines so it actually has a big role it is an
endocrine system now so it has adequate kinds like the leptins and
adiponectin so fat is not just they are sitting there which is what we used to believe fat actually has a purpose and
that’s why that visceral fat can be contributing to some of those things that we talked about like systemic
inflammation so that fat is doing something it’s not just they are being stored that’s why i wanted to bring up
the types of fat that we have okay now how do i burn the excess fat already
stored that’s what i think most of you guys are kind of here for like well what what do we do so we know that to avoid
weight gain based on that coal analogy we need to burn the calories that we eat
perfect so we eat the calories we burn the calories but there is some stored calories already there there’s some stored fat already there so how do i
burn that excess fat already stored so that’s what we’re going to talk about today before we jump into that i kind of
What does the body do with the calories you eat?
wanted to talk about well what does the body do with the with the food that we eat how does the body
actually burn those calories so there is three main things that the
body uses um thermogenesis you might have heard of this derma and that’s why i wanted to add it in case you’ve heard of it and that’s just the thermic effect
of food so that’s the calories the energy utilized for digestion and absorption and just breaking down of all
that food your body does use some energy for that now your body also uses energy on
physical activity so we know when we exercise we go walks and hikes and uh swimming you are going to be using some
of that energy now neat is uh i don’t know if you’ve heard of it it’s not necessarily fairly new but it is uh
kind of the non-exercise activity thermogenesis meaning your daily things maybe that is your
tapping of your finger or walking to you know go grab some water or maybe it’s just uh very light you know grabbing the
kids from here and there so it’s just kind of what you do and the calories that you burn with movements in in your
daily in your daily routine um so it’s non-sport like exercise so staying
active throughout the day does matter because that’s the neat that is utilized that’s the non-exercise thermogenesis
that happens and the last thing that your body uses uh your calories and burns energy on is your basic body
function so if you’ve heard of basal metabolic rate this is where it comes from so your body is
doing things without you noticing your heart is beating your kidneys are filtering your lungs are breathing that
all takes energy for your body to do and it does it on a daily basis and it is
utilizing calories uh for that so those are the three things that we know that your body burns uh energy and
uses up those calories on so how do i achieve fat loss this is the
How do I achieve fat loss?
big one we know we can’t increase your digestion meaning breaking down a food and
absorption without adding extra calories if you increase digestion that means you’re eating more which means you’re
putting in more calories so we can really increase uh how many calories you burn through
digestion and absorption now we also can’t really increase your
basal metabolic rate necessarily because you can’t really control how fast your
kidney filtrates things or how quickly your heart beats to a certain extent i know when you exercise that does happen
and that leads us to increasing exercise and increasing meat that you can do you do have control over that so if you want
to achieve fat loss increasing exercise and increasing need or just your daily movement really matters you are in
control of that now the last thing is creating a calorie deficit and we are going to be diving into
what is that i’ve heard about it but how do exactly do i do that and how can i do that consistently to achieve the fat
loss that we’re looking for so increase in exercise i think for most of us is um
an obvious one just getting you know more workouts throughout the week if possible i did want to talk about how to
Ways to start increasing NEAT today!
increase meat today that’s something that you can start doing right now if you’re at work if you’re taking a lunch
break whatever that may be a standing desk i am sure you’ve heard some of your clinicians or your doctors or maybe
friends talk about a standing desk a lot of us are working from home or even if you’re in the office a standing desk is
great because i don’t know about you but i personally don’t just sit on my or stand on my desk stiff you are moving
you’re fidgeting from one leg to the other the whole time and that is neat that’s it that’s non-exercise movement
but all day you’re moving whereas if you’re in a chair you’re you’re just sitting in a chair you’re not burning those extra any calories so that’s
something to consider i’ve also seen uh people get those big exercise balls and sit on them and again the big thing is
you’re moving the whole time you’re moving the whole time you’re not just sitting you know sitting there stiff and you’re
trying to balance which is making your body work a little bit harder so that’s a great way to increase your need today
now some things is if you are pacing back and forth at your kids games or at home while you’re doing things with the
kids just pace back and forth instead of standing still that does increase your non exercise activity um thermogenesis
you are burning a few a little bit here or there but you are fidgeting all day long that’s gonna add up at the end of the day um carrying your groceries
instead of pushing a cart no this is if it’s doable i don’t i don’t need you you know killing yourself to get to your car but when you’re lifting something and
you’re walking that is something that adds to the non-exercise activity walking briskly when going anywhere so
yeah sure you’re walking and let’s say you park further in the parking lot that’s a great way to do it but try to
speed up a little bit more not just slow you know on your phone type walk but a little bit quicker um taking the long
way to the water cooler at the office you know just go the full way around do a full lap while you do it and one of my favorites is
pacing when you’re on the phone with someone um if you’re calling your best friend your mom grandparents whoever it
is and you’re on the phone instead of sitting on the couch if you’re pacing back and forth in your kitchen that is
adding to your to your daily movement and that is a great way to do it and i would recommend fat loss or not that we
do increase activity because most of us are sitting a lot more nowadays so this is helpful for anybody just to keep in
mind especially if you’re wanting to create some fat loss if you’re wanting to burn a few extra calories this can be
helpful and it does add up at the end of the day not just the workouts but this as well now let’s talk about a calorie deficit
What is a calorie deficit?
because i know that um you may have heard of it but it’s it can be complicated to try to understand or how
or to do so a calorie deficit is when you eat less calorie calories in your body needs per day so then it is forced
to use the stored fat for energy so take sally here she naturally burns 2000
calories a day and that includes her basal metabolic rate and her activity which is two workouts a week those are
her maintenance calories so those are the calories that sally needs to eat to remain exactly the same weight that she
is right now so sally doesn’t want to stay the same sally would like to create a calorie deficit to see some fat loss
so we are sally is going to then decide to add in two more days of exercise so that’s 200
calories per week so say each workout is 100 calories she’s burning 200 more calories a week
that would be about 30 calories per day if you divide it by the seven days now with food sally is then going to create
a calorie deficit by instead of eating 2 000 calories she’s going to decrease it by 400 and only eat about 1600 calories
every day so if every day she eats 1600 calories each day she’s creating a 400 calorie deficit plus her 30 of her
workout so at the end of the day with her two added workouts and her calorie deficit through food she is creating a
430 calories per day deficit does that make sense
so how do we do this how does sally go from eating 2 000 calories to 1600 calories
without being super hungry without you know having issues how does she do this well
this is how you create a calorie deficit okay so intermittent fasting i’m sure if you’ve heard this now
How to create a calorie deficit through food
i’m not going to get into the health benefits of a few of these things but they do have health benefits not just
fat loss including intermittent fasting so with intermittent fasting you are creating a period of time where you are
not eating so let’s say the most common one is you know eating maybe between 12 and 8 that’s a 16 hour fast and you are
skipping breakfast so sally is no longer eating those calories she normally ate at breakfast they’re
completely gone that way she created a calorie deficit let’s say her breakfast is 300 calories maybe even more she’s
saving herself those calories you’ve probably heard of tracking calories and macros which can be tedious
but it can be really helpful as well so that could be putting it all in an app which is easier instead of writing it
down but you could do it that way and just seeing okay well in a day am i eating 600 1600 calories or less
at the end of the day you look okay yes i am with macros is about the same if you know you have to eat x amount of
grams of protein you know about how many calories that is at the end of the day so calories and macros can be very close
together like i said other benefits to that but for fat loss tracking macros and calories could be a good option um
not for everybody and that’s important there is not one way for everybody
some things work for some people some things don’t work for some people some people can’t do intermittent fasting some people can’t or prefer not to track
calories so don’t feel like you have to do all of these but maybe you can pick one or two or just one and it could work
um the other thing an obvious one but reducing portion size at each meal perhaps our portions are a little bit
bigger maybe we’re eating too much of that rice or that quinoa perhaps we’re going over with the amount of nuts that
we put on our salad things like that reducing those portions being aware of them that can help us overall reduce our
calorie create a calorie deficit just for maintenance calories reduce it a little bit that creates that calorie deficit
eating healthier food this is for those of us who perhaps don’t eat as
healthy as we’d want and if we change it to a little bit healthier we can reduce those calories just because some of the
healthier food is naturally more lower calorie that’s your vegetables for example um reducing the calories in each
snack and the amount of snacks per day i know a lot of people who like to graze throughout the day and they’re eating
maybe two three four snacks without realizing it or noticing it but not really eating meals and more so just
eating snacks and not paying attention so then it adds up so if you reduce the calories in each snack or maybe just
don’t eat four snacks maybe you eat two that’s going to create a calorie deficit as well um
avoid or at least reduce alcohol so alcohol is a big one because it really adds up quickly when you have two three
four drinks a week and it may just be two on friday to on saturday but you just added extra calories to your day
and there is no nutrition in there either so those are empty calories you just added for fat storage so reducing
or you know for a period of time perhaps avoiding alcohol can really be helpful at helping you reduce your calorie deficit
now meals out that is a big one um 92 percent of meals from large sheen
restaurants from just restaurants in general not just fast food have um
way over the amount of calories that are needed per meal so most of them have about a thousand to
1200 calories just one meal which is way more than anyone needs per meal the average meal calorie per
person is about 570 so it’s double what most people need and that is at restaurants we think of fast food only
but restaurants pack on the calories they love to add extra butter to your steaks and to your vegetables so being
aware how often are you going out to eat what are you choosing when you go out to eat is important and can help you create
a calorie deficit if you’re going out to eat five times a week you bring it down to two
that is a big deficit that you’re creating just by removing or you know decreasing the amount of times that you
go out to eat so those are just a few of the strategies and like i said they don’t all have to be for you perhaps you
fall in one category where you’re thinking yeah my portions need to be better but i don’t really go out to eat that’s okay it’s what works best for you
not everything works for everybody and there are different strategies to get you to create a calorie deficit at the
end of the day as long as we’re creating a calorie deficit we will be making progress in terms of fat loss so i do
want to show you an example of creating a calorie deficit just with intermittent fasting mind you some of you might already eat
Example of creating a calorie deficit with intermittent fasting
healthier than this but i just want to give a generalized example for example in fall time we have pumpkin spice
lattes they’re delicious they’re great and that with let’s say you get to work and they have bagels with cream cheese
and you’re like oh sure i’ll have one that’s a normal let’s say a normal breakfast for you you just happen to
have that one day but you did pack a lunch and you brought a sandwich with some chips okay then you also brought a
pretty good snack you brought some you know mixed nuts and had about half half a cup of them you got home and you made
some chicken enchiladas had some rice and beans so that is sally’s end of day count of calories so
we said she needs a 1600 calorie deficit she needs to eat 1600 calories or less to create her calorie deficit to
lose to lose fat right um but if that’s sally’s normal day that’s why she maybe
got in trouble with gaining some weight her maintenance calories were 2 000 she’s eating almost 2 400. so perhaps
this is how sally got in trouble so let’s say sally starts doing some intermittent fasting we keep the let’s
say the lunch and the snack and the dinner just about the same but by removing the breakfast and just having maybe some herbal tea waiting to eat at
lunch she is creating that 1600 calorie or less deficit
now i understand this is perhaps not the best idea because sally might just be a little hungry considering what her meals
look like but i just wanted to break it down and give you an example of how this works would i perhaps like sally to
change her dinner and lunch up a little bit absolutely but just wanted to give you an example
of how the calories uh would would end up and how creating you know a calorie
deficit with intermittent fasting would work okay now i want to give you an example of
Example of eating healthier to create calorie deficit
eating healthier to create a calorie deficit which is my preferred choice because i do not only am worried about
her fat loss i’m more worried about her health than her fat loss to begin with so i want her to instead try to eat a
little healthier for many other reasons so instead of her you know 2 300 uh
calorie day she could be in a calorie deficit and still eat you know three meals on a snack so she were to have a
homemade coffee without all the added sugars from that pumpkin spice latte she could have the coffee with some avocado
toast with some boiled eggs on top that breakfast right there is significantly different in sugar and she at least has
some protein and so it’s a lot healthier and she decreased her calories at breakfast then for lunch instead of just
doing a sandwich we added some veggies and she’s still got a cup of rice and she’s still yes it’s a higher calorie
lunch but it’s way more filling more nutritious so then her the rest of the day doesn’t have to be as high calorie
for example the um the enchiladas she doesn’t have to eat as big of a meal because she had a good lunch and she
still gets a snack now her snack while nuts are healthy don’t get me wrong her snack was really high calorie for what
she needed so by just doing a cup of some veggies with two tablespoons of hummus she decreased her snack calories
by quite a bit and then she was able to cook at home and make herself something a little bit lighter two cups of
broccoli because we need those veggies five ounces of salmon we do need that protein protein is key and you’ll hear
me say that again and she was able to create her calorie deficit just by eating slightly
healthier because things like vegetables don’t have as high calories as other other foods so this is how you
create a calorie deficit by just eating healthier again you may already be eating healthy maybe we do need to
explore other options for you um but i just want to give you an example of what that would look like
okay now examples of meals out and alcohol preventing your calorie deficit this one happens quite often and i see
Example of meals out and alcohol preventing calorie deficit
it especially on weekends where we eat really well monday through friday but then you know saturday sunday or let’s
say friday saturday come around and you wanna go out to eat with friends with you know your significant other so
let’s say this is you know sally’s monday through friday she’s eating better and she’s creating a calorie
deficit um she’s having you know two meals and a really good nutritious high protein snack so she’s you know
essentially having three meals a day and she’s creating that calorie deficit now let’s say it’s friday night and sally is
going on a date and she decides to have an appetizer because oftentimes you get an appetizer before dinner and she has a
couple of drinks and she gets you know six ounces of steak with some mashed potatoes and whatever little vegetables they usually
tend to give you at a restaurant that meal like i said very high calorie and i’m going on the lower end because i’m
not sure what appetizers you got but if that was wings or nachos or something high calorie that meal probably would be
upwards of 1200 to 1300 calories the glasses of wine a glass of wine on average has about 150 calories and so
she had two that’s an extra 300 calories so on friday and on saturday sally is going
over her calories by like 600. so all that work she did during the week
because of the weekend she didn’t create as big of a calorie deficit as she needed to see a half a pound or a pound
lost during the week so could you be eating healthy during the week and perhaps on weekends throwing it off a little bit you can now
that’s not to say that when you are doing fat loss you can’t enjoy a meal out you can but maybe reconsidering that
appetizer and maybe just doing a salad or perhaps not two glasses of wine just one glass of wine maybe it’s looking at
other options on the menu that are not as high calorie so that’s not to say you can’t go out to
eat or that you can’t necessarily drink at all but you got to be aware maybe she does it one day of the week she’d be
okay but if she did it friday and saturday she’s she’s going over her calories by quite a bit
so this is how we can eat healthy monday through friday and then on the weekend throw it off that doesn’t include dessert which i know happens um
sometimes also okay now i do want to touch on
Things affecting your ability to achieve fat loss that are not related to food
things that are affecting your ability to achieve fat loss that are not related to food and oftentimes i think
we are not aware of these things oftentimes we’re aware but we just don’t realize how big of an impact they really
truly make sleep is a really big one i often times
hear tired parents overworked adults who are not sleeping enough but they want to
achieve fat loss and don’t realize how much a lack of sleep is really affecting them for one
digestion can raise your body temperature so if you eat close to bedtime your body temperature is being
raised which can disrupt your sleep quality if you have heard you shouldn’t eat that close to bedtime there’s many
reasons why one of those is that it affects your sleep yes it increases blood sugars and a few other things but
just starting out there eating close to bedtime raises that body temperature now um
your sleep quality affects your food intake as well i always say if you had a sleepless night you are more likely to
feel hungry the next day why because it messes up with your hormones
girling ghrelin which is a hunger hormone is increased when you don’t
sleep and leptin which is a fullness hormone or a satiety hormone is decrease meaning your
hunger hormone increases a lot more when you don’t sleep so is it weird for you to feel hungry the
next day no it’s what your body is doing it’s what it needs to do that’s what it naturally does so we need to really work
on our sleep so that we don’t struggle near as much so it is disturbing your
your hormones your hunger and fullness hormones are disturbed when you don’t sleep properly sleep deprivation can
affect your appetite profile it does and so being aware of that is important don’t just ignore it oh i just sleep
five hours i only slept six hours i’m tired all the time it doesn’t matter yes it does because it’s gonna make you more
hungry the next day and you are just wondering why am i so hungry all the time sleep could be an answer to that
now hormones there’s a lot of hormones out there that are affecting your your fat loss
preventing you from from being able to to do fat loss if you have ever struggled with hypothyroidism you
probably know this your thyroid controls your weight quite a bit and so getting that normalized is very important
insulin resistance can create it make it more difficult for you to see fat loss
now when you go through premenopausal menopause when there is estrogen um is
decreasing you’re also going to be struggling with with fat loss so getting your hormones checked is very important
it’s not something we want to ignore because that excess estrogen is not going to go away on its own if we’re not
doing anything about it and it is going to make it harder for you to see fat loss so that’s something that you may be
saying yeah my hormones are crazy but whatever it does affect your fat loss if that is your goal hormones are something that we
do need to look at now uh inflammation can mess with your leptin as well so again that’s a hormone
that tells your body we’re full we’re good to go and it can make it so that
you are low on that leptin and again that hunger hormone will increase and that is
inflammation from all over we know that we we discuss with all of our patients inflammation all the time it’s a
cornerstone of a ton of diseases and it does affect your weight loss as well when your body is inflamed it is not
likely that it wants to release fat and it is going to be making you more hungry
so if you’re hungry all the time is inflammation part of the problem and you’re not aware of it now stress
toxic relationships and underlying trauma that’s something that i don’t ever hear anybody talk about but that’s
stress level and if you see here on this chart how stress can affect your body
is is so big and that underlying trauma even if it’s maybe not at the forefront
of your everyday it is there and it is affecting how your body functions those toxic relationships add stress to your
daily lives so cortisol pumping through your veins it’s gonna stimulate that
glucose which you know gives that instant energy to run from whatever stressor your body doesn’t know if you’re being chased by a bear or if
you’re at your office just stressed out it does not know that but it is going to give your body some extra glucose right
but then you’re not moving you’re at your desk you’re really stressed out at your desk sitting there so there is no
burning of said glucose that was just released and when there is high glucose your body releases insulin because
insulin is what allows your cells to open up and let glucose or sugar into the cell and be utilized for energy and
insulin is signaling to their body fat storage store store so
stress underlying trauma and toxic relationships while we tend to not discuss them they are affecting you
significantly if you are someone who is stressed out all the time who is anxious all the time please do know that does
affect your fat loss significantly and so we really gotta work at the root of things we can’t just say i can’t lose
fat is well why can’t you and if we know there is some underlying trauma to work through we have to do the hard thing and
work through that there’s a toxic relationship it’s time to think about well how much is it really affecting me how toxic is it and let’s work through
that and then stress we are in a society that just thinks stress is okay we’re just stressed all the time you hear
everyone oh my god so stressed so busy yes sure we are but we need to work towards stress reduction we have to be
intentional about this your stress also disturbs your sleep which then if your sleep is disturbed we already know
that you’re going to be hungry the next day so these are things that you know have nothing to do with your food
technically but they might make you more hungry and they might make you you know store more more energy might make you
release more insulin so these are things that i want you guys to keep in mind and kind of
do a self check of are there are these things affecting me on a daily basis on a regular basis and could this be why my
fat loss is not happening that’s not to say that they can be worked on and fixed and we can get to fat loss but we got to
be very honest about what is truly going on okay
now i these are things that i want you to remember when you’re trying to lose fat that oftentimes i have to remind my
Things to remember when trying to lose fat
patients over and over one you’re not supposed to be starving all the time i have heard this you know and i think
it comes from years and years back that if you’re hungry it’s working no we do not want to be hungry because
to lose fat and let’s say you want to lose 10 20 30 pounds you have to be in a calorie deficit for a long period of
time this is not going to happen in a week this is not going to happen in a month it’s gonna take time you’re not gonna be hungry and starving for three
months it just will not happen at some point you will crack you will break and you will just eat because you’re
starving your body is seeing food and it’s not able to eat it and that is gonna drive you nuts so you’re not
supposed to be hungry all the time there are ways that you can create a calorie deficit while still eating three meals
in a snack so we just need to maybe change what we’re eating but we’re not supposed to be hungry please if you are
starving all the time trying to lose fat please come talk to me because i would love to help that is not what
we’re supposed to be doing okay now protein and vegetables are key to fat loss and oftentimes i always hear
well i don’t really like vegetables so i just try to just eat a bunch of protein and that’s it or i’m trying to eat healthy but it’s
just protein and carbs if your plate is not full of vegetables you need something to fill you up so then you’re
going to go ahead and overeat on those carbs or overeat on on that protein so increasing your vegetable intake is huge
why because vegetables are really low calorie and they have fiber and they fill you up protein keeps you full and a
big thing i always tell patients is as you’re losing fat you can lose muscle too and we don’t want to lose muscle so
if you keep your protein intake up we are preventing or trying as hard as we can to prevent muscle breakdown and
muscle loss so protein and vegetables are key for this so please remember that now
this is a big one counter-intuitive and patients struggle with this one too low of a calorie deficit or under eating can
actually slow down your metabolism over time so let’s say sally here is like well i’m trying to lose weight fast and
instead of eating 600 calories sally goes down to 1200 calories and sally stays at 1200 calories for months yeah
sure the first two three months she’s gonna lose fat but then when she gets to month four five six seven sally’s
noticing oh man i’m not losing any more fat why am i not losing fat because her metabolism realized oh man we’re not
getting enough calories for the day we we’re just not so we gotta slow down we
gotta stop doing so much and so your metabolism slowly slows down you know this has been called starvation
mode which i don’t like that term whatsoever i don’t think it’s realistic conservation can’t happen we’ve seen it
in in the past um more of adaptive uh your metabolism adapts to the situation and
so it is going to slow down so that it can do what it needs to do with the 1200 calories sally’s deciding
to give it over time her metabolism is just there and she’s not going to lose any more weight and she can keep going
down on calories because she’ll be hungry all the time so be mindful with your calorie deficit
we cannot go too low we cannot survive on too low of calories your body will have to adapt to it and
you’ll be stuck after a few months okay now it took time to put on it’s gonna
take time to take off okay it takes time for fat loss and i always hear well i
have this event or i have this to do or i have this well it took a while for you to gain the 10 20 30 40 pounds it’s
gonna take some time to get off and don’t get frustrated so quickly if you’re solely focused on the fat loss
you’re going to be struggling instead focus on the non-scale wins on you know what i am eating healthier you know what
my energy feels better i’m sleeping better i have worked too much through my trauma those are things i want you to to
remember to consider um as wins and and just be patient okay now it’s more
important to get you healthy first and fat loss will follow like i said hormones need to be
worked on maybe under-controlled maybe you need some thyroid medication whatever it may be
medication or not it could just be working on your stress level we want to get you healthy first and fat loss will
follow because if we reduce your inflammation your body is more likely to increase that leptin so you’re not as
hungry all the time so i will always tell my patients i need to get you eating healthy feeling better
just healthy overall and the fat loss will follow we don’t want to get so zoned in on fat loss that we get
frustrated when we just don’t see fat loss happening but our energy is better okay so reframing the way you think
about this is important so those are just some things i always like to remind patients that i
oftentimes have to say over and over and it’s okay it’s my job to say them but if you’re here listening please please keep
this in mind okay how can you start today i am here
How can you start today?
to give you the all right i’m ready for this you know you talked about it i’ve been trying or i haven’t
really been trying but i kind of want to try how do i start find your why and i cannot tell you how important this is
this is a deep down reason it is just ingrained in your soul of why you really
want to do this i hear well i just want to look better that’s not going to get you out of bed
to go do a workout it’s really not we need something deep down you know over you know my years i’ve heard you know
what i would love to be able to take my grandchildren to to disney world one day that is a dream of mine and that will
get you out of bed thinking i need to walk now so that i get to walk with them later that is a deep down reason or
my mental health is not in the best place i really i really want to work on my mental health and feel better yeah
when you’re struggling and you really want to eat a bunch of cake it’s a mentality of you know what my mental health is
suffering i really don’t want to add all those sugars to my body that can give you that motivation and not just
motivation but that dedication to to do this that discipline to do this so you
have to sit down and think of why am i truly doing this it’s not just to look better that’s a plus but what’s the true
deep down reason maybe you’re just i want to see my grandchildren i want to walk my daughter down the aisle whatever
that may be i really want you guys to think of why you’re doing this that deep down reason that’s just going to push you and get
you disciplined throughout the entire period of time because like i said this is going to take time you need something
deep down rooted in you that’s going to push you to do this to motivate you to do this um figuring out your barriers
now this is a big one it could be a non-supporting spouse in the household it could be you don’t you can’t exercise
physically you had an injury and you’re not able to exercise perhaps it’s a lack of knowledge you don’t really know how
to do it you’ve been trying but you’ve been trying this diet and that diet and nothing’s working maybe that’s a barrier
for you so keep that in mind um your hormones maybe it’s inflammation maybe it is a trauma maybe it is that stress
you have to identify what is preventing you from fat loss so like i said sit down think about it and go okay what’s
what’s really going on in my life and what’s preventing me from fat loss honesty is key here because saying i’m
trying but you’re not really trying it’s not going to get you anywhere so being very very honest with yourself and then
finding help that’s where maxwell clinic and i come in i do this for a living i love working with patients and helping
them achieve their goals but in a healthful sustainable way i am not going to drop your calories to a point where
your metabolism is going to slow down um and if you are at that point where your metabolism has slowed down we may need
to go backwards that’s for a later time but we may need to do some other things to get your metabolism going and then
create that calorie deficit so finding help is important if you’ve been trying to do this for a while you know
make sure that you find help we are here to help if you’re a maxwell patient and even if you’re not come see us we’d love
to work with you all clinicians are trying to get you healthy and then i am there to help you support you through
your nutrition and then lastly get started i often hear i’m gonna do this
i’m gonna start it this time or after the holidays or after summer because you know all the barbecues and
travel after just get started it may be you know we call it low hanging fruit
little things that you’re like i can i can change that i know i can change that i know i can do intermittent fasting i
know i can you know just eat healthier i know i can stop drinking you know three times a week to maybe once a week get
started even small changes make a really really big difference and you don’t want to wait till you can
fully dive in i know there’s an all or nothing oftentimes um and and that’s a mentality that we have
to work on and i understand sometimes we feel like it’s either i’m all in or i’m
just eating whatever i want and it’s not healthy but start with baby stuff so if okay what can i change today maybe it is
just increasing your needs and your non-exercise activity maybe it is you know i’m gonna up my workouts a little bit whatever that may be just get
started today um i love this quote i’ve heard it you know and it can be a little harsh but i
think it’s it’s helpful losing weight is hard maintaining weight is hard staying
overweight is hard choose your heart at the end of the day you make the choice of what you really want if you really
want this it’s gonna be hard it’s gonna take time but maybe that’s the hard you choose to get to the results you want
versus staying overweight and unhappy so any questions from anybody this is a
time if you’ve been on the q a or if you just thought of something please please
do let me know um let’s see i have a question how much time should
you have between a meal snack and bedtime um i want us to get us used to listening to
our body because your body is smart and it knows when he needs that energy he knows when it’s hungry and needs food
however sometimes when we’re starting out our body’s not talking to us as loudly as we want it to and so i usually
say for meals it could be anywhere between three to four hours um
for before bedtime i would say ideally three hours before bed is when we want to stop eating two is cutting it a
little close because again you’re still digesting that food but i would say if you’re going to bed at 10
try to be done eating by seven that would be ideal you’re digesting and again as you lay down after you eat food
that acid could also come up and cause some reflux at three hours it is kind of a good a good time for that in terms of
resources related to counting macros um you know there’s a few apps that i do recommend and have um a good one to just
like start out in and like i said this is not for everyone so please don’t jump on this if you have
a history of jumping on this um two two in the in the far end let’s say
if counting macros makes you more anxious makes you hyper focus on food macros and counting calories may not be
for you but if you are someone who like i’ve never tried and i could do it i i think it wouldn’t necessarily get me in
a bad place um i one that is free and that i usually start out with and test patients with is my fitness pal uh it’s
free and i like that it shows you the amount of fiber that you eat because i want you to get plenty of fiber and it
does uh give you the the amount of fiber as well as the protein the fats and the carbohydrates so that’s one that i um i
can suggest there’s a few other ones so if you’re one of my patients please please send me a portal message if you have questions on that or let’s discuss
at our next visit um i have one on you didn’t mention fruit that’s a uh a great question so with
fruit i usually say one to three servings a day so a serving would be an apple or let’s say a banana or a kiwi or
i don’t know three-fourths to a cup of blueberries that’s about a serving so one two three per day and usually with
fruit i usually say i recommend it save it for your snack time if you can for example if you’re making a smoothie
adding some berries to a smoothie is great that way it’s not just a protein shake you can make it into a smoothie oftentimes i see it at breakfast like if
you have oatmeal and you can throw some fruit in there that that’s a good option um but it could be added to your salad
it could be added to here or there fruits are yes sugars but they are natural sugars
and they also do have you know tons of nutrients antioxidants when it when it comes to berries
and they’re not necessarily high calorie so we can still eat fruit and create a calorie deficit at the end of the day we
are looking at the overall calories and if adding a handful of fruits gonna add that sweetness so you don’t go and eat
you know a bunch of cake later then that is helpful so one two three servings is kind of the recommended amount and again
that that should be pretty easy to kind of do once you know what a serving kind of looks like
um can low estrogen be a barrier to fat loss um yes estrogen in general when it is
too low or too high can be a problem so it can be part of of the issue and so
again working to normalize those levels is is very important and again you will
do this with your clinician and then there are ways that we can help your hormones and support your hormones through food as well
um let’s see how do you determine what your calorie deficit should be as a beginner um
if you are unable to find someone to help you with that there are calculators online that determine it
based on your age your weight your height and then usually you have your activity level also incorporated in that
and then from there you decrease it by about 300 calories so you figure out what those maintenance calories are
including your activity level and you decrease it by about 300. this can sound daunting this can sound hard so if you
do need help please please ask and um you know that’s something that i would do for you and help you figure out what
is your maintenance calories what is a calorie deficit for you and then how do we get there um i do encourage you guys
to not jump into calories just alone because most times i can start out patients with
you know just hey let’s let’s try intermittent fast you know let’s try eating a little bit better and they
don’t have to track their calories as much so just men like mentally keeping track of things can also be helpful
without having to put it all in a nap right off the bat so don’t jump to calories just yet um
but just revisit what do your meals look like throughout the day and kind of have an idea however i if you need help
that’s something i would do to try to help let’s see um how do you know what is too
low of a calorie deficit uh oftentimes hunger is a good indicator you have a
good period of time where you’re just really hungry but then there is also the fatigue the irritability um you’re
thinking about food all the time and you’re just focused on food all the time that’s
that’s probably too low of a calorie deficit um if your energy level is actually decreasing there is something
off there if you’re not able to get through your workouts feeling great and yes tired but energized that may be also
a signal that you are eating too low of a calorie deficit oftentimes just figuring out what those calories are can
give you an idea compared to what you’re eating oftentimes we don’t know how much we’re eating and so finding help is is
super helpful i can i usually assess what you’re eating after a seven day diary and i am able to to tell you hey
it sounds like you’re eating a little too too little you’re you’re eating more than you need to um that is what i do i
assess that um are men’s calories requirements different than women’s absolutely because when we figure out
your calories it takes into account your age your height your weight and your activity level and usually
there is a male or female because then the equation changes for male or female so yes depending on
your body size and the fact that you’re a male you likely have more muscle mass therefore your calories would be different usually higher
lucky you guys um let’s see how do i know what my estrogen level should be if that is the cause of
my fat gain that’s when you work with a clinician that’s what your clinicians are for they’re able to look at your
blood work and tell you hey your dhea is not where it should be hey your estrogen level during this phase is not where it
should be and they would be able to tell you it’s kind of out of place it’s too high too low whatever that may be and
that would be an indicator for you oh this could be part of my problem of why i’m not seeing fat loss so that’s where your clinician your uh
pa or your doctor or nurse practitioner will help you figure that out um let’s see
so in terms of testing for hormones like i said i defer that to the clinicians and they will be the ones according to
your just generalized standard lab work that they do at first they can
go from there and go we need this test for that test uh it also depends on your age and so on so uh your clinician your
doctor pa nurse practitioner will be able to to determine that uh let’s see my cardiologist recommends drinking two
glasses of red wine every night well that may be heart healthy but it’s not gonna be perhaps helpful toward your fat
loss journey and so it is a matter of considering well can we do something else for your heart health but it
doesn’t require 300 extra calories now if that is the recommendation specifically from your cardiologist to
you and that’s what you need to do we can we can work it into the day if we need to i personally would say that
that would be a discussion with the cardiologist and say hey is there something else i could do other than drinking wine because it’s adding up to
my calories i mean if you do 300 calories a night seven nights a week you’re packing on quite a few excess
calories and so that might play a role into how much how many x’s or
leftover calories you have for the day any other questions i think
i’ve got them all here um i did have a question on how do you get
started with with maxwell so if you guys go on the maxwell website and you want you click on be a patient they will give
you all the information we have great people that will call you talk to you and kind of let you know how to get involved we have a number of clinicians
and i am registered dietitian and my services come along with being a part of a maxwell patient um
so i hope that this was informative for everyone and helpful to anyone if you’re one of my patients and you have
questions please reach out also feel free to bring them up during our next visit if you are not a patient and would
like to be in your maxwell uh patient please talk to your clinicians and say hey i would love to
see the dietitian and discuss x y or z um and if you are not a patient i would love to have you as a patient for sure
um oh let’s see i have one more question uh how do you avoid binge eating later in
the day if you’re practicing intermittent fasting i see this very often and to avoid that you have to eat
good filling meals earlier in the day so your lunch can be if you’re intermittent
fasting and creating a calorie deficit through the fasting your lunch can’t be 200 calories and expect to not be hungry
later so during that fasting period of time that window you still need to eat the calories your body needs to function
so let’s say sally she needs to get to those 1600 calories and if she let’s say
only eats 400 at lunch that means during snack and dinner she has to eat a lot more calories so i always say look at
how many calories you have that you need to be eating and then divide that out for the number of meals that you eat so let’s say sally eats 600
at lunch 600 at dinner and the rest at snack time because that way she’s getting all the calories in she’s
getting all the recommended protein and she’s getting all the vegetables she should be eating uh as well so
to not binge later in the day you’ve got to be eating well-balanced nutritious meals earlier in the day and if you’re
gotten to a point where you’re binge eating late at night and specifically on sweets and things like that i would love
to talk to you because we need to kind of revisit what your meals are looking like it may be that your meals are not
balanced enough you’re not getting enough protein you’re not getting enough healthy fats and that’s why you’re craving more things later than the line
all right well you guys it’s been a pleasure talking to all of you thank you for all your questions and participating
in all of this i look forward to our next group visit you guys have a good one
MaxWell Clinic nutrition blogs are produced for informational purposes only and brought to you by MaxWell Clinic, LLC. The information is provided by a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist that has been trained in providing dietary advice backed by nutritional science and research. The nutrition information is not to be construed as medical advice or medical nutrition therapy. The information is not to be used as individualized nutrition counseling or used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any medical problems. The content of these blogs should not be used as a substitute for medical treatment from your medical provider. Any information, examples, recipes, foods, or stories presented do not constitute a warranty, guarantee, or prediction regarding the outcome of the individual using the material. The reader is responsible for working with a qualified professional before beginning any new dietary program or plan. The writers and publishers of this nutrition information are not responsible for any adverse reactions, effects, or consequences resulting from the use of provided information, recipes, foods, or suggestions.
