Last week I shared a story of what’s possible in the realm of achieving spectacular cholesterol numbers without the use of medication.
Today I want to share with you that optimal weight is not only possible, but also absolutely achievable EVEN by people “of a certain age.”
Mind you, I personally dislike that expression, but I’m using it to illustrate how stupid it is to tell people that their health is destined to go downhill after a given age.
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It’s happened to my mother and it happens to women ALL. THE. TIME. Once a woman moves past menopause she gets all sorts of subtle (and not so subtle) messages that she shouldn’t expect too much from her body. That her weight will gradually increase. That her eyesight will go. That hot-flashes are bad luck she can’t do anything about.
So today, I have another success story for you. This one is from a woman who participated in my Vibrant Body program last year.
She had carried some extra pounds for MANY years and she’d tried all sorts of things for it. She was also a number of years past menopause.
And here’s what she wrote in one of our private Facebook group conversations as we were coming to the end of the program. The group was exchanging ideas about what to do regarding getting rid of the clothes that were now too big to fit them. Some women in the group were hesitant because they knew the proverbial weight yo-yo all too well. They’d lost weight in the past only to regain it.
But this is what ‘Brenda’ said:
“My thoughts? I have no hesitation on this: I’m donating the clothes that are now too large for me. I just purchased a pair of pants that are a size I thought impossible. Hey! It’s possible! Zipped and buttoned! I’m wearing a vest I purchased years ago that I fell in love with. I couldn’t zip it up when I bought it. Now wear a bulky shirt underneath it and it zips! This ‘life style change’ has been a long time coming for me. Thank you, Morella!”
Brenda (that’s not her real name) nailed it when she said, “this lifestyle change.” She was alluding to the fact that she KNEW this was not the result of a diet. She knew that she’d finally learned how to create a lifestyle that helped her thrive, and one that she wouldn’t “fall of the wagon.”
What she experienced is the difference between going on a diet vs. learning HOW her body works and how to give it what it needs…. so that she felt satisfied and loved her food, WHILE she got healthier and lost weight.
Here are some of the fundamentals that Brenda learned about her metabolism that helped her see a massive difference:
Weight loss is the result of hormones… NOT cutting back on calories
Eating 3 meals + 2 snacks a day is a disaster for weight loss (and for diabetes)… any weight you lose with this formula will be quickly regained as soon as you ease your iron grip on your diet
Teaching your body how to get back to intermittent fasting is a formula not just for weight loss but for longevity
Slow and steady wins the race, because ANY short-term diet will lead to “falling off the wagon” (I personally experienced this with Keto just this year. It can be very effective, but the deprivation will inevitably lead to some form of bingeing.)
You see, most of what you hear about weight loss might work for a short time, but it’s bound to fail. The WORST of all the diet advice is to keep telling people to eat 3 meals + 2 snacks, or to “graze” throughout the day. We are NOT grazing animals.
Grazing will keep you in a high blood sugar state for most of the day. This translates into high levels of insulin in your blood. When insulin is present in your blood it is impossible to burn fat.
I’ll say that again, when insulin is present in your circulatory system, it is IMPOSSIBLE for your body to burn fat.
This is because the body reads the presence of insulin as a sign that food has come around recently, so there’s no need to burn the fat that’s stored up for when the big famine comes. But “the famine” never comes, because in another few minutes you’re reaching for a snack.
Grazing throughout the day is not only a formula for stubborn weight it’s also a recipe for developing Type II Diabetes.
So if losing weight is something you need to do, for one, start moving first to eating only 3 meals a day. It might be hard at first and you may notice that you’ve trained your body to be dependent snacks. Once you’re adapted to 3 meals, you can experiment with intermittent fasting.
Again, moving from 5-6 meals a day to 3 can be tough, and it often requires changing the composition of your meals. I’ll be writing more about this topic in the coming weeks.
But if you need support, I’m always happy to help. And if so, this is a perfect time to check out the Vibrant Body program. It’s exactly the program that Brenda did, and if she can do it, so can you!