Attention all hopeless dieters! I come with exciting news. You know how you feel cranky, irritable, stressed and starving? You don’t have to feel this way, and you do not need to keep starving yourself in order shed the pounds. Before you keep reading, you better march right over to your kitchen and grab a PFC snack so you can continue reading this without getting HANGRY. I am committed to helping you absolve your guilt about eating with the rest of this post.
I realize you may be feeling incredibly uncomfortable (and confused) with the idea of consuming calories when you know that you could “last” a couple more hours without eating.
How could it be a good idea to put food in when I’m trying to push pounds out?” Let’s clear that up:
1) Restricting is a lose-lose situation. You may feel like you’ve won when you successfully skip a meal and are able to keep it together until your next meal, but this method will backfire on your weight loss. When you are hungry, your metabolism is already slowing down in attempt to conserve energy until you properly fuel it again. When you restrict, your body works against you which is why you feel tired, cranky, and find it nearly impossible to concentrate. This happens because your metabolism slows down to compensate for the energy it needs from food that it’s not getting. Not only will you feel lethargic and deprived, but your body won’t let go of its fat stores without a fight because it knows that it needs them for back up energy. So do yourself a favor and EAT! We understand the thought process behind cutting back on calories, but this approach is detrimental and will only set you up for yo-yo weight loss and gain for years to come, all while continually damaging your metabolism. That’s the exact opposite of what you’re goin’ for, right? As you may already know, it’s a long road to recovering from years of dieting, but you can begin healing your body and metabolism now! Most diets restrict and deprive your body of energy, while following the PFC lifestyle is the opposite. Fueling your body with quality protein, healthy fats and nutrient-dense carbs will keep your metabolism revved up which will allow your body to work for you instead of against you.
2) Food is fuel. This is the number one thing I want you to remember when trying to reach your health goals (especially if one of ’em is weight loss). Food isn’t meant to be a way to punish or restrict yourself, nor is it meant to be a reward. It’s meant to fuel your body! Think about your car: it needs gasoline to run smoothly, right? Many of us have experienced days when we’ve had to “run on fumes” and think about how long we can “last” until the next gas station. We have to keep our cars continually fueled so that they are continually running optimally. No brainer, right!? Using that same analogy, it’s probably common sense that if we put anything other than fuel into our car, it also won’t run well (if at all). Same goes for your body, or more specifically, your metabolism. Your metabolism needs food (REAL food) on a consistent basis in order to continue working at the optimum performance level. Give it the wrong kind of fuel (“diet” foods, processed, refined foods, foods you are sensitive or allergic to, foods loaded in antibiotics and hormones, poor quality supplements, etc.) and it won’t run well at all. If you’re following our 3-3 rule with PFC balanced nutritious foods regularly throughout the day, your metabolism will be able to work in your favor rather than “running on fumes” from the meal you ate last night, what you had 10+ hours ago, or trying to run on fuel it’s not meant to run on.
3) Skipping meals is not a realistic lifestyle to uphold long-term. Often the biggest challenges regarding losing weight is keeping it off and maintaining it long-term. When you’re restricting your body of fuel in order to lose weight, your body learns to live during “starvation mode” which is where your metabolism slows down (the exact opposite of what you want happening in order to lose weight). Once you’ve reached your goal weight and are “allowed” to start eating normally again, your slow metabolism is going to hang on to all that extra energy and turn it into fat because it’s expecting it will need it over the next meal or two since you’ve historically restricted at that time. This way of living is exhausting, discouraging and sucks the life out of you while continually damaging your metabolism. After depriving yourself for a long time, your body’s main priority is to replenish its fat stores, which is why when you give up on a diet, you gain weight. We recommend making healing choices in your nutrition and lifestyle so that it is sustainable, life-giving and you won’t have to go through yo-yo weight gain and loss.
I know you may be feeling a wave of panic as you toy with the idea of having breakfast tomorrow morning for the first time in who knows how long, so I want to ease your worries by telling you to start small. I also realize you may be thinking, “Okay, all of this makes sense, but how many calories should I be aiming for to lose weight?” To that I say, counting calories is over-rated and I don’t think this approach is a very good one.
Now, I understand that losing weight and adapting a healthy lifestyle is a process, and I want you to know we’ve helped many clients overcome the hurdles standing in the way of weight loss. They’ve overcome their history of binging, restricting, calorie counting, and have put an end to all sorts of harmful patterns. And we can help you with that too! You can turn this into a lifestyle instead of a diet and best of all: you don’t have to do it alone.
If you are ready to stop dieting once and for all and you’re serious about getting off the emotional and physical dieting roller coaster… then join me for our next online masterclass! We see such great results with all of our clients! You can lose weight, keep it off, and feel your energy levels soar! You can do this and I can help!
And grab my BEST tips to boost your metabolism by clicking the pink button below.
