No.1 Tracking
You must be prepared to track your eating and exercise if you want to lose weight. You cannot do weight loss ‘in your head’ it is just not precise enough. If you are not tracking you simply are not committed to your weight loss. Saying you were ‘good’ means nothing and you will probably just stay the same weight. Precision gets results! Start tracking your food and your exercise and you will be surprised at what you will learn and will have a good foundation on which to make adjustments for success.
No.2 Meal Size
Eating small and often is definitely the best way to lose weight. Women should never eat and drink more than 400 calories at any one meal or snack and men never more than 500 calories! The minute you go over these levels you are going into fat storing mode!
No.3 Expectations
One of the biggest de-motivators for people is incorrect weight loss expectations. Mathematically the best you can hope for with realistic diet and exercise is to lose 1.2 lbs weekly for women and 1.7 lbs weekly for men. Weight loss results above this are nearly always false results or achieved by extreme measures that are bad for your health and reverse very quickly. It is strictly only by combining the 3 keys of diet, exercise and metabolism correction as we do at System 10 that you can double this result to between 2.4 and 3.4 lbs weekly.
No.4 Water
Drinking more water is probably one of the single best improvements you can make for weight loss. Water greatly helps improve your metabolism. It also reduces appetite. It is the foundation for every other function in the body to work right. Remember drink 1L per 100 lbs you weigh and ideally drink it between meals.
No.5 Chunk Size
One of my favourite motivation tips of all time is to chuck size! This means break any challenge down into small manageable steps. Focus on your weight loss just 1 week at a time! Be determined to move forward even just 1 lb in the next 7 days. Focus on your diet 1 day at a time or even 1 meal at a time! Don’t look too far ahead. Don’t even think of your 1 hour exercise session! Just focus on getting through the first 15 minutes. You will be amazed that once you succeed at one chuck how positive you feel and how it gets you in a roll and the next chunk seems much easier!
No.6 More Fibre
There is no question that eating more fibre greatly helps weight loss. Typically we eat 10g per day whereas we need 25g per day! Fibre improves blood sugar levels which minimises hunger and cravings and helps you feel full faster. It helps to reduce hormone imbalances too! So to help your weight loss make sure to eat plenty of vegetables and whole fruits (not juices!) and switch to 100% wholegrain or whole meal breads and cereals.
No.7 Under-Eating
Probably the worst mistake people make in weight loss is under-eating! You go through all that sacrifice for absolutely nothing. It simply makes your metabolism and weight loss worse! While you need to reduce overall food intake you should never go below 9 calories per pound of your ideal weight. So if you your ideal weight is 9 stone (126 lbs) then do not eat less than 126 x 9 = 1134 calories daily and if your ideal weight is 10 stone (140 lbs) then do not eat less than 140 x 9 = 1260 calories daily!
No.8 Toning
The most important form of exercise for weight loss is toning! The more muscles you tone the higher your metabolism and the more fat you burn 24/7. On top of this you reduce inches faster and get firmer. If you just focus on all aerobic (cardio) work you really are making it much harder to lose your weight. Toning is another miracle for weight loss.
No.9 Reduce Carbs after 6pm
At evening time we tend to become less active and burn less blood sugar. Therefore we should reduce carbohydrates and focus more on lean proteins (poultry, eggs, lowfat cheese and fish) and essential fats (fish, nuts and seeds) at this time. These foods will keep our blood sugar much more stable, minimise the chances of storing fat and help keep hunger and cravings away! If you are filling up with carbs after 6pm you can store fat very easily unless you have a very active evening.
No.10 Fix Your Metabolism
The only real weight loss miracle is speeding up your metabolism or daily burn rate. It will double your weekly results, shift stubborn fat, prevent sticking after 3 weeks and help you keep the weight off afterwards. A good metabolism means you burn more fat every hour 24 hours a day! You become a fat burning machine. Most people have metabolism faults (e.g. sluggish thyroid, hormone imbalance, high blood sugar, digestive problems) that limit or stop their weight loss. Fix these problems will make weight loss much easier. You can then supercharge your metabolism even more with good toning!
If you have any questions on anything above please email me at david@system10.ie and I will reply.
Thanks for reading,
David McDonagh (Nutritionist, fitness trainer & creator of System 10 Weight Loss)
System 10 is about fixing these common metabolism problems that hugely control your weight loss. Fixing these metabolism problems gives you much easier and faster weight loss. It also gives much better weight loss because you burn real fat and get at stubborn fat areas including stubborn cellulite and can keep the weight off much easier afterwards.
Don’t miss my NEW online plan starting soon where you can lose 10+ lbs in 4 weeks or 20+ Ibs in 8 weeks and get an amazing change in shape because it is real weight loss. Click here for more details. Alternatively arrange a one to one consultation in your nearest clinic by clicking here.
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