The Dirty Word..... Diet.

The multimillion-dollar industry.

The machine that spits out cookie-cutter advice to people. A lot of people give advice with no qualifications or knowledge of what they are talking about. Claiming to have all the answers usually in just 21 days. And usually, the focus is on abs, a perky bum, and bikini bodies.

Not on metabolic health, longevity, joy, and connection. When you lose weight on a calorie-restrictive diet, hunger for most of us will always win in the end. This may be in a month, 3 months. 6 months or a year.

When we restrict our diet for long periods of time,( short term can be very helpful) restriction starts to mess with our heads! When we have high insulin levels, it is very hard to manage weight fluctuations. When we have high stress it is hard to manage weight.

The same goes for under-eating and over-exercising. Not to mention: hormones, insomnia, chronic inflammation, gut imbalance, genetics. thyroid imbalance and depression.

You are unique and one size does not fit all.

Sounds complicated? Well, let's just say it is layered!

So where do you start?

It takes time.

So many people go on diets that restrict calories, they lose weight and usually most of the time you will put the weight back on and some.

Sustainable weight loss is the way to go

This could look like anything from 6 months to 12 months.

Why? Because it is so much more than calories in and calories out.

I like to start upstream and look at some of the key factors when it comes to sustainable weight loss.

Stress: This is a big one and takes time to learn coping tools to manage stress.

Metabolic health: When this is out of balance you are paddling upstream with no paddle!

Inflammation: When we are inflamed, it creates so much dysfunction in the body.

Gut health: A key factor in metabolic health and inflammation.

Thyroid health: Plays a key role in weight regulation.

Insulin and glucose levels: If these are high it will create havoc in the body.

Sleep issues: Play a major role in weight management.

Mental health: This also plays a role in weight

Mind/body connection: If we are disconnected from our body we can not sink into what we need.

Habits: We have formed, poor eating habits, too much or too little, and the types of food we are eating.

Exercise: Is a key to metabolic health. our muscles are the biggest glucose sink, so use them and it will help regulate blood

sugar levels.

If you do not start to address the above and just restrict your calorie intake the chances are, you will create a yo-yo effect on the body, of losing weight, then gaining more back, losing weight and gaining more, and so on and so on and so on, if you get my drift. xx

Dieting like this can really mess with your head and long term can make people feel ashamed and

Hunger usually wins out leaving people feeling like they have failed.

Add in instead of restricting

I like to tell my clients to start with the add-in approach. Getting inspired, and excited about adding in new delish foods. Tasty recipes. eating with friends and starting to make food enjoyable.

I know this can be really hard for some people and takes time to do this.

I really try to get people to stop counting calories and weighing themselves.

I also usually end up getting people to eat more! What did she just say??

It's true, a lot of women come to see me with metabolic dysfunction. and find it hard to lose weight. They think the answer is to skip a meal or two.

It is about eating the right foods for you and not going hungry!!

Time-restricted feeding for weight regulation.

I love Time-restricted feeding.

Once there is some balance within the metabolic system this can be introduced with great effect on insulin and glucose.

I use time-restricted feeding for myself. This simply means there is a window of feeding and a window of fasting, eating 3 meals a day with no snacking.

The biggest mistake people make is making the fasting window too big, only having 2 meals, getting hungry, and snacking on simple carbs.

I would recommend a 12-hour window to start with, The research that has been down has been done on this 12-hour window, and the jury is still out if it makes a difference if you make it longer.

The whole concept of time-restricted feeding is to give the metabolic system a break, like a reset of types, When we are eating frequently, it simply does not get a break and gets overworked and stressed.

You also increase your ketone production so you can start to utilize the body's fat stores for energy.

This can be very helpful when we have a lot of extra fat cells hanging around in the body. (They can be a great source of energy when we have metabolic flexibility)

The other thing that I like about time restricted feeding is the cyclic rhythm of it all.

Just as we have a circadian sleep cycle our body has a digest cyclic rhythm and when you are (for the most part) following that same rhythm the body enjoys this and it helps to be more efficient at digestion and absorption of important nutrients needed for optimal health.

Fasting for weight loss

I am such a fan of fasting and have been doing it now for 20 years.

But it's not the first thing to introduce! and quite often it's a recipe for failure if the body is too metabolically compromised.

I do not recommend fasting for weight loss as such, but more a metabolic reset, so when you introduce food your body is more metabolically efficient.

Let's talk about genetics

Functional testing looks at your genetic snips.

We know some of us have more of a disposition to obesity, type 2 diabetes cardiovascular disease. etc. I am one of those people.

I guess that is why I am so passionate about this subject and working with my clients.

This can be helpful to know and supports the fact that for some of us, it is just a bit harder to have that metabolic flexibility.

Now let's be clear

When I talk about weight loss I am not talking about losing weight so you have a thigh gap, washboard tummy, no butt, the perfect hourglass figure, and cellulite free and no wobbly bits.

Not at all, we are people of all shapes and sizes and so we should be.

I am talking about weight loss from a functioning metabolic view.

From a felt sense of how you are feeling, what is your energy, vitality, and strength like?

and how do you want to feel?

This is a journey of connection to self, intuition, and finding what lights you up.

It's not about setting yourself up to fail and counting calories eating "good or bad food" measuring and restricting. Life is too short for that carry-on!

Find your own flow, whatever that may be.

x Coryn