Have you ever considered that your “healthy” habits are inhibiting your weight loss? I know, it’s kind of a loaded question. There’s a reason (and it’s a good one) I’m asking you to think about this for a minute.
Our brains are flooded with information about what we “should” be doing to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight. There’s always articles sharing studies that prove that specific habits are helping you burn more calories. Some of them are accurate and valid while other articles have cherry-picked data to make specific habits look good.
The challenge comes in what to believe and not to believe. This can be a struggle and something I help my clients overcome. By the way, once you implement the Wellness Abundance fat loss method, it’s easy to overcome these challenges and lose weight effortlessly.
Here are 3 habits that are disguised as wellness that might be inhibiting your fat loss efforts:
Eating three square meals a day with snacks in between
Doing an hour of high intensity cardio 5 days a week
Drinking a protein shake filled with all sorts of fruit (Jamba Juice, anyone?)
If you’re doing any of the above, it’s okay. You’ve made these choices based on what you were told was the best way to lose weight. This is what the professionals are telling you works.
The tricky thing about the human body is that we’re constantly learning new information about how it works. This is one of the reasons I became a health and fitness coach. I love learning about how our bodies can help us not just survive but thrive.
Your body is an amazing being and knows exactly what to do to help you burn fat effortlessly if you give it what it wants and needs. The best part is, this is actually not that complicated.
Let dive into these habits…
Eating three square meals a day with snacks in between
Learning to be in tune with your actual hunger cues is why you don’t need to eat three square meals a day with snacks in between. Unless you’re a professional athlete or training for the Boston marathon, there’s no need to eat as frequently as you’ve been taught. You should absolutely eat three meals a day if (and that’s big IF) you feel like your body is asking for the nutrients.
If you’re eating enough protein and healthy fats during your first meal of the day, this should hold you over for at least 3-4 hours, maybe more. The definition of “enough” varies from person to person. For example, if I eat at least 30 grams of protein (2 hard boiled eggs and a protein shake with two scoops of protein powder) at around 8am, I’m good until about 12:30pm. Not eating between meals helps mitigate sugar cravings and gives your body a break from having to work to digest food.
Doing an hour of high intensity cardio 5 days a week
Too many high intensity cardio workouts will increase your cortisol levels (also known as the stress hormone). When your cortisol levels are super high, this not only inhibits your ability to burn fat efficiently, but causes too much stress on your heart. Your heart is a muscle so when you do a cardio workout, your heart is contracting just like your thigh muscles do when you squat. Too much of the this for long periods of time too frequently causes stress on your heart. Just like your other muscles, your heart needs time to recover from workouts.
Move your body frequently throughout the day if possible and shift your focus to building lean muscle mass. You really only need to do about 2-3 strength training sessions a week. And they can be around 30 minutes or so. You’ll get your heart rate up just enough to give your heart muscle the exercise it needs.
Drinking a protein shake filled with all sorts of fruit
I’m a big fan of drinking protein shakes to get extra protein or if you just need a quick and easy meal replacement. Adding fruit to them is a great way to get extra nutrients such as potassium, vitamin C, and antioxidants. The kicker is when you put too much fruit in your shake. Here’s the thing about fruit: it’s still sugar. It’s definitely better than throwing a bag of Skittles in your shake but too much of it can spike your blood sugar and wreck havoc with your hormones. If your body doesn’t burn the sugar within a reasonable time it will store it as fat.
I usually add about 1 tablespoon of frozen blueberries and about 3 frozen strawberries to give my chocolate collagen protein shake just a tad of sweetness. I’ve found this is the right amount of healthy carbs for me to have in the morning to start my day. Your carb intake can vary depending on where you are in your hormonal cycle and your activity level. This is something I encourage my clients to experiment with while we’re working together to find that sweet spot (pun intended).
These aren’t the only habits that can be disguised as wellness. What might be a healthy habit for one person may not be for you. The beauty of working with a professional like myself is you get to explore your habits and decide whether or not they’re supporting your health and wellness goals.