3 facts about weight loss you should know and how to keep eating

My best friend lost five stone in five days, and similar stories get us all confused about the best way to lose weight. Every time I open a social media platform, I learn about a new diet that promises to give me the body I dream of.

Truth be told, I probably just need to nourish my body, and give it all the things it really needs, but nothing more. I know I’d be better off spending a few hours joyfully walking round the beautiful countryside, which I can see out the window in front of me, than exhausting myself with the thirty-minute workout I did at 7am, followed by a day sitting on my butt looking at a computer screen.

If we all lived tribally and as nature intended, losing weight would not be a thing. However, we don’t and it is! Here are three things that I’ve learned and want to share with you. Three facts about weight loss that surprise many of my hypnotherapy clients when I share them. 

Three facts about weight loss

Muscle helps weight loss

When I told a personal trainer that I run four times a week and only hit the gym to build muscle once a week, she responded with a big, no no no no no! The thing is, muscle is a good calorie burner. J

Just as a pound of feathers weighs the same as a pound of gold, a pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat. However, the muscle needs more energy than the fat. Therefore, it burns more calories even when resting. This is your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Trying not to confuse BMR with BMI, your BMR is the amount of calories your body burns when it performs at the most basic (basal) level. Therefore, if you want to burn more calories to lose weight, building muscle is a healthy way to do it. 

Hypnotherapy will help you with the motivation and determination that you need to work out regularly enough to build your muscles. Some of my clients feel uncomfortable exercising in public, and share with me they feel they need to lose weight before they can go to the gym. A bit like when you clean before the cleaner comes round!

If you have this same fear, a hypnotherapist will help you feel differently, empowered and confident, so you can walk into your local gym or park with your head held high, proud of your commitment to your health. 

You need carbs

Yes, it’s true, your body needs carbs every day to function optimally. Nutritionists say your body needs at least 130g of carbohydrates per day, and around 40 - 75% of your daily calorie intake should come from carbohydrates. There is one caveat - the carbohydrates are unrefined. Examples of foods that provide your daily recommended amount of carbohydrates are; bananas, sweet potatoes, beetroots, oranges, blueberries, grapefruits, apples, kidney beans, chickpeas, and peanuts. 

Unrefined carbohydrates are whole and unprocessed. Unfortunately, the unnecessary refined carbohydrates, such as bread, pasta and chips, are the ones many of us crave. They taste good, though I tend to view them as carriers, because rarely do we eat them alone. Instead, we slather them with a tasty sauce, spread or dip.

If you want to improve your health, try switching the unrefined carbs for the healthier refined carbs your body needs. A hypnotherapist can help you change your desires, so you crave the juicy orange, fresh blueberries or tang of a grapefruit. Perhaps you’ll want your hypnotherapy sessions to focus on you reaching for the raw nuts instead of the greasy chips.

Aversion therapy will help you feel revolted in certain foods if you want to stop eating something. Your hypnotherapist can help you switch chips and dip to crunchy carrots and dip or celery and peanut butter instead of a peanut butter sandwich.   

Low fat but high sugar

Those pesky low-fat yoghurts will always catch you out. Whenever a producer markets something as low fat, I recommend you look at the ingredients. More often than not, sugar replaces the fat.

One research study found sugar content higher in low-calorie versions of food in the following categories: dairy, baked goods, meat, fish, chicken, fats, oils and salad dressings. Sadly, many other foods have added sugar even when not marketed as low fat. I once checked all the pre-cooked chicken in a high-end food hall, only to find I was unable to buy any without added sugar. 

Dr. Rangan Chattergee in his book The 4 Pillar Plan recommends eating processed foods only if they contain less than five ingredients -  another reason to always check the ingredients of the food you buy. 

Some scientists believe sugar is addictive. When you cut out all the obvious sugary foods from your diet, the chocolate, sweets and sweet drinks, you might wonder why you still crave it. Familiarise yourself with the ingredients of any processed foods you eat to cut it out completely, and seek support from a hypnotherapist to help you change your thought process so you want to run away from the sugary foods rather than towards them. 

Nguyen PK, Lin S, Heidenreich P. A systematic comparison of sugar content in low-fat vs regular versions of food. Nutr Diabetes. 2016 Jan 25;6(1):e193. doi: 10.1038/nutd.2015.43. PMID: 26807511; PMCID: PMC4742721.