The secret to long-term weight loss

The secret to long-term weight loss is doing the same healthy things over and over again.

Have you noticed that some people who have a personal trainer and consistently workout do not look any look different?

That’s because it’s what we do between exercise that really makes the difference. That being said 70% of weight loss comes from changes in diet.

There are three "ingredients" to weight loss.

1. Eating right (or Diet)
2. Exercising
3. Consistency

The third ingredient: Consistency is easily the most important, and the most difficult to accomplish. It takes accountability and a measured pace.

There’s a huge difference between knowing what to do, and actually doing it.

Diet:
The right diet will can help anyone lose weight for a few weeks. The problem with most diets is that they a) become boring b) are seen as temporary c) don’t actually change your habits and behaviors. We view a diet as something we will do until we reach our goal—and then quit, and go back to “old ways”. Most people never stick to their diets.

Instead of talking about your "diet", start talking about it as a way of life. The best “diets” are the ones you can truly stick with. It has to be a way of life, otherwise, you’re going to revert back to your old ways, and regain the weight.

Ultimately, the key to this is changing your relationship with food. If the only thing we’re changing is the food we’re eating from one “diet” to the next, we’re not going to change for the long term. If you have trouble sticking to a diet and/or exercise plan, it may because of an unknown fear related to losing weight—people are often as afraid of success as they are of failure.

Exercise:
One of the biggest problems with exercise is "binging and purging." (Note: This has nothing to do with food, bulimia, or anorexia.) As an example, "John" will decide he needs to lose 15 pounds before his wedding. He buys a gym membership and starts working out every day for 2 hours (binging).

By the end of the first week, he is completely exhausted. He decides to take a day off to recuperate and that day turns into a week (purging). When John feels sufficiently guilty, he will goes back to the gym and repeats the process. Again, like your diet, it has to be sustainable. But keep in mind: no one gains weight from not exercising. People gain weight from overeating.

Why do so many people struggle with their weight?

Consistency:
People aren’t staying consistent with their diet and/or exercise.

It’s all about consistency. It's easy to start a diet, but it’s very hard to stick with it. Same for exercise.

The real key to losing weight is not a magic diet, pill or exercise contraption. Rather, the key is finding ways to be consistent with diet and exercise. 

Remember, there's a huge difference between knowing what to do, and actually doing it.

What are the benefits of keto diet?

Over the past several years, I have performed in-depth research on different diets that are popular for their claimed health-boosting and weight-loss benefits. The keto diet is among them.

To give you a quick overview, the keto diet is short for the ketogenic diet. In general, the keto diet is composed of 75% good fats, 20% protein, and 5% carbs. There are a few variations of the keto diet (like high-protein keto diet), but this is generally the standard macronutrient ratio needed in order to achieve ketosis.

Ketosis is the key to the keto diet. Ketosis is a normal metabolic process characterized by increased ketone production. Ketones are a form of energy that is alternative to carbohydrates. Carbohydrates break down into glucose, which are easy for the body to use, but can also be problematic when over-consumed, like they are in the Standard American Diet (SAD).

To understand if the keto diet is considered healthy, first, let’s take a step back to understand ketosis - since misunderstandings are often the root of the criticism of the keto diet.

This is what I have found in my research about the potential health benefits of the keto diet with links to relevant research:

1. Promotes weight loss: While a low-fat diet is often recommended for weight loss, but research shows that a high fat, moderate protein, and low-carbohydrate diet is much more effective at promoting weight loss, thanks to the beauty of ketone bodies.
2. Lowers risk factors for disease: These risk factors include high blood sugar and insulin levels, high cholesterol, and high triglycerides, among others.
3. Protects from muscle loss: a very low carbohydrate diet with adequate amounts of protein are likely protective against the loss of muscle mass.
4. Lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes: Excess fat is linked to metabolic disorders like type 2 diabetes, and weight loss spurred by the keto diet can help to lower risk factors..
5. Helps to control type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders: If you have diabetes, you may be turning to the ketogenic diet as a way to control your insulin and glucose levels. Early research shows that the ketogenic diet can help you significantly improve insulin sensitivity levels. One study even shows that some diabetes patients were able to stop taking their diabetes medication altogether while on the keto diet.
6. May help slow tumor growth for certain types of cancer: Early research shows that a calorically-restricted ketogenic diet is an effective alternative therapy for malignant brain cancer). Since high levels of circulating glucose in the blood are needed for tumor growth, the glucose-reducing effects of the keto diet help to slow tumor growth.
7. Improves symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease: The ketogenic diet may help to reduce the symptoms and slow the progression of degenerative brain diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
8. Helps treat factors causing polycystic ovarian syndrome (POS): POS is the most common cause of infertility among women. One of the aggravating factors of POS is high levels of insulin. The ketogenic diet can help reduce insulin and glucose levels in the blood as a dietary therapy for POS.
9. Boosts recover from brain diseases: Initial animal studies show that the keto diet may boost the recovery of young people who have experienced traumatic brain injuries).
10. Reduces the severity of acne: One of the factors that can increase your risk of acne is high insulin levels in the blood. Since the ketogenic diet doesn’t allow you to eat sugar or processed foods, which up insulin levels, it may help to improve the appearance of acne.
    
    

For most people, the ketogenic diet could offer significant health benefits.

The two main worries of health and nutrition specialists are the following:

1. People follow the keto diet without consulting a specialist first
2. The keto diet has not been around long enough to understand its long-term effects

There are logical responses to both of these concerns and they are directly connected. Research, even if it is relatively new, is on the side of the ketogenic diet. But it is true that an unbalanced keto diet (or any unbalanced diet, for that matter) could have detrimental effects.

For that reason, it is important to:

1. Get a general medical check-up to make sure you are in good health to follow a restrictive diet.
2. Consult with a registered dietician who is a specialist in the ketogenic diet to guide you on how to build a well-balanced ketogenic diet that fills all of your nutrient needs.

Once you check these off of your list, you will very likely be able to reap the benefits of the ketogenic diet for your health.

What are the best ways to lose weight?

1. Give up sugar. 
2. Easy on foods that turn to sugar (breads, pastas, pizza, fried potatoes).
3. Start your day with warm to hot water with lemon. Helps get liver, gallbladder and digestive system releasing.
4. Drink at least half your weight in ounces of water/day (best between meals).
5. Chew food to a liquid. Will help you be satisfied with less, and help your body digest, absorb and eliminate faster.
6. Use smaller plates, helps with portion control.
   
   
   
7. Consider a side of probiotics with each meal (kombucha, sauerkraut, kimchi, lassi, kefir) or unsweetened ginger tea. All help your body digest food.
8. Cook from scratch, at the minimum go for premade meals that are real/few ingredients. Even Costco has pretty incredible looking family meals.
9. Plan a weekly menu, then buy ingredients for that and those alone.
10. Shop outer four walls of grocery store. That's where most of the real food is.
11. Never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. Shop with your own bag or basket. NOT a shopping cart. Helps to buy no more than you can carry.
12. Pack your own snacks AND water each and every time you will be gone, especially past mealtimes.
13. Eat during hours that serve your body best (10-11am to 6-7pm).
14. Know what foods are weight gainers for your blood type. For B+ corn is one. For O's it's wheat and dairy.
15. Coffee enemas do more than help with pain and clean blood, they are INCREDIBLE for weight loss and natural healing of cancer. They are how Jack Osborne lost lots of weight, won in kickboxing AND beat his addictions. They are also what some holistic cancer clinics use. To the tune of FIVE/day. We crave what is in our blood, coffee enemas take that away. Be it food, drugs or alcohol. They are how I helped one get off three hardcore drugs. And what I use for pain.
16. Sweat and movement. Excellent way to keep puffiness off and toxins out.
     
    
17. Save treats for a special occasion (wedding, party, social gathering). They are not a treat if we are having daily.
18. Treat everyday like a special occasion. Meaning, aim to look and feel your best every day instead of for an event of sorts. Many mind their “P's & Q's" to look their best for a one day event, when it should be the other way around.
19. Ask yourself how a certain food or drink will make you look and feel. For better or worse? Helps tremendously! That and a mirror.
20. In time consider seasonal detox. It'll help what ails you, free you of cravings and keep toxic disease producing weight out and off.
21. Key to keeping weight off is by having at least one daily bowel movement. Like babies and pets that poop shortly after. Constipation is not a disease but WILL INDEED lead to one. Diet can make or break us, while detox is a win-win.
22. Eat healthy most hours of day and days of week.
23. Losing weight and keeping it off is easy with self respect alone.
24. Lastly, do inventory of your kitchen (cupboards and fridge) at least twice a year. Warmer months and colder.

Should I remember more, I will add to this list. In the meantime, CHEERS!