10 Feb The Big-6: 6 Steps to Weight Loss Success
The Big-6: 6 Steps to Weight Loss Success & Long-term Maintenance
- Become Carb Conscious – for a Weight Loss Alleluia
- Count Carbs – to Keep Shedding the Weight
- Encourage Metabolic Fat Adaptation – to see Weight Loss Accelerate!
- Encourage Keto Adaptation through Intermittent Fasting – for Rapid Weight Loss
- Reduce Your Calories – to Reach Your Weight Loss Goal
- Redefine Yourself as a Physical Person – to support your Weight Loss Maintenance
- Find the Right Daily & Weekly Schedule – To Keep Your Ideal Weight
Caveat: The following weight loss considerations are simplified generalizations of complex metabolic mechanisms and are not to be considered individual medical advice. The recommendations may not pertain to you, or constitute a healthy, effective approach appropriate for your own weight loss journey. There is no one diet that works for everyone, and these recommendations are no different. For individualized weight loss direction and support, please speak with your naturopathic doctor, physician, dietician, or schedule an appointment at our clinic.
Please click HERE for more information about our individualized weight loss programs in South Surrey – White Rock.
- Become Carb Conscious
The first step of weight loss, is becoming aware of what’s going in your mouth.
Too often we aren’t even aware of the ratio of food groups or dietary macros that’s making up our plate. Once we start paying attention, and recognizing that perhaps much of what we’re consuming falls under the category of a carb, things start to get even more interesting. As most of us without too much consideration, follow the general consensus on following a food pyramid diet (one that has a large foundation of carbohydrates), it’s helpful to start looking into what that actually means in terms of the total number of grams of useable or net carbohydrates we’re consuming per day.
While proteins, and healthy fats (e.g. olive oil, avocado, fish), are considered vital macronutrients for survival and general health – including the health of one’s immune system, neurological system, cardiovascular, and musculoskeletal systems, carbohydrates, are not granted the same vital importance.
Carbohydrates, which include foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes, are comprised of fiber, sugars (the fuel component), and many of the same micro-nutrients found in protein and fat sources. Carbs however are not all created equal. Healthy carbs would have the following characteristics: be high in fiber, have a higher density of micro-nutrients (vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants), and a low sugar/starch profile.
(Please see my Recommended List for Low Starch Nutrient Rich Vegetables.)
Yet when it comes to the metrics used to measure or assess the amount of carbohydrates in one’s diet as a whole, whether by number or percentage of calories in one’s diet, or by weight (total or net / usable carbs), these two sources of nutritional value (fiber & micro-nutrients) are not reflected, as sugar and starch make up the bulk of either measure.
In short, not all carbs are created equal, and while some provide loads of nutritional benefit, other forms, are nothing but the nutrient poor empty calories that give this macronutrient its’ bad rap. One simple means to differentiate between those that are healthy (high in fiber and nutrients), and suitable for weight loss diets (i.e. low in sugar and starch which as additional fuel would prevent either a calorie deficit or the body’s need for switching to fat for metabolic fuel), versus those that may be leading to weight loss plateaus or gains, is by calculating the useable or net carbs per serving. This is a way of measuring the sugar and starch contributing to one’s daily calories and potentially preventing both fat metabolism from occurring and as a result, weight loss.
EXAMPLE:
A typical nutritional facts label might appear as follows:
Carbohydrates: 18g / serving
Fiber: 10g
Sugar: 4g
On a label, only simple sugar is listed, leaving the missing amount remaining after subtracting fiber and simple sugar from the (total) carbohydrates being made up of starch, or complex sugar.
In other words:
Complex Sugar/Starch: 4g
Usable or Net Carbs is defined by the amount of total carbs which can be used as fuel (i.e. is not fiber). In this example it is calculated by subtracting Fiber from Total Carbs:
18g Total Carbs – 10g Fiber = 8g Usable / Net Carbs (4g sugar + 4g starch/complex sugar)
Glucose vs Fat Metabolism:
While complex sugar may be broken down and metabolized slower than simple sugar (i.e. having a lower glycemic index or raising our blood sugar more gradually with respect to time), it remains simply a variation of the same type of fuel – sugar. And as, we typically carry 2000 calories available at any given time stored in our liver and muscles as glycogen, (a backup fuel for this same glucose metabolic pathway in times of fasting, famine or intense brief activity), unless we’ve depleted our glycogen, (as do individuals who are highly active, endurance athletes, or intermittently fast), we are likely not in any immediate need for further fuel, and as a result, store those added unnecessary fuel calories as additional fat.
And while the different forms of sugar (glucose vs fructose vs sucrose for example), and the relative presence of fiber affect the glycemic index and metabolism greatly, and deserve their own separate discussion, the fact remains that these are relative degrees of distinction within the same glucose-glycogen metabolic system. In short, sugar is sugar is sugar in this discussion, and in all their forms, whether simple or complex, provide a ready fuel that prevents our physiologies from kick starting our fat metabolic systems in earnest allowing for weight loss.
While one may feel full longer, minimize blood sugar crashes and lessen the secretion of insulin by way of following a lower glycemic diet and consuming more whole food carbohydrates vs more refined, simpler sugar variations, both forms monopolize the body’s metabolism flooding the body with redundant fuel, and prevent our body from ever using its more efficient, and health supportive, fat metabolic system.
Physiologically speaking, our human bodies’ were designed for feast and famine. And by feast, a high calorie, nutrient dense, high fiber, high fat (paleo) diet is implied. Not the nutrient deficient, low fiber, high sugar agrarian diet that we have become accustomed to following the food pyramid diet common in North America. Our bodies are designed to make use of two metabolic systems – fat for regular daily living, repetitive activities done at relatively slower paces, and glucose – for short bursts of energy requiring the faster energy production possible through glucose combustion. Yet our diet has become so bottom heavy in terms of useable or net carbohydrates, flooding our bodies with more grams of energy then we find ourselves able to make use of in today’s sedentary world. As a result, our fat metabolic systems tend to slow to halt and enter into hibernation. It is a physiological skill that many of us, with the onset of metabolic syndromes and type II diabetes, have forgotten or lost.
To lose weight, it’s not just about reducing calories and fuel intake. It’s about reducing our intake of one type of fuel sufficiently so that we can make use of the other (fat), which we stockpile but never make use of.
For weight loss, we need to improve our metabolism.
But that goes beyond simply lessening the fuel being consumed (total calories). It has to involve reducing one type of fuel sufficiently (sugar: simple & complex), so that we kick start our generators – our fat metabolic systems – back into gear, to burn the other fuel (fat) that we store just for those occasions.
In North America, it is not uncommon for individuals following what they feel to be a healthy, balanced diet, to be consuming > 120g of useable or net carbs per day. And while for some adults, who are able to maintain their weight at such levels of useable or net carb intakes, either because of their uniquely efficient carb metabolism, their degree of activity, or their overall caloric intake or schedule of eating, this is becoming more the exception then the rule. As we get older, lose muscle mass, become more sedentary, etc. it is not uncommon for our metabolisms to slow in general, and for this relatively high amount of sugar fuel to remain unused and end up leading to weight gain over time. To put it in perspective, evolutionarily speaking for a hunter gatherer physiology, our bodies are accustomed to receiving 20-60g usable or net carbs from primarily plant sources, with the occasional tuber (relative to the root vegetables) or fruit added in. Our body is used to our calories coming namely from protein and fat sources.
Of course 120g of useable or net carbs per day is actually quite low in comparison to those of others who are not making any effort to follow a healthy diet and are regularly consuming large quantities of processed foods. Foods such as soft drinks, fruit juices, sports drinks, are loaded with sugar, particularly in the form of High Fructose Corn Syrup. In such diets, it is not uncommon for the useable or net carbs to be 300-400g or more, of which 230g alone, may be from high fructose corn syrup, the remainder coming from any starches consumed.
According to Dr. Mercola:
The single largest source of calories for Americans comes from sugar—specifically high fructose corn syrup. Just take a look at the sugar consumption trends of the past 300 years:1
- In 1700, the average person consumed about 4 pounds of sugar per year.
- In 1800, the average person consumed about 18 pounds of sugar per year.
- In 1900, individual consumption had risen to 90 pounds of sugar per year.
- In 2009, more than 50 percent of all Americans consume one-half pound of sugar PER DAY—translating to a whopping 180 pounds of sugar per year!
While any approach that leads to a marginal reduction in one’s carb intake, as in following a lower glycemic index diet, choosing more wholefoods, eating ‘cleaner’, and getting rid of ‘anything white’, as in white bread, white sugar, etc. can lead to some degree of weight loss over time, it pales in comparison to more calculated efforts. Such approaches while often starting with initial progress in weight loss, often result in plateaus occurring shortly thereafter. The common reason being that while the amount of simple refined sugars may be dramatically reduced, on refining one’s diet and seeking out new novel choices, many individuals replace refined forms of carbohydrates with other natural forms of sugars (as in an increase in fruit servings/day), or greater servings of complex carbohydrates which overall maintain the useable or net carb intake at a relatively high level preventing the body from making use of fat metabolism.
And that brings us to the next point:
2. Count Carbs to Keep Shedding the Weight
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