I want to clear up a HUGE misconception. SO MANY people think that they need to eat 1200 calories and do a ton of cardio in order to lose weight.
Eating 1200 calories MAY work—if you weigh 100 pounds. Seriously. The more you weigh, the more you need to eat in order to lose weight. Sounds weird, but it’s true!
So let’s say you weigh 200 pounds. You cut your calories down to 1200 and increase your cardio hoping to see faster weight loss. What will probably happen, is that you won’t see ANY results, and you may even GAIN weight. OR if you lose weight doing this, you’ll probably gain back everything you lost, because eating 1200 calories is NOT a lot and doing a ton of cardio every day isn’t realistic (for the average busy person) to stick with longterm. When you cut your calories too low, you slow down your metabolism, making it harder to lose weight!
So what should you do instead?
EAT! Ok, don’t go crazy, but you really do have to eat in order to lose weight. When I weighed 250 pounds, I was eating OVER 2000 calories every day and I LOST 80 pounds.
The key, is to focus on eating whole foods in their most natural state. So focus on animal proteins, fruits, veggies, healthy fats, complex carbs (think sweet potatoes).
If you’re eating WHOLE foods, it’ll be WAY easier than counting calories and trying to see if the artificially flavored yoplait yogurt can fit in your calorie budget. (eeeek!)
You don’t HAVE to count calories. What I want you to do, is stay in tuned with your body. Eat when you are HUNGRY. Not out of boredom, or for pleasure. Stop eating when you are satisfied. This may mean leaving some food on your plate =)
Eat what your body craves! If you want something sweet, have some fruit instead of a brownie. If you want something salty, slice up some sweet potatoes, coat them with a little olive oil and sea salt and bake them. If you want something fatty, have a little bit of full fat cheese. You don’t have to ignore your cravings, the key is to use WHOLE FOOD to fulfill them.
What should you do if you’re breastfeeding? Same thing! Eat! You may be a little hungrier so you get to eat a little more, but make sure you’re staying hydrated! When you breastfeed you burn about 300-500 calories a day, which really isn’t that much. It’s an apple with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter.
Makes sense?
So if you’re having hunger pains all day because you’re trying to lose weight, stop it! EAT! You’re only slowing down your metabolism and it’s going to backfire and you won’t lose weight. You can check out my sample daily diet to get an idea of the kind of foods I eat =)
In Summary:
1. Eat
2. Eat real food
3. Enjoy life =)
Become mentored by Rachel and achieve a life of financial freedom!
