This piece was originally written for NewBeauty Magazine, as I sit on their Brain Trust, a panel of thinkers, innovators and highly regarded experts who help generate the ideas for everything beauty.
1. What are some tips you have for someone who is trying to lose weight?
Find a diet style that works for you, and is the right fit for your health goals and challenges. For example, Intermittent Fasting might work well for your best friend or your favourite influencer but if you have issues with thyroid health it may not be a good fit. A ketogenic diet might work well for your husband, but tends to be more challenging for females. I encourage my clients to take into consideration their family health history and recent bloodwork before commencing a new diet style.
2. Why is it important to implement this into your life before losing weight?
At best some diets may just not work for you, and at worst they can be damaging to your health. Whilst there are some recommendations that work well for everybody (eat more veggies, drink more water, move more often), different diet styles suit different people, and it’s important to understand the importance of bio individuality when it comes to losing weight. I’ve had far too many clients that have undertaken diet styles that are not suited to their specific needs, which has damaged their health and metabolism in the long term.
3. What are some easy foods you can start implementing into your diet to lose weight?
If my clients are starting from scratch on a healthy eating journey I ask them to do two simple things – ensure they are having two servings of vegetables and one serving of protein at every meal. This is going to give them more energy, increase satiety and help them to feel full, meaning there is less room for the unhealthier foods.
4. What are some ways people can get in the right headspace before a weight loss journey?
It might sound cliched but knowing your why for undertaking a weight loss journey makes an incredible difference. This could be anything from wanting to rock a bikini on the beach, to improving fertility, to preventing a family history of chronic disease. When you have your why to fall back on it makes hard decisions and challenging situations so much easier.
5. Is there any planning someone should do before trying to lose weight?
Absolutely. From a practitioner’s point of view I love to see my client’s lab work so I can design a diet that is 100% personalized to them, so I can guarantee results. I also like to look at a client’s food diary and get an idea of their day-to-day life and work and family commitments, so I can create a program that works for their lifestyle and food preferences.
From a more generalized point of view, it’s important to do some practical planning before starting your weight loss journey, for example, do you have the tools you need in the kitchen to prep and store healthy meals, do you need to donate any ‘non diet’ items to a local food pantry, do you have a meal plan for the upcoming weeks, and have you shopped for it appropriately? Just a little forward planning and preparation can make a huge difference, my clients typically take just an hour or so to plan out their week, but it pays dividends.
6. How does changing your eating habits help weight loss?
Creating healthy eating habits means you are less likely to leave your food decisions to chance, typically the times we go off track in our diets are when we are tired, stressed out and short of time.
For example, if you come home late in the evening after a busy, stressful day and there is nothing quick and healthy to eat you have to make a decision: do I take the time to cook from scratch or order a pizza? Let’s be real, the pizza is going to win every time! However, if you have some great, ready to go options in the fridge that you can put together (I call these ‘throw and go’ meals) such as a rotisserie chicken, bagged leafy greens and some hummus then there is less likelihood of you calling for takeout.