Creating Sustainable Fat Loss
How I Help With This + Understanding this Concern
Current ways I help people with sustainable fat loss:
Overview of this Page
Intro (Understanding this Concern)
6 Ways People Try to Make Short-Term Fat loss Work For the Long-Term, and Why it Doesn’t
The 4 Things We Need For Sustainable Fat Loss
What Else I Help You With in Coaching to Achieve Sustainable Fat Loss
***Just FYI, there is a lot to say about sustainable fat loss…this page is about a 6 minute read :) ***
Understanding this concern:
Most people think it’s very hard to get lean and stay there.
They think it requires a lot of willpower.
When in reality, yes it does take discipline, but it should never feel like an uphill battle. Because if it does, we’ve already started losing the long game.
And this is EXACTLY what most people do, and why they don’t succeed long-term…
They think that short-term fat loss and long-term fat loss are the same…
They think that whatever tactics they use to lose the fat up front, they will be able to use to keep it off. When in reality, this is absolutely not necessarily the case.
Because, to keep fat off, the way we lost it in the first place needs to be MAINTAINABLE.
But, for most people, when they go into the fat loss process, they think about maintenance as an afterthought, and are relying on a high amount of willpower to lose fat in the first place…
And many times they don’t even realize it…
Let’s look at:
6 ways people try to make short-term fat loss work for the long-term, and why it doesn’t:
1. Trying to fit ourselves to an eating plan that isn’t a good fit for our unique biology.
Some examples:
Not eating carbs-if our unique body needs them to satiate us, and stabilize our hunger hormones.
Not getting the minimal amount of fat to satisfy our brain/hunger hormones.
Under-eating in general
2. “Pass or Fail” mindsets with food and exercise.
Meaning we ate a “good” food and we passed. Or we didn’t do our whole workout so we failed.
We use these tactics to try to keep ourselves “in-line,” “on plan,” or “on the wagon.”
Which again, can work great in the short-term! But, the problem is, the rigidity of this mindset doesn’t allow for the ebbs and flows of REAL life…
And when real life sneaks in, it can cause us to go ‘all or nothing.’ Because we don’t have any other tool besides this black and white, all or nothing mindset.
3. Deprivation
Being over restrictive of certain types of food that we love (or labeling certain foods “bad”)…leading to overeating and binging.
Or being over restrictive on certain days of the week…leading to overeating on other days.
4. Trying to be perfect with our eating and workouts (or thinking we need to be to lose fat.)
Again, this can work great in the short-term! But, this will lead to A LOT of ‘All or Nothing,’ on again/off again behaviors in the long-run.
And it’s not even necessary at all-making the process way more painful (and harder to sustain) than it needs to be.
5. Doing workouts that aren’t a good fit for us.
Meaning:
Workouts that we either don’t like, our biology doesn’t respond well to, or cause a ravenous appetite.
A workout schedule that doesn’t fit into our life well
6. Murdering ourselves with workouts
When we lose fat in this way, we now have to keep up with this level of workouts if we want to maintain this new body fat level…which is usually unsustainable over the long-term.
For females, our metabolism is more sensitive to stress (even more so after menopause.) So, while this approach can work upfront, for many females, after a while our metabolism will start to rebel against this. It will then increase our appetite AND promote fat storage-in turn making it VERY easy to regain body fat lost in this way.
This is the thing, we can ABSOLUTELY lose fat in the short-term with these tactics.
But, it never works long-term because they are causing us to rely on willpower.
We are having to rely on willpower because we aren’t working WITH our biology, psychology, and personal preferences etc.
And the problem with relying on willpower is….it’s exhaustible.
Whether it’s exhausted in a week, a couple of months, or a couple of years (depends on how much we’re relying on and our tolerance.)
But, if we are relying on willpower (or just working against our biology), we will eventually lose and gain the fat back.
This is why, short-term fat loss and long-term fat loss are completely different with completely different protocols…
What We Need For Sustainable Fat Loss
For sustainable fat loss, we need to make sure we’re:
-Working WITH our biology and psychology
-Doing things we like
-And doing things in a way that works in OUR life
But, in more detail, for sustainable fat loss, we need these 4 things:
1. A sustainable caloric deficit WITH balanced hormones
2. A balanced relationship with food (and exercise)
3. To learn how to strategically manage cravings (to stay in an overall deficit, but avoid feelings of deprivation.)
4. To learn how to ebb and flow with real life
So, let’s look at what these mean….
1.
A Caloric Deficit WITH Balanced Hormones
What do I mean by this?
Meaning, an appropriate caloric deficit (one that’s not too large) so it’s not throwing off our hunger and satiety hormones, and/or our stress hormones.
It’s being in a caloric deficit (what we need to lose fat), but not being done in a way where it’s going to make our body want to rebound.
2 minute video blog coming soon to learn more about this concept: Understanding the Metabolism: Avoiding the Fat Loss Boomerang.
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All of this calorie talk may have you thinking you need to count calories to sustainably lose fat…
You absolutely do not and I don’t recommend it.
Calorie counting is not an exact science and while the whole ‘calories in vs calories out’ concept is true, it doesn’t mean what everyone thinks it means in application.
I will explain this further in a future blog…
Just know that you can trust the feedback your body is giving you (when you are choosing stabilizing meals and snacks)…and this is where mindful eating comes in 😊…
1. Continued…
What Else Do We Need For A Sustainable Caloric Deficit?
To Learn How to Mindfully Eat
This encompasses 2 things (A and B)…
A.
Creating An Awareness Practice Around Our Eating, and the Sensations In Our Body:
Yes, on a pre-set diet plan, we don’t have to listen to our body at all (just the plan) and we WILL lose fat.
But, since this requires us to rely on willpower (because it’s not working WITH our unique biology) it only works for the short-term.
To lose fat over the long-term, our body needs to be calling the shots…not some preset plan.
So, for fat loss to last, we need to learn how to tune-in to our body and mindfully eat.
Meaning, we need to develop enough awareness to be able to think through what we’re going to eat, know why we’re eating it, and be able listen to the hunger and satiety cues in our body as we’re eating.
This helps us create a caloric deficit in a much more natural way.
But, to be able to do this effectively, we also need to be choosing foods and combinations that truly satiate our hunger and stabilize cravings.
So, mindful eating goes hand in hand with…
B.
Understanding the Physiology of Food:
Understanding how different types of foods (protein, fiber, fat, processed starch, etc) (and their combinations) breakdown in the body-to either help stabilize hunger and cravings, or make it worse.
Eating more stabilizing meals and snacks, makes it much easier to stay in a caloric deficit naturally…because we’re NOT fighting hunger and extra cravings.
*There is so much I could say about this topic…a blog will be coming soon to help you understand further :)
Enough daily movement
Fat loss should always be driven by our eating (if we want to be efficient and easily sustain our results.)
But, we will get to a point (as we get leaner…if we’re not there already) that we will need some movement and/or structured exercise to help us get into a daily deficit.
*It’s not necessary, but it’s ideal to include strength training because of how it affects the metabolism and hormones.
Learn about the benefits of strength training here!
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Stress levels
Quality and amount of sleep
2.
A Balanced Relationship with Food (and Exercise
A Balanced Relationship with Food
Like I said above, sustainable fat loss is driven by our eating habits.
If we struggle with overeating certain types of foods, or overeating in general, this is something we absolutely need to work on if we want sustainable fat loss.
*And I’m talking from experience btw 😊 I used to be a binge eater. I deeply struggled with these types of eating patterns for a long time myself…so no shame here whatsoever.
But, to lose fat sustainably, we need to learn how to create a balanced relationship with food (one where we are truly in control…not our emotions or thought patterns.)
If you struggle with patterns of overeating, and want to learn more about what may be driving your behaviors, read the ‘Creating Balance with Food and Minimizing Overeating’ page here.
A Balanced Relationship with Exercise
This just means 2 things:
1. We need to be exercising in a way that is sustainable.
If we are doing types of exercise that we don’t truly like, we won’t be able to sustain them decade after decade.
2. We don’t want to be over-exercising.
Meaning, exercising so much, or so intensely that we are making ourselves ravenous (potentially eating more than we are burning), or working against our physiology (that will lead to rebounds.)
3.
To Learn How to Strategically Manage Cravings
(To stay in an overall deficit, but avoid feelings of deprivation.)
Understand, we WILL get cravings-no matter how balanced we eat.
Eating balancing meals will help to minimize our cravings, but we will still get them…this is normal.
But, to have our ONLY strategy be, “Just don’t eat it,” isn’t very effective in the real world over the long run…because we end up battling deprivation.
And if we’re in deprivation, we will eventually give in/give up at some point.
So, we need to have actual strategies for managing cravings.
Understand, sustainable fat loss is like an art…not just a science or a set plan.
It’s the art of learning how and when to deal with cravings.
It’s not (and can’t be) an all out deprivation fest ;)
4.
To Learn How to Ebb and Flow with Real Life
Yes, we want to have an overall plan (food and exercise wise.)
But, we can’t be so fixed on this plan that we can’t ebb and flow with REAL life.
Because real life WILL bring us situations (regularly) that will us require to adjust our plan, or sometimes make the best of a “bad” situation…this is normal.
But, when we don’t know how to do this, we end up going ‘All or Nothing’…
And falling off the imaginary wagon for a while :)
Understand, when we get so fixated on needing to do our plan “perfectly,” this doesn’t allow for the normal ups and downs of real life.
Sustainable fat loss (aka true behavior change) requires us to master navigating the imperfections and ups and downs of REAL life…
Learning how to get out of ‘All or Nothing’ and live in the middle :)
*If you would like to learn more about this topic, and sustainable habit change in general, feel free to read the ‘Being Able to Sustain Healthy Habits’ page here.
All 4 of these things are what I help you do through coaching to achieve sustainable fat loss.
Along with:
How to think about the fat loss process (and maintenance) overall, and how to navigate it in real life.
If applicable, perimenopausal/menopausal specific fat loss strategies.
*Blog to learn more coming soon!
If you’re a woman, AND it’s applicable to you, helping you heal the relationship you have with your body-to have a more balanced relationship with food and exercise.
To learn if this is applicable to you, you can read the ‘Women’s Body Peace’ page here.
If you would like to learn more about the coaching process:
Visit the coaching page here:
If you are ready to set up your free consult,
Click the green button below.
“Before Ashley I was always worried about staying ahead of the scale and having my clothes fit tightly.
Ashley has given me the tools to create the lean figure that I desire without the added stress...and maintain it easily!”
-Lynne
“Have you ever stood in the grocery store, incredibly distraught, thinking, "Self magazine says to eat this, but Shape magazine says to eat that. What do I need to eat to lose weight??!!"
This is what I will call "fog" weight loss - not knowing what to do even though you're provided with endless information.
Ashley clears that fog. Ashley helps you find out how to figure out the best way to lose fat for you.
Instead of telling you what to eat, Ashley tells you how to determine what your body needs to be satisfied and ultimately how to lose fat…and be able to keep it off over the long-term.
-Meg B.
"When I met Ashley I had just finished P90x so I was in good shape, but still not satisfied where my weight was. I was constantly thinking about fitting in more exercise and eating less. This left me constantly obsessing on numbers making me miserable.
I called on Ashley to help me with my nutrition because that is was I thought I needed help with and after all I knew it all right? Signing up with her has turned out to be the best decision I have ever made.
Over the course of a few months Ashley helped me to accept that being healthy and fit was not a goal but a journey that you have to take. She taught me to be patient with myself and accept my failures, learn from them and move on. No guilt necessary as I was typically really hard on myself if I gained an ounce, or missed a workout etc.
Since I have started her program, I spend less time working out and I no longer count calories constantly. I no longer agonize over my food choices either. Her approach to food makes eating easy. I lost 5 pounds of fat and Ashley's program took my body and sculpted it into a shape I always wanted.
I cannot say enough about how Ashley's program has changed my mindset on exercise and food. The results show. I have had so many compliments and questions about what I have been doing and I do not hesitate to tell them about working with Ashley.
If you want to change your life, if you want to be more fit, if you want to be happier and more loving of yourself, call Ashley. She is amazing and will change your life."
-Dee M.
To read all testimonials, visit the testimonials page here