When Those Things That Used to Work In Your 20's No Longer Work...
Have you noticed that what used to work in your 20s no longer seems to cut it??
I personally never found weight loss easy - even back then, mainly because even when I lost weight I couldn’t manage to keep it off very long
But once I hit about 37 weight loss felt like a whole new kinda hard...
All those things that used to work before no longer did...
The combination of getting older, hormone changes and a long history of yo-yo dieting can do a number on the metabolism.
But that doesn’t mean there is no hope!
We just need to take a different approach.
And in my opinion it's actually a better approach - one I wish I knew about 25 years ago.
That whole calories in calories out thing just makes weight loss harder than it needs to be. First we always seem to take it to the extreme - cutting calories way too much, trying to exercise off any extra. Fighting hunger. Feeling deprived. Trying to willpower-it through cravings.
Is it any wonder that's so hard to stick to??
Instead when you take a hormone balancing approach - where you’re working with your body rather than trying to fight against it...it's a whole new ballgame!
Once I learned about insulin - our fat storage hormone - and how it plays into weight loss (or gain) everything made so much more sense.
As we get older I think that hormonal piece becomes that much more important. When our metabolisms are a little more resilient we can get away with so much more, but all that catches up with you eventually.
So how do you balance your insulin?
The easiest way is by controlling your carbs. Carbs are the macro that has the biggest impact on your blood sugar.
When you eat carbs (whether it's in the form of donuts, apples, or pasta) they get digested down into sugar (glucose) and that sugar gets released into your bloodstream and your blood sugar rises. When that happens insulin is released its job is to shuttle the glucose to the cells that need it and to bring your blood sugar back down to normal.
This is a good thing. A healthy thing that's what insulin is meant to do..
But it's also important to note that insulin is a storage hormone. When it's elevated your body is in storage mode. So if your blood sugar is elevated too much too often - your insulin will be as well. This means you will be in storage mode more often too - which means you will be more likely to be storing more fat.
If you’re following a standard American type diet - you can quite easily be consuming upwards of 300 grams of carbs per day. So getting that down even to 100g can make a significant difference. Check out the Carb Curve below.
The bonus though is that getting off that blood sugar roller coaster, not only helps with weight loss, but it can also help reduce hunger and cravings naturally. That makes weight loss a lot easier. You will also notice you have better energy and moods too as that's all tied to your metabolism as well.
If you want more tips for getting your blood sugar in check you can check out my Free Fat Burning Basics Guide here.