Raul’s 5 Tips to Improve Your Weight Loss

Many of us, including myself, have tried to lose weight but sometimes it feels as if things aren't going our way. Reducing body fat involves much more than just dieting, you’re probably thinking, “Great, more things to worry about”. It’s not as bad as you may think, take a deep breath and lets talk about how you can kick-start your weight loss.

As I mentioned previously, dieting or consuming fewer calories than we burn, is what helps us lose weight. Even when it seems like we have it all figured out and progress is starting to show, results come to an abrupt stop. I have outlined 5 different reasons that you must follow in order to jump-start your journey to a healthier life.

1. Improve Your Gut Health.

The digestive system is a very complicated and complex structure. Many bacteria live in our gut and they are essential in making sure the food we consume gets broken down and nutrients absorbed for the growth of our body. If you want to continue to burn fat, boost your immune defenses and just feel better on a daily basis, your digestive system must be in good health.

We often don’t realize the importance of our digestive system until its too late. Some things you can do to alleviate some stress form your gut is to reduce the amounts of sugars, processed foods, pastured dairy, and making sure that we chew our food completely before swallowing.

2. Add More Fiber to Your Diet.

Fiber goes hand in hand with the health of your digestive system. It also helps with satiety, adding volume to your meals so that you feel fuller which helps consuming fewer calories.

A good rule of thumb is to consume about 30 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories. Some easy ways to add more fiber to your diet is to eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Ex: brown rice, quinoa, and steal-cut oatmeal.

3. Let’s Reduce Stress.

Stress has been named “the silent killer”. It definitely lives up to its name when it comes to weight loss. Stress triggers a physiological response in the body and a hormone called “cortisol” is released.  This hormone will be sure to stop your weight loss journey dead in its tracks. High levels of cortisol trigger the response to increase fat storage, degrade muscle tissue and can lead to cardiovascular disease!

It’s time to reduce our stress! Yes, it’s not as easy as it sounds, but with a conscious effort you can decrease stress by doing the following. Surround yourself with positive people, wake up prepared for your day, meditate, try yoga, and make sure you are getting plenty of sleep each night!

4. You’re Lacking Sleep.

You see, while you sleep, a hormone called “growth hormone” is released and has the opposite effect of cortisol. GH improves the function of your organs, reduces stress, improves immune health, and encourages fat loss.

Another important thing about sleep, it helps regulate the hormones responsible for hunger. This can very well help you control the amount of calories you consume a day. Everyone is different, but it is recommended to get about 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night.

5. Drink More Water.

We always hear about how important it is to drink water, yet so many people still don’t drink enough water!

There are tons of benefits to being hydrated but when we are dehydrated that’s when things start to go bad. Your kidneys are responsible for the filtration of fluids, so when the kidneys are impaired because of lack of fluid intake, it forces your liver to take over. The liver has a main purpose of metabolizing fat, if the liver is doing the work of the kidneys, then your body isn’t efficiently work like it should. Leading you to have health issues and weight gain.

 Stay hydrated! Drink when you are thirsty and always be sure to have water when you are exercising.

I hope that you picked up on a pattern. Everything builds on each other. Could any of these be guilty of holding back your progress? Be sure to take action and start feeling better!