1 – Don’t focus just on calories
While calories are an important aspect of a balanced diet, weight loss or weight gain, it’s not all, and maybe not even the most important, especially for your health.
You should be more focused on activating your metabolism, so your body consumes more calories. Pay attention the quality and variety of the food you are consuming, balancing nutrient rich macro-nutrients, not forgetting physical activity.
By eating the right foods, you develop a functional body, with a faster metabolism that consumes more calories for everyday activities, because your systems are being more efficient.
2 – You can’t have a lot of results just dieting, neither just exercising
Metabolism is the activity of all body systems and organs. While physical activity is an activator of the metabolism, it won’t be enough if you don’t nourish your body with right fuels.
Watching your meals and exercising is the only way to lose weight and get better at anything. If your musculoskeletal system was neglected for, let’s say, 10 years, (it happens a lot) it doesn’t function properly and doesn’t spend as much energy on its own. If at the same time you didn’t supply good nutrients (good energy) to your body, all your systems learn to save energy and store as much as possible.
Sustainable weight loss and well-being, staying physically active, is only possible if you eat an abundance of foods. You can’t be afraid of eating – by being healthy you are still going to have a bit of fat in areas you don’t want to, even if your body percentage is good and you look good overall.
3 – Don’t focus just on macros
Watching your macros is important, but you can’t have just one parameter. Each food needs to be analyzed holistically: what does the food offer? Why should I eat this?
There are a lot of processed fat products that don’t offer useful nutrients to your body. There are a lot of ultra-processed carbs that overload your organs. There are a lot of protein rich products that are full of chemical additives and added sugars you don’t need.
It’s the quality of the foods that matter. The only way to benefit completely from a meal is to check the quality of the ingredients it contains, making it rich in micro-nutrients too, like vitamins and minerals!
The right fats, carbs and protein that are good for you don’t normally come isolated – let nature give you perfectly balanced foods through unprocessed vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs, legumes, grains, seeds and nuts.
4 – Not all meals are for pleasure
We transform meals in pleasure events, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But you also have to consider the other reasons why you are eating something. Is it to nurture as well?
Did it serve to make you feel better and healthier? For how long? How do you feel right after? And in the next few hours? In the long term?
The process will repeat itself regularly your whole life, so better find one that brings satisfaction most of the time. And bu the way, how being unhealthy affects your wellness in the long term?
So you have to accept that not all meals will be a party, with a lot of pleasure; some will be just good for you, satisfy your hunger and nutritional needs.
It’s problematic if you eat only for pleasure, not for nutrition. It’s impossible to make good choices like that, especially in the beginning. Not all meals need to have a sugary dessert.
As you learn to make good choices, and how those good choices will positively affect your energy, your mood and health, adding more whole foods will become an enjoyable experience.
