Best weight loss weight program for women:
It’s the beginning of the new year, we all enter it with new objectives, and one of the most recurrent objectives is Weight loss.
The struggle with weight is real worldwide, and it is not easy to deal with it, especially with the amount of junk food we consume, dehydration, and the non equilibrated diets.
Why is losing weight difficult? And what is the best weight loss program for women?
These are the questions that are asked the most whether on a face to face sitting or online, and today I will give you answers based on my knowledge and experience as a Personal trainer who works mostly with people seeking to lose weight.
Why is weight loss difficult?
Everybody nowadays is talking about calorie deficit, and everybody knows that if you eat less you will lose more. But how easy is it to change your eating habits and patterns?
1/ Behavioral change:
In fact, behavioral change happens due to a lot of factors, some internal and external. An example is a person who sees themselves in the mirror and is unsatisfied with the way they look, or they feel embarrassed when they are trying to wear something, and this is internal motivation, your motivation is coming from you. On the other hand external motivation is when someone else is punishing you or promising a treat, more of the stick and the carrot concept, just like when your friend promises you to buy you a fancy dress when you lose X Kg, or when your partner threatens to leave if you don’t lose weight.
Now that the motivation is there, how strong is it? and How hard are you willing to start the calorie deficit in order for you to lose weight?
You should keep in mind that you can be motivated but not enough to start, like you need to lose the extra kg but you are just not ready, you are procrastinating, or basically in denial of the situation as a whole.
2/ incorrect calories count:
Here is another reason people fail to see results, why?
Calories are a dangerous and tricky game, oil for example, depending on the brand and the nutritional value can go up to 135 Cal per tablespoon, while literally it has no nutritional value but fats, while 100g of potato has 77cal.
Of course I am not saying stop using oil in your food, but there are a lot of people who just pour the oil in the pan and don’t even count it because it’s ‘a bit of oil’.
Another example is people being in a calorie deficit the entire day and by night they allow themselves a ‘snack’ that can be over the 500 Cal and this way you will not see results or you will see so little results that would drive you unsatisfied.
3/ Choosing a difficult diet:
So now, you are a person leading a random eating pattern, living on junk food and counting on carbs and fat as a main source of nutrition and you have a sweet tooth where you have 7 chocolate bars on a daily basis, which leads you to consuming over the 2000 Cal daily, then you wake up one day going for 1300 Cal per day and eating greens and healthy food only.
Here is what is going to happen:
The first day you will feel dizzy and tired.
The second day you will feel exhausted and overwhelmed.
The third day you will hate the healthy food.
The fourth day you will go back to eating even more.
If I count people I have seen doing this, especially in the first month of every year, I won’t finish counting any time soon, and no shaming I used to this as well.
But the black or white concept doesn’t always pay off, allow yourself to be grey in some stations of life, and you can’t change all your bad habits at once, take your time.
As a person leading a healthy lifestyle I don’t even believe in diets. I suggest them in some cases, depending on the goal of the person but that when the client is already in the healthy life pattern, and in extreme cases such when the fat loss has stopped, an athlete who needs to reach a specific weight by a specific time, or health conditions. A healthy lifestyle doesn’t mean deprivation.
4/ Confusing weight loss and fat loss:
These two terms can be confusing I know, especially for people who are just starting a healthy lifestyle, but weight loss is about losing weight from the entire body, whilst fat loss is losing fat from the body while keeping the lean body mass.
Mainly people are looking to lose fat from the body when they talk about losing weight, but they adopt a weight loss program.
What happens in here is losing muscle mainly, and dehydration in some extreme cases, which has some negative outcome on the overall health.
To lose fat while keeping muscle, you will have to higher your protein intake while lowering the carbs and fat, instead of lowering the overall calories intake without taking into consideration the macronutrients which leads to overall weight loss and affects the muscles as well.
The best weight loss program for women:
You might hate me for this, but let me be honest, the best weight loss program doesn’t exist, not for men nor for women!
But before you come for me, let me say this a good program works only when it fits you. Even then, it doesn’t stay the best for long, because you’ll always need to adjust and improve it.
But there are things you can do and include in your journey and will help a lot. These are general tips, I have learned working with a lot of people and I applied myself and helped a lot. Let’s check them all together.
Drink a lot of water:
Yeah, as easy as it sounds, water is your best friend, during your fat loss journey you need water to help you break the fat molecules and help transport them outside of the body through urine, sweat, tears, and even poo and breathing.
Change bad with good:
In your weight loss journey, don’t jump straight to complicated levels and strict diets, start by changing your bad habits to good ones, instead of sugary snacks try going for healthy alternatives, and instead of junk food try home made food with the macronutrients portion you need.
Go for more protein:
Protein will help you keep your muscles intact and won’t be affected by weight loss, also it will help you reduce the cravings when managed correctly.
Eat more fiber:
Fibers are macronutrients from the carbs family but they are not absorbed by the body, so they make you full longer, which lowers the feeling of hunger and consequently makes you eat less.
Take your health into consideration:
Allergies, health conditions, medications, and chronic diseases are factors that genuinely affect your weight and weight loss progress. If not taken into consideration you won’t see progress, but if well managed you will improve your overall health while losing weight effectively.
Forget the scale:
As a woman, you go through a lot of changes during the same month, and these changes affect the weight you see on the scale. Set a time, preferably when you wake up to check your weight, but keep in mind that the weight you see includes the water you drank, the food you consumed and still didn’t get absorbed and the phase you are in in your monthly cycle.
Set your goals wisely:
If you promise yourself to lose 5kg in one month, you will get disappointed and lose your motivation, or even worse achieve it but cause irreversible damage to your body. As I always say, choose your battles wisely, and set realistic goals to help you achieve the best results without compromising your health in the process.
Enjoy your journey:
Keep in mind that losing weight is not a race, it’s a journey you have got to enjoy and learn through, and be proud of your achievements no matter how little they are, it will help keep you motivated and focused on your end goal.
Conclusion:
There isn’t a best weight loss program for women, the most a program is specific to you the better, and that why it is preferable you refer to a health professional whether a nutritionist to walk you through the best diet for your weight loss goal, or a personal trainer who will be able to monitor and correct your eating pattern along with your fitness goals.
The weight loss journey is a fun process we go through at least once in life, try to enjoy it to the max and be proud you are doing good and you are alive and lucky.