Top 3 Tips for Healthy Fat Loss
So many women want to lose fat. They want that tight, fit, “toned,” lean body. You know what I say to that? You deserve that if that’s what you so desire. Totally. There’s such a stigma lately that if you want to lose fat and improve “aesthetically” that you’re wrong or you should just be happy the way you are and stop trying to change yourself.
Well I say that’s not true. When you create the foundation of a healthy body a mind, your most confident body, your most nourished body, that you’re actually taking massive steps toward becoming the best version of you inside and out.
Without your best energy, without feeling good in your own skin, without find a sense of self-love so strong, without a treating your body like it’s the only one you will ever have (because um, it is), you cannot be the best version of you. Fueling your body with nourishing foods is like fueling your mind with endless knowledge and inspiration. Fueling your body with healthy exercise and movement is like practicing your skills to be the best doctor/lawyer/teacher you can be.
You see, it’s not really just about the body. You can and you will create that fit, toned, most confident body. But the true drive for that body is a feeling of accomplishment, proving to yourself that you can do anything you set your mind to, deciding you’re going to live a long a healthy life to be there for your family, deciding that you want the energy or focus to be the best doctor or teacher or whatever your heart wants you to be. See? The desire for fat loss from this place of a healthy and stable mindset is good. If you say you “just want the body” I encourage you to dig deeper. What do you really want?
Alright, let’s dive into the top 3 tips for healthy fat loss.
Eat right and exercise
Duh, we all saw this coming right? But it’s in a different capacity than you might be thinking right now.
Having a foundational knowledge of macro and micronutrients is required, but it doesn’t have to be extensive and fancy, and you don’t have to count them. Rather, if you have an addictive personality (like me - you go for the gusto for everything) I’d suggest not counting as it can become obsessive and unhealthy mentally. But I digress. Food is medicine, food is fuel, food is enjoyment, food is social, food is energy, food is a great thing. When you learn how to fuel your body the BEST way you can, so that you kill your workouts, have energy that lasts all day, focus and productivity you’ve never felt, then you lay the foundation for creating your healthiest body.
Secondly, this is where you might feel like you’re doing absolutely everything right, you’re eating really healthy and “clean” but you’re just not seeing the results you desire, or maybe you’re even going backwards.
If we all ate, exercised, and slept in the same way we would all have very different body shapes. So general healthy eating won’t necessarily work. This is where your particular goals are factored in, your lifestyle, your personality, and more need to be factored in.
Did you know that your hormones actually play a major role in your body’s fat storage? Hormones control hunger, fullness, mood, fat storage, stress, and more. So, it’s not surprising that your lifestyle (things that affect stress, mood, etc.) play a major role in your body’s fat loss capabilities.
For example, there is the concept of eating for your “body type.” and by body type I really mean your body, chemical makeup, personality, and lifestyle.
I’ll use myself as an example. I am an “overachiever,” constantly on the go, driven, won’t stop until I get it kind of girl. You know what my body translates that to? Stress. Stress produces cortisol, a stress response hormone, that encourages fat accumulation around the belly as a defense mechanism (unfortunate, I know). So a very important part of my “fat loss plan” is stress reduction, slowness, time to myself, time for fun, stress reduction activities.
This is just a small glimpse into the combination of hormones, personality, lifestyle, nutrition, and exercise as being part of your equation to efficient and healthy fat loss. Understanding your own body is a major key. Are you constantly stressed out? Working out twice a day? Eating everything healthy yet exhausted? Anxious? A people pleaser? This has more to do with your body’s fat storage than you think, even more than food at times. Don’t worry, this isn’t meant to scare you. But rather, I’m giving you the go ahead to leave the dishes in the sink and take that bath, take the sick day you haven’t taken in years, take the girls trip, dig deep and listen to what your body really needs. Alone time? Social time? A tidy house? Listen, and respond.
In my brand new 6 week e-course Thrive: Food, Fitness, & Life we dive deep into this in an easily digestible and actionable way. You get the low-down on macronutrients and micronutrients, you get a template for a “balanced meal creator” so you get the nutrition your body needs. You get experiments to see what types of foods work best with your hormones, personality, and lifestyle in your own body. We look at cravings and dive into the processes in the body that are causing those 3pm snack attacks or needing coffee through an IV all afternoon. We dig into your lifestyle and see what habits or circumstances are keeping you stuck, and what to do about it. We look at it from every single angle so that you are set up to finding the absolute healthiest route to your most confident body, the healthiest and happiest version of you inside and out. You get to live life as the very best version of you.
Detox
You heard me. You do need to detox. Not the food kind though - don’t do that. If you’re looking for a reset (resetting your body back to its factory settings which you actually want when you’re looking to detox...head to my "10 day reset" for a healthy way to do it). Juice detox? Don’t even get me started, sister. I’ll go on for days.
No, the detox you do need is much more spiritual. Stick with me here, you might say I’m full of poop and, sister, I would’ve thought the same thing years ago, but this is the one thing that has ever given me success in fat loss. Seriously, listen up.
Detox the disbelief in yourself. Detox yourself from your own excuses. That voice in your head that insists “I’m just not cut out for this, it’s not in my genes, my DNa is working against me (which, fun fact, is actually rewritten by the food you eat so let’s just throw that one away right now), maybe I’m just meant to live uncomfortable in my own body and this is good as its gonna get.” Cut the crap. Get out of your own way. I say that forcefully but also with an understanding and tender heart. I know exactly how you feel. I struggled hard, fearing food, uncontrollably binging as if there was a whole new person inside of me, struggling and fearing food more than anything else in my life. Maybe you haven’t experienced it that bad, and by golly I hope you haven’t. But I want to show you that I know how it feels to feel helpless, discouraged, mad at yourself, and feeling like you just don’t know where to turn. And sister, this detox step is the biggest step for you.
Detox your mind and begin to nourish it with self-serving beliefs, kindness, and love. Discover what you really want in your life and BELIEVE that you can do that. Because you CAN and you will if you start to finally act like you’re on your own team instead of your own worst enemy.
Nobody is perfect and that unwavering self-love, self-belief, and motivation does not last. I wish it did. But you CAN find all of those in every day. The more you practice turning your thoughts toward those instead of everything holding you back, the easier you will become the most confident, healthy, happy version of you.
Believe me when I say that when you focus on this, that healthy, fit, strong, confident version of you (also read as the body you desire) comes along as a side effect. Don’t believe me? What are you gaining by ignoring these messages? My guess is nothing. So what do you have to lose? What if you just give it a shot and see how this works for you? Sister, I have a feeling you’re in for the ride of your life.
Detox yourself from the idea that your worth is related to what you look like. Moment of honesty? I still struggle with this, especially as someone who puts myself out there for the world to see, and judge. It’s hard as heck. But I do not believe that my worth or value or ability of being loved (and loving myself) is affected to what I look like. I had a time when I whole heartedly believed it I could not have one without the other, more unconsciously than consciously. You know what? I found the body I set out for in the first place. I had what some women call their “dream body” and you know what? I was blinded to it. I could not see it at all because all I was fixated on was the fact that I still had fat on my belly (hardly). It was never good enough. There was always something that needed to be “better.”
I feel more confident and have incredibly more positive body image today than I did then. I am proud of my body today and it would not be possible without letting go of the idea that I am only worthy of love, success, belonging, ANYTHING if I’m “pretty.”
When you detox yourself from this idea you allow yourself to discover YOUR healthiest self from the basis of true and unwavering health and wellness. The obsessions with food go away. The obsession with working out at least an hour every day goes away. The obsession with losing the last layer of fat goes away. Everything starts to get easier. Making healthy food choices becomes just what you do, it doesn’t take effort. Working out in a healthy way that brings you happiness, strength, and stress relief is just what you do. Stress goes down, happiness goes up. The body comes as a nice side effect but this time you’re actually content and happy and confident in your own body. You’re proud. You feel accomplished.
You deserve to love yourself unconditionally. You deserve your most confident body and mind. You deserve to be the happiest version of you. You deserve every darn desire you’ve ever dreamt up. Kapeesh? Perfect.
Zen
If you’re into the yoga kind then yes, hit that up. But that's not really what I’m getting at here.
Is your life zen? What lifestyle habits do you know are bringing you down energetically, mentally, emotionally? People? Circumstances? Events? Have the courage to pinpoint them and decide that you get to change them. You might be saying "well great, I'm screwed, I can't do that." You get to be in charge of your own life. One small choice leads to another. What's one small initial step you can take to be in charge of your days and your life?
Meditation and the yoga type of zen totally helps and could be your vehicle to the life zen Im really talking about. But that doesn’t have to be the only way. Try it on, see what works.
- Meditation
- Affirmations
- Journalling
- Gratitude
- Mindfulness
- Yoga
Find something that brings you back to the place of peace, zen, love, belief in yourself, contentment, the feeling that everything is going to work out and you really CAN do it.
By getting your life into “zen” your stress level goes down, you find more happiness in the small things, time opens up for you to do things you love and that fill your cup. You discover things that were causing you to emotionally eat, stress eat, do things you didn’t really want to do but felt pressured to do anyway, quite literally anything that’s holding you back from being the happy, positive, light, absolute best version of you.
You know what? You caught me. There aren’t just 3 top tips for healthy fat loss. BUT these are the most important things that will lead you to finding your top three fat loss actions.
I am so stinking excited about Thrive: Food, Fitness, & Life because it embodies all of this. We go hard with food and nutrition, we smooth out all the kinks so you have every tool in your toolbox you might need to create that most confident and healthy version of you. But we also approach it from an angle of positive as heck body image, belief in yourself, and inspiration to take charge of your own life and set up your environment for inevitable success. You just might find yourself in the most confident body you’ve ever had, as the healthiest (physically, emotionally, spiritually), happiest, absolute best version of you.
XOXO, Di