How do I lose weight? The eternal question!

You can go many ways with this, but here is what I have found worked consistently in-clinic for most people over the past decade or so.

Step 1: Do the Gut Plan.

This is, in effect, a gut and liver MOT which also removes the common allergens. Ignore the fact it is written for IBS, I have yet to find anyone having trouble dropping pounds who doesn’t benefit from this foundational step and I haven’t had time yet to re-write it for weight loss, but it will be the same process; just couched a bit differently.

This will remove the allergens (and consequently the fluid that builds up because of them), reduce any bloating, increase digestive ability and absorption, clear your bowel out, re-populate the gut flora, give your liver a boost and tone your kidneys: all really crucial for sticky pounds.

Don’t be tempted to miss this step out; I promise you it makes a massive difference, not least in changing your dietary habits too. It might actually be all you need; it is for many. If not, move to step 2..

Step 2: Do the Belly Fat Plan.

This takes you a step further now and gives you an insulin-balancing low GL, gluten and dairy free diet that is highish protein and lowish carb. It works. IF you do it and don’t sneak the carbs back in as well as the protein!

This is the diet I found that works for most people simply because most pounds are put on when the insulin control goes up the swanny. It’s basically a Paleo type diet skewed to balance insulin, the fat hormone that is responsible for weight piling on around belly and hips especially.

You can do this for as long as you like.

Need a quicker approach?

If you prefer, you can do some Intermittent Fasting (IF) or go full Keto. Both approaches now have excellent research behind them. That said, you don’t have to make it so difficult. If you want a quick re-set of your metabolism and cellular health, check out the 5 Day Reset Diet. It’s a good combination of IF, keto and low GL and takes very little time to make a BIG difference – if you do it correctly. Check it out. For weight loss, repeat once every 4-6 weeks. 

Bonus Step: Think about what your hormones are up to. If you are struggling to lose the weight, I would recommend you check:

steroid hormones, especially oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone (see women’s and men’s hormone tests, which contain several hormone markers and much more),

adrenals

thyroid – don’t go by standard TSH tests as they can be really misleading for suboptimal thyroid functioning. Start with the free Basal Temperature Test.

insulin, leptin and ghrelin (if poss – hard to get ghrelin tested, but you can test genetically below), plus

genetic tests to see what is going on. Use the Lifecode Metabolics panel or the DNA Diet.

Step 3: Do the 10 Minute Exercises.

This helps you introduce consistent exercise every day and you only need 10 minutes. Even you can fit 10 minutes in, I promise.

Do a 10 minute walk one day, a weights exercise the next, the following day boogie to your favourite music or enjoy a little stretchy yoga. Your choice. Just do it. It makes a huge difference.

Do not get into the mindset that more is more; it isn’t. You need to build muscle and get some cardio but getting breathless and sweaty will hinder your progress. I know: controversial, but true! The most important bit is to build more muscle as that will increase your metabolic rate. I don’t mean women have to get all muscle-bound – simple 2-4kg hand and ankle weights will work fine.

And don’t forget the effect stress has on adrenals and therefore insulin production and fat gain. Build in the meditation exercises in the book, increase your vagus nerve tone and use the resources below..

Step 4: Add some Support & Willpower

Buddy up with a friend if you like and do this together if that works for you. Or join a local group – a walking group, say, not a weight watchers group, which will not fit your diet at all!

Download some hypnotherapy support. I know it sounds odd, but I promise you this really makes a difference. In-clinic, we had Philip doing it as part of the weight loss programme and we really noticed a difference in people’s ability to stick to the programme and feel enjoyment in their diet and lifestyle changes instead of deprivation; got to be a winner!

My fave hypnosis resource to replace Philip currently is this one from Paul McKenna, who I think still does some of the best stuff available. There is no substitute for having 1-1 sessions but doing this or a similar audio session daily for at least a month will help start to change the way you view food. Better still, combine it with 1:1 sessions if you can for a speedier effect.  BWRT is a newer approach and often works to change a mindset in one or two sessions. Have a go: don’t make it harder for yourself than it needs to be..

Bonus tip: chronic inflammation will not help you, so take steps to reduce any inflammation as much as you can. Find and deal with the causes. Turmeric tea or KappArest are fab.

 

And that’s all there is to it! It will work, for the vast majority of you, I promise.

Aim to lose no more than about 1lb a week to make it sustainable and allow your body to adapt metabolically – too fast and you will just pile weight on again when you return to ‘normal’ eating. And, if it’s slower than that, who cares as long as things are moving downwards generally?

Ready to lose that weight? Off you go, then… and good luck!

As I find or think of useful stuff, I will put it here for you.

Reading

First of all, here is a link to the many weight loss posts I have written on the Purehealth blog. They contain tons of tips, research and useful bits & bobs for you.

Check this post out – a combo of intermittent fasting and HIIT exercise seemed to help in this study. 

Recipes

The diets above are wheat and dairy free (Step 1) or gluten and dairy free (Step 2). There are lots of recipes here on the blog and also do check my Pinterest boards here where there are loads of inspiring and tasty recipes for you to follow.

Monitoring

I have this Tanita machine which I used in-clinic. It’s really good.

Exercise

If you fancy something more energetic to follow at home, I still don’t think you can better this old favourite from Elle Macpherson, her of ‘The Body’. I did this for years and you can see how she got that body!

Final tip: still struggling? Have you done all of the above? If not, do that. I find that the most common things that hinder weight loss are food sensitivities and hormone imbalance, especially hypothyroid and meno/andropause. So, check those out if you haven’t. Still struggling after that? Do a genetic test – what weaknesses can we plug?