5 Steps to Maintain a Healthy Weight
Lean in a bit, I want to make sure that we are clear on this: You are the CEO of your health. Not your doctor, not your parents, not your son or daughter who knows everything — Y-O-U.
While it can feel comforting to outsource the endless nuances and complications of health to someone more versed with expertise, the reality is and always will be that no one knows your body better than you. The caveat, of course, is that we are aware, alert, listening, and paying attention to the messages it tries to send us.
In the endless rat-race of Western consumerism and distraction, not only is it difficult to pay attention, but it’s also laborious. I want to propose another perspective, however, by illustrating with an example that we are all far too familiar with.
What we ignore now, we pay for later, and often with a mountain of interest.
There is someone you know, maybe it is you, who forgoes prioritizing health for too long at the expense of worldly success; money, family, a career, etc. and ends up at worst, losing their life too soon, and at best, getting the wake-up call of a lifetime. As those who are lucky enough to survive a major health scare will tell you, there is truly nothing more valuable than your health.
Yet the picture of health could not look more grim for the majority of people in North America and beyond. Chronic diseases consistently outpace predictions of declining health as we collectively barrel towards earlier deaths, lower quality of life, and increased reliance on medications we shouldn’t need, all at a startling pace. At the center of this bleak forecast, we find an undeniable correlation between our declining health and our seemingly ever-expanding body weight.
For decades, we have been fighting this battle of increasing bodyweight that began creeping up since the mid-50s to its full-on explosion today, which threatens the collective health of societies and looms to collapse the very survival of humanity. There are many causes that contribute to our widening waists and record-breaking weight such as the industrialization of our food chain, the propensity of a sedentary lifestyle, our perpetual need to be plugged into technology at all times, and so much more. But if we continue to point the finger at the systems that brought us here, we are giving away our power and our autonomy of choice ever more while continuing to ignore that four fingers still point back to us.
If you believe that the for-profit systems that drive our food, our communications, our transportation systems, and beyond, then there is truly no better time to step up in your own life and take back control of your health, sooner rather than later.
From personal experience working with literally hundreds of clients, these are my five tried-and-true strategies to maintain a healthy weight — for good.
Eat a minimally processed, whole-food diet. This isn’t new advice but it’s often overlooked or pushed aside when it comes to applying it consistently. As a health coach and nutritionist, I often get asked which is the ‘best diet’ to follow. My answer? The one that you follow consistently. You cannot expect to reap the benefits of healthy eating if you are overly restrictive, eat mostly processed foods (fake meat products and the majority of gluten-free options are major culprits disguising as ‘health foods’), or binge on the weekends. The only nutrition advice worth following is to follow a diet that makes you feel vibrant and alive. If you are constantly experiencing lags in energy, indigestion, cravings, or needing to exercise a lot to maintain body weight, guess what? Your diet doesn’t work.
If you have a history of chronic restrictive dieting, you may need to work to re-establish your hormone balance and improve metabolic function, which will require some patience. Overall, the higher quality food you consume, the better gut health and digestion, which equals better absorption and utilization of food, and all leads to better health.
Don’t think you have time or money to eat healthily?
Make it a goal to invest in your nutrition for 30-days by preplanning meals, shopping in season, and meal prepping, and take note of how you feel, how productive you are, and how much food you actually need. The return on investment for healthy eating is tenfold when it comes to health markers such as mental acuity, enhanced mood, sexual health, cognitive capacity, and more. When you are eating enough of the nutrients you need, you end up eating less as well because you are actually satiating your needs. Try it already.
Exercise because you love your body. If the question that I get asked the most is about the best diet, the second most asked question is about exercise. As a professional certified personal trainer, there is a special and essential place in my heart for strength training. As we age, we lose muscle mass and bone density, but we can delay this significantly with regular weight training. A well-structured program also serves to support functional movement, posture, and alignment, which not only prevents injuries but also has compelling cognitive benefits.
In addition to weight training, cardiovascular exercise is a necessary part of maintaining a healthy brain and body as it benefits organ function, blood flow, and cardiorespiratory health. There are many ways to perform cardio exercise, each with its own uses and benefits, so always consult a professional before beginning an exercise routine. Both shorter, more intense bouts of cardio and longer, endurance sessions have their unique benefits where if able-bodied, both are recommended. My professional opinion is to incorporate aerobic (cardio) and anaerobic (strength) alongside a regular flexibility practice such as yoga or stretching for robust physical health. While this might sound like a large prescription, it need not take more than 60 focused minutes per day.
Prioritize sleep. Hopefully, this isn’t new information but in today’s hustle culture, it’s easy to forgo adequate sleep in favor of work, fun, stress, or entertainment. As unsexy as it may be, keeping a regular bedtime and dialed-in sleep routine is the best health move you can make for your body, brain, and lifespan. Although it may be unsuspecting, staying up a few extra hours on the weekend can actually leave us jet-lagged by Monday, which takes 2–3 days to regulate, only to repeat the cycle the next weekend. Thankfully, there are many valuable resources on sleep but the best advice remains, be consistent with your sleep/wake time and give some thought to your evening routine. We all know about the power of morning routines so it should go without saying that a good morning starts the night before. My top recommendations include powering down technology, using red light hues or blue light blocking glasses, allotting at least an hour of downtime without screens, and keeping a cool, dark, and quiet sleep space. Sleep is more than just a necessity for better brain health but it regulates our hormones and a host of other rejuvenating cellular activities via the circadian rhythm that contribute to proper weight management. For all the health advice I give, sleep is, without doubt, the most impactful.
Get outside. As technology looms to take over more and more of our time and attention, almost nothing seems more imperative than unplugging and untethering ourselves from our tech. Getting outside is much more than avoiding EMF (electromagnetic field) and the near-constant ploys for our attention, but the great outdoors has proven to have a host of benefits for the human body.
Centuries ago, nature was our home. As we evolved in unison with the natural features of the planet, the cells of our bodies harmonized to respond positively to the Earth’s environment. The steady separation from our natural habitat has left our insides in disarray. Artificial lights, filtered air, cement buildings, WIFI, etc. all contribute to the surmounting longing to reconnect with what’s real. Fresh air, wild streams, greenery, dirt, and best of all, sunlight all contribute to a balanced internal state. This means our cells communicate better, more clearly, and quickly, which results in a healthier physical (not to mention mental, spiritual, and emotional) state. The simplicity of getting outside is often overlooked, especially in colder territories in the north but its benefits cannot be understated. The ancient wisdom of grounding may sound a little far-fetched but I challenge you to try it once and try to deny the difference in how you feel. It is believed that the majority of the ions inside each cell of the human body are positively charged. The earth, by contrast, carries a negative charge. Technology and all manmade items for that matter are also positively charged. Therefore, an excess of positive ions can only be relieved and rebalanced by interaction with negative charges, such as those in nature. The best conduit? As our bodies are mostly water, oceans, lakes, waterfalls, and easiest of all, actual rain are excellent examples of ways to refresh. Put the umbrella down and leave the phone inside.
Be connected with community. This may not be a common idea that comes to mind in regard to maintaining a healthy weight, but how connected we are to others and to our communities gives a very accurate prediction of lifespan and quality of life. Our relationships serve to mitigate stress, increase joy and happiness, and keep us mentally sharp; all of which can be related to maintaining healthy body weight. The more connected we are with others, the greater our sense of purpose as well as safety and belonging. This contributes to a healthy physique because a lot of the behaviors that drive being overweight such as overeating and a sedentary lifestyle can be attributed to high stress, poor mental health, and lack of meaningful connections. Not only can friends make you happy, but they can also get you up and moving. The best news is that you don’t need many close connections to feel the impact. Quality has significantly more value than quantity when it comes to better health.
The most important thing to remember about our connections of course is that they are healthy bonds; meaning that the circle of people closest to us has a deep impact. The habits and lifestyles of those closest to you matters. Before you fret about cutting off those with less than prime health, consider reprioritizing the meaning of these relationships and begin investing more time and attention into ones that will take you where you want to go.
If all this is new to you, I acknowledge how it may seem overwhelming or even unachievable. I challenge that reality by asking what the cost is of not prioritizing your health now?
If you commit to setting up a plan for sustainable health, the long-term benefits are limitless. What is a dream that you always wished of accomplishing? With better health, you have more energy, more motivation, more life force, more time, and so much more.
It goes without saying that beginning is the hardest step. Do yourself the favor of a lifetime and commit to 30-days. Those 30-days will be the most challenging part of the journey, I promise. Once you get into the habit of health, it becomes just as an essential part of your identity as anything else, but this time, with benefits that get better over time. The longer you commit, the easier and more automatic, not to mention rewarding, it becomes. If you’re still on the fence about it, consider how all five of these points interact with one another where not only can they be combined (exercising outside, with a friend), but doing one makes doing all the others easier. You just need to get started. There is truly no better time to take back your health — the only question that remains is will you step up and claim it?
It’s time to make yourself proud.
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