Best Body Practices

Isn’t it nice when all your hard work pays off and at the same time that hard work is paving the way to be more successful?

One of the best things about our weight loss program is that it grooms you for continued success after you’ve lost your weight and reached your goal.  All the habits and actions you work into your daily routine to be successful are what you need for a continued healthy lifestyle and keeping your weight off.

So here’s how it works: after Step 1 prep time, Step 2 low-cal where you have reached your goal, and Step 3 stabilize, you move into the final Step 4 transition.  During this step of learning how to maintain your weight loss, you have continued coaching about how to eat, how to incorporate new foods, mental and emotional pitfalls, and so much more.

Part of the “so much more” is what we teach our clients about what we call the Best Body Practices.  These are easy-to-follow practices that help your body out (HyBO, lol).  So here they are with explanations:

1. Your blood sugar levels follow the tides.  They are lowest in the morning and late afternoon. Having fruit around these timeframes help normalize blood sugar levels quickly.  In the morning, break your fast with fruit.  This helps the pancreas and because you need it, your bloodstream is not overloaded with sugar, therefore, it is all readily absorbed.  Fruit is the easiest and most digestible food you can have which helps your digestive tract (DT).  The second best time to eat fruit, by itself, in the late afternoon.  Your brain is wide awake from 11 am -2 pm, and during that time, it uses massive amounts of carbohydrates.  So, it makes sense that your blood sugar levels are low in the late afternoon and you need a pick-me-up. Remember, it’s best not to combine fruit with other foods, so if you are looking to have breakfast or dinner after your fruit, wait at least 45 minutes.
2. Your digestive tract follows the sun. As the sun comes up, your DT is waking up.  By 11 am-1 pm, your DT is ready and burning at its highest, just like the sun is at its highest, hottest point during that time frame.  As the sun is going down from 6-8, your DT is slowing down and wanting to slow down and be at rest.  Understanding all this,
   1. It’s best to get the majority of your calories in from 11 am to 7 pm (If you like intermittent fasting, our program lends itself well to that!).  
   2. It’s best to not eat past 7 or 8 pm.
   3. It’s also best to make your lunchtime meal the highest calorie and fat dense meal out of the day.  Having your highest fat meal for lunch will help be satiated during the later afternoon with fewer dips in your energy and less hunger.
3. Be in bed by 10 pm.  Your liver wants to start its nighttime routine, so settling down and being in a nice deep sleep by 11 pm is a really great HyBO practice. 
4. Drink half your body weight in ounces of water daily.  I tell my transition clients that water is the best choice, but if at the end of the day, they haven’t met the threshold, they can count tea and seltzer (but not coffee).
5. Last but not least, get on the scale every day.  I  know there are a lot of wellness professionals that tell people not to do this, but working with our clients as closely as we do, we know this is an essential action that helps keep people on track.  We teach people that the scale is a tool that gives you insight as to how the world has affected your body that day.  It is not telling you about your character, to be ashamed, or feel guilty.  Those are stories we assign to that tool.  Reassign a new meaning of how helpful it is at letting you know how the outside world affects your body.

Well, I hope this helps anyone on a weight loss journey!  

Nan