Do you need to ELIMINATE Foods for Optimal Fat/ Weight Loss?

I was speaking to someone who joined the MindBody Elite program yesterday and he goes “well I guess my cokes in the fridge have to go”?

He wasn’t the first to make this type of comment so this got me thinking?

The reason many struggle with weight loss/ fat loss/ changing their bodies over long periods of time… is because they associate it 100% with cutting out foods that they love

This is a big issue that trips many up when they could be on their way to success

It is also something that I admittedly was not great at breaking down for people during the beginning of my coaching career, but through many years of experience and growth I have a much better way of putting it and you have the benefit of taking in some valuable info ??

When your food choices and habits gained over the years are making you become ill in an obvious way, then this is a good sign to jump on an Elimination diet

An elimination diet is something used by some dieticians, nutritionists, functional medicine practitioners (like our very own Coach Maya)?

To find out what foods may be causing inflammation, bloating or chronic inflammation?

By finding the foods that are triggering these reactions in the body, we can eliminate them temporarily, allow the body to heal through supplementation if need be and bring them back later down the line hopefully?

As you can see from the above, in nowhere do we say elimination diets are a scientific treatment for weight loss?

Weight loss is the result of being in an energy surplus/ calorie deficit over periods of time.

Many simplify it by saying “you just need to eat less and move more”?

Yh you can say that.. but it would be bullsh*t.

If it was that simple everybody would look like greek statues in a flash, you have to improve your lifestyle on a whole to be able to ‘eat less and move more’ consistently?

Sleep is one example of how something outside of food and movement can effect the two drastically!?

But back to the point…?

Your energy surplus/ calorie deficit is determined by some numbers you will have to learn and identify, then you will have to keep within these numbers?

Kind of like budgeting with your money every month ??

You have a certain amount you can spend, you can’t go over it or there will be trouble?

Same thing with calories?

Whether you buy a Gucci or Louis Vuitton rucksack with half of your wages is completely up to you, right?

Same thing with calories?

If you choose to use all of your calories on a GBK (gourmet burger kitchen) burger first thing in the morning and have no calories left.. then thats up to you?

So what am I saying here? Hopefully you kind of caught the drift?

The different with money and calories is that over the years you have built an addiction to buying Gucci bags with half of your wages at the beginning of the month (just imagine here)

?

It’s not entirely your fault either, the state of the food industry and how it treats consumers is one that needs an article in itself?

But basically you’ve been eating crap for so long, so completely eating ‘healthy’ Monday to Sunday starting tomorrow to lose weight will be like a crack addict going cold turkey.. not easy and probably result in failure

Here’s a few practical ways you can cut down but not completely eliminate foods you love?

• Only have desserts on 1 to 2 days of the week?
• Swap foods around for lower calorie alternatives - diet sodas, low calorie crisps, protein yoghurts
• Have 1 to 2 free meals where you can go above your calories but incorporate it into your weekly total?

I hope these help and guess what, we can even be a lot more relaxed than the options above

Some people literally have an ‘if it fits’ approach and it CAN work?

I once lost about 8-9 kilos in just over a month eating air fried chips (fries) on most nights.. It’s all about the numbers?

If the one thing holding you back from starting your journey is thinking that you won’t be able to enjoy your life long lover foods anymore, then please head to a professional or team of professionals like ourselves who can help you achieve your goal in a sustainable, realistic way.

Elimination diets are for fixing health issues, with fat loss and achieving any type of goal worth achieving… there will always be sacrifice BUT it can and should be a lot more flexible?