Whether it’s for an upcoming vacation, special occasion, or advice from our medical doctor, at some point, many individuals who come through CrossFit Des Plaines have had a time that they maybe wanted to work on losing weight. While implementing CrossFit as an exercise program is a positive action step in the right direction, here are a few other simple habits that can help you lose those first 15+ pounds even more effectively.
1. Track your food. Sometimes it’s not necessarily about being perfect with eating, but even just having an awareness of what foods and drinks we take in a daily basis can be eye opening. As you track your food, something to observe is how much of your diet is made up of whole, minimally-processed, nutrient-dense foods? How much of it may be made up of processed or fast foods? Making a few simple changes to your diet such as “eliminating the can of Coke I have daily” can go a long way (that’s an extra 1,050 calories and 273g of sugar per week!
2. Walk around more. Moving around every so often can be a great way to burn off extra calories after a heavy dinner, or even a nice stretch break from sitting at a desk. Most phones now-a-days also have step or distance trackers, so you don’t have to buy a step tracker gadget if you walk around with your phone anyway. Another good method for moving around more can simply be to get up an extra 15-20 minutes early to get an early morning walk in to start the day.
3. Eliminate or minimize stressors. Okay, this sounds like a lot to ask! We all have many responsibilities and regular life stressors which will never just go away, but being able to grasp realistic approaches as to overcoming them can already help in minimizing them, or making them less stressful. Stress not only increases cortisol, a hormone that attacks muscle mass and results in stored fat for energy use, but it can also cause food cravings, and unfortunately, other undesirable habits for our health. This is why CrossFit classes can be a great one-hour destressor, but there are other methods as well, such as practicing deep breathing, meditation, or listening to calming music.
4. Eat enough. MyFitnessPal published a great blog with regards to how chronically under eating can lead to malnourishment and can cause a slow in metabolism, as well as the body’s ability to begin breaking down organs and muscle tissue as a means of simply just running your body’s daily energy systems. If you are trying to lose weight or body fat, and have been chronically under eating, sometimes you may have to eat more to begin with, in order to reverse the effects of your body’s response to being in energy conservation mode (sometimes known as “starvation mode”). Read more on the blog linked to MyFitnessPal above. If you’d like to set up a free consultation with our certified, Precision Nutrition in-house nutrition coach to analyze your current eating habits, click here.
