Top 3 Nutrition Mistakes People Make When Trying to Lose Weight

One of the biggest struggles most of my clients have with hitting their goals to either lose weight or “lean out” was they couldn’t satisfy their appetite and they were eating foods that were actually causing more problems for them that they thought were “healthy”. I get it though because a lot of the problems start from there being way too much information on the internet that you never know what is right and what is wrong. Let me just help with that right now by telling you that nutrition and food is really simple.

You need Lean Protein, Healthy Fats, and Complex Carbohydrates. It's really that simple. If you keep this in mind at every meal it is very easy to put together a whole healthy meal by just selecting one from each food group. 

A key though is complex carbohydrates isn't just brown rice, sweet potato and oatmeal...it also includes fruits and vegetables because your body processes these as carbohydrates.

Here are some of the most common nuggets of knowledge around your nutrition and weight loss that most people don’t know about that may make a difference with not just helping you hit your goals, but also with your overall health such as balancing hormones, appetite, immune system and blood sugar:

1. Eat 20-30g Protein every 4-5 hours for fat loss and to sustain your appetite. Most people don’t realize that protein is what makes up lean muscle tissue (and I’m not talking about looking like Arnold...just in general it helps you maintain and build lean muscle). On average, you should aim to get anywhere from 1g-1.5g of protein per pound of body weight depending on your goals. That means if your goal is to weigh 130lbs (you base this off of your goal/ideal weight) then you would need to eat around 130g protein per day. Well if you break that up into 3 meals that would be 43g protein per meal! Which is hard to do so typically I suggest breaking it up into 4-5 which is somewhere between 26-28g protein per meal. Well unless you plan to drink 2-3 protein shakes a day, even that can be challenging. The second piece of this puzzle and what there is a lot of confusion around is the kind of protein. Whey Protein is what hits your muscles quickly and fuels them immediately (within 20-30 minutes). Casein Protein is a slow absorption protein that takes longer for your body to metabolize and digest so it sustains your muscles over time. 
2. “Healthy Processed Carbs” still turn into sugar in your body. Let me first say that there is no such thing as “bad” food. There are just foods that do different things to your body and it depends on what your goals are. Most the time when people tell me they only eat “healthy” carbs they usually are talking about only eating whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat flours, etc because of all the marketing around “whole wheat”. Here’s the thing, whether it’s white or whole wheat your body will still take processed carbohydrates and break it down into what is called glucose (this is sugar in the body) and cause you insulin levels to spike. This is why when you eat even the healthy carbs, a few hours later your body might feel a little bit of a carb crash because your body breaks those carbs down into sugar so you feel that instant energy then later feel like you want to take a nap. The way to avoid this is to stick with carbohydrates that comes from fiber packed foods and are minimally processed such as: coconut flour, almond flour, starchy veggies (sweet potato, zucchini, broccoli, etc.), organic berries and fruit…

Your blood sugar/insulin levels are important (whether you are diabetic or not) because this is actually part of your body’s way of regulating your internal hormonal balance. When people consume too much sugar, it can throw off their body’s ability to regular insulin which can throw off it’s ability to balance out the hormones in the body that are processed through your gut, liver, kidney’s and adrenal glands. The reason why Low Carb/Keto diets became so huge is because people started seeing their hormones balance out and because when you stop feeding your body processed carbs, your body will actually use stored fat to produce energy instead of converting carbohydrates into sugar to give you energy and then later a crash.

                     3. Not eating Organic Foods. This is another one that goes in line with balancing out your hormones with the foods you eat. Naturally, your body regulates your lean muscle with the testosterone in the body. Ladies, this doesn’t mean you look like a guy, this is the natural hormone that helps you boost fat loss. And guys, if you are trying to boost your testosterone, start paying attention to the foods you eat. For years, I never understood what the big deal was around eating organic foods until I switched things up for myself and educated myself even more on what the fuss was all about. The main reason you want to switch to Organic/Non-GMO foods is not just with your dairy and meat of making sure that there are no synthetic hormones is because of the pesticides that are used also in your fruits and veggies. With organic food, there are laws in place to regular that companies using the “organic/non-gmo” label are not allowed to use any kind of pesticides on their produce because they have found out how much it disrupts your hormones and endocrine systems. Even if you rinse your veggies and produce, the foods coming from non-organic farms still absorb all of those chemicals and pesticides in the soil they are grown in and then are inside the so called “healthy” food you are eating...you can’t just wash it off. The biggest complaint I hear about this is that organic and non-gmo foods are expensive. Well, yes they are, but when you understand why they cost more because the ingredients and the quality that has to go into producing it AND you start to see how much better your body feels...you’ll actually start to ask yourself why the commercially produced foods are so cheap!? Because the ingredients are made in a lab with less expensive things going into them. 

The best thing you can do for your health, nutrition and weight loss goals is research, but then also try it out for yourself and see if you notice a difference...which I bet you will!

Most of the weight loss and nutrition struggles people experience….shoot even a lot of health problems like allergies, hormonal imbalances, mood swings, etc can be solves through natural remedies with all of it starting with the foods you eat on a daily basis and getting regular exercise.

Feel like you don't have enough energy? It's not caffeine and a bunch of supplements you need...it's probably because your body isn't getting proper fuel from your food and has gotten used to a sedentary lifestyle.

Feel like you aren't building lean muscle or toning up? Well, your muscles are made up of protein, water, and carbs, but also are built from consistently performing strength training workouts 3-5x a week like the ones in my monthly workout program.

Having a hard time sleeping? Well this can come from nutrient deficiencies like magnesium that helps the body/muscles to relax, but can also come from poor stress management that can be resolved with mindset practices, yoga, and breath work like what I teach in my 8 week bootcamp.

Typically when the body is out of balance there are natural ways to resolve it that all start with the right nutrition, regular exercise, and proper stress management.

Your health is an investment to take care of your body now so that later on in life you aren’t having to invest in trying to “fix” your health and I hope that even these 3 pieces of education about your body will help you make healthier choices to that you can see overall improvement, feel better, look better, and have more energy to live the life you want!

Ashley Drummonds

P.s. If you need more help with your weight loss and nutrition goals, fill out this form and we can see if my 1-1 coaching program is right for you.