A weight loss journey starts in the mind and the results are revealed through the body.

“As you think, so shall you become.” – Bruce Lee

In this article I’ll be covering 8 tips for weight loss. These are high level principles to use as a strategy for weight loss and transformation.

The article is broken down into 4 main categories: Mindset, Fitness, Nutrition and Health. Each category has weight loss tips under it that will add up to the whole process of how to transform the body and mind.

 

Mindset Tips For Weight Loss

1. Visualize What You Want

Think about what you’re trying to achieve and visualize it. When you’re thinking of it, be very detailed.

This primes your brain to make it your reality. That way you work harder to achieve that goal and the work behind it comes easier because you’re more motivated.

Even if you’re only slightly more motivated from this, that may just be the difference needed to get in one extra workout a week or skip that dessert or hold off on those beers. That’s what matters in the long run, the slight edge.

 

A good example is the iceberg reference, you may have heard of it. The idea is that an iceberg is an example of our minds. Meaning, 70% of the iceberg is hidden under water and only 30% of it can be seen.

This is similar to our conscious and subconscious mind. Psychologist have said that only 30% of our active thinking is controllable by us and 70% of our behavior, day to day emotions and more are driven by our subconscious. Some are saying now those percentages may even be more like 5% conscious to 95% subconscious.

Whatever the exact numbers are, the point is that we’re not fully in control of our actions and behavior on a day to day basis as much as we’d like to think we are.

But we are in control of where we’re going even if we’re not there today.

Mark Manson is an author and has written different books such as Everything Is F*cked and The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*uck. They’re fantastic books on transformation, he gives an example of the conscious to subconscious struggle.

Manson says to imagine you’re going on a road trip with your subconscious; in this case you are your conscious self. Instead of you driving, it’s your subconscious that’s actually driving. However, you are the one with the map able to create your future self.

 

So why does this matter to you and how does this relate to weight loss?

When you imagine your ideal body, how you’d look in the mirror (visually seeing it), what it would feel like, how lean and strong you’d feel and how accomplished you would be to yourself you then start to behave in a way that to achieve that goal.

Practical Application of Visualizing:

  • Before bed every night taking 2 minutes to sit quietly
  • Think, visualize, imagine and feel what it would be like to have the body of your dreams
  • Say out loud or quietly to yourself, “I create the body I desire” or something along those lines

If you haven’t done this before, it may feel a bit odd. Your significant other may eerily stare at you. But doing this every night will create a picture in your mind that will constantly attract you to attaining this. Not for vanity’s sake, but instead for you, developing yourself, transforming yourself and inching your way one step at a time towards your goals and dreams.

Fitness Tips For Weight Loss

2. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

You may have heard of HIIT and with good reason, it burns fat and helps with weight loss.

This is a conditioning and weight loss strategy that can be done in short workouts of 20 to 30 minutes. The goal is to exercise with intensity for a short amount of time then rest, and repeat. You can find a Fat Burning Home Workout I created here.

You can do these multiple times a week without over stressing your body.

The intensity of the exercise helps deplete your muscle glycogen. Glycogen is glucose (carbohydrates) stored in muscle cells and liver. If these glycogen stores are full in your muscle and liver then the excess glucose has to be stored somewhere, which is why fat is then added to the body.

By depleting the glycogen stores, that gives room to store more food and allows stored fat to be converted back to usable fuel by the body.

Compare that to Low Intensity Steady State (LISS) cardio and we see how it works better for people because it requires less time and typically gets the heart rate higher which will create an “after burn” effect that raises the metabolism hours after doing HIIT.

There are advantages and disadvantages to HIIT and LISS. HIIT is good if you’re low on time, want to get the heart rate high and to create the “after burn” effect. LISS is good for a slow burn of calories without the increased metabolism; sometimes increasing the metabolism can increase appetite.

Finding a balance between these 2 is key, I discuss more about this in the next tip.

 

3. Movement Throughout The Day

Getting in movement throughout the day and/or walking is a great way to burn extra calories to help with weight loss.

HIIT is great to use several times a week depending on what your fitness goals are. However, it’s draining on the body because of the intensity of it and would be difficult to do every day.

Getting movement throughout the day and/or walks are good because they won’t put the level of stress on the body that HIIT or strength training will.

 

The process of your body burning calories is called Energy Expenditure. Total Energy Expenditure is the total output of calories your body burns in a day. It takes into account your body running basic functions to keep you alive, any exercise you do and also any Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT).

NEAT is what’s accounted for when the body is burning calories during the day through fidgeting, leg bouncing, walking, taking stairs and more similar activities.

In individuals that are more active throughout the day, studies show they can burn significantly more calories.

When I was on my most recent 12 week cut I made sure to walk 10,000+ steps 3 times a week. I would do this on my rest days between strength training. Strength training would shock my body and bringing the stress needed to help grow my muscles. Walking worked well for me at the time because it’s low intensity and didn’t give me huge hunger cravings afterwards like strength training or HIIT would.

 

Nutrition Tips For Weight Loss

4. Whole Food Not Processed

Choose to eat real, whole, foods like carrots, kale, sweet potato and other real foods grown out of the Earth; or protein from animals.

Real food is best because they have micronutrients that most processed foods don’t. If you think, “I know micronutrients are good for me but they’re don’t matter to weight loss anyways” then think again.

There is a study that took obese college students who had low calcium levels and put them in 2 test groups. The first group was on a calorie restriction plus calcium and Vitamin D supplementation. The second group was only on a calorie restriction. (1)

They found that the students who took the Vitamin D and calcium supplements lost more fat mass than the other group.

There are some things to note in this study however. The students they took were ALREADY low in calcium levels to start with. So, anyone interested in trying these should talk to their doctor first before supplementing with these two because there are upper limit levels.

That’s just one example that shows micronutrients importance in fat loss.

 

Sodium In Processed Foods

Another reason why whole foods are better than processed foods is because processed foods are typically higher in sodium then whole foods.

Sodium is good for regulating the body’s fluids, even at the cellular level. It works with Potassium and Chloride (NOT Chlorine, what’s in pools) to maintain body water distribution and blood pressure.

However, diets and processed foods now contain more sodium then ever, not just through added salt on food. The recommended amount of sodium in a day is 1,500 mg but diets today can easily be around 3,400 mg per day! Over 2 times the amount of sodium recommended. Processed foods play a big part in this.

Too much sodium isn’t good for the body because it can raise blood pressure, throw off water distribution, causes fluid level fluctuations and creates an imbalance between sodium/potassium/chloride.

All of those together may slow the weight loss process, making it more difficult and harder to maintain motivation.

 

Hydration

Lastly, whole foods are better than processed foods because real food has water in it that helps keep the body hydrated.

In the book Quench, the authors, Dana Cohen and Gina Bria, write about hydration, it’s importance and how to get more hydrated. The main point that stuck out to me was that whole food can be hydrating and provides a significant amount of water through the gel-like substance in water-rich foods.

Dr. Gerald Pollack first identified this new (new to us) state of water known as gel or structured water. He pierced the wall of a heart muscle cell and noticed the water didn’t come spilling out. He asked around, did research and after coming back with nothing he set out to learn what this was.

The gel in water-rich foods can help hydrate the body in addition to water being drank. Keeping the body hydrated helps in weight loss.

 

I try to eat as much whole food as possible but sometimes it’s more convenient to have processed foods; I understand. I try to get mainly whole foods such as oatmeal, sweet potatoes, kale, cucumber, broccoli, carrots and chicken in my diet.

However, I do still eat processed foods and understand that eating a 100% whole food diet is challenging. It’s about finding that balance of convenience and health.

 

5. Make It Food You Can Stick With

Losing weight and wrangling in your fitness is a continuous journey. Depending on where people are at on the health and fitness spectrum will determine how long it may take for someone to down to their desired weight.

That’s why sticking with foods that are enjoyable and healthy is going to be a winning strategy for weight loss. By the word healthy I mean, whole foods, or at least minimally processed foods, a variety of food, good balance of macronutrients and not too harmful on the gut (this will be covered in later weight loss tips here).

When I did my most recent 12 week weight loss cut I had my macros way off, which caused me to be hungry most of the time. Now I know a better balance of macros but when I did that first cut I had 1 serving of dark chocolate almost daily. Even though I had dark chocolate I still managed to lost 15 pounds in 3 months; that’s because I ate in a calorie deficit, balanced strength training, HIIT and low intense activity.

Most of the other food I ate was lean chicken, potatoes, rice, veggies, eggs, gluten free bread, bananas and more with some processed food thrown in there.

 

6. Dairy

Lactose is a problem for people worldwide, typically after the ages of 4 to 6. The adult human gut has difficulty digesting and absorbing lactose therefore leading to bloating, diarrhea and other similar issues. (2, 3)

If bloating and other intestinal issues come up that can irritate the gut, that may send false signals of hunger to the brain causing overeating.

I love cheese, with a side of crackers, grapes, honey, meats and red wine! What a meal. But I know afterwards I’m going to be paying the price for eating all that cheese. It’s about finding a balance because we can have some dairy as long as we don’t go overboard.

Health Tips For Weight Loss

7. Get The Gut Right

The gut is loaded with trillions of gut bacteria that help digest and break down food to get nourishment the body needs.

The gut is the first place food goes and is the first line of defense protecting us from the outside world.

As food goes through the digestive system it gets processed by the gut flora, microbiome, which effects dozens of functions about how the body works.

Here’s a few examples of what the gut effects:

As you can see, the gut has control over multiple functions in the body; that’s not even the full list.

I personally know the importance of having a good gut because I’ve been on the other end of the spectrum. Growing up I was always healthy but in my early 20’s I developed horrible gut problems, bloating, food sensitivities, gained 20 pounds, IBS, leaky gut and more.

It came on during a time of immense stress, me not taking care of my health and eating junk food with heavy drinking. I was in constant agony, my focus was whack, I had crazy anxiety I’ve never experienced before, I couldn’t sleep, it felt like there was a knife in my side constantly and it dampened my immune system which led to much worse disease to come.

I’ve since been lucky enough to survive through everything, worked with amazing holistic doctors (unfortunately no conventional doctor could help me heal my gut) and completely changed my lifestyle, diet and drinking habits.

One of the most relevant parts of that journey in regards to this article was the weight fluctuations that came from it. When my gut was at its worst I gained a significant amount of weight and couldn’t get it off.

It wasn’t until I really started to heal my gut did I then begin to lose the weight. Not only because of the direct effect the gut has on weight but also on sugar cravings, limited food choices (because most food would agitate me) and mood swings that held me back from working out.

If you think your gut is out of whack, you should consult with your doctor and if they can’t help you find someone who can. It’s vital for so much.

 

8. Water

It doesn’t need to be said how important water is for the body but I will highlight some key functions so you can understand the details. I know I wasn’t as familiar with these at first.

Then we’ll look at why water and hydration is necessary for weight loss.

Functions of water:

  • The highway that moves nutrients and waste between cells and organs
  • Moves nutrients to cells and tissues
  • Takes waste out of the body in the form of urine
  • To keep the body cool through sweating
  • Chemical reactions in metabolism
  • Helps maintain proper PH balance
  • Major component in body fluids

OK, now that we have that fancy list let’s look at why it’s relevant to stay hydrated for weight loss.

The body can mistake hunger for thirst. So if the body is thirsty but the signal comes across as hunger, that may lead to overeating.

There was a study done that took obese middle-age and older adults and split them into 2 groups. One group would drink water before a meal and the other wouldn’t. The group that drank water before eating had a 44% greater decline in weight over the 12 weeks versus the non-water group. (4)

There’s also a review that looked at different animal studies, in that review they develop a hypothesis about hydration as it relates to weight loss. What they found was water helps with weight loss due to an increase in metabolism. (5)

 

Conclusion

Losing weight is a complicated, and sometimes a Herculean task depending on where that person’s at in their transformation journey.

Once you learn the do’s and don’ts it becomes more manageable and easier to keep up.

To recap, the 8 Weight loss Tips:

  1. Mindset: Vision, imagine your ideal body
  2. Fitness: High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
  3. Fitness: Movement Throughout The Day
  4. Nutrition: Whole Food Not Processed
  5. Nutrition: Make It Food You Can Stick With
  6. Nutrition: Manage The Dairy
  7. Health: Get The Gut Right
  8. Health: Water

Doing all of these at once might be overloading. What can be done is to choose 1 or 2 to start testing out and seeing which stick. Then coming back to use this article as an overview guide.

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Disclaimers

I am not a doctor and do not recommend anything on this site, or blog post, for anyone without consulting with their doctor first. Please read the privacy policy for more information.

The information in this article is for educational and entertainment reasons, it should not be interpreted as medical advice or as a recommendation for a specific treatment. Always talk to your doctor and in the event of a medical emergency one should seek the help of a qualified and licensed health care provider.

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