Okay so I am not a big fan of spending/wasting a lot of time on social media as I know I get sucked into reading comments and looking at pictures. As a health and fitness coach, I wanted to keep learning about trends, questions and challenges people face when trying to lose weight, get healthy and improve performance in their races or events.
I started to see a theme in common questions posted in Facebook groups as “Keto for Beginners” that I feel that I can offer a few words of advice to – so here we go…another blog and podcast to record!
The WHOLESTIC Method was created by me back in 2013 based on my experience as a coach, trainer and athlete. We can’t get stronger, faster and leaner – while improving the aging process by just exercising alone. There was more to it- plus we all are unique bio-individuals with different genetics, gut biomes and lifestyle habits.
Common questions are with those trying to lose weight doing very low carb/Keto that usually works UNLESS you are not in balance as with the elements of The WHOLESTIC Method.
- Nutrition
- Exercise
- Sleep
- Stress
- Movement & Mobility
- Digestion, gut health and microbiome
- Hydration
- Happiness & Gratitude
Common Questions for Beginners…
- I have to lose 40 lbs in 2 months please give me advice and what can I do to help lose in 2 months
- What are some airport travel snacks? I’m packing snacks for our trip.
- Is it hard to lose weight if your in menopause?
- I been on Keto for 2 weeks and have only lost 4 pounds – what is wrong?
- Those of you that do 16/8 fasting, do you do it every day or only on certain days? I’ve seen it done both ways and I’m just curious what works best for you.
- What type of keto are you doing …Strict, Lazy or Dirty?
- How long have you been doing keto and do you have any successful results to share?
- I was wondering if the standard 20g carbs limit, is it total carbs or is it for net carbs?
- I started keto a week ago and lost 5lbs… any tips on what I should be doing to lose weight faster?
- What is a good meal plan?
- The ratio of eating high fat, protein, and net carbs are killing me…how do you not feel discouraged?
- Eating breakfast, no lunch, exercise, and dinner – but I am not getting the quick results as others. What am I doing wrong here as I am getting discouraged.
My thoughts…and responses I feel that I keep repeating. My top 25 tips to teach you how to make the most out of ketosis as it works for most people since so many of us did metabolic damage eating low-fat/non-fat and high-carb diet for years plus now insulin resistant.
-
Everyone is a unique bio-individual so there is not “one size fits all” approach to losing weight
-
Some people lose weight faster than others because of their uniqueness!
-
Losing weight and burning fat is not just what you eat but HOW you eat
-
Switching to a low-carb and high fat diet will create a fast weight loss in the beginning but mostly water weight as you deplete your glycogen stores
-
Eating low-carb/keto doesn’t mean you eat all day
-
Eating low-carb/keto doesn’t mean that you can eat as much as you want and not gain weight
-
Slow down and focus when eating… it doesn’t matter how healthy you eat if you are eating quickly, not chewing your food, over eating and multi-tasking.
-
Stop, pause and reset before starting a meal. Get into the parasympathetic nervous system when you are eating as this is the “rest and digest” nervous system.
-
For every stress response there is a blood sugar response- so no matter how low carb you go per day
-
You can count your macronutrients but you should eat to feel full, satisfied and ENERGIZED for 4 plus hours.
-
You don’t need to eat breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, and snack.
-
Less is more… Intermittent Fasting (IF) does amazing work for your cells (cell autophagy) and keto meals when you eat in your TIME RESTRICTED EATING (TRE) meal (s) is high fat, moderate protein, and low carbohydrates
-
Low carbohydrate doesn’t mean that you avoid all carbohydrates- EAT YOUR VEGETABLES to feed your microbiome gut bugs and we need the fiber!
-
Garbage in- garbage out. You can’t eat crappy fat and protein unless you want to be full of toxins. Eat clean healthy fats, proteins and organic vegetables. It costs more but you should be eating less as you will be full longer if you pay attention to eating when you are hungry instead of the clock.
-
Get moving – make sure you are active and getting your 10,000 steps per day and get outside to play for 15 minutes per day or more for sunshine!
-
Hydrate with clean water – use a filter. Add lemon slices and celtic or himilayean sea salt for electrolytes/minerals.
-
Drink half your body weight in ounces of clean water per day plus another 12 ounces for each diuretic (coffee?).
-
Drink black coffee if fasting – but don’t use crappy K-cups or other high mold toxic coffee please.
-
Detox your household and products you use- if you are feeding your body clean food then also detox your life on the outside. You skin is a mouth so if you are eating clean then take care of your body by using natural skin care products that are free of chemicals.
-
Eat when you are hungry after your 16 hour overnight fast but eat your low-carb/high-fat keto meal ideally mid afternoon or stop eating after 7pm or 3-4 hours before bed.
-
Drink bone broth each day when possible as we all have some level of leaky gut.
-
Add adrenal stress adaptagens to your plan as we are all living life as a race- not a journey!
-
Drink herbal tea – many great ones for blood sugar, digestion, stress and liver detox.
-
Test don’t guess… measure your blood sugar and/or ketones as with KETO MOJO – the goal is to burn fat but if you are balancing your blood sugar levels then you are probably burning ketones!
-
Get to sleep by 10pm if you want to be a fat burning machine, improve cell health and recovery processes.
-
Bonus…It depends
Let me know if you have comments or questions! Sign up for my 5-day Jumpstart Challenge or take the 30-day Total Body Transformation to become a fat burner, health optimizer and perform your best for daily life.
The WHOLESTIC Method Coach,
Debbie Potts
NTP, KION Coach, DNAFit, NASM CPT, Metabolic Efficiency Specialist
A few of my favorite books for clients…