Advanced Nutrition Strategies for Weight Loss

There are a wide variety of nutrition strategies and diets out there. Some focus on reducing your appetite, while others focus on restricting calories, carbs or fat. However, it can be a bit difficult to find the nutrition strategy that’s best for you with so many options out there.

How do you find the nutrition strategy that’s best for you? Well with some experimentation and the guidance of a health coach you can find the strategy that’s right for you. So what are some of the more popular nutrition strategies, what benefits do they bring and how can you go about implementing these nutrition strategies into your daily life?

1. Keto

The ketogenic diet is one of the most popular weight loss diets out there. Basically, it’s a very low carb, moderate protein, and high-fat diet which puts the body into a metabolic state known as ketosis. It’s based around the premise that your body was designed to run more efficiently as a fat burner than a sugar burner.

The main goal of keto is to switch your body’s energy source from glucose to fat. Although the keto diet may seem a bit intimidating, with the help of a coach the process becomes a lot simpler. So what are some of the main benefits and results you can expect from keto?

• Weight Loss: Because the ketogenic diet is using body fat as an energy source, your body will begin to burn the unwanted fat causing obvious weight loss benefits.
• Increased Energy: Keto helps to provide your body with a more reliable energy source allowing you to feel more energized throughout the day.
• Control Blood Sugar: Keto naturally lowers blood sugar levels due to not eating as many carbs so your body can’t produce glucose. Because of this, keto can be extremely beneficial for those that are pre-diabetic or have Type II diabetes.
• Appetite Control: Fats are digested more slowly by the body and so they are naturally more satisfying as they keep our bodies feeling satiated for longer. This often means you’ll experience fewer cravings and find yourself grazing less throughout the day.

Although there is a lot to gain from following a ketogenic diet, unless there are medical reasons attached to those benefits, we don’t often recommend it to our clients. Why is that? Because it is extremely difficult to sustain and not the most enjoyable way to eat – unless you like to consume very fatty meats, a lot of oils and hate anything remotely sweet! If keto is something you’re interested in, then we can certainly talk about whether or not it would be the most beneficial nutrition strategy for you to follow and help you implement it.

2. Carb Cycling

Carb cycling is a planned alteration of carbohydrate intake in order to prevent a fat loss plateau and maintain metabolism along with workout performance. It’s one of the more aggressive nutrition strategies. So who is carb cycling for?

Well, carb cycling is mainly for athletes or those who need a more meticulous nutrition approach. It’s an extremely popular strategy among bodybuilders, as it allows them to shed fat and build muscle. There are a few different ways to tackle carb cycling, but a generally accepted simple approach is to eat low carb for 3-4 days, and then follow with a day of high carbs. Basically, the idea is to get the benefits of carbs on training days, and the benefits of eating low carb on other days that usually coincide with rest days.

Here are a few results you can expect to see while carb cycling:

• Weight Loss: On your low carb days, you’ll lose fat. On high carb days, you’ll burn more calories. Which is why carb cycling is great for weight loss.
• Muscle Gain: As I mentioned above, carb cycling is great for fat loss and muscle gain. On your low carb days, your body will burn more fat. And on your high carb days, you give your body a chance to gain muscle.

All in all, carb cycling is great for those who want to achieve a certain physique or promote weight loss, but it can be a somewhat stressful regimen to follow and there is no guarantee that you will stand to benefit any faster than simply being diligent and consistent with your macros. To learn more about the benefits of carb cycling and how you might implement it, check out our Carb Cycling eBook.

3. Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. Basically, instead of restricting the foods you eat, you restrict the time when you eat them. There are a few different ways to go about intermittent fasting, it’s all about what works best for you. Some common methods include:

• The 16/8 method: Involves skipping breakfast and restricting your daily eating period to 8 hours, subsequently fasting for the remaining 16 hours of the day (including the time you sleep).
• The 12:12 method: Involves fasting for a period of 12 hours. So if you had your last meal at 7 p.m. you would eat your next meal at 7 a.m.
• The 5:2 diet: On two non-consecutive days of the week, you restrict your intake to 500–600 calories. On the five remaining days, you eat like normal.
• The warrior diet: Eat small amounts of raw fruits and vegetables during the day and one huge meal at night, basically fasting during the day and feasting at night within a 4-hour window.

Some results you can expect to see on intermittent fasting include:

• Weight Loss: Intermittent fasting is great for both fat loss and weight loss.
• Consistency: One of the main reasons intermittent fasting is so popular, is because people generally find it easy to eat within a window of time that fits around their lifestyle. Because it’s practical and easy to follow, it generally means that people are able to stick with it for the long-term and experience it’s health benefits in full.

In addition to assisting with weight loss, intermittent fasting may reduce markers of inflammation, cholesterol levels, blood triglycerides and blood sugar levels. All in all, intermittent fasting is great for those looking to promote weight loss while eating the foods they love. For more assistance on how you can go about implementing intermittent fasting into your day, don’t forget to check out our Intermittent Fasting eBook.

Nutrition Strategies Takeaway

It’s important to keep in mind that these nutrition strategies are advanced and may provoke stress. Which is why the safest and most effective way to implement these nutrition strategies is with the help of a coach. If you are looking to experiment and implement these nutrition strategies, our Essential and Premium Lifestyle memberships are the perfect fir for you.