Losing Weight is Easy

January 5, 2025 / To New Beginnings…

Hopefully you’re excited for a new year, and have all the goals you are ready to achieve.

Today, I will be assisting you in your health journey in the category of losing weight.

Through ten years of experimenting with nutrition and fitness, working with a strict personal trainer, and following various programs, I have discovered the easiest and most effective ways to lose weight.

If this is a difficult topic for you, I want you to understand one thing: losing and maintaining a healthy weight has nothing to do with the amount of willpower or discipline you have.

It comes down to understanding, and working with your body, and its metabolism.

Weight Loss is a Hormonal Process

…more than it is about the amount of calories you eat, the exercise you perform, or the way you look.

We can lose weight by simply eating less and moving more, but the reality is, if our hormones, metabolic health, and, most importantly…mental health and well-being aren’t in good condition, following these steps will be utterly difficult and unsustainable.

Working with your body, and its needs are key.

You want your hormones and body working in your favor, you want this to be a process you enjoy, not a process that feels like torture.

Your hormones run your behavior, mood and appetite.

Different hormones are activated based on your actions; hormones that that turn your appetite on or off, calm you down, and make you feel happier, or harp anxiety and angst, and give or drain your energy.

In addition, I will be sharing some tips on maintaining and protecting your fertility as a woman, whilst taking these steps.

Fertility is a great indicator of health, and is a top priority.

So stay tuned to learn the 3 essential keys to not only losing weight, but increasing your overall health and feeling good in the process.

#1: Step 1: Start off by Lowering Your Blood Sugar

Photo by David B Townsend on Unsplash

Healthy blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity are key indicators to a healthy metabolism.

Healthy blood sugar means feeling satisfied sooner, minimizing cravings, raising your mood and positive emotions,and feeling alert, focused, and more energetic overall.

How you feel is a very real thing; your cravings are very real, your levels of energy are not in your head.

Losing weight is so much easier to do when your blood sugar is in a good place.

Start With Swaps

An easy, quick and effective way to start improving your metabolic health is to be more mindful of the fuel that goes into it.

What you put into your body MATTERS.

What you eat will determine the way you feel and make it easier or harder to lose weight.

Add in Healthy Fats

Healthy fats lower and stabilize blood sugar levels, and in addition, have many anti-inflammatory properties, minerals, and antioxidants to help you function more optimally inside and out.

Aim to include them in each meal, or as snacks in between meals

Some healthy fats are:

Avocadoes
Walnuts
Coconut/coconut oil
Olive Oil
Eggs

Healthy fats will help you feel fuller sooner and lower hunger levels

Lower Intake of Inflammatory Oils, Preservatives and Pesticides/Antibiotics

Inflammatory oils are detrimental and harmful to your metabolism. They make you more insulin-resistant. This means more cravings and greater weight gain, and inflammation to your gut and body.

The most common inflammatory oils are:

Canola oil
Sunflower oil
Peanut oil
Soybean Oil

In addition, it is important to note the harmful effect processed food has on the metabolism.

In short, they disrupt your microbiome, make you more insulin-resistant and cause inflammation in the body.

All of these factors will make it much harder to feel good in your body and lose weight.

Processed ingredients and chemicals are unnatural to the body and disrupt your body’s natural ability to feel full and metabolize food properly.

Avoid all of the processed ingredients and chemicals as much as possible. They serve no benefit to your body.

Eat protein with every meal

Feel satisfied sooner with protein. It satiates hunger and in addition, contributes to more lean mass in your body.

Not only will you feel better from the inside, but the outside as well.

Protein also does not spike your blood sugar as fast as eating carbohydrates. Remember, you are aiding your body to avoid cravings and increase your energy.

Balance out your meals by including a protein source in each meal.

Nutrient Dense Protein sources include:

Chicken
Grass-Fed Beef
Organic Soy or Tofu
Wild-caught salmon/Fish (include anti-inflammatory omega-3s)
Eggs, and Egg Whites

Space in Between Meals

Last, if it’s possible for you and your comfort range, give space in between meals, instead of eating frequently.

Every time you eat, you raise your blood sugar which can stimulate more appetite and relax your energy–in other words, put you into rest and digest.

Allow your body to process and digest.

This will help you feel more electrified and motivated during the day to do more activities and willingly want to be more active and creative.

This will help you feel overall better and in control.

If you do these tips, you’re ready to take it to the next level with ease:

#2: Step 2: Fasting

The Ultimate Goal: Shift from Sugar-Burning mode into Fat Burning Mode

Excess fat is only stored energy.

When your body is allowed to tap into these stores, it can use up that stored energy.

The easiest way to do this, is through fasting.

The magic of a fasted state: Fasting = cleanup mode

Now it’s time to see things from your body’s point of view. (not your head).

All of the actions that you would take to lose weight come so easy to you, in a fasted state.

You naturally feel calmer, more inspired, energetic, have no cravings, and the list goes on.

This is because, in a fast state, so many changes occur in your biochemistry.

To name some, your blood sugar is lowered, your body suppresses the appetite hormone and increases focus and calming hormones, your brain starts to use ketones as energy, instead of sugar (which nourish your brain power and alertness)

once your body is finished using up the sugar from the food you’ve recently digested, it then starts to tap into those excess energy stores and switches to the fat-burning mode.

Your body literally works in your favor to lose weight in a fasted state.

your body encourages fat loss behaviors in a fasted state.

Rather than fighting cravings or temptations, or trying to summon will power and motivation to lose weight, your body craves to detox and become healthier in this state.

Therefore the work is not in your head, but comes from your body’s own desires.

It’s all a matter of flipping the switch.

When you are not fasted, your body is in an anabolic, or building state. Losing weight is much more difficult from there.

while fasting, your body shifts to cleanup mode.

All the hormones, mood, and motivations change when you’re there–and once you eat, you start slowly going back into anabolic mode.

It’s that simple.

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Easing into it

If you are new to fasting, start small—Smaller increments work best for high-quality results.

Whenever you have the temptation to do it all at once or rush, remember:

rushing will only slow you down.

slow and steady wins the race. Always.

Always prioritize maintaining stability over anything else.

stable = quickest and lasting results

Ease your way into fasting.

In addition, WHEN YOu are new to fasting, you experience more benefits with less amount of effort, than someone who is more experienced. This is because your body is newer to this.

There really is no reason to rush or push your body to levels it’s not ready for.

It is only when your body gets used to it, that you should amp things up.

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so, ease your way into fasting, and meet your body where it’s at.

You may find it effective to push your first meal an hour later than usual.

anything that is different, and new from your norm, will have changing effects on your body.

play around with your meal times to work a schedule best fit for you.

Once one stretch starts to feel easy, you can stretch yourself a bit longer.

The longer the fast, the better

There is SOoo much science behind what happens in the body when fasting.

It is your intricately designed inner healing and detox system.

As humans, we are designed to fast.

when we tap into longer fasting states, even more benefits occur.

the more your body detoxes and cleanses, the better it functions. this will help your overall mood, cravings and drive.

To learn more about the healing power of fasting, check out this video by doctor mindy pelz, who has healed many women of all ages through fasting, and weight loss. (once you start watching, you will really want to fast, trust me)

- I have read and implemented all practices from her book “fast like a girl” and experienced amazing results–including a return of my period and fertility health, weight loss, and much more.

last, know that every time you fast, you are giving your metabolism a chance to reset.

Your dopamine receptors, insulin resistance, and gut microbiome cleanse and reset; this means that coming back into a fed state, you will feel much differently, and weight loss will feel so much easier.

what to Know About Fasting if You Are a Woman

As women, we are cyclical. Watch out for these factors, and understand when fasting is safe.

Rule of Thumb about Diet

There are two weeks of your cycle in which your body needs to support the production of hormones: your PMS week, and your Ovulation Week.

During these months, support your hormones by slowing down on the fasting, and raising the blood sugar a bit more.

Your body requires higher blood sugar to support hormone production.

Implement healthy carbohydrates into your diet, and lots of healthy fiber.

Aside from these weeks, you can feel free to eat more low-carb foods and fast longer to support lower and stable blood sugar and feel your best.

There really are minimal limits when it comes to the other two weeks.

When hormones are lower, your body is much more tolerant to stress and low blood sugar levels.

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Do not fast a week-a week and a half before your period

Your body is high in hormones at this time; and most importantly, needs to produce a hormone called progesterone in order to prepare you for your menstral cycle- go gentle at this time and skip fasting

If you fast frequently, then your body is more conditioned; simply shorten your fasts

Listen to your body at this time.

When you are hungry, eat. When you need to rest, take it easy on the physical workout.

The beauty of this time of the month is it’s our time to reset, rest, and restart. Go all out so you can come back strong when your period starts.

When to Fast Again

You can start fasting once your period starts—take it easy.

Start with 13 hour fasts, slowly increase them to 15 hour fasts, and after day 5, you can start tapping into longer fasts again.

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Shorten your fasts during your ovulation week

Around days 11-15 of your cycle (generally your ovulation week), it’s time to step it up again. Keep the fasts short, form 13-15 hours, and don’t go crazy with them.

Once again, this is a time where the body’s hormones are higher–you do not want to cause too much stress on the body at this time; however, your body is much stronger than it would be during PMS week.

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#3 Step 3: Movement

Last but not least, exercise is the cherry on top.

With lowered blood sugar levels and heightened states, weight loss will come to you so much more naturally and easier.

Exercising regularly only helps to support steady blood sugar levels and a healthy system. Do the workouts that feel best for you.

exercise to feel good, not for the goal of looking good.

As long as you feel good, the looks will only be the by-product.

movement helps to detox emotions, make your blood flow, and increase your overall mood.

movement is your greatest ally to weight loss.

The More Muscle, the More Insulin Receptors

Muscles help bring up your Insulin sensitivity even more–this is another reason to feel motivated to work out at the gym. Building up muscle speeds up your metabolism even more.

This is mindful to know about the type of workouts you do. Implementing weights into your workouts can help to strengthen your muscles and increase its mass.

Walk After Eating

Whenever you get the chance, move your body–especially after a big, or carb-heavy meal.

Walking is scientifically proven to lower your blood sugar levels and calm your state and cravings

Make it Easy

Do what works best for you. You don’t need to follow a fancy plan in order to experience the benefits of a workout.

Even a 10-minute home workout from Youtube will be beneficial.

Just get your body moving–once again, your biochemistry changes through movement.

Conclusion

Do First, then Feel

It’s so important to know that losing weight has alot to do with our hormones and metabolic health.

Taking action is so important.

It’s not about motivation, or waiting for it to come.

It’s about working with your biochemistry to enable fat loss to be possible.

Take the steps listed above to start changing the way you feel.

Trust in the process.

When you work with your body, fat loss comes to you—rather than you pursuing it.

Till Next time,

Vanessa <3

Gracefully Enchanting