Years ago, I wanted to lose weight but every time I tried to restrict calories, I would get so darn hungry by the end of the day, I would eventually cave and eat a bunch of food just so I could go to sleep without my stomach growling. So I totally related when one of my clients recently told me she experienced the same thing: she ate very well all day long, but then nighttime fell and she suddenly had to battle intense sugar and junk food cravings. Sometimes she resisted, and sometimes she didn't. But overall, she was making no progress on her goal of losing weight and eating healthier foods.
We worked together on several different strategies, including sleep, lifestyle, mindfulness, and movement. But one of the biggest changes for her came from adding more protein to her diet.
Turns out she was eating very little protein for her body size, only 60-70 grams a day.
We doubled that, while still making sure to include plenty of vegetables and high-fiber carbohydrates.
She said the hardest part was actually eating that much— she felt super full once she made the swap to a higher protein diet, even though prior to the program she had reported being ravenous every night.
And by the end of our 8 weeks together, she had lost multiple inches and 7 pounds on the scale.
If you, too, want to try to get your weight under control but aren't interested in crash diets or starving to get skinny, this is often where to start.
Track your protein intake using a free calculator, such as MyFitnessPal or Cronometer.
You might be surprised how little you are getting.
And then work your way up slowly to a higher protein intake, always being mindful to listen to your body and make sure to eat foods that agree with your digestion.
If you want to know how much protein to aim for, while it varies for everyone, but a general good target is approximately 1 gram per pound of body weight (use your ideal body weight if you are currently overweight. If you need help calculating that let me know and I can help!)
So if your regular body weight is around 130 pounds, shoot for 130 grams of protein daily.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Make sure you're getting plenty of veggies, walking every day, and doing resistance training at least 2x a week.
You may notice some dramatic shifts in your body composition! And if you need help doing this, feel free to send me a message to connect. Happy to help...the more women we can get feeling healthy and great, the better our world will be!
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