Weight loss myths debunked

Hi ladies, and welcome to episode 33. So today I'm going to be talking about some common weight loss myths and my take on them. So I think it will be a really useful episode for all of you. But before I start, I just wanted to tell you what's going on in my world.

I am going to be batching some episodes for you for the podcast, because I am going to my coaches mastermind, which is a collection of coaches coming together from all across the world. And this is such an exciting time for me because it's one of the best masterminds in the world. And I'm so honored to be a part of that. And I get to go there to work on my own mindset to help me manage my mind so that I can coach my clients better and help them manage their minds. So as I elevate my mind, I help my clients elevate theirs.

So it's super fun. I attended virtually last time and I'm really excited to be going in person this year, COVID permitting of course. And extra exciting, I'll be receiving an award at my coach's mastermind. So I'm so excited to go and see my fellow colleagues and be able to be a part of all of that amazing atmosphere.

Because I have realised that when I am surrounded by people who are doing all the same things as me who are going through the same struggles as me who are there to help me through, that makes my progress so much quicker, which is why the same thing for you. A group coaching program is an ideal place for you to lose weight, because when you are surrounded by other women who are going through the exact same struggles as you who have the same issues that you are going through, when I coach one of you, I end up coaching all of you.

So if there's 10 of you in the group I'm coaching, if I say, coach, all of you on that call then in essence, I'm coaching all 10 of you, 10 times. How fun is that? Right? So this is why your results will become so much faster when you are surrounding yourself with people who are an inspiration to you, who you can ask for advice from, and who will be supporting you through all of your issues.

And especially in weight loss, where there's a lot of shame. There's a lot of judgment. There's a lot of, I have to do it a specific way. When you see other people doing it slightly different way to you and it being amazing for them and it working for them that can actually help you explore other ways that may work for you too.

So if you're interested in joining the group coaching program, we start on February the first and I'm doing consults all through January, and I would love to have you in the group and you can book a free consult by going to www.amruticoaching.com/work-with-me and you will be able to access that link on the main page.

And on there, you'll be able to book a consult with me if you would like to, you could sign up automatically as well if you'd like to, by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking the link at the bottom there. So if you've had a consult with me in the past and you're ready to join the group coaching program, then you can sign up to.

All right. So let's get started on this week's episode. So I get a lot of people telling me that my ideas about weight loss are completely different from the ideas that they've heard before, about weight loss. And a lot of people say to me that the reason they come to me and the reason that they actually believe me is because I am a doctor. And because they trust that I've done it myself before I've lost the 42 kilos myself, that I know what I'm talking about because I've got the scientific background. They know that I've got a psychology degree. So I use that and they know that I'm a certified coach.

Oh. And I forgot to tell you I have just an advanced certified weight loss coach. So I took another certification because I wanted to really work on developing my weight-loss skills so that I can coach my clients to a much better and deeper level. So that I am offering one piece of coaching and everyone in the group benefits. So it is so exciting to be able to have completed this certification.

And I'm excited for my clients to benefit from that. So. As I was saying, most people come to me because they are like, okay, you're the perfect person for me because you are a doctor. You understand the science, you use a lot of the science in your coaching. You've lost 42 kilos yourself. You've got a psychology degree. So you understand the mindset side of things. And you're a qualified coach. Now I can add I'm an advanced weight loss, coach as well.

So. That's the only reason why I come to you. Now, some of the things that you say are quite out there, and I want to offer that everything may be new the first time you hear it, but once you do your own research and once you give it a try, that's when you will realise whether it's for you or not, but you won't see the benefit of it, or you won't see whether it suits you or it doesn't suit you until you give it a try.

Some things suit some people and some things don't suit other people. But what I wanted to talk about today were common diet myths, or diet rules that I had to break on my journey. And there are loads that are out there, but I chose the most important and most common ones that most people struggle with.

So let's get started. The first one is breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So, this is a rule that I completely disagree with. This is a rule that was created by breakfast companies to be able to sell breakfast cereals, to enhance the sales of breakfast. So I read The Obesity Code a couple of years ago by Dr.Jason Fung. And this talks about this and it's a great book to go and read it also helps understand the science of weight loss as well. So it may be something for you to read and understand if that's something you're interested in.

So since I was younger, I was always told that I had to have breakfast. I always thought that it was the most important meal of the day. I emphasised it. And even when I wasn't hungry, I would eat. And how this affected my weight loss journey was that even when I wasn't hungry, I thought that it would lower my metabolism if I didn't eat. And so I had to eat, otherwise I'd be messing up my metabolism and then it would be impossible for me to lose weight.

But truly what I was doing is I was overeating because whenever you're eating when you're not hungry, it's actually worse on your health, right? Because you're eating more than your body actually requires. So when I actually started intermittent fasting, most of my family hadn't heard of it because I've been fasting for a long time.

And most of my family thought it was restrictive and extreme, but it's so interesting because now most of them do it themselves. Initially when they heard about it, they were completely not on board. But they saw that it was actually a really easy thing for me to do. It allowed me greater flexibility. I didn't feel hangry all the time.

So hangry is like hungry and angry, mixed together. And it allowed me to be able to fast different amounts of hours depending on my time and depending on my schedule. So something that initially seems so restrictive and extreme to then most of them doing it themselves is a huge shift because initially a new idea seems scary at the time, but the more you think about it or the more you do it, the easier it becomes.

So it's only scary the first time. And then it gets easier and easier. Right? So with breakfast being the most important meal of the day, I have to often catch myself telling my kids that they have to eat that breakfast. I was told that as a child. So sometimes I go into that mode again unknowingly and have to really be on to my brain and notice when I'm doing that.

And I know most of us were told as a child that we have to eat our breakfast. My parents were just doing what they thought at the time, and they did an amazing job. But knowing what I know now, I'm really trying hard to allow my kids to eat to enough and then stop. I often say we only eat when we're hungry and we stop when we've had enough instead of forcing them to eat so that I can feel better that I fed my kids and that makes me a good mum.

So I want you to catch yourself when you're telling yourself the same thing, and you can also do it when, you are noticing, when you're forcing your kids to have their breakfast as well, because of what you make that mean, right? Because breakfast may be an important meal of the day. I'm not saying not to give your kids breakfast.

Of course give them breakfast, but don't force them to finish everything because they may actually be full. And kids are really good at actually modulating their hunger hormones. So you may notice if you've got children or if you know any children that they may stop halfway through eating a cake, because they're actually full.

I've seen that with my own children sometimes, and they normally love cake. And for them to say, actually, mummy, I'm full - I sometimes used to think if I was a child I would have eaten all of it, but it's so interesting to see that they're actually able to eat to hunger much quicker. Okay.

The next myth or the next diet rule is fats make you fat.

So to understand this rule and how I'm going to debunk it, it's important to understand how different foods affect the insulin response. So insulin is a hormone or a chemical in the body and it's released every time we eat food. So the reason for insulin is that it is released from our pancreas, which is an organ in our body, in our abdomen, in order to transfer energy from the foods that we consume into our bodies.

So when we eat insulin is released and when we eat certain foods, our insulin is released to even higher level and less with other foods. So the foods that increase the insulin the most are the most concentrated carbohydrates, like flour and sugar. So because they are concentrated and very, very refined, they're not in their natural form.

So they're more and more and more concentrated. So the insulin response that you get from eating flour and sugar, what you would get from say eating sugar cane or the wheat that grows in the ground, it's much more concentrated. So the insulin response is much, much higher when you're eating flour and sugar, which is why I suggest my clients take a break from eating these foods for a couple of months in order to give their bodies a chance to become fat adapted.

So fat adapted is when your body is able to use the fat on your body as fuel instead of relying on food that you actually consume. So in terms of insulin response, fats have the lowest insulin response from all the food types. So it's actually beneficial to add some healthy fats to your meals, to lower the insulin response, and they're also really filling.

So they allow you to feel fuller for longer. So me personally, I actually eat a lot of fat per day. I also eat a lot of carbohydrates, so I'm not low carb or keto or anything at all, but I eat carbohydrate in its natural form. So I'm definitely not advocating keto, low carb Atkins, anything like that. I'm just talking purely about the insulin response.

Some of my other clients may prefer keto or low carb. And that's fine if they choose to do that, but it isn't essential. The thing that is, is looking at the insulin response and debunking that fats make you fat because that's just not true. So some healthy fats that you may choose, maybe things like avocado, olive oil, olives, full fat cream, full fat cheese, full fat meat, eggs, things like that. There's lots more. And when you join the program, I have a full list of that, which you can access and start including in your diet. Okay.

The third myth is that you lose weight based on calories in and calories out, and that you will only lose weight when you have a calorie deficit.

So, this is one of the hardest ones for people to break when they approach weight loss. Because for so many decades, we've been told that it's calories in calories out. So I just want to say, if you saw how many calories I consumed in a day, you would be shocked, that actually still eating that way, I'm still losing or maintaining my weight.

How is this possible is because calories in calories out is not the best way of measuring and actually it's much more accurate to look at the insulin response in the body. So how is it that I was eating a thousand calories a day prior to coaching and then burning a thousand calories a day, but still gaining weight before I found life coaching,

It was because it's not an accurate way. When you say that I'll have a little bit more of that and then burn it off or I'll go for a long walk or I'll go and work it off or it's okay I'll go to the gym later. That's not how it works. What you eat is actually much more important than the amount of calories. Which is why burning it off doesn't actually work very effectively.

So this brings me nicely on to the fourth myth, which is exercise is essential for weight loss. So I'm going to get right to the point here. 95% of weight loss is mindset and diet, and only 5% is exercise, which is why my program, I have one small module in my course that I provide about exercise, but we don't talk about it much.

Now I'm very pro exercise for mental and physical health. Exercise is excellent for physical and mental health. And for this reason, I actually exercise myself about three to five times a week. But before I took up life coaching, I was eating one meal a day, which was low carb burning 1000 calories per exercise session and still not losing weight.

And I was exercising every single day, seven days a week. This showed me that exercise was not as important as I thought. Exercise can actually be detrimental to weight loss when you're doing intense exercise, because it can put stress on the body and raise the stress hormone in your body, which is called cortisol.

And when cortisol levels are increased, this causes your insulin levels to rise to. And remember when insulin levels are high, because insulin is a fat storage hormone, the body goes into fat storage. This is why I advise my clients to not do intense exercise while they're losing weight. I encourage them to do gentle exercise or anything that will improve their emotional and physical health, but not overdo it with exercise, which is why, if you wanted to join my program, I don't actually require you to exercise at all.

If you didn't want to exercise at all, or if you've got a health problem that stops you from exercising, this may be a really good program for you. Another thing is that exercise can make you hungry. So back to point 3, if you think I'll eat that then burn it off, you'll end up putting on weight because exercise is only 5% of weight loss.

So you may end up overeating when you're exercising and you may have thoughts of I've worked out so now I deserve it, or I can eat a little bit more of that. These are the thoughts that we deal with in coaching, because it's your thoughts that create real results, not the actual food that you have.

Okay. And the fifth one is, oh, I can't fail it this now. I just want to tell you that I lost 42 kilograms and I succeeded by failing thousands of times on my journey. I fail every single day. I fail multiple times a day, but the only thing that is different now is that I don't make it a big deal. I just make it mean that I'm brave enough to stretch myself to do bigger and bolder things.

And every time that I fail at something, I evaluate it and think about, wow, this failure doesn't mean anything until I give up and I'm never going to give up so I can think of this failure as I'm either winning or I'm learning. I'm when I'm thinking about failure as I'm learning from this. I get really excited to think I'm actually getting to know myself better. And when I get to know myself better and I empower my clients to know themselves better, then I can serve my people much better. I can help them deal with failure better when I'm failing. I'm actually being a product of my product. Right. I'm actually doing what I say.

I'm actually talking the talk, right? One of the main reasons why we don't want to break any rules or we don't want to go against what we've always known is because there's safety in being a rule following person, there's safety in doing what you've always. This is what your primitive brain wants you to do, right?

It wants you to seek pleasure, avoid pain and stay how you are. But if you're listening to this podcast, then you've had these rules and they haven't worked for you, which is why you're looking for a new way. And I was only able to lose my weight to when I was able to break some of these. So, what would it be like for you if you broke some of these rules to, what would it be like if you made your own rules, you get to decide what is right for you, which is why in the group coaching program, we create a protocol that you can follow forever.

So you never have to feel restricted or annoyed. And each one of my client's protocols are different. They get to decide. They get to create ones that fit in with their families so that they can actually sit on the table and eat with their families. Some are vegetarian, some eat meat, some, a vegan, some are diabetic, some have celiac disease.

Some have hypothyroidism. Each protocol works when the client chooses it themselves and chooses the foods that they enjoy choosing the foods that they are able to process. And I am then there to help them through. So if they're not losing weight adequately, I'm there to make suggestions to help them change things around.

So, this is what makes it really, really doable in the longterm because they are eating food that they love eating, foods that fit in with their family. They're getting to choose the foods themselves, instead of me dictating to them what to eat. And that's why it is always sustainable because they end up losing weight, eating foods that they love.

Okay. So no matter what I will make suggestions and, if you're not losing weight, I will give you a sample protocol, but then you get to adjust according to your preferences, which makes it really doable for you. And the main thing with any diet is to be able to stick to it. And if you are able to stick to it whilst eating real foods, not eating random foods or new foods that you've never heard of or these random supplements, then that would just be a benefit for you. Right.

So I have full faith that it will work for you. And if you'd like to try, if you'd like to not just try, but actually create this for yourself, then the grip coaching program starts on February 1st and I'm doing consults throughout January, so book one. If you would like to sign up and if you've already had a consult with me before you can sign up directly by going to the website, www.amruticoaching.com and if you go to the work with me page, you'd be able to find out more details.

And if you have had a consult with me before and wanted to sign up directly, you just go to the bottom of the page and there's a link to sign up there. So I look forward to welcoming you in the group coaching program and up until then, let me know how you get on with breaking some of these rules and creating your own new rules.

Okay, ladies, I'll see you next week. Take care. Bye-bye.