Mamas who’ve tried all the diets… and not figured out what works
Mamas who want a simpler path to diet success while eating out and living their lives
Mamas who struggle with physical complications from diets (stomach issues, etc)
Mamas who want a diet that’s easy to incorporate for their busy families
Mamas-to-be who struggle with fertility and want to maximize their diet to help
Grandmas who want a healthy diet to lose weight and stay active for their grandkids
How are you supposed to find the best diet these days?
Should you go low-carb or keto?
What?s with this new ?plant-based? diet?
Should you fast for a day or eat 6 meals a day?
Should you buy the supplements or not?
How the heck do you navigate this weight loss diet world?
It is so confusing – I?m here to help.
I went on a mission to find the best diet for my family over the past year. I completed diet trials myself thinking I could find the single best diet to weight loss. In my quest, I went to conferences on diet through the Mayo Clinic, through Columbia, and to Obesity Week, the biggest obesity conference in the world. I listened to amazingly intelligent and well-researched speakers.
And then I went through Life/Weight Loss Coach certification and learned the diet they recommended. I tried that diet, too.
And when I looked back, I realized that all of this research in terms of DIET alone (trust me – I learned SO much about being overweight through life coaching…) took me right back to The Obesity Society guidelines for dietary weight loss. Silly me.
The official Obesity Medicine dietary recommendations are not simple to read. Surprised? They state: A variety of dietary approaches can produce weight loss ? including:
All the above state a ?with a prescribed energy deficit.?
What the heck? How does one decipher that list?
Here?s what that means: Create a calorie deficit by either calorie counting or cutting out food groups. It?s really that simple.
And they all work, I?ve tried variations of all of them.
So, here?s how I worked this out in my brain: You can calorie count or you can pick certain foods to cut out of your diet for the rest of your life to lose the weight and keep it off. Do this and you will lose weight and be able to keep it off for life.
Creating a diet that you can stick with is key to long-term weight loss. That?s the problem with fad diets. You can go on the next fad diet and lose weight really quickly but you have no intention or ability to sustain that. How is that helpful in the end? That just creates yo-yoing and more weight gain.
If you look at the list above, diets basically balance carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. And changing those combinations leads to weight loss.
The above list is truly subtle variations if you consider this: the typical American diet consists of over 200 grams of carbohydrate daily. So the specifics in percentage are not that important I have found. Changing to a healthier diet is.
I recommend my weight loss clients simplify this by by starting with what foods you just can?t give up. And the diet that is best for you will become apparent.
Ok, I?m taking cookies, ice cream, chips off the table first. Sorry, ladies, but I always get that reply.
Instead, let?s look at the importance in your diet of 3 main food groups:
Which of the 3 can you ditch first?
Everyone wants to know – what they heck should I eat with these diets? I have tons on my Pinterest and Instagram accounts, check them out: https://www.pinterest.com/DoctorMomE/ and https://www.instagram.com/doctormomem/
It really becomes that simple if you make it that simple. I do want you to notice that I did not ask about carbohydrates. Why is that? You are going to cut back on carbs no matter which diet you pick. As I said above, the American diet is so carbohydrate heavy that carbohydrate elimination is inevitable. Cutting out snacks alone creates a carbohydrate deficit.
The other interesting aspect to note: not a single diet EVER will tell you to cut back on vegetables. Heavy, starchy veggies – maybe. But never leafy greens.
Diets like the Mediterranean and Plant-based approaches allow for beans – beans are not low in carbohydrates. But they are still healthy and goods sources of protein. The amount of carbohydrate in the Paleo diet through starchy vegetables is also not limited enough to be considered a low carbohydrate diet.
If you cannot choose a food group to eliminate, you can always go with creating a calorie deficit through calorie counting. Just remember, calorie counting is for life. And you will need to cut back on portions of those foods either way. Women should aim for 1200-1500 calories a day and men for 1500-1800 calories. For more, check out https://doctormome.com/calorie-counting/
Our minds want to make it way more complicated than it needs to be. Don?t go down that rabbit hole. It just leads to excuses on why you can?t figure out how to lose weight. No thought errors here. You can always tweak your diet later. Pick one and give it a try. See how it makes you feel and your weight loss results.
I recommend my weight loss clients give each diet a 2 week trial before changing anything. And they have to explain to me why they are making the changes they choose. We so often just think that they next diet will be better, be easier, give better weight loss, be less of a change.
And those stem from thought errors. The true thought that matters is finding the best diet for you – a diet that you can stick with for life. No need for perfection – sustainability is way more important in the long run. Pick a diet you can stick with – and stick with it.
If you are interested in working with me to find the best diet for you and lose the weight for life, join me in Weight Loss for Modern American Moms. You can schedule a consult right here https://emilyvinzantmd.as.me/schedule.php