Signs you should slow down your weight loss

Hello!

Here are some signs that you may be pushing your body or brain too hard to lose weight–and are at risk for sabotaging your long-term results or health. If any of these sounds like you, don’t worry. Just slow down. Even losing 1/4 pound of fat per week is a whole stick of butter off your body!

Signs you should slow down:

• You find yourself “blowing it” too often.

Here’s why: Burning fat inevitably involves lowering blood sugar, but if your blood sugar goes too low for too long, your will power suffers. Research suggests you’ll “blow it” and eat back more calories than you suffered to burn in the first place.

• You’ve become dull, depressed, dizzy or dumb.

Your mood, memory, creativity, sense of humor and general brain function are very sensitive to your blood sugar, which is the brain’s main fuel. It can suffer when that fuel gets too low. Getting dizzy is dangerous–especially while driving!–so have a small carbohydrate snack, like a few crackers, if that ever starts to happen.

• Your inner athlete is sidelined.

Injuries, constant soreness or lethargy might mean you are undernourished or undereating. Burning fat (which requires lower blood sugar) while remaining energetic (which requires higher blood sugar) is admittedly tricky, so come talk to us if you are struggling.

• You are losing strength.

Losing too much muscle is bad for health and long-term results because it means losing metabolism, strength, immunity, blood sugar control, and healthy tissue. Muscle is always good weight. Slower weight loss helps preserve it.

Everybody is so very different when it comes to how quickly they can lose weight–without losing their muscle, brain power, or sanity. Even if you are losing weight at the recommended 1/2 to 2 pounds per week, it might still be too fast for YOUR best long-term results. If so, don’t get discouraged. It’s the turtle and hare story, and you’d rather run the race ONCE slowly than run it repeatedly as a yo-yoing hare.

I know…having patience is hard. But worth it!

Have a good week,

Jill