One of the things we see as a huge problem in the weight loss industry is the focus is almost always placed exclusively on weight loss alone. You can join one of the largest weight loss groups in the country, pay your monthly fees and still not find true success in achieving a healthy body, specifically because they only concentrate on helping you in getting to a goal weight instead of a goal body fat percentage. At David’s Way to Health and Fitness, we want you to concentrate on achieving a healthy body fat level over reaching a random weight. You might reach your goal weight when following any of the popular programs, yet still have an entirely too high percentage of body fat. What you weigh is meaningless when you are what we refer to as being “skinny fat”. Being skinny fat is when by outward appearances you are at an ideal body weight, yet you are still soft and pudgy from still carrying too much fat. In fact, being skinny fat is worse than just being obese simply because most skinny fat people do not recognize they have a problem. After all, if you are over the age of thirty and weigh what you did as a senior in high school, all is well, right?
Not necessarily!
Here in lies a humongous problem, nutrition is similar to religion in that it is visceral. People can get too caught up in what feels good over using intelligence and common sense. It feels good to lose weight, and many take it as a matter of faith that a pound lost is a pound lost, while not caring where the pound lost came from. They do not care, or do not understand, there is a huge difference in a pound of water being lost over a pound of actual fat being lost. All they want to see is the number on their scale dropping which makes them feel good. These people will always find themselves let down when that pound of water weight is replaced as soon as they begin consuming and retaining fluids. Water weight loss is meaningless when it comes to what is important. What is important is losing your body fat to a healthy level for your body.
To get at a healthy level of body fat and remain there, we need to first understand something. Obesity is not just a matter of simple weight gain.
Obesity is an accumulation of excess body fat!
If you want your weight loss to mean anything, then you must understand that your priority must be focused on achieving a healthy level of body fat over a random weight number that just “seems” to be right. Some of the major weight loss groups will help you to get to a weight that places you in a healthy range within the Body Mass Index scale, yet you might still be “skinny fat” and unhealthy. To be healthy, you have to concentrate on losing body fat, not just weight.
Through interactions with our own followers at David’s Way to Health and Fitness, and through the study of several weight loss programs, it is astounding that there are so many people who have little grasp of what makes up their weight and what to do about it. Your body weight is comprised of more than one factor; water content, fat content, muscle content and your structural components such as bones, tendons and ligaments. If you want to simplify this, look at your body as two parts, pure body fat and lean body mass for the rest.
If you are trying to figure out your ideal weight, quit looking for a mystical number you believe is going to make you look and feel good about yourself. Concentrate on getting to and maintaining a healthy body fat percentage. You can refer to our Pictorial Body Fat Estimator here to see where you need to be. Fifteen percent is a good goal for men, while twenty two percent is a good percentage for women.
In today’s America, the average man has 23% or higher levels of body fat, while the average woman’s body fat is 32% or higher. This means the average male is 53% fatter than he should be while the average woman is 50% fatter than what is healthy. Somewhere along the way, we Americans have become some of the fattest people on the face of the earth. And why would this be?
This is simply because too many people, including so-called experts, have no true understanding of the relationship between diet and fat loss!
This really helped me out. I have an issue that arises. No matter what I eat I occasionally bloat to the fact it makes me look pregnant. My doctor ran many test we eliminated many foods, yet I bloated with many different kinds of foods. The test were liver, cat scan, colonoscopy, Eli mating different item. The issue still remains, I take thyroid meds as they completely took out my thyroid, blood pressure med and Cholesterol. My cholesterol isn’t too high just barely high enough for meds my blood pressure isn’t high all the time either on very low dose of it. It’s not gas build up my doctor said. Can you help me figure out this issue?
Hi Sandra! I’m glad you are working with your doctor on this issue, and pray it is not a medical issue and can be fixed through dietery changes. This can be a very complex issue caused by possibly more than one trigger. Have you ruled out being gluten and or lactose intolerant? These two conditions can definetly cause bloating.
When you eliminated foods, for how long did you eliminate them?
Have you tried removing all foods from your diet that contain gluten?
Have you tried removing all foods that contain lactose?
If you have tried eliminating foods, I would presume you only did one group at a time to know for sure what food could cause you troubles.
Are consuming carbonated beverages, or eating lots of cruciferous vegetables?
There are many causes to this problem, we have published an article dealing directly with bloating issues that might help you. It is found at this link: https://davidsway.blog/2019/02/20/tips-to-beat-bloating/
Sandra, when you bloat, for how long does this problem last? Also, how much does your fluxuate when you are bloated? You could be having a problem with fluid retention. My co-author and web partner Brenda Sue will likely have a few questions and possibly some advice too. We were discussing this earlier today. Check out the link to our article and lets see if we can get this figured out for you.
David
Sandra, if you would, please give our way of eating a try for a couple months and see how you feel. You can find our simple to follow plan here: https://davidsway.blog/category/uncategorized/davids-way-plan/
We advocate cutting out all added refined sugars, all foods that contain simple carbohydrates, along with all processed foods. Check out our Calorie Counter Pro here:https://davidsway.blog/calorie-counter-pro/ to figure out how many calories you need each day to lose or maintain your weight, and then begin tracking what you eat each day. This is really simpe to do, and I believe you will find it makes a difference for how you look and feel. You need to consume about 125 grams of complex carbohydrates per day along with about 140 grams of protein and make up the rest of your calories through healthy fats such as Omega 3 rich olive or coconut oils.
David
David, I cut out different types of foods lactose, gassy , but not gluten . I cut them out for about three weeks at a time as I don’t bloat daily. To answer your size issue I will pm you pics. It usually last about a day and I drink lots of cold water. I started mixing 1/4 cup chia seeds in can coconut milk and adding strawberries and blue berries. Thinking probiotics will help also eating yogurt. I will try you food suggestions and read the blog on bloating thank you very much.
Hi Sandra! First of all, thank you for reading and commenting on Davids Way. I deal with this issue. Something that has helped me is to keep a food diary. I track every bite that I eat to keep my weight and body fat within a desirable range. If I bloat, I can look back at my food log and see if something that I ate may have contributed to the bloating. I absolutely do not consume anything carbonated. Carbonation will usually cause bloating in almost anybody. Although beans are a wonderfully healthy food, by tracking my food intake, I have discovered that I tolerate red beans better than most other beans. I still limit my consumption of even those however, because beans are notorious for causing bloating. Cruciferous vegetables will also cause bloating in many people, again, a group of very healthy foods. Some of these foods are broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, radishes, rutabegas and turnips. Most sugar alcohols, any artificial sweetener other than erythritol, that ends with “tol”, such as maltitol, xylitol and sorbitol are terrible to cause bloating. I do not consume them. Chewing gum and drinking through a straw cause you to swallow air which will blow you up like a balloon! Eating fast will also cause you to gulp air and the bloating is soon to follow. As David said, sugar and salt willl contribute to water weight and that will contribute to bloating. The most important thing where this medical issue is concerned is to be under a medical doctor’s care. It sounds like you are taking care of that. Make sure to keep him in the loop. The food diary is critical because sometimes just a few extra pounds looks like more if we bloat. By monitoring your food intake, you will know how many calories you are eating and you may carve a pound or two off of your abdomen. Just a couple of pounds on top of a distended abdomen makes you look a lot bigger. Conquering bloating can be like putting a jigsaw puzzle together, you have to search for the right piece of the puzzle, but when you find it, you know. I sent you a friend request on FB. I will be happy to do anything that I can to help you with this issue. Again, keep your medical doctor involved. Bloating can be a symptom of some serious problems, but with a little attention to the details of your nutrition, you can most likely discover the culprit behind this annoying problem.
Sandra, by keeping a food diary, you may discover that raw fruits and vegetables will bloat you. I eat them sparingly.