How do you use food to fight hunger and improve your health and fitness? During my most recent fat loss journey on March 26, 2018, I kept a journal of my experience with foods that fight hunger and lead to fitness. My fat loss journey lasted for 21 weeks. This blog is about that experience and what I learned from my experience. A fat loss journey has many twists and turns that require the use of your mind, body, and emotions.
Many factors contribute to fat loss, even though the fat loss is as simple as eating less. Eating less is the simple part of the process, but how you eat less is the real question. The process is different for everyone, but there are common factors that apply to all of us. For example – eating less food and being more active causes fat loss for everyone.
Foods you can eat that fight hunger.
During week one, I focused on micronutrients and water. Water is the most critical nutrient for fat loss. Consequently, I made it a habit of drinking plenty of water throughout the day. During the week, I notice that my energy levels, satiety, and digestion of food improved because of drinking water. Also, I ate high-quality, nutrient-dense foods such as spinach, eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, salmon, avocado, ginger, garlic, and turmeric.
Also, I discovered as long as I ate high-quality foods and used spices, my taste buds and satiety improved. Consequently, I used ginger, garlic, basil, olive oil, and salt to create poke bowls. Finally, I made the poke bowls with chopped-up baby spinach, eggs, tomatoes, scallions, shrimp, salmon, and avocado.
Listen to your taste buds and appetite to determine when you are getting the right amount of food and nutrients. There are two types of hunger and cravings. The first type of hunger and cravings comes from not eating enough food. The second type of hunger and cravings comes from not getting the right kind of nutrients and water.
Activities you can perform that lead to fitness.
One thing I have learned about week one was that I had a lot of bad habits. The habits were small, but they were destroying my metabolism. The first thing I did was spend time focusing on standing, walking, and sitting correctly. I was able to increase my energy levels by forcing my body to perform daily activities better.
I incorporated some lessons that my mom had taught me as a child. The lessons were to sit up straight, stand tall, and walk like a king. By performing these daily activities correctly, I improved my posture and increased my energy outflow. I did not know but later found out that a sedentary lifestyle is one of the major factors for obesity. The world health organization stated that the leading causes of obesity are a calorie surplus and a sedentary lifestyle.
The results of my fat loss and fitness journey
On week one of my fat loss journey, I recorded my height, weight, and waistline. My height was 5’5”, weight 193 pounds, and waistline was 41 inches. After the first week, my waistline was 39 inches, and my weight was 190 pounds. I lost two inches on my waistline and three pounds of weight. My results for the first week were auspicious. While the weight loss was real, I suspect the waistline measurements were incorrect.
An empty stomach had more of an impact on my waist than body weight. Bodyweight is a measurement that is a reflection of your entire body. When food moves from one part of the body to another part of the body, this does not affect your body weight. Your waist is a measurement that reflects your stomach fat—sucking in your stomach because of hunger changes your waist measurements. At this point in the process, I did not realize that time affected my results and analysis.
How to use adjustment to your food to fight hunger and improve your fitness
In conclusion, I begin week two by learning how to cause fat loss. I was curious if there was some correlation between fat loss and non-exercise activities (NEAT). Consequently, I separated people into two groups. The two groups were those who had a healthy amount of body fat and those who had too much body fat. As I observed the two groups, a pattern began to emerge.
I found that the group who had a healthy amount of body fat were good at spending energy and the group who had too much body fat were good at saving energy. Little things like the way the groups walked, stood, reached, or sit were vastly different. The group which was good at spending energy was more active at performing the same activities as the group, which was good at saving energy. Based on my observations, I began to think of energy, like money. Just as money could be spent or saved, so could energy.
It took a few weeks before I was able to use and understand how time affected fat loss. Time does not cause fat loss, but it makes fat loss easier. I learned that there was a difference between belly fat and body weight. Just because weight is lost does not mean it is belly fat. Weight loss happens when body fat, belly fat, water, or muscle is lost. Losing weight too fast causes long-term damage to your metabolism and other systems.
