I’m a member of The Plant-Based for Beginners Facebook Group not because I’m a beginner, but because it allows me to address many questions and concerns that Plant-Based Beginners have. I often send links to blog articles that are relevant to specific questions. Common questions involve protein, vitamin B-12, omega 3 fatty acids, soy and mock meats.
One of the most common concerns of people in this group and other groups is their disappointment in reaching their weight loss goals. They typically refer to reaching a weight loss plateau. I never address these concerns for a number of reasons.
Reason 1 – They usually receive an abundance of responses.
Reason 2 – There are usually many responses that introduce the calorie density approach to weight management by Jeff Novick RD. Novick’s approach provides great general guidelines.
Reason 3 – There are myriad reasons for a perceived inability to reach a desired weight. There could very well be medical reasons, and if so, Facebook is hardly the forum to be receiving or giving advice.
Some General Thoughts about Weight Loss/Management
- Set the Right Goals
Setting a weight loss goal is NOT a good idea. As I wrote about at length in the article Get Smart in 2015 – Set Behavioral Goals Not Weight Loss Goals, any goal you set should be a behavior that you can control. Weight Loss is not a behavior, it is a result.
2. Do you need to lose weight?
You may have a high Body Mass Index (BMI), but you may not be overfat. A combination of BMI and Waist-to-Height Ratio will give you a better idea of whether or not weight loss is desirable for you. I recommend reading “Waist-to-Height Ratio and Visceral Fat”.
3. You may have reached equilibrium.
You may have reached a caloric equilibrium based on your current diet and exercise program. You reached a point where the amount of energy (calories) you eat and drink is equal to the amount of energy your body uses. If you reach equilibrium at a healthy weight, that is great! If you determine that you’ve reached equilibrium at a state of over fatness, then following Jeff Novick’s calore density guidelines more strictly might be necessary. You may also increase the frequency, duration and/or intensity of your exercise program.
If you already have taken a calorie density approach to your WFPB diet, and you have no way to increase your physical activity level, then you may be interested in Dr. John McDougall’s Maximum Weight Loss 10-point Checklist.
Chronobiology is a field of biology that studies how our body’s natural cycles – mental, physical and emotional – are affected by solar and lunar rhythms. For example, the circadian rhythm, a 24-hour cycle of physiological processes that happen throughout the human body, is a vital cycle in the study of chronobiology.
Dr. Michael Greger has compiled an impressive amount of research that has led him to conclude that a calorie is not just a calorie. It depends on when it is eaten. (Hint: Don’t skip breakfast.) He shares this research in this series of videos.
If you’d like to learn more about caloric equilibrium, watch this short video by Dr. Doug Lisle.
E Excerpt from Laurie Endicott Thomas’s amazing book Thin Diabetes – Fat Diabetes by clicking here!
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