Strategies I Wish I Knew Before I lost 40 Lbs

Hi. Today I'm going to share exactly how long it took me to lose 40 pounds of stubborn weight that had not come off for decades, and what I wish I had known before so I didn't have to wait so long to get started on my 40 pound weight loss. Because once it started, it went fast. Hi, I'm Nagina Abdullah, and I am a weight loss and metabolic coach for women over the age of 45. And I am here to help you get the weight off because I've been through it myself. So it took me only nine months to lose £40 and to get to the body of my dreams. And when I was in that nine months, it was the most thrilling time of my life because nothing had ever worked as quickly or as easily as it did when I started making the changes I just hadn't known about before. So I want to share what those changes were, what I wish I had known for decades before, because I actually could have gotten the weight off and kept it off. And that's the difference with when I lost this £40 pounds. Not only did I lose it in nine months, but I kept it off. And it's been over a decade now since I've kept it off. And so I want to teach you exactly about the things that I wish I knew that would have made it easier. And that did make it easy once I got started. Okay, so the first thing I did is that I stopped feeling and stopped doing all the cardio that I had been doing for decades. I had been running, I had been sprinting, I had been doing the bike, I had been walking. I've been doing kind of like high intensity interval exercise training classes. And the thing is, I just hated cardio to begin with, but I forced myself to do it because I thought, oh, my God, I'm burning fat. I am going to be. I'm sweating. Something must be happening in my body that's, that's burning body fat. And so I kept up with that, with that regimen, and it just didn't have the effect that I wanted it to. And so what I wish I knew and what I started doing to help me lose the, the 40 pound in the nine months is that I started, first of all, realizing that the more important thing to focus on than exercise was what I was eating, because what went into my body was the most important part of weight loss. In fact, there's so many studies that show that 80% of weight loss is based on our, on what we eat, and that is raising our metabolism. And so I started Focusing very diligently on the types of food I was eating. And I'll talk to you in tip number three about how it wasn't calorie cutting. Okay. And so the other thing I started doing is when I started exercising, instead of focusing on cardio, I started doing strength training and I started lifting heavy weights. So heavy weights means weights that you can lift for about 10 reps, 10 to 12 reps, and then you're tired. So I would do three to four sets of 10 to 12 reps. And that started helping me build muscle. I never got bulky. In fact, it's really hard to get bulky. But I was able to build more tone and muscle, and that increased my metabolism even more than only food alone. But I started by eating right, and then I. And then I layered on lifting. And so I basically did about three workouts a week that were 45 minutes of 30 to 45 minutes of lifting and then 10 to 15 minutes of walking or jogging. So I put a little bit of cardio in there, but not that much. And I focused more on the strength training and lifting heavy, and that completely changed my body recomposition. So I had less body fat because my muscle helped me burn more body fat. And then the food that I was eating helped me burn more body fat. And I had. And I had less body fat, more muscle, which is an ideal direction to go. Another thing that I did is that instead of counting my calories and eating so much less, I actually started eating more. Because what I found is that as I was getting older, my body actually wasn't responding to lower calories. And so I actually needed to eat more so that I could raise my metabolism higher. And so I stopped restricting myself. I stopped really feeling hungry and feeling starving, and I actually focused on eating more of the right foods that were increasing my metabolism. And because I was eating more of those foods, my body was able to absorb more nutrients, more vitamins, more minerals that it needed to actually burn fat. And so, you know, I didn't eat more sugary foods. I didn't eat more junk foods. I didn't eat more processed foods. I ate more real foods. And I'm going to talk to you in, in a couple moments about what those were. Okay? And then the next thing that I did is that I started eating for blood sugar balance and not for caloric restriction. So I didn't focus on caloric restriction. I didn't focus on cutting my calories. I focused on keeping my blood sugar even. And the reason that I found that this was so important is because when our blood sugar spikes up and down, usually from eating unhealthy foods that are either broken down to sugar or just full of sugar, what happens is that every time your, your blood sugar spike, then your body brings it down by releasing insulin, which stores that extra sugar in your cells as fat. And so it's really, really important to have a blood sugar that's even all day, not only for your weight, but also for your energy. You start to feel more energy, you start to want to do things more. You're not, you're not getting that 2pm slump. And so you actually have more productivity. And so that's why, you know, eating for blood sugar balance will actually help reduce body fat. And we know need to eat the right calories, especially after the age of 40, because that's when our body is, needs the absorption of nutrients even more. We're not getting that absorption as much as we were years before. Okay. You know, so the things that I ate for blood sugar balance, and these are also the things to eat more of that I was mentioning earlier, are that I started eating more protein. So I started eating over 100 grams of protein a day, in fact around 120 grams of protein a day. And all this means, it's actually not very hard, but all this means is that you're eating about 30 to 40 grams of protein at every single meal. Okay. And if you are someone that eats meat or fish, it's really easy to do that. All you have to do is get a five or six ounce piece of meat or fish, and that's going to give you 30 to 40 gram grams of protein in the morning. If you have two eggs plus a cup of egg whites, that would give you that, or if you have a scoop of protein powder or if you have Greek yogurt with collagen, those are all different ways to get that protein amount. And this is the number one way that you are going to have an eating even blood sugar is by eating more protein, which helps to balance out your blood sugar and lower blood sugar effects from other foods that you're eating. The other thing that I changed was that I started eating healthier carbs, or what I call slimming carbs. So these are carbs that don't spike your blood sugar as much as the unhealthy carbs. So instead of eating breads, pastas, rice, I started eating more foods that were beans, lentils, sweet potatoes, zucchini or squash. Ezekiel bread, if I felt like having bread, because those have more fiber and Protein. And so they're going to help to create a lower blood sugar throughout the day and a more even blood sugar, which will create more fat burning. Okay. And then finally, one of the most important things that I also did was that I made weight loss fun. This was so important, and this is why I've been able to keep it off for over a decade now, is because I made weight loss exciting. I didn't make it restrictive. I didn't make it dreadful. I thought in my mind, you know, I know I need to lose this weight, but the way that I'm going to lose it is it only if I can make it fun. And so the way that I made it fun was number one, by adding spices to my food. I loved flavors. I loved my food to taste good, and so I wanted to add those flavors and those tastes. I found that spices have more metabolic effects even beyond food. So what will happen is if you add a little bit of cinnamon in your coffee or tea, you're going to lower your blood sugar from the cinnamon. If you add turmeric to your eggs along with black pepper, which increases the absorption, well, turmeric is going to actually help you decrease inflammation and decrease puffiness in your face and in your belly. And if you. If you add cumin, cumin decreases belly fat. And so not. These are just a handful of spices I'm sharing with you that. That have metabolic effects. But so many spices have effects. And so if you start adding them into your. Into your day, into your food, not only are you going to lose weight faster, but your food is also going to taste good and you're going to be excited about what you're doing. The other way that I made it fun was that I made sure that I wasn't hungry. I made sure that I was eating enough. And then when I would watch my scale drop every week, I was so excited because I couldn't believe that I was able to eat so much, yet lose so much weight. And so really changing my mindset around weight loss, being restrictive and dreadful, to being abundant and fun and fulfilling, that made me so excited to not only lose the weight, but to keep it off after that for so long. Now, I am so happy that you are here. I would love it if you would subscribe if you haven't already. And this is because it's so important that I'm going to be putting out so much important content every day, every single week for you. And I don't want you to miss out because I'm sharing secrets that I often only share with my clients who pay thousands of dollars to work with me. And I want you to be able to get as much as you can right here from my YouTube videos. So definitely subscribe. And if you are someone that is looking to lose weight that is stubborn, book a call with me. Check out the description below. We can talk about your challenges, we can talk about your goals, and I can talk to you about one of my programs that can absolutely help you. So book a call@massage salab body.com apply and we can have a quick 10 minute chat. And if I feel like I can help you, then I'll tell you about my programs and we'll set up a longer call. Now until my next video. Check this video out where I'm going to be talking to you about more strategies so that you can lose weight naturally, quickly and easily. Thank you so much.