How You Can Lose 50 Pounds In 90 Days

[Surg-OncRN]

Decrease Your Sugar Intake

I know you have heard this before and probably more times than you care to remember, but it works. Depending on your body type you should have the percentage of calories in your diet from carbohydrates be somewhere between 10 and 30%. I must say, it can be hard to separate yourself from carbs since, as sugar burners, we crave them so often. And, let's face it, they are everywhere. They are cheap and convenient, which makes them even more irresistible. But you must resist. I want to challenge you to pull back on the sodas, fruit juice, bread, processed food and items with added sugar. If you are unsure if something has added sugar in it, then read the labels. Even whole wheat bread turns to sugar once you eat it and gets broken down in the digestive tract. Be intentional about lowering the amount of sugar in your diet and carbohydrates and I believe this will make more of a difference for weight loss than anything else you can do.

Increase Your Good Fats

So, I just asked you to decrease your carbohydrates, and many nurses will say "So now what do I eat?!" You have three options: meat (grass-fed, wild-caught), vegetables, and some fruits (remember: beware of your sugar intake). Next, fill in the gaps with "GOOD" fats. Examples of good fats would include coconut oil, avocado and avocado oil, butter (not margarine), almond butter, nuts (avoid peanuts), olives, full- fat yogurt, organic half and half or heavy cream, and egg yolks just to name a few. I don't know about you, but these are some of my favorite foods. "BAD" fats would include vegetable and seed oils such as canola, peanut, soybean, cottonseed, and sunflower oil. These are pro-inflammatory omega six fats which increase inflammation in the body.

The key to any sustainable weight loss strategy is to feel satisfied, or full, while you are on your journey. Fat is how you make that happen. Fat is the key to having your weight loss experience be enjoyable instead of dreadful. Because if it is dreadful, you will not maintain the weight loss once the 90 days is over, or heck, even complete the 90-day challenge. I know fat has gotten a bad rap over the last fifty years, but just try it. You will be glad you did.

Sleep Better

When it comes to weight loss, nobody hardly ever mentions sleep. As nurses, we work all kinds of weird hours and are expected to work longer hours than most other professions. So what does a good sleep routine look like? I would recommend you take 1 to 3 mg of melatonin an hour before bed, wear a sleep mask and keep your bedroom very dark. You should not be able to see your hand in front of your face. Minimize use of electronic devices an hour before bed. I would also suggest blue light blocking glasses and/or put your electronic devices in night mode. Keep the bedroom at 68 to 71 degrees because this helps your body to cool down allowing it to get ready for rest. Don't do any exercise, not even walking, right before you go to bed. Save exercise for when you wake up. Also, limit alcohol before bed since it inhibits your body's ability to get in a deep REM restorative sleep.

Reduce Your Stress

Stress comes at us from many directions in our daily lives. Acute stress is fine for the most part, but it is when it becomes chronic that it becomes a problem. Honestly, by implementing the other four points made in this article, you will greatly reduce your stress level. For myself, I have to pick my battles. Some battles do not need to be fought to win the war (low stress). There are situations and other adults that would get to me in my younger days which I no longer allow to steal my inner peace. I would invite you to try techniques such as guided meditation (start with a few minutes a day), music or if you are feeling stressed go for a walk. Often if I am stressed about something and go for a walk, it will calm me right down as long as I leave my mobile device at home. Sleep, nutrition, and exercise all play a big part in helping you to control your stress levels.

Move More

I know what you're saying, "I move enough at work. Why would I want to move when I am at home or on my days off?" The only reason I give for this is the benefits from movement do not necessarily come from doing it all at once but from doing it frequently throughout the day. In other words, it is not good for you to sit, or stay stationary, for more than an hour at a time. This can consist of doing five minutes of moving around in between forty-five-minute study sessions. Also, I want to say movement does not have to involve lifting weights at a gym or running on a treadmill. Lifting weights is beneficial, but exercise has to be fun. You are the only one who can determine that. If what you are doing for exercise is not fun then it is not sustainable. I still do a lot of exercise on my own because I find that works better for me and offers fewer distractions. But if you have trouble motivating yourself to workout on your own, then I would recommend you workout with a group. Join a meetup group (which are mostly free) that does hiking, kayaking, or yoga. Or you can join a gym or do Crossfit where the workouts are made up for you. Currently, my routine involves forty-five minutes of weight lifting three days a week in a home gym, thirty minutes of walking every day with a twenty-pound weighted vest, and five fifty yard sprints one or two times a week.

I hope you have found this article inspiring and enlightening. Being overweight is not a disease itself, as is commonly believed. In my opinion, it is only a symptom of an unhealthy lifestyle. I understand losing weight is easier for some than others, but I feel confident the choice is yours to choose a healthier lifestyle by applying the five points mentioned above. As nurses, we should know better than any other profession that you do not realize how important your health is until you lose it. Today, I want to invite you to come along on this journey with me to a healthier lifestyle. Don't do it for me, but do it for yourself, your patients, family and anyone who loves and cares for you. It is always easier to prevent a disease now by adopting a healthy lifestyle instead of trying to reverse the damage later.

Check out this helpful video: Meal Prep for Nurses... (added by staff) 

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

But having lost 90 pounds (and kept it off), while eating 100-150g of carbs a day, I hate to see people advocate for one method of weight loss only. People get intimidated by "diets" because most are really strict and therefore intimidating.

100 to 150 grams of CHO per day would be considered a carbohydrate-controlled diet by most standards. It's definitely not low-carb, but anything that falls within the low 100s would be a CHO-controlled diet.

[NotAllWhoWandeRN, ASN, RN]

Some thoughts (in reply to other commenters, but I think the statements stand on their own without going back to dig up quotes).

You cannot spot reduce body fat, with one possible exception. If you have proportionally increased abdominal fat due to insulin resistance, a lifestyle that reduces insulin production and increases insulin sensitivity can help reduce abdominal fat. That's what happened to me when I did low carb at my highest weight. Other than that one possible variable, your body loses fat where it pleases.

Weight loss is absolutely not simply calories in vs calories out, or humanity wouldn't have such difficulty losing weight and keeping it off. The fact that some people can successfully lose weight and keep it off without restricting carbs is a testament to the fact that different people can thrive on different diets, not that low carb diets can't be beneficial. Carbs are not more calorie dense; they have the same calories per gram as protein and much less than fat. But protein and fat take longer to digest and don't usually affect insulin levels (the exception being low carb high protein diets, but that's a different tale), leading to better satiety.

50 pounds in 90 days is absolutely NOT possible in any healthy way for the vast majority of people! Sure, some people are morbidly obese (and the more you have to lose the faster it can come off), but it's rare to find nurses that are. It's all but incompatible with the demands of our work. It's a deficit of nearly 2,000 calories a day, which is a severe and unsustainable practice. A clickbait headline like that undermines the article's otherwise mostly sensible content.

[Wake88, BSN, RN]

Some thoughts (in reply to other commenters, but I think the statements stand on their own without going back to dig up quotes).

You cannot spot reduce body fat, with one possible exception. If you have proportionally increased abdominal fat due to insulin resistance, a lifestyle that reduces insulin production and increases insulin sensitivity can help reduce abdominal fat. That's what happened to me when I did low carb at my highest weight. Other than that one possible variable, your body loses fat where it pleases.

Weight loss is absolutely not simply calories in vs calories out, or humanity wouldn't have such difficulty losing weight and keeping it off. The fact that some people can successfully lose weight and keep it off without restricting carbs is a testament to the fact that different people can thrive on different diets, not that low carb diets can't be beneficial. Carbs are not more calorie dense; they have the same calories per gram as protein and much less than fat. But protein and fat take longer to digest and don't usually affect insulin levels (the exception being low carb high protein diets, but that's a different tale), leading to better satiety.

50 pounds in 90 days is absolutely NOT possible in any healthy way for the vast majority of people! Sure, some people are morbidly obese (and the more you have to lose the faster it can come off), but it's rare to find nurses that are. It's all but incompatible with the demands of our work. It's a deficit of nearly 2,000 calories a day, which is a severe and unsustainable practice. A clickbait headline like that undermines the article's otherwise mostly sensible content.

50 lbs in 6 months!

[Wake88, BSN, RN]

Weight loss is absolutely not simply calories in vs calories out, or humanity wouldn't have such difficulty losing weight and keeping it off. The fact that some people can successfully lose weight and keep it off without restricting carbs is a testament to the fact that different people can thrive on different diets, not that low carb diets can't be beneficial. Carbs are not more calorie dense; they have the same calories per gram as protein and much less than fat. But protein and fat take longer to digest and don't usually affect insulin levels (the exception being low carb high protein diets, but that's a different tale), leading to better satiety.

No, but it's crucial.

It is all about calories in and calories out.

The hard part is having the mental toughness to stick to it.

Also 2,000 calories comes in vastly different forms. And if you're eating empty foods like junk you're not going to feel full or well. This is where chicken, complex carbs like brown rice, and vegetables come in.

And obviously there are exceptions for people with medical issues.

[ItsThatJenGirl, CNA]

Some thoughts (in reply to other commenters, but I think the statements stand on their own without going back to dig up quotes).

You cannot spot reduce body fat, with one possible exception. If you have proportionally increased abdominal fat due to insulin resistance, a lifestyle that reduces insulin production and increases insulin sensitivity can help reduce abdominal fat. That's what happened to me when I did low carb at my highest weight. Other than that one possible variable, your body loses fat where it pleases.

Weight loss is absolutely not simply calories in vs calories out, or humanity wouldn't have such difficulty losing weight and keeping it off. The fact that some people can successfully lose weight and keep it off without restricting carbs is a testament to the fact that different people can thrive on different diets, not that low carb diets can't be beneficial. Carbs are not more calorie dense; they have the same calories per gram as protein and much less than fat. But protein and fat take longer to digest and don't usually affect insulin levels (the exception being low carb high protein diets, but that's a different tale), leading to better satiety.

50 pounds in 90 days is absolutely NOT possible in any healthy way for the vast majority of people! Sure, some people are morbidly obese (and the more you have to lose the faster it can come off), but it's rare to find nurses that are. It's all but incompatible with the demands of our work. It's a deficit of nearly 2,000 calories a day, which is a severe and unsustainable practice. A clickbait headline like that undermines the article's otherwise mostly sensible content.

I agree with most of what you wrote. Perhaps my post wasn't very clear. The point I was trying to make is that there isn't any one, absolute way to successfully lose weight. I don't think weight loss is simple at all, I do think the concept of calories in vs calories out is. I think the reason that so many people have trouble keeping the weight off is because they aren't learning long term, sustainable ways to lose weight that fit into their lifestyle. There are way too many fads out there that people fall into because faster is better.

And you're right, carbs are 4 cals per gram, just like protein. I think, in general, they are easier to over eat because of the lack of satiety.

I have insulin resistance, too.

[ItsThatJenGirl, CNA]

100 to 150 grams of CHO per day would be considered a carbohydrate-controlled diet by most standards. It's definitely not low-carb, but anything that falls within the low 100s would be a CHO-controlled diet.

I didn't know that. I don't intentionally restrict my carbs, that's just where I fall generally. Thanks for teaching me something new!

[Surg-OncRN]

The bold bit is mine.

I'm going to have to vehemently disagree with the bold bit. Losing weight is absolutely about calories in and calories out. It's very basic physics. You need x amount of energy. You eat x amount of energy - if you don't eat enough, you'll use up your reserves (fat). Now, there are obviously conditions that impact the calories out part, because it's all regulated by hormones, but those are the exception, not the rule.

Cutting carbs works for a lot of people, because carbs are calorie dense. So you cut carbs - you cut calories. Foods with heavy carbs are also less satiating because they generally lack fat and protein - both will help you feel fuller, longer.

Calorie counting is the best way to achieve weight loss goals, IMO - because it sets you up for life with an understanding of how much an actual portion is, and what marcos do and why it's important to know what's in your food. People should walk away with the understanding that ice cream isn't going to make you fat. Too much ice cream will though. You can go low carb with calorie counting, or not - it will still work.

I think everyone has to find what works for them, obviously. But having lost 90 pounds (and kept it off), while eating 100-150g of carbs a day, I hate to see people advocate for one method of weight loss only. People get intimidated by "diets" because most are really strict and therefore intimidating. If someone had told me three years ago that I could only lose weight by going low carb, I never would have tried. We need to be sending the message that there are many ways to achieve a calorie deficit and that it should be adjusted to fit your lifestyle.

People need to be educated about realistic goals (how much you can safely lose a week, to eat as much as you can while staying within your calorie goals and how to set appropriate calorie goals - not 1200 a day).

All my opinion, of course.

Thanks for your comment Jen. I will admit calories do matter. If you are able to consume enough coconut oil you will eventually put on weight(but you will be very full and constantly in the bathroom). Fat is actually denser in calories(9 per gram) than carbs ( 4 per gram).

I will agree losing weight is an individual process but there are some tried and true methods that do work for most people. They just have to be applied correctly. Some people can eat whatever they want and never go above 10% body fat. Others will calorie restrict and can not seem to reach there goals. The difference between these two types of people is their hormones.

The issue with counting calories is, it is painful. Most people are not going to want to do it for long. However, if you eat a high fat diet with moderate protein and low carb you can eat as much as you want and never feel hungry. I am not kidding! I can not say the same for the reducing calories approach. You can only reduce them so much. The high fat approach which does not require counting calories is a lifestyle approach. This allows nurses to set it and forget it without having to count calories or restrict them the rest of their lives.

When you take in carbohydrates frequently because you are not feeling full. Your insulin level is constantly being spiked and every time that happens you are hormonally programming your body to store fat instead of getting rid of it.

A lot of people use the calories in calories out approach and they end up miserable and for the most part malnourished because they are not getting sufficient nutrients. Also, when you calorie restrict you drive up your cortisol levels which makes your body feel like it is in a famine. When it feels this way you are not going to be able to drop any body fat.

Hope this helps you to see where I am coming from.

[Surg-OncRN]

I agree.

A lot of people in the medical field do think carbohydrates are essential and that you have to have them. This is not true. You can totally run fine on 20 or 30g of carbohydrates a day. It is difficult to get into ketosis if you are consuming more than 50g of carb a day. Extreme low carb is not for everyone, but I have seen people run marathons fine on very low carb diets. Your body will switch over to ketosis. A lot of people have found burning ketones to be much better for them than burning glucose. They keep their weight down, fasting glucose is low(minimum insulin), and mental clarity is through the roof.

Don't take my word for it, do your own research. One place you can start is do a Google search for Jimmy Moore who does the livin Laveda low-carb show. He has a couple of books out there as well. This guy is amazing and should be very obese, but he is not, because he minimizes carbohydrates. One thing he has found is if you eat too much protein and your body can not use it your body will convert it to glucose. He has done an n=1 test with his blood sugars after each meal and found this to be the case. So if you are on a high fat diet and not getting the result you want you may have too much protein in your diet.

[HockeyMom99]

I'm trying this new way of eating right now. My goal is to eat gluten and dairy free one day. Baby steps

[AutumnApple]

Love this article. I don't know why it took me so long to read it. Better late than never.

There were so many key points that caught my eye. I'd practically rewrite the article if I were to list them all. There was a lot of information in here I didn't know, and I've researched the weight loss thing (a little bit).

Limiting the use of electronic devices before going to bed is the one that stood out most to me. Funny, but I'm in the habit of doing some web surfing just before going to bed. I'll have to tweek that I guess.

Anyway, thanks for the article.

[Surg-OncRN]

Love this article. I don't know why it took me so long to read it. Better late than never.

There were so many key points that caught my eye. I'd practically rewrite the article if I were to list them all. There was a lot of information in here I didn't know, and I've researched the weight loss thing (a little bit).

Limiting the use of electronic devices before going to bed is the one that stood out most to me. Funny, but I'm in the habit of doing some web surfing just before going to bed. I'll have to tweek that I guess.

Anyway, thanks for the article.

AutumnApple, I am so glad you found the article useful. That made my day. Just a side note, a lot of the newer devices have a night mode you can put it in and this will allow you to look at the device without it suppressing your body's natural melatonin production. For example, on my Iphone 6 if you just move your finger up from the bottom of the screen and select the center icon. This puts it into night mode and the screen will turn kind of yellowish. This allows the blue light not to confuse your body into thinking it is day time. Hope this helps.

[sparkeepoo]

have you heard about the Paleo diet?