Thriving through Menopause Podcast
Welcome to the Thriving through Menopause Podcast. We are dedicated to helping you navigate the transformative journey of menopause and perimenopause with grace, confidence, and empowerment.
Together, we'll explore a wide range of topics aimed at supporting your physical and emotional well-being during this significant life stage.
Each episode, we'll provide practical tips and strategies that you can adopt and implement.
Listen in and join me on this empowering journey.
Thriving through Menopause Podcast
43. 5 Life-Changing Weight Loss Hacks
Feeling like your weight loss journey has stagnated? Transform your mindset and behavior with these life-changing hacks!
Learn the power of the Delboeuf illusion to manage portion sizes more effectively, discover how waking up 30 minutes earlier for some daylight can impact your BMI, and harness the strength of positive affirmations to align your mindset with your health goals.
We will also discuss my personal tips for keeping a food journal to ensure consistency and track progress, and the power of thinking in terms of addition rather than restriction by incorporating more fruits, vegetables, and proteins into your diet.
Embrace the transformative journey of menopause with insights from the latest episode of Thriving Through Menopause.
We invite you to stay connected with us through social media for additional resources and tips. Don't forget to subscribe, share, and review the podcast to support your ongoing health and wellness journey.
Join us next time for more valuable insights and support!
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Hi everyone. In this video, I would love to share with you five weight loss hacks that have helped me along my journey. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Dr Inaka Yembe. I'm a board certified family medicine physician. I'm very passionate about helping people lose weight and achieve their health and their wellness goals, and this is really based on it. Started off with my personal history. I used to be that 300 pound person and I have learned so much along the way, and one of the things that I learned that I put together for this video is the weight loss hacks. These are some tips that you can keep in your back pocket and pull them out here, here and there, and they will help you, hopefully, as they help me along my weight loss journey.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Thriving Through Menopause podcast. Dr Inaka Yembe, your host, is dedicated to helping you navigate the transformative journey of menopause and perimenopause, particularly focused on achieving menopausal weight loss and reducing belly fat. As a post-menopausal physician herself who has helped thousands of women experiencing the significant life stage, she understands the unique challenges you face. Listen in as we explore a wide range of topics aimed at supporting you in your health and wellness journey. Hopefully, the practical tips and strategies offered potentially help you adopt an empowering approach towards menopausal weight loss and belly fat reduction. And now here's your host, dr Inaka Yembe.
Speaker 1:The very first one is to eat from a smaller plate. Studies have shown over and over again that smaller plates lead to smaller portions. The theory about this is a powerful optical illusion and it's actually known as the Delboff illusion. The illusion works because when we think things are smaller, then we compare them to things that are larger. And you can actually try this. Take a big plate and a small plate. Take a piece of meat and put on that big plate. It looks so small so you almost feel like you need to put something more to fill up that space. But if you take the same piece of chicken and put it on a much smaller plate, then all of a sudden that plate looks already full and you will not be that inclined to add any more food to that small plate. That is called the Del Boff illusion, so I always recommend to my patients to use a salad plate, a small plate, to eat with, at all times. Studies also show that people who eat from smaller plates tend not to go for seconds. So that's my very first tip eat from a smaller plate. Now the second tip is another interesting one Wake up 30 minutes earlier. Of course. You've heard all the time we say, go to sleep and spend at least six to eight hours sleeping, because we know those hormones that are responsible for your hunger and your satiety. Those are actually produced while you're sleeping. Yes, we know that, but did you know that not only the hours of sleep that you may get each night matters, but actually when you wake up too? Studies now show that people who wake up and spend at least 20 minutes in the morning getting some daylight actually end up having a lower BMI. So I encourage you to wake up early in the morning. Now on to tip number three practice positive affirmations. I have a patient who told me that once she got her mind right, then her actions followed what she was thinking and her body seemed to fall into place and she lost the weight. That's so true. What you think and what you believe is going to direct your actions. Actions will follow your thinking. So you want to practice positive affirmations. Because number one tell yourself you can. I actually recommend to my coaching clients to practice positive affirmation every morning and possibly every evening. Tell yourself you can tell yourself you're strong, you're beautiful, you can eat healthy, you are healthy. Why? Because the things that you think and believe will direct your actions. So it's very important to practice these positive affirmations. My tip number four is actually almost in the same direction Keep a food journal, especially when you're starting off your journey.
Speaker 1:Keeping a food journal is important Number one. Writing down what you've eaten gives your brain a message that you are on this journey. People who keep journals tend to be more consistent. People who keep journals tend to check themselves when they sort of deviate from their eating plan and they have to write it down. It's a mental check-in, okay. So I recommend that you write down, keep a food journal, especially when you first start off. Now, usually when most people start off, they are more compliant, more motivated, they tend to do all those right things and so the weight comes off. So that food journal will also serve for you If you fall off track. I don't like to use that word, but you know we're human beings. We're never a hundred percent accurate. But when you deviate from your journey, you can always go back to that food journal and use it. Like you've heard the quote success leaves clues. Success leaves clues. So anytime you're successful, if you had journaled it, then if you start to fall back, you can always go and look at your journal and then get some ideas from there of what worked for you. So keeping a food journal is so important, especially at the beginning of your journey. Now, the last one is that we want to think in terms of addition. So always think in terms of addition.
Speaker 1:Anytime that I'm talking to my patient about this healthy eating, I tell them not the macros, but I break it down into the food groups. So generally you've heard of macros proteins, carbohydrates and fat but in reality it's difficult sometimes to grasp, to wrap your mind around these macros. So practically in my clinic we talk about the different food groups so fruits, vegetables, proteins, and then the grains, all the dairy products, and then condiments and everything else that you may drink. And so when I go through these different food groups with patients and I try to individualize it, because not everybody likes the same things and I tell them okay, you probably want to consume more of this and you probably want to consume less of this, and some patients just say, well, you've taken away everything. Now I'm left with nothing. Now I want you to change that.
Speaker 1:My number five tip for you if you start on a healthy lifestyle change think about addition and not of subtraction, because most of the time we say I can't eat this, I'm not going to eat this. No sugars, no sodas, no this, no that. No, let's not do that. Let's start thinking okay, I'm going to eat more vegetables. Okay, I'm going to eat more protein, more fiber, more water. Think in terms of more, because it just makes you relax and it just takes away some of that anxiety that you may have when you start off on a health and wellness journey. So I hope these tips help you. They definitely helped me along my journey.
Speaker 1:I am about, I would say, about 121 pounds less than my heaviest weight. That really took several years to happen and I'm currently keeping the weight off. Give yourself time, some time, a lot of time, actually a lifetime. Everything that you're doing now, it needs to be what you can do for the rest of your life, so it needs to be sustainable, but it needs to be reasonable. Also, don't get stuck in your ways and say this is the way I do things, so I cannot change. In order to see a change in my body, I have got to change the things that I am doing. All right, my friends, that's it. Thank you for listening and thank you so much for watching. All right, my friends, thank you, thank you and have a fantastic week ahead. Thank you, bye.
Speaker 2:Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Thriving Through Menopause. We hope you found valuable insights and practical advice to support your journey. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast, share it and review. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Remember, menopause doesn't have to be a challenge. It can be an opportunity for growth, renewal and self-care. Connect with us on social media, where we share additional resources, tips and advice to help you along your path. Once again, thanks for listening in and we hope you'll join us again on the next episode of Thriving Through Menopause. Until then, Thank you.