Eat Less, Do More?

Thrive’s simple, balanced approach to nutrition is a key to reaching your goals and achieving results—whether those goals include fat/weight loss, reversing metabolic damage, or learning what foods best fuel your body for the active lifestyle you desire to live.

Our successful approach:

• Provides an appropriate amount of Calories based upon your goals.

• Fits into your active lifestyle.

• Emphasizes energy-dense whole foods in order to maintain proper energy balance.

• Provides a balanced approach to the three macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates and fat.

Many of us—at one point or another—have cut calories in attempts to lose weight. Perhaps we believed a calorie-restricted diet was key to weight loss. Eat less, do more! Not so. Actually, science proves that continued calorie-restricted dieting causes our metabolic rate to slow down. And when we are in a prolonged state of calorie-restriction, instead of using up our fuel for all our bodily functions, our body stores incoming calories since it thinks it is starving and wants to save every last calorie for survival. Read more here.

Thrive’s goal is to support you in choosing foods that work for you, not against you. In knowing what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat so you can reach your goals without dangerously cutting calories. Our effective nutrition plans are designed to do just this. In fact, they also encourage these four metabolism-boosting “Real Rules of Eating for Weight Loss:"

1. Always Eat Breakfast.

One of the keys to maintaining a trim body is to start the day off with a good hearty meal in the morning. Even if you have to work early, wake up 30 minutes earlier to make time for breakfast. A good nutritious breakfast is the best way to kick-start your metabolism for the rest of the day. Thrive’s abundance of high quality, balanced breakfast recipes keep your energy levels up and your metabolism burning the calories you eat, rather than storing them. It creates the benchmark for the rate at which your body will be burning calories for that day.

If you are not hungry in the mornings, then force-feed yourself. Your lack of appetite is just a sign your metabolism is slow and your body has adapted to years of deprived caloric intake. There is no way that after hours with no food during the night that your body does not require calories when you wake. Over time, once your metabolism increases, you will notice you are once again hungry for breakfast in the mornings.

2. Eat every three hours or so, even if it’s just a snack.

Another key to losing weight and keeping it off is to feed your body consistently, roughly every three hours, even if it’s just a snack. Thrive’s weekly meal plans intentionally break down into three main meals and 2-3 snacks intended for consumption every three hours or so. When your body recognizes it is getting the calories it needs, it stays in “burning mode” instead of “storing mode.” Skipping meals or not eating enough of the right types of foods keeps your stress hormones, such as insulin and cortisol, elevated because your body thinks it is experiencing a famine. Therefore, instead of utilizing the calories consumed, your body will store them.

3. Consume the majority of your calories in the first half of the day.

Think of your body like a furnace. The more fuel you feed it, the more fuel it will burn and the more powerful the engine will be. Thinking that way, it makes sense to feed your body more in the first half of the day. This keeps your metabolism elevated and gives you the energy to get through your daily tasks. Have you said to yourself, “I am really good all day,” in regards to your nutrition. Does that really mean, “I eat very little during the day and then feel so starved by dinnertime that I overeat.”

The mistake a lot of people make is that they don’t eat enough throughout the day, and then at night they sit down to a big meal, only to go to bed with a belly full of food that they can’t burn off. Throughout the day their metabolism slows down to deal with the lack of calories and then at night, it is bombarded with calories it cannot expend—and this is a recipe for weight gain.

4. Drink plenty of water.

Water is absolutely essential for weight loss and overall health. Everything from utilizing our food for energy, to the elimination of waste in our cells, to cellular repair requires water. How much water you drink in a day? Chronic dehydration not only limits your ability to lose weight, but it can also cause poor digestion, constipation, and lethargy to name a few things. Drink plenty of water to ensure your metabolism and your digestive system is running smoothly.

Set aside time this week to consider these four ‘rules’ and reflect on your nutrition. Are you eating to fuel your body for optimal health? Do you eat to perform—to experience steady energy levels, boost your metabolism, feel strong during workouts, experience a good night’s sleep?

Here’s to being one step closer to whole-body health!