Olive Oil

Question
Hello there,

I am currently trying to lose weight and am trying to eat healthier, but I'm finding I'm not losing as many pounds as I would like (7 pounds in 3 months while exercising 4 times a week). I eat fairly healthily throughout the day (I eat as "naturally" as I can; nuts, lean meats, whole grains, oats, greek yogurt...)until dinner. At dinner time I usually eat something cooked in a pan with olive oil (i.e. blackened salmon with steamed veggies). I'm just wondering if you knew if that was especially unhealthy. It's hard for me to avoid cooking food in a pan, so if using olive oil is possibly what is causing me to lose weight, are there any alternatives? What is your opinion of olive oils sprays as a subsitute?

Thank you for your help!

Answer
Hi Leanne,

Great question!

When it comes to losing weight, there are so many factors above and beyond just diet and exercise. Common problems people have that stop them from losing weight include thyroid and other hormonal problems, chronic stress, lack of sleep (or working night shifts/staying up all night), toxicity, and of course diet is a huge one as well.

If you are working out 4 times a week and have lost 7 pounds, I would guess that you've probably lost at least 10-15 pounds of actual fat and gained several pounds of muscle. Muscle is much denser and heavier than fat, so even though you may have gotten skinnier, you could still be putting on quite a bit of muscle due to working out. So that could be one of the reasons why you may feel like you haven't lost as much weight as you should. Trust me, if that's the case and you've built up extra muscle, then you are indeed in very good shape.

Other things that could cause you to retain extra weight include toxicity and poor digestion. If you haven't tried a natural, gentle cleansing program, or juice cleanse, then I would recommend trying that for 2-7 days. Just make sure your cleanse is 100% all natural, no drugs or strong laxatives are needed, just fresh whole foods or juices and lots of water to help your body clean itself out. The average American has 12 pounds of feces stuck in their gut and even though you may be eating healthy, it can still take some time or a gentle cleanse to help eliminate all that extra waste. And once you do, you will find losing weight becomes much easier and faster because your digestion and elimination will be much improved.

To answer your question about olive oil, I wouldn't recommend it if you're trying to lose weight. Any kind of oil, no matter what source, is hyper-concentrated calories. My favorite is coconut oil, but even that is still concentrated calories and for someone trying to lose weight, the best bet is to cook using a small amount of water. If you have to use oil to prepare your meal, use just a teaspoon so that you're not getting a ton of extra calories. Once you're down to your ideal weight, then you can add in more natural olive or coconut oil and see if you can still maintain it.

I do not recommend any kind of fake oil or spray substitutes - just go with the natural stuff if you're going to use oil. You can buy an olive oil spritzer if you like to make it easier to oil the pan with only a small amount.

I hope that helps!

You can get a lot more of our natural weight loss tips in our newsletter for free at www.AuthenticHealthCoach.com

Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help you.

Wishing you wellness,
Tom

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