The Modern Concepts "Do's and Don'ts" of Weight Loss.

By now we've all heard about the fad diets, high intensity interval training, studies on cardio vs. weight lifting for weight loss etc. A lot of these strategies have yielded awesome results for a lot of people and have become widely accepted strategies. However, just because something is widely accepted, doesn't mean it's universally true. Below you will find a list of the weight loss strategies Modern Concepts supports, and the ones we do not. Keep in mind that these opinions are not meant to attack anyone who has implemented the strategies; only you know what has worked for you! We're simply outlining the strategies we've implemented in our practice, as well as outlining the ones we tend to stay away from.

The Modern Concepts "DO" List For Weight Loss:

1. ​Consult the advice of licensed physician! Weight Management is a product of metabolic function (in simple terms: the way our body converts energy). As you can imagine, metabolic function can be affected by a large variety of factors including stress, diet, hormone regulation (mentioned below), exercise, body composition, genetics etc. Therefore, it can be tough to find an article or two that addresses all of these factors on the internet. The best thing to do? Consult a licensed physician who has the necessary experience and education to tackle your metabolic function on all of these levels.
2. Get your thyroid and hormone levels checked. After consulting your physician, be sure to ask them if it's appropriate to get your thyroid and hormone levels checked. Hormones regulate most of the metabolic processes in the body, impacting our moods (i.e serotonin), energy levels (testosterone), sleep cycles (melatonin), digestion (insulin) etc. There's even a hormone that aids in burning fat called leptin. All of these hormones are regulated by the thyroid, meaning if the thyroid is not functioning properly, the hormones and the processes they regulate will all be "out of whack".
3. Track what you eat! There's an old adage that says weight loss is 80% what you eat, and 20% what you do in the gym. We couldn't agree more. It doesn't matter if you work out 6 times a week if you're eating fast food 6 times a week afterwards. When we eat fast food,  our body is using those nutrients to repair the muscles and tissue we just exercise. French fries don't build strong muscles!
4. Think about your gut! Most people don't know that their intestines contain over 15lbs of bacteria. Not all bacteria is bad! In fact, most of the bacteria in our guts is very good at removing toxins, producing energy, and aiding the immune system. However, when the balance between "good" bacteria and "bad" bacteria is altered, so are all of the healthy benefits of  optimal "gut health". You can address this imbalance with probiotic supplements, but before you do so, ask your doctor if they think it is appropriate.

The Modern Concepts "DONT" List for Weight Loss:

1. NEVER insult yourself about your image, your health, or your lack of progress. You are not weak, you simply have something to work on. Modern Concepts believes that weight loss is actually more of a mental and emotional transformation than it is a physical one. It's about goal setting... minor changes that add up over time...consistency not "swinging for the fences". Chasing a health goal should be exciting and positive, not making you question your self-worth.
2. Don't Starve Yourself! There's no question: weight loss comes down to caloric deficit (burning more calories daily than calories taken in). However, you can accomplish a caloric deficit and still eat 5 meals a day. What's more important is what you're eating with your 5 meals per day.  Additionally, drastically cutting your caloric intake will actually be counterintuitive.  When we starve our selves, our body actually goes into "starvation mode" and slows our metabolic function to conserve calories for as long as possible. Therefore, we are taking in less calories, but we are also decreasing the rate at which we are burning them. So what happens? We get frustrated, and abandon the diet 14 days, and give into our cravings, and we're back to square one.​
3. Don't get "cardio-crazy"! Cardio burns calories, not fat. What's the difference? When you're running on a treadmill, your body is responding to cardiac stress by burning the calories you have in your system. These are not always "stored" calories. Often times, it's the carbs we had for lunch, that are still being converted into energy that get burned first. Therefore one could run on the treadmill for an hour, and burn 400 calories, and still not lose weight if they had 200 calories in their system that were readily available. Also, our bodies burn different types of calories at certain heart rates. Higher heart rates burn carbs, mid range heart rates burn fats. Cardio is important for cardiovascular health, don't get us wrong! We're just saying that cardio alone, will not cause you to loose weight.

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