Wanting to lose weight isn’t a bad goal. But, we need to talk about everything that comes with how you’re losing weight. We need to rethink weight loss. I actually don’t think the term “weight loss” serves us well at all. In this episode, I talk about how you can rethink weight by considering your body’s recomposition, regular strength training, and eating macronutrients consistent with your body type and goal.   Rethink Weight Loss By Pre- and post-workout nutrition is key Increase your protein consumption Strength training up to 5 days per week Hit your 10,000-step goal daily   Rethinking Weight Loss Before you can even start to think about losing weight, I encourage you to think about recompsitioning your body. Essentially, that’s changing the components of your body weight. You need to consider your actual fat stores but also your lean muscle mass.  So many weight loss programs and diets don’t focus on the right things for sustainable weight loss. There are so many factors to consider: your current Basal Metabolic Rate, your body type, the best macronutrient split for your body, and your current lean muscle mass.   Successful Weight Loss Did you know that when you lose weight, up to a 20% regain is still a successful loss? With regular strength training and proper nutrition, you can reduce this percentage for a more sustainable weight loss. Maintaining your lean muscle mass is essential for successful weight loss. Another problem with most diets is that they don’t consider the differences in how men and women lose weight while maintaining lean muscle. Finally, I talk about fasting, another popular diet trend, and whether it’s actually effective. Have you struggled with losing weight before? What types of fad diets have you used? Let me know in the comments on the episode page.   In This Episode  Why the term “weight loss” doesn’t serve us well [4:00] What body recomposition is [5:45] Why exercise alone is not the most effective weight loss strategy [9:15] The importance of macronutrients in weight loss [11:00] Why you have to maintain your lean muscle mass for successful weight loss [14:00] How your protein requirement helps define your goals [15:00] How women gain lean muscle mass [20:30] When fasting is appropriate when you’re trying to change your body composition [26:00]   Quotes “Our weight is actually just the gravitational pull on the Earth. That’s all it is. It’s literally a gravitational pull on the Earth. That is our weight. It defines our mass. It doesn’t define how much muscle we have, how much body fat we have, it doesn’t even define how heavy our heart is.” [2:21] “In order for us to optimize our health, we have to be really smart by the strategies we use to change our body composition. To “lose weight.” The reason why is because I’ve seen far too many people using traditional styles of weight loss and then coming to me completely deconditioned and unable to tolerate much food because their Basal Metabolic Rate has decreased so significantly.” [4:54] “Body recomposition is when we prioritize maintaining and/or gaining lean muscle mass, and we work on, potentially, decreasing body fat.” [7:26] “We allow 20% of the weight loss as a regain to be considered successful.” [12:08] “In my experience over the past five years, the women who have had the most sustainable “weight loss” have preserved and/or gained muscle mass. They have done it by eating in a way where they have optimized their protein.” [14:46] “When we rethink weight loss, what we really want to decide on is how we keep all of the good stuff that’s going to serve us, and if we do want to lose weight, how do we make it so that we’re losing stuff that will be better off off of us.” [24:48]   Resources Mentioned Transform 5.0 Check out the full episode page here Find Life Coaching for Women Physicians Online Follow Dr. Ali Novitsky on Facebook | Instagram  Subscribe to Life Coaching for Women Physicians on Apple Podcasts Podcast production by the team