Eat Yourself Thin
Sounds easy doesn’t it? I’d love to be able to tell you it is but, as with anything that’s worth doing, it’s tough to stick to a healthy weight loss plan. There are quick fixes in fitness and you’re sure to have heard about or tried one or more of them yourself. Some of them may have even worked for you but quick fixes are the lazy man’s way and they are only ever temporary at best if they work at all.
The only way to lose weight and keep it off permanently is to use a mixture of cardio training and calorie controlled eating. However, the cardio work will only get you so far if you don’t take care of the basics first – your nutrition. I don’t encourage weight watching and I actively persuade people to judge their weight loss progress by how your clothes feel rather than what the scales say. If the scale says you’ve put on 2 lbs, you could have overeaten, but you could equally be retaining fluids, your body composition could have improved and muscle weighs more than fat or you could be weighing yourself at a different time of day! Whereas if your jeans are looser, then you’ve lost weight, it’s that simple.
The best way to control your calories is to educate yourself about what you’re consuming. First, take note of the ingredients in your favourite foods. When reading the list of ingredients on a food label it is important to know that what is listed first is the most concentrated ingredient followed by the next highest concentration and so on. For example, if a label lists Whole Milk, Sugar, Cocoa… then it is fair to say that there is more sugar than there is cocoa, but more milk than sugar.
The next important point to remember is that if a product is called, say, Strawberry Yogurt, then the product must contain real strawberries. However, if is called Strawberry Flavoured Yogurt, then it is safe to say there are no real strawberries in the ingredients.
Next learn to read the calories in a product. You will find this information listed as Kcal on the food label. Obviously, here the lower the figure is, the better.
You also want a low sodium number and a low fat content, especially saturated fats.
When you learn these simple lessons, you can concentrate on devising a healthy eating plan.
Most people make a simple mistake when dieting – they eat less. It seems the obvious choice but when you eat three meals a day, your body stores more fat because your metabolism stops working between meals. This is why you need to eat more often.
Eat 5 – 6 small meals each day rather than 3 large ones. It sounds daunting but you’ll recall I never said it would be easy. Your meals will go something like this: a healthy breakfast eg cereal with skimmed milk; a mid morning snack eg a large apple; lunch eg bagel with lean chicken, tomato and onion; mid afternoon snack eg rice cakes; dinner eg salmon with boiled potatoes and broccoli; a pear in the evening.
This method of eating little and often will fire up your metabolism throughout the day meaning you will be burning fat even at rest and your body will have less chance to store any excess fat that you do not use as energy.
Remember that you need to keep hydrated at all times regardless of your diet and also remember that PLANNING IS ESSENTIAL when starting a new eating routine. This means a shopping list, cooking your meals the night before if necessary and even setting alarms to remind you when you need to eat. Good planning will be the difference between success and failure. Good luck!
The only way to lose weight and keep it off permanently is to use a mixture of cardio training and calorie controlled eating. However, the cardio work will only get you so far if you don’t take care of the basics first – your nutrition. I don’t encourage weight watching and I actively persuade people to judge their weight loss progress by how your clothes feel rather than what the scales say. If the scale says you’ve put on 2 lbs, you could have overeaten, but you could equally be retaining fluids, your body composition could have improved and muscle weighs more than fat or you could be weighing yourself at a different time of day! Whereas if your jeans are looser, then you’ve lost weight, it’s that simple.
The best way to control your calories is to educate yourself about what you’re consuming. First, take note of the ingredients in your favourite foods. When reading the list of ingredients on a food label it is important to know that what is listed first is the most concentrated ingredient followed by the next highest concentration and so on. For example, if a label lists Whole Milk, Sugar, Cocoa… then it is fair to say that there is more sugar than there is cocoa, but more milk than sugar.
The next important point to remember is that if a product is called, say, Strawberry Yogurt, then the product must contain real strawberries. However, if is called Strawberry Flavoured Yogurt, then it is safe to say there are no real strawberries in the ingredients.
Next learn to read the calories in a product. You will find this information listed as Kcal on the food label. Obviously, here the lower the figure is, the better.
You also want a low sodium number and a low fat content, especially saturated fats.
When you learn these simple lessons, you can concentrate on devising a healthy eating plan.
Most people make a simple mistake when dieting – they eat less. It seems the obvious choice but when you eat three meals a day, your body stores more fat because your metabolism stops working between meals. This is why you need to eat more often.
Eat 5 – 6 small meals each day rather than 3 large ones. It sounds daunting but you’ll recall I never said it would be easy. Your meals will go something like this: a healthy breakfast eg cereal with skimmed milk; a mid morning snack eg a large apple; lunch eg bagel with lean chicken, tomato and onion; mid afternoon snack eg rice cakes; dinner eg salmon with boiled potatoes and broccoli; a pear in the evening.
This method of eating little and often will fire up your metabolism throughout the day meaning you will be burning fat even at rest and your body will have less chance to store any excess fat that you do not use as energy.
Remember that you need to keep hydrated at all times regardless of your diet and also remember that PLANNING IS ESSENTIAL when starting a new eating routine. This means a shopping list, cooking your meals the night before if necessary and even setting alarms to remind you when you need to eat. Good planning will be the difference between success and failure. Good luck!
Healthy Weighloss Tips
1. Start with small changes
Remember the old adage Rome wasn’t build in a day? Well sorry to say you can’t make radical life changes on a Monday morning and expect to stick to them rigidly for any length of time. You need to make small changes to your exercise and eating habits as you are far more likely to stick to them this way. Make one change a day and only enforce another change if you have stuck to the last one.
2. Set realistic and achievable goals
The worst thing you can do to yourself is aim too high. You won’t be able to reach your goal and you’ll end up bitter and fat and in a worse place than you started. It is achievable to burn off 2 lbs per week healthily. Aim for this and anything else will be a bonus. Now clearly the less weight you have to lose, the less you can lose healthily in a week so you need to spread it out over a longer period if you only have a little to lose.
3. Keep a food diary
A food diary will make you take stock of exactly what you eat every day and looking at it in black and white will give you the shock you need to stick to your changes. Take photos of yourself in a swim suit or trunks and stick it in the food diary so you have to look at it every time you open the book. This is one of the greatest forms of encouragement you will ever know!
4. Allow yourself a cheat day
Remember that you are making changes for the better and the advantages will be evident in a short time, but also remember the good times when you could have a snickers or a galaxy and not feel guilty. Allow yourself one day a week where you can have a pizza and wedges and strawberry ice cream after. It’s the only way you can stop yourself from developing overpowering cravings. Just remember, one cheat day is acceptable, 3 is a bit of a joke!
5. Tell everyone you’re trying to lose weight
That way you’ll be more determined to try harder and not give in to temptation. It means that you’ll have to deal with embarrassment if you give up, and that’s great motivation.
6. Find a support group
I’m not a fan of sitting in a circle trying to make people cry but try to find yourself a support group of some kind. If weight watchers works for you then go to the meetings. If you’re more like me then find a website for people with the same goal as you such as calorie counter. It will show you that you’re really not alone, and any problem you’re having with your plan or routine, it’s happening to someone else right now too!
7. Don’t be so hard on yourself
Any drastic changes you make will be a shock to the system, even if you break them in gently. It always catches up with you! Congratulate yourself for good work and good results and don’t berate yourself if you don’t reach your goals. Just remember that you’re allowed to slip up but always get back up on the horse straight away. Never let yourself slip too far!
8. Get in Touch
Of course, if you feel you need extra help or some personal attention then Stuntworx Personal Training has the right package for you, because we cater for your needs and realise that there is no one size fits all in fitness!
Remember the old adage Rome wasn’t build in a day? Well sorry to say you can’t make radical life changes on a Monday morning and expect to stick to them rigidly for any length of time. You need to make small changes to your exercise and eating habits as you are far more likely to stick to them this way. Make one change a day and only enforce another change if you have stuck to the last one.
2. Set realistic and achievable goals
The worst thing you can do to yourself is aim too high. You won’t be able to reach your goal and you’ll end up bitter and fat and in a worse place than you started. It is achievable to burn off 2 lbs per week healthily. Aim for this and anything else will be a bonus. Now clearly the less weight you have to lose, the less you can lose healthily in a week so you need to spread it out over a longer period if you only have a little to lose.
3. Keep a food diary
A food diary will make you take stock of exactly what you eat every day and looking at it in black and white will give you the shock you need to stick to your changes. Take photos of yourself in a swim suit or trunks and stick it in the food diary so you have to look at it every time you open the book. This is one of the greatest forms of encouragement you will ever know!
4. Allow yourself a cheat day
Remember that you are making changes for the better and the advantages will be evident in a short time, but also remember the good times when you could have a snickers or a galaxy and not feel guilty. Allow yourself one day a week where you can have a pizza and wedges and strawberry ice cream after. It’s the only way you can stop yourself from developing overpowering cravings. Just remember, one cheat day is acceptable, 3 is a bit of a joke!
5. Tell everyone you’re trying to lose weight
That way you’ll be more determined to try harder and not give in to temptation. It means that you’ll have to deal with embarrassment if you give up, and that’s great motivation.
6. Find a support group
I’m not a fan of sitting in a circle trying to make people cry but try to find yourself a support group of some kind. If weight watchers works for you then go to the meetings. If you’re more like me then find a website for people with the same goal as you such as calorie counter. It will show you that you’re really not alone, and any problem you’re having with your plan or routine, it’s happening to someone else right now too!
7. Don’t be so hard on yourself
Any drastic changes you make will be a shock to the system, even if you break them in gently. It always catches up with you! Congratulate yourself for good work and good results and don’t berate yourself if you don’t reach your goals. Just remember that you’re allowed to slip up but always get back up on the horse straight away. Never let yourself slip too far!
8. Get in Touch
Of course, if you feel you need extra help or some personal attention then Stuntworx Personal Training has the right package for you, because we cater for your needs and realise that there is no one size fits all in fitness!
