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Nutrition and Calorie Tips

Just a soft drink…

Dr Nancy P

Just a soft drink… 🥤

If you’re hoping to lose weight or fat then you need to be in a calorie deficit i.e. consuming fewer calories than you use per day/week etc. If you want to do it in a sustainable way you need to be aiming for a deficit of around 200-300 cals a day. Whether you track your calories to achieve this, or whether you just reduce portion sizes/make lower calorie swaps etc most people are better at taking food into account e.g. the mid afternoon snack, the pizza for dinner, but very often we overlook the liquid calories.

You’d probably be pretty aware of the calories in a pizza express lasagne for example, and if not aware of the exact number you’d certainly realise it was a fairly high calorie meal. But would you be as aware of the calories in a soft drink like coke? It’s not unusual for people to have 1-3 glasses of something like this a day so it’s entirely possible you could drink a 1.75 litre bottle in a day or two. You may overlook including that in your calories and yet it’s actually more cals than a main lasagne!

Now that’s not to say you shouldn’t have the coke – if you want it and like it then have it! Just be aware of the calories in it before you do. The same applies to juices, alcoholic drinks, coffees and teas (unless drunk black). If you’re not dead set on the coke then swap it for a zero calorie soft drink instead – it’s an easy win!

So if you’re tracking cals and hoping to lose fat make sure you include these, and if you’re just trying to cut some cals maybe they’re a good place to start being more mindful too?

Remember – ALL calories count! 🤗xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday tip: Alcohol and weight loss

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday tip: Alcohol and weight loss 🍸

I never tell clients to give up booze, life would be miserable without that if it’s one of your go to ‘treats’ – I do however suggest it could be one way to ‘easily’ cut calories by reducing the amount they consume. Mainly because it’s a discreet, easily identifiable thing to reduce, but also because alcohol can affect weight loss in other ways.

Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram (vs 4 cals for carbs and protein,and 9 for fat). More alcohol means more calories. Unlike food, alcohol contains little to no nutritional value. Alcohol calories don’t fill you up like food calories do, or provide many micronutrients. This isn’t an issue in a balanced diet but just worth remembering when prioritising what you choose to consume.

Alcohol calories are processed differently too. Alcohol is a toxin so the cals are used immediately to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to detoxify it. This detoxification is a labour intensive process so the liver ‘shuts down’ and stops processing fat, carbohydrates and protein because it needs to deal with alcohol. Hence why you get the munchies, because the detoxification of alcohol inhibits gluconeogensis (breaking down of our internal food stores). So not only does alcohol inhibit fat burning it also encourages over eating. The lack of inhibitions associated with alcohol also make it more likely you’ll ‘stuff the diet’ and eat more than you intended; so it’s a triple whammy!

So if you’re going to drink then just consider:

⁃ Plan ahead -do I have the calories in my budget? Can I bank cals for the night out?

⁃ How will consuming this affect my goals?

⁃ Is there a lower cal alternative that will allow me to stay on track?

⁃ Can I stay in control and only have 1 or 2 (or is it a trigger for binge behaviours?

⁃ Am I prepared for the consequences (hangover, munchies, loss of control, potential feelings of guilt etc)?

Alcohol is something you should enjoy in a

controlled manner. Learning how to work things into your calories teaches you how to be in control.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

Should you weigh yourself?

Dr Nancy P

Should you weigh yourself? 📉

When you’re trying to lose weight (by which we really mean body fat as that is what actually results in body shape change) then it’s important to find ways to measure progress.

The scale can be a great tool to assess whether you’re making progress, or not. However, the number the scale shows is JUST a number. It’s merely your relationship to gravity at that particular moment in time. It’s meant to be used as a data point to track progress over time. If you decide to use the scale, you need to overlook the day to day changes you will inevitably experience. Scale weight is affected by lots of factors – amount of food in your system, hydration levels, glycogen levels, hormones, salt content of your diet, recent exercise, type of food you ate yesterday (diff foods can result in more or less temporary water retention) etc. None of which are a reflection of how much fat you’ve lost or how your shape has changed. Think about it – if you had the body you wanted and felt confident to wear anything you liked, would it matter what that scale number was? No!

Data is king and the more data you have the better decisions you can make regarding your progress. It’s not good to rely too much on one method of monitoring progress since they’re all subject to daily fluctuations that can make harder to view and interpret the data. Using things like body measurements, and how clothes fit are useful ways to see if you’re losing fat (if that is your goal). If you do use the scale then it’s better to take regular readings and then take the average for the week or month and compare that to previous averages to show the overall trend.

Should you weigh at all? First off ask yourself – what’s your relationship with the scale like? How much power do you give that number to define how you feel

for the rest of the day? Are you thinking about all the factors that influence that scale number? If you find it hard to overlook those fluctuations and hard to rationalise that they may be a result of things other than fat gain, if you you dread the scale and that the number impacts you emotionally, then no, it’s probably not a good option for you right now. Use other measurements of progress like measurements, progress pics, how clothes fit, performance, mindset changes and changes in confidence instead. If you like data and recognise that the scale number will fluctuate and that doesn’t faze you then go for it!

🤗

Xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Not quitting is success!

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Not quitting is success! 🙌🏼

I’ve noticed recently that many of my clients are beating themselves up about lack of progress or not being able to stick to their workouts or calories over the summer holidays: the overriding theme is that they feel like they’ve failed, that they’re not getting anywhere and that the only solution is to quit.

I think it’s worth reminding everyone that not quitting is in itself progress and success! Even if everything is proving difficult, if life is busy, if you’ve had too many social events to stay on track, etc that just doing anything, not matter how small, and not quitting is better than nothing! Give yourself a break. If you’re tired, lacking motivation, low in energy, fed up of feeling like you’re not getting anywhere – instead of giving up and quitting learn to rest.

Progress in anything in life is rarely linear. If you give up every time you don’t see what you view as progress then you’ll always be starting over again and again. Time will pass anyway and you’ll see even less progress. Recognise that resistance to quitting is progress in itself! Don’t give up! Just rest, regroup and keep going!

Happy Tuesday!🤗

xx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

How to get bikini ready..

Dr Nancy P

How to get bikini ready.. 👙

Summer holidays are here so here’s my top tip for getting a bikini body! You probably assume you need to lose weight, cut out food groups and foods you enjoy, live on salads, do loads of workouts etc…

Nope – it’s a very simple 2 step process to getting your bikini body.

Step 1 – have a body ✅

Step 2 – put a bikini on it !

Ta da!

Now I realise it’s actually not that simple – and that wanting to look a certain way in your swimwear is totally valid. If you want to lose weight to feel more comfortable when you’re on the beach then that’s great – go for it! However whether you prefer a bikini, a swimsuit, a swim dress , a tankini, a sarong, T-shirt and shorts… whatever.. you’re entitled to wear whatever you like however you like. You deserve to enjoy the sunshine regardless of your shape or size. You don’t have to lose weight to do that! Find a style you like and rock it!

Happy summer!

Xx